Kokichi Oma Gallery Sprites

This article contains FANSLATIONS and needs to be updated to official translations.









“ Why do you guys hate lies so much? There's only one truth, but endless possibilities for lies, y'know? And some of them are only white lies, or lies to be kind to people... If you deny all of that *just* because it's a lie... Then that means you guys are just terrible at being lied to! Seriously, the worst!

— Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony ”



Kokichi Oma (王馬 小吉) is a student in the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles and a participant of the Killing School Semester featured in Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony. His title is the Ultimate Supreme Leader (超高校級の「総統」 lit. Super High School Level Supreme Leader).

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History

Early Life

Before Joining Danganronpa

Kokichi Oma was a normal talentless high school boy who participated in the 53rd Season of Danganronpa, a famous worldwide reality show made by Team Danganronpa.

During his high school days, Kokichi attended Imperial Capital's Imperial High School (帝都大帝都高校). However, it is unclear if this memory of him was a part of the fabrication made by Team Danganronpa or if it was genuine.

Fabricated Past

After he successfully participated in the 53rd Killing Game, Kokichi's memories and past were fabricated by Team Danganronpa as follows:

Kokichi's past is very unclear due to his constant lying and the fact that he strictly refuses to reveal anything personal about himself. In fact, the only thing known about his life for sure is his love of video games and that he's been playing them his whole life. However, he has also claimed that nobody would care if he was gone, and it's been implied that he has no parents or family.

It's known that he is the leader of D.I.C.E., a small group of young pranksters, who are the most important people and like a family to him. They have traveled around the world and commit "laughable crimes" for fun, which could indicate that they could be a group of orphans with no families nor parents to hold them back. Kokichi is also good at stealing, which might be due to his past, and it has been pointed out that many of his skills have a resemblance to a petty thief. Furthermore, his organization could be a reference to the animated television series D.I.C.E. (DNA Integrated Cybernetic Enterprises), which is about an organization run by children, specifically orphans.

During the killing game, Kokichi lies that he is the supreme leader of a large, evil secret society. Obviously, there is no evidence of it and the Ultimate Detective, Shuichi Saihara, does not know any organization matching with the one Kokichi mentioned.[4] During his Free Time Event with Shuichi, Kokichi claims he became the supreme leader by murdering his parents and usurping their role. He then claims he lied, and that the one he killed was his older brother. He claims he lied again and that the real reason is a secret. Considering his tendency to have some truth among his lies, this could imply something about his past.

There is a scene in the bonus mode Ultimate Talent Development Plan which hints about his family situation, as Kokichi and Kaito won't go home for New Year's, Kaito due to his unconventional family situation of living with his grandparents. Kaito asks Kokichi why he isn't at home with his parents (and aren't his parents embarrassed of him being such a brat at his age). Kokichi only tells him that he shouldn't ask such personal questions when talking to the supreme leader.

However, it is unclear how much, if any of Kokichi's past before participating in the 53rd Killing Game was real, and which was fabricated by Team Danganronpa.

The Gofer Project

Main article: The Gofer Project

Part of the fake backstories created for Kokichi and the other fifteen students was The Gofer Project , which supposedly happened before the Killing Game started. It was initiated by heads of nations from all over the world after countless meteorites crashed into Earth, spreading a deadly virus all throughout the atmosphere. To try and preserve the last vestiges of mankind before the Earth’s destruction, the government decided to select sixteen talented students chosen by the Ultimate Initiative that also somehow happened to be immune to the virus, put them in a spaceship colony, and have them escape before the Earth's destruction. Kokichi was among these sixteen individuals.

Despite being chosen to participate, Kokichi and the other fifteen participants had no intentions of going along with the plan, not wanting to abandon their loved ones. As a result, Kokichi chose to forget about his ultimate talent and decided to live as a normal high school student.

Around that time an extremist cult came into power. They believed that the meteorites were a punishment humanity brought upon itself, and having heard of The Gofer Project, tried to stop it. As a result, the “Ultimate Hunt” started and spread throughout the world, and the sixteen students selected for the Gofer Project were hunted down.

The government then decided to counter the situation by faking the students' deaths, calming down the “Ultimate Hunt” while providing protection to the students. The Gofer Project was then put into action while the Earth was being destroyed by meteorites. Kokichi and the others went to space in the massive ark, the true form of Ultimate Academy of Gifted Juveniles, and were put to a cold sleep for several decades.

Much later on in Chapter 5, after the remaining participants cleared the Death Road of Despair, Kokichi lied about being the mastermind of the Killing School Semester and that he was the leader of the cult bent on stopping the Gofer Project. He also lied about being the one who let Monokuma enter the spaceship, which effectively forced everyone to participate in the Killing School Semester. All of this was done in order to get everyone to fall into so much despair that they would not continue the Killing Game.

However, the true Mastermind, in order to get the remaining survivors at the time to continue the Killing Game, decided to connect everyone's memories of The Gofer Project to the story of Hope's Peak Academy. As a result, the true Mastermind prepared a Flashback Light that tricked the remaining participants into thinking that everyone, including those that had died, were actually students of the rebuilt Hope's Peak Academy. They also remembered that the ones behind The Gofer Project were Makoto Naegi, the headmaster of the rebuilt Hope's Peak Academy, and the Future Foundation. This Flashback light also revealed that the cult bent on stopping The Gofer Project were actually the Remnants of Despair and that Kokichi was their leader. This lie filled everyone with the determination needed to stop the despair with which they were faced.

In the mastermind's rush, however, they accidentally overlooked slight inconsistencies and plot holes when linking both stories together, such as "Ultimate Despair" only referring to Junko Enoshima, and that Class 78 was trapped by the Ultimate Despair when they had actually locked themselves within the school in order to shelter themselves from the tragedy outside.

While Kokichi did remember the Ultimate Hunt in Chapter 2, his and everyone else's funeral in Chapter 3, the meteorite impacts, and the state of the outside world in Chapter 4 thanks to the Flashback Lights, he ultimately has no complete recollection of the event, as he was not present when the complete memory about The Gofer Project was triggered by the Flashback Light in Chapter 5.

Introduction

Kokichi was among the first fourteen people gathered in the gymnasium before Kaede Akamatsu and Shuichi arrived. Just like everyone else, Kokichi was confused about their current predicament, asking the others if they wanted for him to check on what was happening outside but was warned by Korekiyo Shinguji that those monsters, the Exisals , could still be nearby. Once the Monokuma Kubs arrived and revealed themselves from within their Exisals, they gave the sixteen participants their Ultimate wardrobe and their first memory via the Flashback Light. Kokichi and the other talentless fifteen students underwent the fabrication process, where all of their past memories and personalities were heavily fabricated. He also received the talent and title of Ultimate Supreme Leader. All of this was done for the sake of satisfying Danganronpa's audience from all over the world. After the fabrication process was completed, Kokichi and the others entered the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles as totally different people, officially commencing the 53rd killing game season known as the Killing School Semester.

Kokichi was later found in one of the classrooms on the first floor by Kaede and Shuichi. Kokichi was extremely intrigued by K1-B0, the Ultimate Robot, pestering him and chasing him like a child simply because he was a robot. K1-B0 was very agitated by this, trying to get away from him and politely asking Kokichi to "leave me alone". Kokichi introduced himself to Kaede and Shuichi as the Ultimate Supreme Leader, stating that he's the leader of an evil secret organization surpassing over ten-thousand, though neither of them really believed his claims.

Attempting the Death Road of Despair

Kokichi would later gather with everyone else in the gymnasium after the Monokuma Kubs made their announcement. Once the Monokuma Kubs and Monokuma, the Monokuma Kubs' father and the self-appointed headmaster of the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles, also arrived, they announced that they would be participating in a Killing Game. While almost everyone else was shocked or horrified by this, Kokichi didn't seem to mind the prospect all that much and found the idea "not boring." In reality, he loathed the idea of the killing game, especially one that was being put on for other people's pleasure, and he secretly vowed to end it by any means necessary. With that, the Killing School Semester had officially begun.

