Monokuma

Latest revision as of 05:44, 29 July 2024

Monokuma is the name used by several characters in Danganronpa.

Monokuma (Junko Enoshima)

Main Article: Junko Enoshima

Junko Enoshima

During the refinement in preparation for the Killing School Life, Junko determined that a mascot was necessary as well - not even a host dressed in a sort of a cartoon character outfit would do. Therefore, during the prototype execution featuring Chiaki Nanami, she hosted the broadcast to the Class 77-B with a non-robotic stuffed bear version of Monokuma. At around the same time, she contacted Monaca, the Head of Towa Group's robotics division, to create the robotic version to be used for the Killing School Life, as well as additional units to serve as Junko's army. In order to hide the true nature of the robot, Monaca claimed that she wanted to develop a series of robots that could assist in rescue operations and other scenarios that would be dangerous for humans. The Monokuma units were then secretly distributed to the various branches of Ultimate Despair, with Junko taking several for her plot at Hope's Peak Academy. Junko also created a personality for Monokuma in the Killing Game whilst she controlled him.

Monokuma's personality was originally one of Junko's personalities which she used in the First Killing Game whilst she controlled him though the personality stayed consistent even when he's an avatar for different people.

Soon after then Killing School Life began, Monokuma showed to everyone their dorm rooms and explained the detail and feature of each room, along with a sewing kit with a map of vital organs for the girls, and a toolkit for the boys. After Makoto tried to open the door because it didn't worked, Monokuma pops up and explained Makoto how to open it as his door had a problem because of the doorknob could get jammed. After giving the students a short period of adjustment to their new lives, Monokuma unveiled the first of many "incentives" to convince the students to kill each other: video tapes implying that their friends and family were being harmed. When this revelation caused Sayaka Maizono to break down into panic and despair, Monokuma was heard laughing evilly. Soon, the Headmaster was gleefully announcing the first murder in "his" academy - Sayaka was found dead in Makoto's room. He ordered the students to come to the gym, where he explained what would happen next; they would descend to a courtroom beneath the school to participate in a Class Trial. If they correctly identified the murderer of the case, that person would be executed; if they failed to accuse the right person, the murderer could leave the academy as everyone else was executed. After explaining most of the information about the Class Trial, Monokuma was challenged by Junko Enoshima, who decided to defy his orders. Monokuma's attempt to make Junko submit only got him knocked on the floor and stomped on; however, this only prompted him to activate the "Spears of Gungnir". As Junko was skewered through the chest, the other students realized that they could not hurt the headmaster to stop his plans. Monokuma then sent them off to begin the investigation of Sayaka's murder. Throughout most of the killing game, Monokuma would only exist to enforce rules, judge the Class Trials, give out motives to all of the members of Class 78 and execute those voted in the Class Trials or those who break the rules. Eventually, after the surviving members of Class 78 had put together Monokuma's plan and that Junko Enoshima was the mastermind behind the killing game. Once this happened, Junko would appear, deactivating Monokuma so she could take the stage without him.

After the investigation, Monokuma made the students head to the courtroom to start the first Class Trial. He had to deflect a few questions from the students first, starting with Kyoko asking why there were 16 seats in the courtroom; he explained that it only meant that the courtroom was built to accommodate a maximum of 16 people. He was also questioned about the posts with the faces of the deceased in two of the empty seats; Monokuma replied that he put them there to allow the dead students to "participate" in the trials with their classmates. In the end, Makoto Naegi managed to find the culprit of the murder, Leon Kuwata, prompting Monokuma to begin his execution. With everyone shocked by the brutality of the execution, Monokuma sent them back to their rooms, saying that since the class trial is over, any corpses and evidence related to the case will be disposed of by him. A task he claims will "uplift" the students since no one wants to see a rotting corpse, but quick clean up only makes it seem like the students who died are as unimportant as trash and there is no time for the remaining alive students to grieve. After the trial, Monokuma and the remaining students were seen in the gymnasium doing morning exercise with Monokuma. However, the students questioned Monokuma if he called them just for that. Monokuma was annoyed and said that it was a waste of doing exercise and was only there to announce to the students that they're now allowed to access the second floor of the academy, where they discovered that the academy has been actually closed for years. Because the pool's locker rooms required the e-Handbooks to have access to the gym, Monokuma introduced a new school rule: lending your e-Handbook to another student is strictly prohibited. During the daily meeting in the cafeteria, the students theorized that Monokuma's controller must be a known psychopathic killer because of the situation they are in, this killer was theorized to be Genocide Jack, but they could not explain how someone could do such a planned execution, even if he had saved millions for it. The next day, Monokuma announced his next incentive; envelopes sent to each of the surviving students. He warned that everyone's secrets would be made known publicly unless someone was killed in the next 24 hours, but Makoto doubted that anyone would kill over something so insignificant. The next day, however, Monokuma appeared in Makoto's room to wake up Makoto and announce to him physically that someone was murdered, this student was discovered to be Chihiro Fujisaki murdered in the girls' locker room, hung with strings with the words "Blood Lust" written with blood on the wall. Monokuma soon announced the investigation of the second murder case.

