| “ | We're the Monokubs! The meanest, nastiest, cruelest mascots around!
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” |
Monosuke (モノスケ) is one of the various mascot characters and antagonists featured in Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, appearing as part of a group called the Monokuma Kubs. He controls the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles alongside Monokuma, and his siblings Monotaro, Monodam, Monokid, and Monophanie.
History[]
Creation[]
Monosuke—along with his four other siblings—were created by Team Danganronpa, a group of individuals who created the famous reality show named Danganronpa, a series which tells the story of Killing Games. Monosuke and the Monokubs' roles are to aid Monokuma in hosting the Killing Game. It is unknown when they were created and in which Killing Game they started to appear. Their most notable appearance is the last Killing Game entry, the 53rd season of the show.
Prior to the Killing School Semester[]
After the students woke up and left their classrooms, the Monokubs began to lure them to gym by chasing them down with the Exisals. After everybody went into place, the Monokubs burst in with their mechs, but after realizing that they're off-script and shouldn't be in those for their first appearance, they all jump out in a flashy introduction sequence to appear face-to-face with the students. Although they've all got many questions to ask the bears, Monosuke and the others ignore the students to tend to other matters, until they realize they've completely screwed up, and haven't even given them their outfits or their "first memory" yet, to which they quickly correct their mistake and erase their memories of the event.
It was revealed that this event happened right before the 53rd Killing Game occurred, when the students' memories were about to be fabricated by Team Danganronpa.
Killing School Semester[]
- Main article: Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
After the students are put back into their respective places, the Monokubs reappear to make their proper on-script introduction, where they tell the students to explore the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles and meet their classmates, as they're all going to do an activity later. They occasionally pop up to explain certain functions of the school, such as the Ultimate Labs and the End Wall they're confined in.
"What'd you say, jabroni?"
After all of the students have finished introducing themselves, Monosuke and his siblings make an announcement to gather at the gym, as they've finally finished their preparations. Once everyone's arrived, they burst in to give their Exisals a proper introduction, and to announce the true nature of the Academy... However Monodam suddenly steals Monokid's line, and soon a fight breaks out between the Kubs, with Monosuke joining in due to liking their aggression. But just as they're about to duke it out, they hear a hauntingly familiar voice, the voice of their father, the one and only Monokuma.
Upon making his grand entrance to the scene, he beats his children silly for dragging out the Prologue, and explains the rules of the students' new lives in the Killing School Semester, with the Kubs coming in charge to explain the Class Trials. After taunting Kaede's flimsy attempts at protest, Monokuma and his Kubs triumphantly laugh at the dumbfounded students.
Chapter 1 - My Class Trial, Our Class Trial[]
Monokuma and his Kubs pop up to taunt the students' failure in trying to cross the Death Road of Despair, and encourage them to try and try again until they grasp the reality of their situation. Eventually, they stay in there for so long, Monosuke and his siblings give their first ever nighttime announcement.
When Kaito Momota commits violence against Monokuma, the Monokubs pop up to squish him with the Exisals for breaking a school rule, with Monosuke using it show off just what happens when they mess with them... only for them to accidentally kill Monokuma instead. They tearfully gather his remains to eat in a big stew, after all—as the new headmasters—they need to eat a lot to grow big and strong. But by the next day, Monokuma reappears, where he also reveals that while he has spares, the Monokubs don't, and Monosuke theorizes that there might be a machine hidden in the school that can make a whole lotta pops... Right before he decides to lick them all as part of their ''emotional reunion".
He then announced his "Time Limit" motive, in which if a murder doesn't occur in 2 days, all of the students will die by countless Monokumas from the rumored machine. With Monosuke and his siblings giving reminders of said Time Limit in their subsequent announcements. Monosuke along with the rest of the Kubs appear once again when Rantaro Amami is found dead. Later on during the investigation, the Kubs announce for the students to head to the basement and get their developed photos, where Monophanie gave them to Kaede and Shuichi while roleplaying as a couple in a fancy restaurant with Monosuke.
After Kaede Akamatsu was voted as the blackened, the Monokubs pull out the Exisals to prevent the students from interfering with her execution, though this was stopped by Kaede. Monosuke and his siblings assist Monokuma in her execution by pulling on the ropes that hang her to death.