After Monokuma officially started the Killing Game, Kokichi read the rules on his Monopad. A majority of the group wasn't sure what to do after reading these rules and began to panic and argue. Thanks to Kaede's motivational speech, however, the panic died down and everyone seemed to become united. Afterward, Gonta Gokuhara, the Ultimate Entomologist, then remembered that he found a manhole inside the boiler room behind the school building. Kokichi, along with everyone else, immediately followed the Ultimate Entomologist's lead, with the hope of finding a way out.

The First and Additional Motive

Descending the manhole, Kokichi and the others found a tunnel leading outside of the academy. Though everyone thought that the tunnel probably ended up being a trap, they still had to test every single possibility in order to escape. However, Kokichi and the others exhausted themselves both physically and mentally as they found that escaping through the Death Road of Despair is next to impossible. Due to this, Kokichi revolted, saying that Kaede's repeated motivational speech is the source of the group's agony, added by some of her friends giving up on escaping the tunnel, Kokichi himself included, and the group's harmony came to a swift end. The tunnel ended up being a trap set by Monokuma and the Monokuma Kubs, much to everyone's dismay. Kokichi headed to his assigned dorm room to get some rest.

The next day, as soon as Kaede walked into the dining hall, Kokichi greeted her, having created a "kind lie" in order to make the group consolidate once again. Afterward, Monokuma came to the cafeteria and announced the first motive, anyone who committed the first killing will graduate without holding a trial, effectively calling it a "First Blood Perk". Everyone was worried about what this would mean, aside from Kaito Momota, the Ultimate Astronaut, who became increasingly outraged with Monokuma for doing whatever he wanted and lunged at him. This caused the Monokuma Kubs to show up, showing no hesitation to punish Kaito with the Exisals for attempting violence against their father, effectively breaking the rules. The red Exisal charged at him but accidentally ended up crushing Monokuma instead, supposedly destroying him. The Monokuma Kubs were incredibly saddened at the sudden demise of their father, stating that he had no spare and that he was one of a kind. Upon learning this, Kokichi and everyone else's mood improved greatly, thinking the killing game to be over. Kaede, however, was still skeptical, but this skepticism was met with the accusation of her wanting to continue the killing game from some of the participants, Kokichi included.

The next morning, Kokichi was with everyone else in the dining hall once again, happy that the Killing Game had supposedly ended. However, it didn't take long for Monokuma to show up once again, much to the dismay of the students but to the joy of the Monokuma Kubs. Monokuma goes on to reveal the additional motive, that if a murder did not occur within two days by noon, everyone who was forced to participate would be killed. This motive caused a majority of the group to seem too depressed to stay united, and they left the dining hall.

The First Investigation and Trial

Kokichi overall never did anything significant during the time limit, not seeming to care about their current situation. On the night of the time limit, Kokichi remained alone in his room. As soon as the body discovery announcement played, however, he immediately rushed into the library, being among the last group of students to discover Rantaro Amami 's, the Ultimate ??? 's, corpse. Kokichi shed tears seeing that he was dead, calling him his "dearest" Rantaro. With that, the first investigation began.

Though everyone agreed to work in pairs, Kokichi chose not to follow this guideline and went off on his own. When questioned by Kaede and Shuichi about why he would intentionally want to come off as suspicious, he stated it was because he was an "evil" supreme leader and that he was supposed to be suspicious. When asked what he was doing during Rantaro's murder, Kokichi jokingly replied that he was in the library smashing his head in, much to Kaede's irritation. Overall, Kokichi didn't help with the investigation at all but instead was more aiming to confuse the duo with his lies.

During the class trial, he boasted about being an evil supreme leader and, as such, being used to situations like this. He would go on to pin the crime on Miu Iruma, the Ultimate Inventor, in the early stages of the trial since she constructed the cameras in the library, but Kaede, along with Korekiyo, the Ultimate Anthropologist, was quick to defend her and said that she was in the cafeteria at that time with Korekiyo, Kirumi Tojo, the Ultimate Maid, and Tsumugi Shirogane, the Ultimate Cosplayer. Miu acknowledged Kaede and said that she did good, but she harshly belittled Kokichi for being a liar, to which he responded with by shedding fake tears.

Later on in the trial, he would be quick to jump onto Shuichi as the culprit after he claimed that he had forgotten to mention the camera intervals to Kaede. She was quick to defend him, but Kokichi would continue to push constantly and ended up being one of the main students who believed that Shuichi had committed the crime. He was very quick to see through Kaede's lie, being a liar himself but left it up to everyone else to see if they would choose to believe in her. He eventually backed down along with the other students who were against Shuichi after Kaede and the students who defended Shuichi proved his innocence.

After Shuichi revealed Kaede as the true killer, Kokichi was intrigued and gladly went along in proving her guilt. He was one of the few students to show no sadness upon her demise and simply told her she fell straight for Monokuma's trap before she was executed. Before she died, however, he did tell her that she was not a boring person, seeming to compliment her.

Kokichi's Secret Message

Sometime between the end of the first trial and the morning of the next day, Kokichi would begin to devise of a plan to get everyone to think that he was the mastermind of this killing game, willing to be seen as evil for the sake of ending this madness. To begin this plan, he would leave a subtle message in the courtyard "Horse A", which he would later fill in with more letters as the killing game continued.

The morning of the next day, Kokichi along with everyone else would gather in the dining hall once again and have a normal, but forced the conversation to try and make themselves not think about the horrible events that transpired yesterday. Gonta was the first to find Kokichi's message while searching for bugs. He would inform everyone else in the dining hall about this supposed hidden message, but it was written off as insignificant graffiti. As Kirumi prepared breakfast for everyone, Kokichi and Gonta both asked her to be their mom. Afterward, the Monokuma Kubs showed up and handed out four random items that the students could use to unlock more areas in the academy.

Exploring the Rest of the Academy

One of the areas that would become unlocked would be the remaining second floor of the school, which led to the third floor. Upon the third floor was Maki Harukawa's, the Ultimate Child Caregiver's, Research Lab. However, Maki refused to let anyone in, much to Shuichi's confusion. Kokichi found this suspicious and while he couldn't investigate right now, would make mental note of this and theorize that Maki was hiding her true identity from the rest of the group.

Angie eventually told Kokichi and everyone else to meet in the gymnasium, seemingly failing in discovering anything about the conspicuous flashlight that she and Shuichi had discovered earlier. After everyone had gathered, Monokuma appeared and told the participants that it was a Flashback Light and that it had the ability to restore lost memories before leaving and letting the students decide what to do with it. Although everyone was skeptical at first, they eventually gave in and used it, allowing everyone, Kokichi included, to remember that they had been on the run from the "Ultimate Hunt". Though they could not remember the exact details and circumstances behind it, just that they had been on the run

The Motive Videos

In a bonus scene in Chapter 2, Kokichi, Miu, Shuichi, Korekiyo and Ryoma Hoshi , the Ultimate Tennis Pro, gathered in the casino in hopes of playing a secret game with the medal that Shuichi had received from the Monomono Machine. However, Monokuma shows up and denies this, never stating such a thing in the first place and that the medal Shuichi had was just some knickknack he made for the Monokuma Kubs. Afterward, Kaito showed up as well, and everyone got roped into a gambling competition. Kokichi was incredibly impressed with Ryoma's knack for gambling, beating Kaito every time.

During that same night, the Monokuma Kubs prepared the second motive, distributing various motive videos at random while the students slept. The next morning, Kokichi joined everyone in the dining hall in order to discuss what to do with the motive videos. Despite Ryoma suggesting that they exchange them, wanting to see who could be the most important person in his life, everyone rejected the idea, afraid that it would cause another murder to happen, much to his annoyance. Kokichi went along with whatever everyone decided, but secretly had ulterior motives and as a result, lied to Gonta about a promise they had made and met alone.