Monokuma (Junko Enoshima, A.I.)

Main Article: A.I.

This version of Monokuma was an A.I. copy of Junko's consciousness which she had copied using Alter Ego in the climax of the previous game, inserted into the game by Ultimate Despair leader and true mastermind Izuru Kamukura under the guise of Hajime Hinata. After shedding the form of Monokuma, the new Alter Ego Junko reveals their plan to be to insert copies of herself into the deceased Remnants' bodies on their escape from the Neo World Program in which they have been imprisoned; however, Izuru's Hajime personality instead convinces the remaining Remnants to remain in the program, leading to Junko's deletion by a new manifestation of Usami. After commandeering an apparent school trip of 16 Hope's Peak Academy students to Jabberwock Island and turning it into a killing game, Monokuma reveals to the students that their memories had been wiped by the Future Foundation and their apparent rabbit teacher Usami, turning her into a "sister" figure he dubs Monomi. After all but five students are killed, Monokuma invites the remaining students into a glitching Hope's Peak Academy trial grounds for a graduation ceremony, where they are revealed to be computer avatar copies of the Remnants of Despair, followers of Junko Enoshima and Ultimate Despair who had been captured by Makoto Naegi and the other survivors of the first killing game in the hope of replacing their memories with those of their younger selves to help turn the tide of the ongoing war between the organizations, instead of executing them per the Future Foundation's orders and turning them into martyrs.

After commandeering an apparent school trip of 16 Hope's Peak Academy students to Jabberwock Island and turning it into a killing game, Monokuma reveals to the students that their memories had been wiped by the Future Foundation and their apparent rabbit teacher Usami, turning her into a "sister" figure he dubs Monomi. After all but five students are killed, Monokuma invites the remaining students into a glitching Hope's Peak Academy trial grounds for a graduation ceremony, where they are revealed to be computer avatar copies of the Remnants of Despair, followers of Junko Enoshima and Ultimate Despair who had been captured by Makoto Naegi and the other survivors of the first killing game in the hope of replacing their memories with those of their younger selves to redeem them and save them from the despair brainwashing done by Junko Enoshima, instead of executing them per the Future Foundation's orders and turning them into martyrs. Monokuma himself is revealed to contain an A.I. copy of Junko's consciousness which she had copied using Alter Ego in the climax of the previous game, inserted into the game by Ultimate Despair leader and true mastermind Izuru Kamukura under the guise of Hajime Hinata. After shedding the form of Monokuma, the new Alter Ego Junko reveals their plan to supposedly be to insert copies of herself into the deceased Remnants' bodies on their escape from the Neo World Program in which they have been imprisoned; however, Izuru's Hajime personality instead convinces the remaining Remnants to remain in the program, leading to Junko's deletion by a new manifestation of Usami.

Monokuma (Monaco Towa)

Main Article: Monaco Towa

Monaca Towa was born an unwanted child by both her father, the president of the Towa Group and her mother, his lover out of wedlock. Monaca's mother was supposed to take care of her but instead abandoned the child soon after her birth. Because of all her actions, Monaca saw her mother as a completely selfish and pathetic person. Even though Monaca was disliked in the family, she had a genius intellect and became a chief executive of Towa Group robotics branch, even surpassing Haiji. Monaca also attended Hope's Peak Elementary School and was part of the "trouble-makers class" along with Nagisa, Masaru, Jataro, and Kotoko. She loved homeroom period where she would share and exchange opinions. Along with her fellow abused classmates, she planned a group suicide; however, Monaca never had any plans to commit suicide in the first place and was planning to let the others die as a prank. The group suicide was stopped by Junko, who took the kids in and manipulated them by treating them with kindness and love. While Junko created the concept of Monokuma, Monaca brought him to life by creating his body. Via her position as the Head of Towa Robotic Branch, Monaca mass-created Monokuma units.