At the end of Kaede's execution, just as the spiked piano lid is about to slam down and crush her corpse, Monodam suddenly murders Monokid by pushing him right below the lid, crushing his body and leaving only his decapitated head left. Monotaro is shocked and Monophanie pukes in horror at this, but Monosuke doesn't seem to mind, after all, they could all use a little more tension in their lives. When Monodam mysteriously runs off, he brushes off his murder as payback for all of Monokid's bullying, as they exit the scene soon after.
Chapter 2 - A Thin Line Divides Heaven and Hell[]
At the beginning of Chapter 2, Monosuke and his siblings appear to give the students prizes for surviving the Class Trial, though they're still very uneasy being around the recently revealed Kub Killer Monodam. But while the rest of the Kubs warm up to him nicely throughout the chapter, Monosuke keeps trying to antagonize him to the others by reminding him of his crimes... To little effect as none of them were particularly fond of Monokid to begin with. Monokuma then tasks his children to deliver Kubs Pads holding Motive Videos to each of the students while they sleep, though they screw up and hand the videos to the wrong students.
When Ryoma Hoshi's body was found, Monosuke was overjoyed to see that a murder finally happened and was eager to start up the Trial, even stopping to propose a funeral service business with the Monokuma files, however his Pops ignores his pitches due to how cute he looks, and drags him off to lick him all over. In the middle of the 2nd Class Trial, when Monosuke is questioned by Korekiyo about the "entering the pool at nighttime" rule, he remarks that the last time someone asked that question, he said that entering the pool at nighttime is forbidden, but standing on the window is still acceptable. K1-B0 quickly intercepts to ask who asked him last time, as it's possible the culprit asked him to confirm the details of their murder plan.
Monosuke freaks out upon accidentally revealing vital information with a legendary "Oh shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!", sending Monokuma into a silent rage as his siblings relentlessly tease him for it, but Monodam jumps to his defense, as he hates bullying. When Kirumi Tojo is found as the blackened, shortly before her execution began, Monosuke makes the fatal mistake of telling his family off for all the cutsey feel-good crap they've been pulling the whole Chapter, and that he's through getting along with "Dummy Bears," triggering Monodam's ire and his demise.
Monosuke's Fate[]
In Kirumi's execution, While he stared up from the bottom of the pit to watch Kirumi's body fall, Monodam kicks him over, knocking his glasses off, and while he does find them after some frantic searching, unfortunately it's right below the spot Kirumi Tojo's body is plummeting towards, crushing him into bits on impact. Both Monotaro and Monophanie puke in horror at his death, but Monodam justifies his actions by saying that Monosuke was no different than Monokid, in that he was getting the way of them getting along, so they don't need him.
Monosuke can be spotted in Chapter 3 as a ghost inhabiting the left creepy room out of the three, briefly appearing on the screen whenever his room is entered.
Chapter 5 - Voyage Without Passion or Purpose[]
At the beginning of Chapter 5, Monokuma hosts his children's funerals absolutely heartbroken, though he doesn't even care enough to mention Monosuke's name and his eulogy quickly devolves into him blaming them for their own deaths and to start wondering why they even existed. He and his siblings are briefly mentioned as Monokuma offers the hangar their Exisals are placed in, as he's got no use for them now that all the Monokubs are dead.
At the end of the 5th Class Trial, just before Kaito Momota's execution, Monokuma reveals he rebuilt his Monokubs and that they're active once again to pilot the Exisals and assist their father in the Mutual Killing Game. Though they still have their factory settings, so they don't remember anything that happened in their past lives and are quite confused at the point of the story they've just dropped into.
Chapter 6 - Goodbye Danganronpa[]
At the beginning of Chapter 6, Monokuma and the Monokubs in their Exisals arrive and threaten to destroy K1-B0 for damaging the school in an attempt to end the Killing Game. K1-B0 reassures everyone to find the truth while he engages the Monokubs in combat, fighting them the entire time the others investigate he real truth about the Killing Game. After Shuichi gathers enough information, he has a proposal for Monokuma, and the Kubs and K1-B0 solve this conflict with a Class Trial, Monokuma agrees to the terms and orders his children to remove K1-B0's weapons so that he can participate.