Gonta's Insect Meet and Greet

Kokichi, wanting to make everyone watch each other's motive videos in order to make the killing game more interesting, thought up of a plan. He lied to Gonta that everyone in the academy hated bugs. Hearing this, Gonta cried and declared that he would get everyone to like bugs in an "Insect Meet and Greet". As a result, two days after the motive videos were distributed, Gonta began to kidnap various students into his lab, completely unaware of the Ultimate Supreme Leader's true intentions.

Gonta would succeed in detaining Tenko Chabashira , the Ultimate Aikido Master, Korekiyo, K1-B0, and Tsumugi much to Kokichi's glee. Shuichi is also detained by the Ultimate Entomologist and brought to his lab, apologizing later for accidentally knocking him unconscious before continuing his kidnapping spree. Kokichi looked down at him happily as he woke up in Gonta's lab, telling everyone about his plan in order to get everyone to watch their motive videos, much to the detained students' irritation and annoyance. After Gonta kidnapped both Angie Yonaga , the Ultimate Artist, and Himiko Yumeno , the Ultimate Magician, Kokichi left in order to get everyone else's motive videos.

Kokichi would go to break into everyone's rooms using his lock picking capabilities and steal their motive videos. Before he could, Kokichi was stopped by Kirumi who seemed to almost defensively interrogate the Ultimate Supreme Leader, asking him just what he was doing. Kokichi would be kept by Kirumi for a whole hour, being chastised by her for the first thirty minutes, and forcing her into a game of tag for the last half hour. Kirumi angrily criticized his behavior before finally letting him go. Kokichi went to everyone's dorm rooms in order to retrieve their motive videos. While he was out, he also happened to see a woman running around the courtyard in her underwear, which later turned to be Miu who had taken off her clothes in order keep Gonta away from her. At some point around this time, Kokichi also told Ryoma who had his motive video.

After Kokichi returned with everyone's motive videos, Gonta told him about the people he was unable to detain while everyone else was even more irritated that Kokichi took so long to return while they had been swarmed by insects. Finally having enough with this absurdity, K1-B0 used his recording function in order to convince Gonta that Kokichi had tricked him so that this absurdity would end. Gonta became outraged by this and would order all the insects to swarm on him instead as punishment. Everyone else who had been detained was thankfully able to take back their motive videos and leave, heading to their dorm rooms to finally get some rest.

The Second Investigation and Class Trial

The very next day, Kokichi was one of the few who did not attend Himiko's magic show, where the next victim, Ryoma, would be found dead. After the body discovery announcement played, Kokichi came to the gym along with Kaito and Miu, seeming distressed that Ryoma was the one who was killed after everyone had promised to end the killing game together, shouting at everyone to apologize to Ryoma. Nobody seemed to take his words seriously however due to his deceptive nature.

During the investigation itself, Kokichi headed to the Ultimate Magician's Research Lab in order to find out how Himiko had performed her trick. While there, he filled in about what he was doing during that hour, about how he saw a half-naked woman running around the courtyard, and Kirumi keeping him for an hour.

During the second trial, after everyone had supposedly pinned down the culprit as either Kaito or Maki, Kokichi proposed that they all have those two argue against each other and convince the remaining participants on who is the culprit since if only two suspects remained, one of them had to know for certain that the other was the culprit. Kokichi presented everyone with the first topic, bringing out Ryoma's motive video, and said that one of those two had it. Shuichi was able to deduce that Maki had Ryoma's video due to the fact that he himself had Kaito's. Kokichi proudly told Kaito and Maki to tear each other’s arguments apart in an argument that "isn't boring". Kaito however, was angered by this, saying that he wasn't the culprit, but that Maki wasn't the culprit either, much to both Maki's and Kokichi's bewilderment. Kokichi was baffled with the Ultimate Astronaut being so willing to believe in people based on nothing more than a "hunch", especially considering that everyone's lives were on the line. After going back and forth for some time, Maki turned the entire debate around and said that she had met with Ryoma at nighttime, rendering everyone's alibi's as mute. Kokichi laughed Maki's claim off, claiming she was lying out of desperation. After debating on the matter, and thanks to Shuichi's lie, they were able to prove Maki's claim as accurate. Due to this, Kokichi backed down once again.

As the class trial continued on, Shuichi was able to deduce Kirumi as the real culprit of Ryoma's murder. As Kirumi became increasingly erratic upon seeing the incriminating evidence, Kokichi slyly hypothesized that she had seen her own motive video. In the end, after Kirumi was convicted, his claim would be proven right as she received her own motive video from the start by pure luck. Once everyone found out that Kirumi was the de facto prime minister of Japan, Kokichi didn't see it as that shocking for an Ultimate level talent to be that powerful. He also saw through Kirumi's charade when she had hoped someone would take the fall for her or get away while everyone else revolted, much to her dismay and irritation. In the end, Kokichi watched as the Ultimate Maid, his honorary mom, was executed by Monokuma.

Maki Exposed

Investigating the New Areas

After everyone leaves the trial room, Kokichi states that there was an even worse liar than himself hiding among the group, much to everyone's confusion. He then called Maki out as that liar, essentially claiming that she had been lying to everyone about her true identity this entire time. Maki was aggravated by this and threatened Kokichi, but despite holding the Ultimate Supreme Leader by his neck, he still called out her true talent as the Ultimate Assassin. Maki would supposedly try to kill Kokichi but was stopped by everyone else being there.

The next morning, Kokichi gathered everyone in the "Ultimate Child Caregiver's Research Lab" only to discover various weapons all throughout the lab, proving that Maki was, in fact, the Ultimate Assassin, not a child caregiver. As everyone discussed what to do about this issue, Kaito reassured everyone, saying that he'd take care of Maki. Kokichi seemed to agree, telling everyone to leave Maki to him. Afterward, the Monokuma Kubs showed up, usurped their father's role as headmaster, and passed out more items for the students to unlock new areas within the academy.

One of the places that became unlocked was the eerie fourth floor. Kokichi was interested in both of the Research Labs that became unlocked up there, the Ultimate Anthropologist's, and the Ultimate Artist's Research Lab. While Shuichi and Korekiyo were talking in the latter's lab, Kokichi suddenly barged in, took the gold leaf katana out of its display case and examined it, revealing that it was a real blade. This irritated Korekiyo, who angrily threatened that he would tear out the Ultimate Supreme Leader's nerves if he didn't put the katana back. Kokichi sadly complied, telling him that he didn't need to make such scary threats. Later, he would meet up with Shuichi in front of Angie's lab, wondering why it was locked. As Kokichi was about to break in using his lockpicking skills, Angie suddenly unlocked it from the inside and invited them in. Kokichi and Shuichi both investigated the lab, with the former being curious about the key and why exactly this lab needed a lock. The Monokuma Kubs and Angie both claimed that it's because Angie can only work in private and as such, needs a key for her lab. Kokichi became perplexed when Monodam ate the key, claiming that it was for everyone to "get along", but Angie said that it was fine since she only ever needed to lock her lab from inside. Kokichi theorized that this school was specifically made for all of its participants if Angie's lab had all her favorite sculpting and art supplies.

After Shuichi also discovered the computer room, Kokichi would join him and discover the Flashback Light he had found. He took it from him and told him and the others to meet in the dining hall in order to inspect it. Upon using it, everyone remembered what seemed to be their own funeral, much to the student's confusion. Kaito reassured everyone that there's no way the funeral could be real considering they were still alive and well. His small speech seemed to work, as everyone perked back up, enjoyed a small meal, then headed back to their dorms.

Angie's Student Council

Kokichi gathered with everyone in the gymnasium the very next morning at the Monokuma Kubs request. The participants were presented with the third motive, the Necronomicon, and were told that they would be able to bring back someone who had died already as a transfer student. This motive baffled the students, Kokichi included.