A new arm of Monokuma robots were commanded by the Warriors of Hope to kill every adult within Towa City for their acts of child abuse. Komaru Naegi and her partner Toko Fukawa fight off the forces of Monokuma with the assistance of A.I. ally Shirokuma, inhabiting an all-white Monokuma body, while the Warriors of Hope are overseen by an all-black gangster-themed Kurokuma variant. Followers of the Warriors of Hope and Ultimate Despair additionally wear masks based on Monokuma. Ultimately, the Monokuma army is revealed to have been mass-produced by Haiji Towa and Tokuichi Towa for the forces of Ultimate Despair while also producing weapons for the Future Foundation to fight them, war profiteering, before their factory was commandeered by the Warriors of Hope and surrogate daughter and heir of Junko Enoshima and the Towa Group, Monaca Towa. Both Shirokuma's and Kurokuma's A.I. systems are revealed to be those of the Alter Ego Junko Enoshima, who commands a giant Monokuma named Big Bang Monokuma in a final battle against Toko and Komaru. Upon being defeated, the pair's A.I. systems were retrieved by Izuru Kamukura.

Overview

In appearance, Monokuma (Japanse: モノクマ, Hepburn: Monokuma) was a bear whose entire body was divided by the center into two parts. It resembles the Yin-Yang symbol with the balance of the colours flowing into one another. Its right side is white and has the classic expression of teddy bear; While its left side shows a more sinister appearance. It was black, has a red, horizontal, jagged eye that resembled the Hope's Peak Academy logo and an evil smile. He came to be known as the self-proclaimed Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy.

In reality, the Monokuma robot was not controlled by one person but came to be a shared identity by many users. The remote control system was said to be so complex that not even the people at NASA could recreate or even comprehend it.

Typically, Monokuma was shown to be easy-going and cheerful at first but had a sinister undertone in their interactions. They the quickly revealed their evil nature by describing the killing games and their desire for despair. They were very well known for their habit to say and do whatever they wanted to do. Monokuma loved hysteria, violence, and chaos with this being summarized in their catchphrases "thrills, chills, kills!". He also has his own signature laughs, a sadistic "puhuhu" ("upupupu" in the Japanese version) and a mocking "ah-hahahaha".

In many ways, Monokuma represents duality both in design and personality, with his white good side and black evil side. He can sometimes act polite or cute and innocent, even patronizing, and during rare moments he even seems to give genuine positive and wise advice. However, he is mostly known for his malicious and cruel side, possessing a twisted sense of humor and a tendency to torment others and do anything for the sake of despair. He can switch between these traits at the drop of a hat, making him unpredictable for his students to deal with. He usually gets excited about the Class Trials and does everything he can in order to make them entertaining for himself.

He can sometimes act polite or cute and innocent, even patronizing, and during rare moments he even seems to give genuine positive and wise advice. However, he is mostly known for his malicious and cruel side, possessing a twisted sense of humor and a tendency to torment others and do anything for the sake of despair. He can switch between these traits at the drop of a hat, making him unpredictable for his students to deal with. He usually gets excited about the Class Trials and does everything he can in order to make them entertaining for himself.

Monokuma is immature and childish, often acting sarcastic and mocking towards the students, and occasionally dramatically pretending to be offended when rightfully accused. In general, he cracks a lot of jokes (especially bear puns) and breaks the fourth wall often. Monokuma is usually seen impersonating a lot of pop culture character. Monokuma did not seem to take the students' situation seriously, though he claims that despair is a very serious matter to him. He seizes every opportunity to belittle the students, dodging the blame and claiming that they are the ones responsible for everything bad that happens in the school. He also tends to ignore the students or act like he doesn't understand what they're talking about whenever they expose him with correct evidence.