Right before the Final Class Trial, Monokuma tells his Kubs that they'll have pivotal roles in the Trial, and that he'll make sure they do their very best... By threatening them with a Monokub Detonator that'll blow them up if they don't comply. Naturally, they try to serve a more proactive role in the Trial, but since they don't know jack squat, most of their arguments comprise of things that have already been said or just plain nonsense that's easily disproven as they get increasingly more desperate with their dwindling numbers. Eventually, Monosuke pleads for the Trial to just hold on a SEC, and in a complete 180° from his usual attitude, tries to argue that friends shouldn't be fighting like this, y'know? And proposes they all settle down by watching a comedy special so they can all smile... Only to get blown up by Monokuma for being such a noisy brat.
Creation and Development[]
Monosuke as a character is strongly associated with the Osaka area of Japan.[4]He is portrayed as the "straight man" (tsukkomi 突っ込み) of Manzai, a form of Japanese comedy that has been developed in Osaka. He calls other people "funny man" (boke ボケ), the other performer of the double act. He speaks with Osaka-ben, the specific dialect of Kinki Japanese spoken in the Osaka area. Because of associations with Manzai comedy, the speakers are often viewed as being more funny or talkative than typical speakers of other dialects.
Monosuke's tiger-striped pattern is a reference to Hanshin Tigers, the Osaka baseball team. His glasses are a reference to the ones of Kuidaore Taro, a mechanical drum-playing clown in front of Cui-daore, a restaurant in one of the principal tourist destinations in Osaka.
Name[]
Monosuke's name could come from the ancient title of Kokushi (often said as no suke when addressing an official with the title. The main job of those entitled to Kokushi is keeping track of taxes, which an abacus can be used to help with, something Monosuke has.
Alternate Fates[]
He also appears in Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (Demo Version) along with his siblings. He first appeared when Yasuhiro Hagakure's body was found. He later appeared in the Class Trial along with his father and brothers. In the bonus mode Ultimate Talent Development Plan, Monosuke and his siblings are headmasters of a Hope's Peak Academy like school.
Appearance[]
Monosuke as a character is strongly associated with the Osaka area of Japan.[4]
Monosuke's appearance is similar to that of his father, Monokuma, but the part that is black on Monokuma consists of yellowish brown and dark brown stripes (a reference to Hanshin Tigers, the Osaka baseball team). Likewise, his left eye is white, contrasting Monokuma's. Unlike most Monokumas, Monosuke's left eye occasionally glows white light instead of having a small red glow.
He has bright pink cheeks and eyelashes on his right eye. He dons a pair of round black glasses (which are a reference to the ones of Kuidaore Taro, a mechanical drum-playing clown in front of Cui-daore, a restaurant in one of the principal tourist destinations in Osaka), an abacus, and a yellow pacifier.
He is sometimes seen carrying six Monokuma bills with him.
When he was seen as a ghost in Chapter 3, his appearance mostly stayed the same but his yellow side was changed into blue and his body was more transparent. He also didn't have any legs due to him becoming a ghost.
Personality[]
Monosuke is a child-like robot. He is the most cool-headed in the group, seemingly remaining calm whenever the other Monokubs are shocked and analyzes the situations. At first glance, he appears to be the most intelligent as well, being capable of having much more cohesive and intelligent conversations. However, despite this, he is neither mature nor docile, and he has a horrible mouth similar to Monokid. He is somewhat aggressive and tends to call others stupid.
With a calm nature, Monosuke acts like the straight man of a double act stand-up comedy and provides snark to the group's dynamic. To emphasize this, he speaks in Kansai dialect in the Japanese version and New Jersey accent in the English version. He tends to be the one correcting his siblings whenever they say something nonsensical and is sometimes annoyed by them. Whenever his siblings talk their usual nonsense, he tends to interject with the appending "...more importantly" before he starts talking.
Monosuke also seems to be interested in American culture, as shown when he secretly mentions the Chicago-style hot dog, the New York Jets, and New England Patriots in the 1st and 2nd trials.