However, Angie seemed to embrace the motive, saying the "corpses" so far may have just been very accurate imitations to make the real people seem dead. Some of the students argued that there's no way that's possible, but Gonta said that more letters were added to the rock in the courtyard, deducing that perhaps the four people who had died are actually alive and wrote that message. Angie praised Gonta and, like Himiko before him, pulled him into a hug. She instilled hers and Atua's authority into him by reassuring him that he's not alone and that Atua is like a gentle grandmother that always keeps him safe, effectively playing off of Gonta's desire for a motherly figure.

It is then revealed that Angie had actually met up with a number of students the night prior and put together a Student Council in order to end the killing game. Kokichi however, wasn't buying into Angie's nonsense, calling everyone who was brainwashed by her "idiots". He ended up being one of the students that ended up opposing Angie's Student Council.

The Summoning Ritual

Two days after the motive is presented, Shuichi, Maki, and Tenko, try to reason with Angie one last time after failing the prior night. Himiko attempted to get Angie's attention, but the door into her lab was locked, worrying the trio. Kokichi overheard and offered to use his lockpicking skills in order to get into the lab, only to find the Ultimate Artist dead in the middle of her four wax effigies of the deceased that hung upside down from the ceiling. The body discovery announcement played and everyone else rushed to Angie's Research Lab. While the Student Council members mourned the loss of their president, Korekiyo proposed they perform a seance in order to commune with Angie's spirit. Kokichi, K1-B0, Himiko, and Tenko all decided to help, completely unaware that the Ultimate Anthropologist had ulterior motives and that he was the one who killed Angie the night prior.

While everyone else investigated, the group prepared for the seance in the vacant middle room on the same floor. Kokichi went to Korekiyo's lab to get what was needed but ran into Shuichi and Maki, who was investigating due to the fact that the katana used in Angie's murder came from the Ultimate Anthropologist's Research Lab. Shuichi split from Maki in order to investigate the seance, following Kokichi. After Shuichi showed up, everyone decided that K1-BO may not be fit for the seance due to his inhuman nature, much the Ultimate Robot's dismay. As a result, Shuichi ended up taking K1-B0's place, and he and Kokichi were in charge of lighting and extinguishing the candles. All four of them listened to Korekiyo's explanation regarding the seance. Kokichi was the one who carried the cage along with Shuichi, remarking on its weight, before placing it down atop the crouching Tenko. After extinguishing the candles, all four of them sang the Caged Child Song, noticing an extremely loud noise in the middle of the darkened seance. After the caged child did not answer to Korekiyo's question, Kokichi and Shuichi reignited the candles and the whole group helped in removing the cage and cloth from Tenko's position, only to find her dead in a pool of her own blood. Everyone was baffled as to how she was killed as the body discovery announcement played for a second time.

There, Kaito and the others who didn’t assist in the ritual discovered Tenko’s corpse lying in the center of the now-ruined magic circle. Kokichi made up a lie at how a curse could've killed Tenko, causing Kaito to panic in fear. He then pulled Maki into his arms, embarrassing her and irritating her greatly. Out of anger, she gave Kaito a swift punch to the gut, causing him to let go and leave the séance room.

As everybody investigated the seance room in order to find the cause of Tenko's death, Kokichi noticed the loose floorboard and got a theory that he needed to confirm. He went to one of the other two vacant rooms to investigate the floorboards, only to end up stepping through one with no crosspiece supporting it, causing him to trip and fall on his head. As it turns out, all three of the empty rooms were trapped, which would be a crucial fact that would assist the group in finding the killer. Kokichi however, lost a significant amount of blood due to his misstep. Instead of tending to his wound, he decides to pull a prank by faking his own death, lying face down in the middle of the fourth-floor hallway. Shuichi and Maki both discover this, obviously horrified at the thought of a third victim, but Kokichi quickly springs back up, happily declaring "It's a lie!". Both of them were obviously upset and irritated but also wondered what Kokichi's intentions were. He tells them both that he was actually bleeding and that he had stepped through one of the floorboards in the other rooms. This intrigued Shuichi, but he had no chance to investigate himself as the announcement telling everyone to go to the trial room played. The light-headed Kokichi went to the trial grounds with everyone else.

The Third Class Trial

In the early stages of the trial, Kokichi is suspected of being one of the ones who could have killed Angie due to being able to pick locks. Kokichi happily accepted the claim, even going so far as to claim that he himself killed Angie, shocking and confusing the group. Shuichi however, was able to see through his lies easily, asking him how he could have prepared the locked-room mystery. After talking about it a bit more, Kokichi confessed that he lied about being the culprit, claiming that he wanted to draw out the real culprit with his lie.

When Himiko asks why Tenko had to die, Kokichi states that her death was meaningless and that Angie's death was the only one that they had to worry about. This outraged Himiko greatly, asking him how he could be so inconsiderate towards one of their own friends, but Kokichi didn't waver. Instead, he called Himiko out on only caring about Tenko after she had died and never once caring about her prior. Himiko acknowledged his statement but said that that was the reason she was so upset now. Due to her declaration, everyone was moved and decided to discuss Tenko's murder instead, wanting to know why she died as well. Kokichi didn't find this necessary at all but still went along with everyone's discussion.

Later on during the trial, when everyone was quick to suspect Himiko of being the culprit due to the fact that the seance trick was set up in the middle room, Kokichi's testimony turned out to be a valuable clue in finding her innocent. Him stepping through the floorboards proved that every single room was trapped, not just the middle room. As a result, and with all the other evidence, Shuichi was able to pin the crime on Korekiyo, but he dismissed it as irrelevant due to them having to find Angie's killer, not Tenko's. When Shuichi was able to pin both crimes on him, however, Kokichi remarked on how obvious and boring of an answer that was, stating that it was pointless to kill two people because it left more clues for everyone to find. As a result, Korekiyo was found out as the culprit.

Upon listening to Korekiyo's motive for killing, Kokichi pointed out that he was likely already insane before he became trapped in the school, wanting to send one-hundred women that he deemed as "fitting friends" to his deceased sister. In the end, Kokichi simply watched as Korekiyo was executed by Monokuma. Afterward, seeing that Himiko was still trying to hold in her emotions from Angie and Tenko's demise, Kokichi called her out, belittling her for still holding back. Eventually, Himiko broke down in tears at the loss of her two friends and was carried back to her dorm room by Gonta. Kokichi remarked on how tired she looked after spending so long crying.

Remembering the "Truth"

The very next morning following the third class trial, Kokichi gathered with everyone in the dining hall yet again. The group became disheartened to see how many people they had lost up until now. Monokuma then showed up along with his Kubs to hand out the next set of random items to unlock more areas with, along with a card key that according to Monophanie would be the next motive. As everyone contemplated what to do with the card key, Kokichi stole it and ran off, with Kaito in hot pursuit. Kokichi was easily able to evade him however and discovered that the card key was actually for the door at the end of the Death Road of Despair. While everyone else investigated the newly opened areas, Kokichi was able to get through the tunnel alone and discovered the supposed secret of the outside world, of the killing game itself, that they were the last remaining survivors of humanity and that the Earth had bee destroyed long ago by meteorites. With this knowledge, Kokichi began to form the next stage of his plan. No matter what, he would end the Killing Game, even if he had to get everyone to fall into despair to do it. To further his own ends, Kokichi kept this truth hidden but continued plotting.

Kokichi later regathered with everyone else in the dining hall to investigate yet another Flashback Light. Everyone wondered just where Kokichi had ran off to but lied by saying he couldn't find where the card key went to. Once everyone used the Flashback Light on themselves, they remembered the meteorites that impacted the Earth and that it was described as being very similar to the meteor impact that wiped out the dinosaurs millions of years ago. They also remembered basic details of the cult bent on stopping the Gofer Project saying that mankind deserved damnation, and the Gofer Project itself. Of course, Kokichi was already aware of all this thanks to already knowing about the secret of the outside world.