They enjoyed the suffering of others which made them excited. He tended to get bored and disappointed if the situation doesn't have as much despair as he hoped. Occasionally, he is so bummed out by the lack of despair that he seems to lose some of his energy and withdraws to make new plans. It's been shown that he can also get hypocritical about his ideology of despair, as he is very much willing to lie and cheat if he gets desperate enough. Still, even he seems to have some standards, as some people are so vile that they disgust even Monokuma.

Normally, they were reserved and held-back but could be quite impatient with them even attacking people if annoyed or threatened enough. In such cases, the Monokuma bear revealed either claws or self-destruct function or even the threat of killing those under its control. However, most of the time he holds himself back, under the claim that he cannot hurt his "beloved students". His bullying and abusive nature is especially clear in the way he treats Monomi, as he gets physically and verbally abusive towards her even if he is just slightly annoyed or seemingly for no reason at all. Similarly, he is seen acting very violent towards his children if they annoy him, though originally in a very cartoony way that didn't seem to bother them.

Monokuma is also very arrogant and tends to treat others in a rude manner, with Junko being the only one he refers to respectfully as "Lady Junko". Fitting his arrogance, he has multiple fake stories about his past, many of them nonsensical and with a silly, dark or even thoughtful message in the end. Strangely, he seems to take great pride in his supposed role as the headmaster, demanding respect for the rules and getting angry if he is called a teddy bear instead of headmaster.

Notably, he seemed to be strongly against any shameful acts that could taint his respectful school, yet he himself often incorrectly accuses the students of having dirty motives and goes into way too much detail about his suspicions. Even though he acts like he is above all that, he can aim perverted comments at his students, boys and girls alike (especially for being teens). His perverseness and love for himself becomes especially clear in V3 as he seems disturbingly attracted to his own children simply because they share his "handsome" looks and only tolerates them for his "cute look".

In some cases, Monokuma's rule was enforced by the Monobeasts (ボスケモノ) that were a collection of five giant animal-themed robots used by Monokuma to keep the students in line. The Monokuma Kubs or Monokubs for short, (モノクマーズ Monokumāzu lit. Monokumarz) were also known as the "Children of Monokuma", are a group of five child-like robots that claim to be the children of the malicious robotic bear. The Monokubs are Monokuma Units featured with five different colors. They are red, blue, yellow, green and pink. Each of the Monokubs has a different major personality trait, with Monotaro being the clumsy leader, Monophanie being the kindest one, Monokid being loud and wild, Monodam being quiet and shy because of his history of him being bullied, and Monosuke being the more money orientated type. The Monokubs also have a notable unique object for each of them such as a scarf, a guitar, a flower, and a pair of glasses. All of the Kubs have their own version of Monokuma's signature laugh "puhuhu" ("upupupu" in the Japanese version) and they repeatedly refer to the students as "you bastards", clearly copying their father's way of speaking. The Monokubs appeared to be able to bleed when they receive serious damage, despite being robots. They also seem to have the capability to eat and sleep, as they are often seen eating and repeatedly mention that they sleep during night time, though it's possible that they are just acting like their father sometimes does. The Monokubs assist their father in many ways, though they often get distracted. All of them respect their father in some way but are also afraid of his anger.

Notes

• The concept of the Monokuma was created by Kazutaka Kodaka and designed by Rui Komatsuzaki where it featured in the Danganronpa universe.
• In an interview, Danganronpa series producer Yoshinori Terasawa stated, "[Monokuma] was created with an image of contradictions in mind, like good and evil, hope and despair. These contradicting elements create a sort of highlighting effect. Although it ended up being much darker than expected (laughs). But I think that's just an expression of Mr. Kodaka's nature, as well. It's nice to see Monokuma show up in different games, because I get to see him from a user's perspective. Even within those different game worlds, I think he still exerts his presence. Society these days seems to have a general feeling of hopelessness. So I thought it would be good to emphasize the importance of having hope and just moving forward."
• In an interview, Kodaka commented that Monokuma was the easiest character to write because they were the type of character that could make him say anything he wanted without fear of repercussion.

Alternate Versions

In other media

Television

Appearances

• Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc: (2010)

External Links

• Danganronpa Wiki Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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