Being a Monokuma, he enjoys killing and gore, though he acts more calm about it than overly excited Monokid, and he enjoys chasing students with his Exisal. In general, he doesn't seem to get as emotional as the other Kubs, as he dislikes heartfelt moments and doesn't seem to care much about others, even calling his father useless at one point. In fact, he strongly approves of hostility and infighting among the group, believing that the Monokuma Kubs shouldn't be "awkward and unsociable" and insisting that they should be scary and nasty. Because of this, he appears quite nonchalant whenever his siblings include him in their arguments. He doesn't even seem to care about his sibling dying as he didn't care much about Monokid when Monodam killed him during the first execution, and just seemed glad that things had finally got interesting. However, he was also scared of Monodam because he killed one of the Monokubs and tried to warn his other siblings to watch out for him, though mainly appearing concerned for himself.
As a rather notable trait, Monosuke also seems to have great interest in money, success and becoming popular, as he occasionally comes up with new business ideas, like selling Monokuma Files for funerals or having merchandise of the Exisals, in hopes of becoming rich. While generally appearing smarter than the other Kubs, he might show-off (as his siblings put it) and accidentally slip out. He is also known to be very impatient whenever he feels cranky, which is notably seen when he announces at both day and nighttime even though the day had just begun.
He also acts flirtatious at times, as shown when he acts charming to Monophanie during the 1st chapter, offering to join her for a drink and leave after her "shift" ends, causing Monophanie to blush and giggle.
After he was rebuilt and brought back by Monokuma, Monosuke and the other Kubs were under a threat of being exploded if they didn't make good arguments, which made Monosuke panic quite a lot especially since the Kubs didn't have any memories nor knowledge of what had happened. In a desperate attempt to defend Tsumugi Shirogane and not get destroyed, Monosuke even abandoned his own ideologies and tried to act cheerful and encourage everyone to smile, get along and be happy. However, this turned out to be a wrong move, as he was almost immediately destroyed by Monokuma.
Abilities[]
Controlling the Exisals[]
Monosuke, along with the other Monokubs, are the only ones who can control the Exisals.
Monosuke can control the Exisals on command to discipline the students, since the Exisals carry a variety of dangerous weapons such as saws and guns. He also uses the Exisals to punish any students who break the school's rules. The specific reason he was brought back was because of him and his siblings being the only ones with the ability to control the Exisals. Monosuke's ability to use the Exisals was demonstrated more clearly in Chapter 6 when he and K1-B0 were having an intense fight.
Fixing and Rebuilding[]
Monosuke and his siblings seem to have a lot of technical prowess despite their low intelligence, as they're the ones in charge of building the school and were the ones responsible in fixing K1-B0's antenna and removing the gear and heavy weapons around him.
Relationships[]
- Family:
Monokuma[]
Monokuma is the self-proclaimed father of Monosuke, Monotaro, Monokid, Monodam and Monophanie.
He calls them his "adorable children" and seems even disturbingly attracted to them because they share his own looks, though in reality he is mostly annoyed and neglectful towards the Monokubs, even stating in the prologue that he tolerates them only because they're so cute. Out of all the Kubs, Monokuma seems to like Monosuke the least, as he doesn't react to his demise at the hands of Monodam, and doesn't even bother to come up with an excuse to blow him up in the Final Trial, simply expressing in exasperation how noisy he is.
Monosuke tends to call his father "pops." And he seems to try acting badass to be more like Monokuma, but other than that, he seems to act more like a business advisor than a son to him, frequently proposing potential merchandizing deals, and seems to be the most eager to take over as the new headmaster upon his death.
Monokuma Kubs[]
Monodam[]
Monosuke seems to find Monodam a bit boring due to his silence and wishes he would talk more to shake things up.
After Monodam murdered Monokid, Monosuke finds the turn of events very fascinating, but also becomes suspicious of Monodam and keeps reminding the other cubs of what he did.
During the second trial, Monodam repeatedly defends an agitated Monosuke after his slip-up provides the students critical information. However, Monosuke does not appreciate this and keeps his belief that the Monokubs should be hostile towards each other, causing Monodam to murder him during Kirumi's execution.
Monophanie[]
While the brothers, in general, seem more considerate towards their only sister, Monosuke dislikes Monophanie's attempts to be nice and make peace, as it goes against his core beliefs and ideologies as to what the Monokubs should do.
However, during one scene, Monosuke acts charming towards her and offers to buy her a drink, making her blush and giggle in gaiety. However, when Monophanie threw up over the thought of blood and gore in the Prologue, Monosuke acted somewhat blank and uninterested, expecting that to happen, typical of him.