Kokichi's Plan

Monokuma however, was disappointed that the motive went to waste, as Kokichi had no plans to kill anybody. Knowing this, Kokichi met with Monokuma in secret in the game room at nighttime and proposed that they reuse the motive in order to make the Killing Game "more interesting". He was also already aware of Miu's plan to use the virtual world simulator in order to kill him. As a result, he had already planned his own "murder plan" in order to make himself appear as evil to the rest of the group. Monokuma happily went along with this plan, placing a Flashback Light that revealed the secret of the outside world within the Killing Game simulator.

The morning after everyone remembered the meteorites, Gonta, wanting to be of some use to everyone, proposed that he fight the Exisals regardless of how reckless it may be. Kokichi said that that was meaningless and that he shouldn't do that, mainly because the killing game wouldn't end even if he did. Kokichi then called everyone out for being whack jobs if they wanted something this "fun" to end. He confidently declared that he would win this game, even if he had to become blackened while calling everyone else out as cowards. This drew the ire of Kaito, who finally had enough of Kokichi's antics and punched him in the face. Kaito asked Kokichi what had gotten into him, stating that the way he was acting now was a whole different level of weird. Kokichi was rendered mute by this act, and everyone ate breakfast in awkward silence.

Sometime before Miu died, Kokichi would also meet with Miu in her lab and requested her to make the electrobombs and electrohammers used in Chapter 5 by the remaining students to cross the Death Road of Despair as well a universal remote control that could hack into any electronic object. Kokichi was also suspicious about the "tiny bugs" that Gonta kept seeing around the school and as such, also asked Miu to make something called a "bugvac" in order to suck up the tiny bugs. It was here that Kokichi saw just how much Miu feared betrayal and the killing game itself, having no intention of defying Monokuma, but pleaded that if Kokichi and the others did find a way out to not leave her behind.

Neo World Program

The Killing Game Busters

The next night, Miu gathered everyone in the computer room on the fourth floor of the academy, lying to them all about a way to escape the killing game. Kokichi told her to drop to her knees and beg if they wanted them to listen to her, to which she did. She then explained key points about the program and what she did to modify it, making sure to keep all relevant details about her murder plan a secret. After Monokuma showed up, claiming that there was a "secret of the outside world" within the virtual world program , everyone decided that it would be better to investigate after all.Everyone sits down in their chairs, connects their headset to the computer, making sure to listen to Miu's instructions, and logs in. Miu however, placed a bottle of poison on Kokichi's seat, wanting to make it look like he died in the real world as part of her murder plan completely unaware that the tables were about to be turned on her.

Once inside the virtual world, Kokichi immediately hit K1-B0, confirming that everyone's sense was still connected and that their real bodies could die of shock if their avatars were killed. Later, after everyone discussed the map of the virtual world and mansion, Kokichi led Gonta to the Flashback Light the rest of the group was searching for in the forest behind the mansion, already knowing it's hiding spot. Once Kokichi showed it to him, Gonta immediately thought that they should tell everyone, but was stopped by Kokichi. The Ultimate Supreme Leader asked him if it was really okay for him to believe a liar like himself and said that he should check the Flashback Light for himself if he really wanted to save everyone. Gonta was once again tricked by Kokichi and used the Flashback Light, causing him to see the supposed truth of the outside world. In his state of despair, Kokichi convinces Gonta that being dead without knowing anything is the best option for everyone and offers him a plan to kill Miu now and then kill everyone else with the Class Trial. Gonta completely follows Kokichi's instructions, believing that regardless of whether they were inside or outside the academy, hell was inescapable.

After spotting Miu go through the wall that only objects can pass through, Gonta tells Kokichi and the maniacal liar begins to understand the aspects of the program that Miu kept hidden from them and devises the full murder plan, informing Gonta of what to do. Once Miu and Kokichi met up on the roof, Gonta waited in hiding before ambushing her from behind with a roll of toilet paper, strangling her avatar to death, causing her real body to die from shock. While in normal circumstances the toilet paper would easily tear, objects were unbreakable in the virtual world and as a result, the toilet paper was easily able to substitute for a rope. Gonta cries out "I'm sorry" multiple times, but Kokichi reassured him that it was fine before instructing him on what to do next. Gonta placed Miu's dead avatar on a lattice from the storage room and slid her off the roof, causing her to go through the wall that only objects could pass through, and crash into the side of the chapel which was only possible because the world actually looped. The loud noise created by the sudden impact alerted everyone else in the virtual world. Kokichi then instructed Gonta to scale down the roof using the toilet paper and put it back in the bathroom. While Gonta was able to hang the toilet paper from the binoculars to get off the roof, he was unable to dispose of it properly due to Shuichi and Tsumugi's untimely arrival. This made Gonta panic and so he tossed the toilet paper somewhere nearby. Kokichi then rejoined the rest of the group, pretending to have no idea what had transpired. As everyone logged back out of the virtual world, Kokichi stopped Shuichi for a second to tell him how interesting he is and that he should work for him, though this only irritated the Ultimate Detective and so he logged out. Kokichi speaks to himself, stating that despite he was rejected, he wouldn't give up that easily.

Kokichi wakes up with everyone else to find Miu dead in her own chair, having died from shock in the virtual world. Kokichi once again pretends to not know anything and go along with everyone else. Gonta however, accidentally mixed up the "memory" and "consciousness" cords before he entered, causing him to retain no memory of ever being in the virtual world at all. Despite Kokichi being the one who created the plan, he is not considered the culprit of the murder as he did not directly kill anyone. Kokichi never realized Gonta's memory loss during the investigation, just viewing him as being as dumb as always. As soon as Kaito rushed in, he was also shocked to find Miu's dead body, but Kokichi asked him why he had logged out before everyone else did, quick to suspect him despite knowing for certain that he didn't commit the crime, likely to fool everyone. With that, the investigation began once again.

The Fourth Class Trial

During the class trial itself, Kokichi remained silent about everything he knew, even going so far as to lie about meeting with Miu on the roof. When Maki and Shuichi noted that he went to the rooftop himself, Kokichi suddenly got anxious and stuttered, but quickly calmed down after he used what Himiko said to try to hide the fact that he went to the rooftop. During the trial itself, Kokichi was noted as acting and talking just like Monokuma by Gonta and Kaito. He didn't seem to be particularly offended by this claim and still guided everyone along during the trial as if he knew everything, even going so far as to admit that he worked together with Monokuma temporarily.

After it was revealed that Kokichi had lied about his meeting with Miu on the roof, he decided that he would take away any potential mystery solving regarding the case and bluntly stated that Gonta was Miu's killer. This shocked and angered the other participants greatly, claiming that there's no way someone like Gonta would commit murder let alone listen to Kokichi after what happened with the Insect Meet and Greet. However, Kokichi, Keebo, and Shuichi, much to the latter's dismay, made it very apparent that Gonta was able to commit this crime. Gonta pleaded to Shuchi that he wasn't the culprit, while Kaito became increasingly outraged at the Ultimate Detective for believing in Kokichi over Gonta. As a result, a rift in the group formed. Gonta, feeling responsible, apologized thinking that it was his fault that everyone was so upset. Kokichi angrily told Gonta to argue back, but he was unable to due to having no memory of the crime he had committed. After realizing that Gonta had been saying things such as "I don't know", and "I don't understand" ever since leaving the virtual world, Shuichi was able to deduce that Gonta had suffered from an avatar error caused by him mixing up the cords, causing him to forget his crime, much to the group's dismay. Finally, even though Gonta himself acknowledged that he wasn't smart enough to understand what was going on, he decided to believe in everyone, thinking that they were probably right. Despite this, Gonta sadly cried out why he would do such a horrible thing, still not even understanding his own motivations.

As a result, in order for everyone to understand Gonta's motivations, Monokuma programs a Gonta Alter-Ego containing Gonta's virtual memories to explain on the real Gonta's behalf. The real Gonta could seemingly understand where AI Gonta was coming from when he said that he wanted to be useful to everyone, which led to him being tricked by Kokichi. When the AI Gonta was asked about what "truth" he remembered, he said that he couldn't tell them due to not wanting them all to end up like he did, to remember a despair so horrible that you'd feel as if you wanted to die. With that, the real Gonta seemingly came to terms with his fate, not showing any signs of fear. Kokichi begs to be executed along with Gonta, but he refuses the proposal. Gonta told the group to forgive his partner for what he's done and get along well with him. Gonta apologizes to everybody for being unable to protect them until the very end. Kokichi watched as Gonta was dragged to his execution, seeming to have gone mute.

Everyone was saddened at the loss of a kindhearted soul such as Gonta, nobody blaming him for his actions. The remaining participants demanded that Kokichi explain the secret of the outside world if Gonta actually meant anything to him, but he refused. Kokichi claimed that he was faking his own tears and mocked Gonta post-mortem, calling him an idiot and saying that he died a meaningless death along with Miu. He claimed that he himself inflicted pain and suffering on the group for no other reason than the thrill of it.

To End the Killing Game

Kaito, outraged by the Ultimate Supreme Leader's inconsiderate and outright evil attitude, moved to hit him once again. However, due to his illness, Kokichi was easily able to dodge him and punch him back, knocking him to the ground. Kokichi was able to tell that Kaito was slower than usual and pondered on whether or not he was hiding something from everyone. Maki became increasingly worried upon seeing this and threatened to kill Kokichi herself. However, she was stopped by Kaito and everyone rushed to his side as Kokichi continued to monologue. Kokichi wondered why everyone was worried about a guy like Kaito, but Shuichi quickly stabbed back, saying that he should look at himself compared to Kaito. Shuichi states that Kokichi was the pathetic one as no one wanted to be around him, and that would never change. Kokichi seemingly shrugged this claim off and left the trial grounds, having become bored yet again. As Kokichi left the trial grounds, he eerily remarked to himself that it was almost time to end this Killing Game once and for all, finally finishing the message in the courtyard, "This world is mine, Kokichi Oma".

Following the fourth trial, Kokichi would disappear for a couple of days to continue with his own plan. Later on, when Kaito gathered everyone in the gym, proposing a plan to fight Monokuma, Kokichi suddenly appeared as well and brought with him Miu's inventions, offering them to his classmates. He told everyone that he wanted to end the killing game as well, but Maki was tired of his deceptive nature and threatened to strangle him once again, asking him just what he was scheming. Maki was eventually stopped by the others, dropping Kokichi on the floor. He told everyone that he wouldn't interfere with them any longer before leaving the gym, along with Miu's memento for them to use, the electrohammers.

After the other survivors used Miu's inventions to cross the Death Road of Despair, they came across a large metal hatch which they opened up and discovered the apparent state of the outside world, ruined and destroyed by meteorites. Everyone became unable to breathe and lost consciousness not long after. An unprecedented time afterward, the hatch closes and everyone woke up. Kokichi appeared and congratulated everyone for discovering the truth of the outside world. He revealed everything to them, that the world was in ruins, and that they were secretly on a giant spaceship that acted as an ark for the last sixteen survivors of humanity, or rather last "seven" survivors of humanity. Afterward, Kokichi proclaimed himself as the leader of the cult bent on stopping the Gofer Project and the one who let Monokuma into the ark, effectively declaring himself as the Mastermind of the Killing School Semester. Everyone was skeptical at first until Kokichi used Miu's universal remote control to make the Exisals do his bidding to further convince the remaining survivors that he was, in fact, the Mastermind. Kaito once again became outraged with Kokichi and attempted to punch him yet again. However, Kokichi easily incapacitated the Ultimate Astronaut by using the Exisals. Maki attempted to attack him as well but was stopped by Shuichi. Kokichi told Shuichi that he made a wise decision before requesting the detective to give him back the Exisal hangar's alarm remote back, a request that he reluctantly complied to for Kaito's own safety. Kokichi declared that everyone was free to do whatever they pleased before leaving them all in a state of despair and taking Kaito hostage in the Exisal hangar, confident that he had broken everyone's spirits with his lies so much that they wouldn't want to do the Killing Game anymore.

However, the Mastermind, after seeing that everyone was too apathetic now to continue the killing game, prepared a Flashback Light that gave everybody memories of Hope's Peak Academy, that they were the symbols of hope, and that Kokichi was a Remnant of Despair. Upon receiving this memory, everyone's determination solidified, resolving to stop Kokichi, save Kaito, and end the Killing Game once and for all.

The same day that everyone remembered this, Kaito, who was still being held captive inside the Exisal hangar, asked Himiko to bring him a disassembled crossbow through the small bathroom window. He proceeded to assemble the crossbow and threatened Kokichi with it, not wishing to kill him, but at the very least overpower him. Kaito shot him in the arm and they got into a quarrel. It was at this time that Maki rode an Exisal into the hangar, intent on ending the killing game, saving Kaito, and killing Kokichi due to believing that he was a Remnant of Despair from the false memory triggered by the Flashback Light. Everyone aside from Kokichi and Kaito was unknowingly being controlled by the Mastermind in order to continue the Killing Game.

Kokichi made a desperate grab for the remote control that Miu made to control any electronic device, but he was promptly shot in the back by Maki with a poison-tipped arrow from her crossbow and brought to the ground. Despite the position he was in, Kokichi belittled Maki, asking her why a killing game that should have already ended is still continuing. He had no idea what she meant by Remnant of Despair and asked her whether or not she really enjoys killing that much. Maki would not hear any of it and proceeded to shoot the killing blow, only to have it intercepted by Kaito, stunning Kokichi and shocking Maki.

Maki panicked, rushed out of the hangar, and made her way to Shuichi's Research Lab to retrieve the antidote for the poison, but Kokichi closed the shutter to the hangar to ensure she could not come back in. Later, Maki came back with the antidote and passed it to Kaito through the small bathroom window, but Kokichi immediately stole it and supposedly drank it, much to Kaito's anger, and Maki's horror due to there only being one antidote. Kokichi boasted that another class trial would start now where Kaito would be the victim and Maki would be the blackened, much to her shock. Kaito reassured her that she would be fine and told her to leave.

After Maki fled the scene, Kokichi used the electric bomb to disable the Nanokumas, security alarm, and safety mechanism of the press machine inside of the hangar. He then gave the antidote to Kaito, revealing that he only pretended to drink it. He forced Kaito to comply with his plan where he would kill him in order to create an unknown victim case so that Monokuma would not be able to create proper judgment during the class trial. Kaito initially refused, but when Kokichi made the point that Maki would be the blackened if he didn't, he had no choice but to go along with the plan in order save Maki and stop the killing game as well. It is revealed here that Kokichi has actually been trying to stop the killing game from the very beginning. Pretending to be the mastermind and revealing the supposed truth about the outside world to the others was all done by him to discourage another killing from happening. He cries in anger as he explains that he hates the killing game, its creators as well as its viewers for toying with their lives and enjoying it, and states his dislike for games you are forced to play. Kaito couldn't tell if he was lying or not but acknowledged that he was really pulling at his strings in order to get him to work with him, and even developed some respect for Kokichi.

Kokichi's Fate

Both Kokichi and Kaito acted quickly to ensure that the former would not die from the poison that was circulating throughout his body. They both made their way to the press machine and began to go through with the plan. Kaito took off his jacket, placed it underneath the press machine, then lied down on it while Kokichi controlled the press machine and filmed the "time of death" with a simple video camera. Kokichi stopped the press machine and the video camera while only Kaito's hand and his sleeve was visible, then the two promptly swapped places. Kaito, now controlling both the press machine and camera, turned them both on once again, crushing Kokichi to an unrecognizable, bloody mess, with Kaito's jacket sleeve hanging out of the press as a false clue as to who the victim was.

Danganronpa V3 Chapter 5 Body Discovery

Kaito would proceed to retrieve the video camera, snap the cords to the press machine to ensure it would not move again, and hid inside the red Exisal until the class trial began, where he imitated the Ultimate Supreme Leader himself thanks to the Exisal's voice changing function, as well as a book that Kokichi prepared for this exact moment that detailed his exact way of speaking and specific behaviors unique to him, essentially carrying on his will and plan until Shuichi is able to deduce that the person inside of the Exisal is not Kokichi, but Kaito.