Monokid[]
Monosuke is sometimes annoyed by Monokid due to his noisy personality and tendency to mess up words but often tries to correct him anyway.
After Monokid died, Monosuke didn't really care much, finding the new development quite interesting and assuming that Monodam simply killed Monokid because he had bullied him. While he doesn't care about Monokid, Monosuke keeps bringing up his death as a warning for the other Kubs, and appears afraid of suffering the same fate.
Monotaro[]
Monosuke has some general respect for Monotaro, but acknowledges that he isn't very smart nor competent as a leader.
Kirumi Tojo[]
It's revealed that during the second trial, Keebo noticed what Monosuke said about the "last time" they were asked about standing on the pool's windowsill at night, hinting that the culprit was the one who asked him in order to secretly confirm the details of their murder plan. This turns out to be factual, and that person who asked Monosuke and killed Ryoma was Kirumi Tojo.
They both share the same execution as Monodam shoves Monosuke right under Kirumi's plummeting body, causing both of them to die instantly from the gruesome impact.
Quotes[]
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (Demo Version) (English)
Introduction:
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (English)
Character Trailer:
- "What'd ya say, Jabroni?"
Prologue:
- "Then what if...we start peelin' off their limbs one by one, like string cheese?"
- "No, no, Monokid. You're sayin' 'hell' too much. It's ruining the hellish impact!
- "Don't worry about us. The real issue is youse bastards. Well, 'issue' is putting it mildly...This is actually a huge problem. Youse all have forgotten your talents and became generic high school students."
- "Let's do this already. No one wants to watch a bunch of generic high school whiners."
- "Shut up! We're the Monokubs! We need to be tough and whatnot!"
- "Who'd wanna play a game where no one dies!?"
Chapter 1:
- "Sure did. I cam to see you, toots. Dehehe... you're as lovely as always."
- "Drink as much as you want. I've got cash to burn."
- "By the way, Monophanie...wanna get outta here after your shift ends?"
- "A terrible idea! Like puttin' Ketchup on a hot dog!"
- "Yeah, I think about him this time of year, too."
Chapter 2:
- "Well, I think the threatening vibe we Monokubs give off is perfect. Cuz we're a team of scary badasses who are gonna drag you down to hell!"
- "We need youse to die in the killing game!"
- "Finally! I've been waiting for the killin' game to start up again! That means we can put all this borin' crap on hold and start playin' the blame game!"
- "Listen up! We're here to make sure the killin' game goes smoothly, capice?"
- "Y'know how it gets awkward at funerals when ya start askin' about the cause of death? If we pass out Monokuma Files, even the worst deaths will get a giggle outta the attendees!"
- "Idiots! We're not here to play! We're here to smack these bastards into the pits of hell! We're the Monokubs! The meanest, nastiest, cruelest mascots around!"
- "Quit bein' so gloomy! This is the year of the Jets! Fuck the Patriots!"
- " C-C-Cut it out! I can't write this off as a joke, if you two keep freakin' out about it!"
Chapter 6:
- "What a snake!"
- "Dumbass! You remembered too late!"
- "If we don't do well here...we're all gonna get blown up together!"
- "I...I don't think friends should blame each other like this, y'know!? C'mon, smile everyone! I know, we could watch a comedy special so we can all smi—"
Love Across the Universe:
- "Pops is such a great capitalist! There's no idea he won't rip off to make a profit!"
List of Appearances[]
Trivia[]
- Despite being a robot, Monosuke appears to have a very poor eyesight without his glasses.
- Monosuke's official profile description on the English website was mistranslated. The original profile didn't mention that he had no patience for Monokid's foul language, it said his language was as foul as Monokid's.[5]
- Monosuke's English voice actor, Brian Beacock, also voiced Monokuma in Danganronpa games.
- In a poll hosted by MyNavi, fans voted Monosuke the 5th most popular Danganronpa V3 Monokuma Unit.[6]
References[]
- ↑ Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony - Height Chart - Monokuma & Monokubs
- ↑ Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony - Height Chart
- ↑ Brian Beacock: "...Out of these, I only did Monosuke!" (Image of Message)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Famitsu Scan, November 17th 2016
- ↑ Monosuke's profile mistranslated, pointed out by @Kaibutsushidousha on Tumblr.