After the Class Trial ended, Shuichi concluded that Kokichi was someone they could not understand all the way until the very end and that he might be the physical embodiment of "lie" itself.

Uncovering the Truth

Kokichi's Research Lab and dorm room would open up to everyone in this chapter. The dorm is where Shuichi discovers Kokichi's motive video. Upon watching the video, it is revealed that Kokichi's supposed "evil secret society" was nothing more than a group of ten pranksters known as D.I.C.E. who committed laughable crimes and had a strict motto to never murder. He also somehow knew the combination lock for the vault in Rantaro's lab, "Horse A", and "Twins B", which let Shuichi and Himiko discover the truth about Rantaro. Both Kokichi's motivation video, and Rantaro's video to himself, would later be used as evidence during the final class trial to disprove Kokichi being a Remnant of Despair, as well as to prove the survivors memories contradict with the actual facts about Hope's Peak Academy, revealing that everything that had been implanted into them by the Flashback Light were all lies.

Creation and Development

Kokichi's characterization was focused on duality. The keyword on his initial design was simply "shota", so he was made to look like a cute and personable boy. However, the point was to give him a creepy feeling as well, so his early designs included things like black clothing, skeleton patterns, and heterochromatic eyes. In the end, he was given a uniform as white as possible that would be contrasted by the colors of his hair and scarf.

The character was made to be a liar to add to the story's main theme of truth and lies. As he is the character who personifies the game's central themes, Kazutaka Kodaka put more thought into him than any other character. He was made to resemble the double-agent role, in Mafia terms. Because of this, making him a trickster who stirs up the trials was considered indispensable. Considering this perspective, Kodaka has stated that Kokichi would feel more in place as an Ultimate Liar than a Supreme Leader.

Kokichi's "craziest" sprites were originally Rui Komatsuzaki's idea. Kodaka describes them as "physically impossible" and "otherworldly" instead of overdramatic. According to him, their creepiness expresses Kokichi's true nature to some extent. Kodaka was unsure whether or not to include them as they are a little overblown and maybe too much but ultimately decided to keep them.

Kodaka has also mentioned more than once how Danganronpa has never had a character who simply enjoys the trials before, even if it was just a lie, which is why they wanted to make him the pretense mastermind battling against the real one. He likes the character quite a lot but states that Kokichi is not the kind of guy he would like to meet in real life.[5]

Name

His given name kokichi (小吉) can mean "small luck", or can be a fortune telling reading for slightly good luck. His last name, ōma (王馬) means "king horse", which could be a reference to his Ultimate talent. Furthermore, his unique laugh resembles a horse's sound both in the Japanese and English versions of the game, and he even has a horse head mask with a crown inside his room. Similar horse head masks are worn by people all over the world for humorous effect and are a symbol of Anonymous on the Japanese web.

According to Kodaka, he was given the names "king horse" and "small luck" to reflect the duality of his character, with him having a grandiose, big-sounding and mastermind-ish family name but a very small-sounding first name.[5]

While the characters "総統" may also be used to translate as "President", and still do in Japanese for President of Taiwan (中華民国総統) and in the Chinese language, nowadays the kanji in Japanese is associated with "dictators". Ironically, the Japanese kanji for Presidents (of USA, for example), "大統領", means "junta leader" in Chinese.

Alternate Fates

In Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony (Demo Version), Kokichi is first seen inside the storage room chasing and harassing K1-B0. He innocently asks K1-B0 to be his friend, seemingly unaware that his actions make the Ultimate Robot feel uncomfortable. After that, he introduces himself to Kaede and Makoto Naegi, claiming that he is the leader of a secret evil organization with over 10,000 members. However, he says that it might be a lie as he states that he is a liar. Throughout the conversation, he says things to offend K1-B0, such as asking whether he has a penis or not.

Appearance

Kokichi is a young man with an innocent look and a rather refined face. He has a short stature, a thin build, and very pale skin. He has purple eyes and moderately long, wavy blackish purple hair, with the tips dyed a brighter purple. In the official art book, it is stated that he does not seem to care about his hair and the hairstyle is a result of him playing with it—however, he does sometimes make use of the shadows his bangs form to make himself look evil.[5]

He wears a white suit with multiple straps wrapped around his arms, and two straps hanging loosely around his legs. Apparently, his pants are made to look like a piece of punk fashion with bondage pelts, but they are actually just fake belts sewed to thicker part of the thighs. His shirt is ripped at the hem and the collar part of it is completely gone, and big parts of the uniform are fixed with metal clips. He has multi-colored buttons running down the middle of his shirt, with a few usually hidden under his scarf, and he has military badges on his right. His scarf has black and white spaces alternating exactly like a chessboard. He also wears two-colored black and purple slip flats, and as seen in the character design gallery, he appears to wear a white belt.

In his promotional art, he is shown with a dark flowing cloak and a leather peaked hat with a gold badge on top of it, giving him a more malicious look.

In the prologue, he wears the uniform of his original high school. He has the classical tsume-eri uniform on properly. His personally customized uniform has beauty from that of a university annex high school. Like with his other attire, the bottom of his trousers are short.[6]

As a big contrast to his other clothing, Kokichi's "trendy" underwear has much brighter and vibrant colors with red and yellow stripes. Apparently, he wishes to hide his playful heart and true fashion sense in a place no one can see.[5]

In the Japanese version, Kokichi's voice is usually slightly childish fitting his appearance, but it occasionally turns much deeper and mature, usually when he is either angry, foreboding or flirty. He similarly occasionally uses deeper voice in the English version, but it's less notable as his usual voice isn't as childish as the original.

Personality

Kokichi describes himself as an evil supreme leader, and often claims that this title is the reason behind many of his questionable actions as if he is expected to fulfill his role. He is an elusive and manipulative person who unabashedly tells lies and says whatever he's thinking. He is also strangely straightforward about his supposed evil nature, openly claiming to be a leader of a large secret society, admitting to being a liar, and saying he has done nothing but bad things. Among other things, his organization supposedly has covert agents in every country, control over all the mafias in the world, torture as a form of punishment, and Kokichi's defeated opponents apparently will get sent to Siberia. However, none of his claims have been confirmed, and the other students think he's either lying or delusional.

According to Kazutaka Kodaka, Kokichi is a trickster character in the truest sense of the word.[7] He is very mischievous, and he enjoys pranks and teasing others, sometimes in quite mean-spirited ways. He appeared to have a strong need for attention, as he got irritated if people talked over him or didn't react to his antics the way he wanted them to. He also appeared quite arrogant, clearly considering himself very important part of the class trials, looking down on some of the other students, often wishing to lead the debates and once claiming that the class trials won't be good if the others won't allow him to speak. Because of his behavior, he is viewed as an antagonistic figure among the group, but this doesn't seem to stop him from being able to manipulate the class trials anyway. He is often portrayed smiling slyly and laughing mischievously, though he may look very harmless and innocent at first glance. He often behaves calmly and coolly in a way to torture the others, at times turning very ominous to the point of having very unsettling, downright demonic looking expressions. Sometimes, he can speak very sweetly, even flirty and claiming he loves the other person very much, while during other moments he can speak in a very crude and nasty manner (especially towards Miu) and use insults which vary from quite harmless to very mean-spirited. He can also try to use his looks to his advantage and sheds crocodile tears by crying loudly like a scared and threatened child, telling the others they're being really mean, but this is always overly dramatic and obviously fake. There are also moments when he appears scared, tearfully mentioning that he is afraid of the killing game and doesn't want to die, and often crying loudly soon after someone's death...but it's unclear if he is being genuine or just trying to earn sympathy with his looks. There are also moments when he suddenly falls asleep and snores comically, angering the others.

Fitting his appearance, Kokichi often acts notably child-like, with at least some of it appearing genuine while part of it also could be just his attempt to use his looks to his advantage. He is sometimes shown to have child-like excitement and innocence, as he gets very excited about "cool" new things like the Exisals and the morphing Trial Grounds marvels the school in a child-like excitement and shouts "yodelay-hee-hoooooo" while the students are inside the echoing tunnel. Kaede considered him exhausting and like a child who wants attention with bad behavior. He often acts playful and seemingly appears more ignorant than malicious during the first time he meets K1-B0. He is also notably interested in games and often has a strong desire to be a winner and play them seriously while also having fun along with them, with one of his principles being "to have fun" with everything he does. He enjoys hard difficulty, claiming that he always plays on Hard Mode and never uses the "Run" command, and he is stated to have nerves of steel in order to accomplish this. He came up with an original theory that enjoying the extreme thrill of cornering yourself with all exits sealed is the definition of fun. However, he also enjoys more casual things like getting chased around as if it's a game, at least by people like Kaede, Kirumi, and Shuichi who wouldn't beat him up after catching him, and loves hide and seek. Later in the game, it's shown that he has drawn multiple childish drawings with silly fantasy concepts such as ray guns with rainbow-colored beams (along with a silly self-portrait of himself), and he apparently owns a toy helicopter and a supercar. His favorite presents include a pop electro-water gun, most likely to use for pranks, and a hammock to relax and feel like a child again. In his Free Time Events, Kokichi makes multiple references to shows such as Yu-Gi-Oh! and Tobaku Mokushiroku Kaiji, and it's indicated that he likes the Shōnen genre. His supreme leader claims can also be rather childish at times, like destroying cities with giant robot dinosaurs. His Research Lab had a stereotypical dramatic throne of an evil ruler, comical instead of harmful objects, flashy cars and was even described to be like a child's idea of what an evil supreme leader is. In his Love Suite fantasy sequence, it's shown that he likes to imagine himself as a legendary phantom thief who has a romantic rivalry with a detective, and it's indicated that while he loves the chase (even more so than committing the actual crime) he is also very excited about being caught and punished. In the official art book, it's stated that he is quite nonchalant about his hair, but he does possess a true sense of fashion he keeps hidden and displays through his colorful underwear, supposedly not finding it fitting with his supreme leader image.[5] Notably, he also keeps referring to Kirumi as his "mom", and he is a big admirer of Santa Claus.[8] He himself has openly admitted that as a teenager he is, of course, immature, and he claims that people should never lose their childish side. However, at other times, he acted offended at the mere suggestion that a supreme leader such as himself would do something so childish (though this reaction, too, often appeared to be just a joke).

Above all, Kokichi considers lying a big part of himself and a way of life, appearing either unwilling or unable to stop it and even claiming that his body is made up of 70% lies. He frequently claims something only to shortly afterward reveal that he was just lying, making it very hard to trust his word. Sometimes the lies are very obvious, but at other times it can be near impossible to tell whether or not he is telling the truth. He also tends to say whatever riles up the other students at the moment and tries to mess up conversations without any apparent reason. Indeed, neither because of impulsivity or the need to confuse others, he lies mostly because he feels he's free to do whatever he wants whenever he wants.[9] He has also frequently pointed out that even if he told the truth, the others wouldn't believe a liar like him, indicating that he uses his constant lying to mask his own true feelings and intentions. Furthermore, being a liar himself, he always seems to notice when and why other people are lying. Ironically, he appears annoyed if other people are lying, either to others or themselves, and he claims that he hates liars. He also dislikes it when people claim they hate lying yet they lie . He sometimes does not point out other people's lies and may even go along with them simply for the fun of it, but he seems to enjoy revealing other students' more serious dishonest ulterior motives with near malicious glee, such as when he exposed Maki as the Ultimate Assassin and called Kirumi out on her attempt to guilt another student into taking her place for the execution. Notably, whenever his face and tone goes more blank and neutral, it's heavily implied that he has a rare moment of being completely genuine and honest, and he has an occasional habit to unintentionally speak out loud what he is genuinely thinking and sometimes even does it intentionally by openly explaining it to the other students.

Besides lying, Kokichi is shown to be very intelligent in general, with he himself claiming that his head is always filled with complicated thoughts. He is capable of creating complex plans in a short amount of time—a notable case being the time he wrote a script for Kaito during the class trial, which was written thoroughly about possible reactions and possible routes of how the trial will play out. He is also very perceptive, possibly due to being a major liar in a game that's main theme is lies, as he often appears to have a deeper understanding of the situations and can predict things to the point of resembling breaking of the fourth wall. He quickly figured out Kaede's major flaw, foreshadowed her death and explained to her that the definition of common sense varies depending on the person. Notably, he understands that in order to truly win the killing game you must end it, not necessarily survive it. During his free time events, he even gives this advice to Shuichi, telling him that games can be won by not playing them. He also does lots of investigation alone without other people noticing, analyzes the other students, writes their fates and his impression of them on his whiteboard, and hoards lots of evidence from the past cases into his room. Supposedly because of his intelligence, Kokichi strongly disliked boredom (though not as badly as Junko Enoshima and Izuru Kamukura). He tended to complain about situations he found boring and even during some bad situations he noted that it's fine because at least it's not boring. If he liked a person or found them interesting, he tended to state that they are not boring, which was a big and rare compliment coming from him. Furthermore, his last words even include a prominent line "At least I... wasn't boring, right?", showing that the matter appears very important to him. In general, he also seems to have an interest in "useful" people and wishes to have such people around him. It's implied that contrasting his intelligence, his weakness might be his physical strength. He dislikes heavy physical work and sports and complains whenever he has to participate in such activities, and he himself admits multiple times that he is weak physically. He also appears fearful whenever others threaten to hurt him, often running away quickly or relying on Gonta for protection. During Chapter 2, he hides in the casino from Kaito and gets startled by Shuichi's appearance as he mistakes him for Kaito for a second. However, it should also be noted that he was seen as incredibly agile by Maki when he punched Kaito at the end of Chapter 4, and he further claims that he lied about not being good at fighting, so it is unclear just how capable he really is when it comes to a fight. He claims that as an evil supreme leader, he doesn't like violence and would rather sneak around.

While Kokichi claims that his arguments are simply based on logic, he appears to have some sort of trust issues. He once told Kaede that he is more nervous around friends who share too much than strangers. It has been pointed out by other characters such as K1-B0 and Kaito that Kokichi does not like to talk about himself nor be open about his true feelings. After Kaede's death, he himself even pointed out that you'll feel happy and cheerful in no time if you just hit the reset button on your feelings, indicating that he is heavily suppressing his true emotions. He appears to have little trust in anyone or anything, refusing to tell anything about himself besides his questionable supreme leader claims and generally questioning the truthfulness of different situations. He frequently reminds the other students that the game is about suspecting others and that you cannot fully trust other people, especially in such situation, causing him to clash with Kaito's opposite way of thinking. Kaito even once called him naive, telling him that everyone has a secret to keep, and he shouldn't get so paranoid over someone's true thoughts. However, despite his trust issues, Kokichi does appear to see Shuichi as potentially trustworthy and wants to become his partner later in the game, and also puts some trust in Gonta. Kokichi also hates being lied to and betrayed by the few people he considers at least a bit trustworthy. While he was usually simply amused with Shuichi's lying in earlier trials and didn't really point them out to others, in the fourth trial he is furious and even vengeful when Shuichi lies back to him and everyone believes Shuichi's lie over him. He gets angry at Shuichi for giving a false alibi for him and retaliates by "taking the fun out of solving the mystery for him" by exposing Gonta as the culprit. He is also absolutely furious with Gonta when he fails to argue back and thus is ruining their plan, making Kokichi completely lose his composure in anger, though he also appears genuinely touched and shocked when Gonta is willing to forgive him after everything he has done. Furthermore, in the bonus mode Ultimate Talent Development Plan, Kokichi tells Gonta that they won't see each other anymore after graduating due to them being a gentleman and an evil supreme leader. Kokichi claims he is so sad he barely eats and cries himself to sleep at night, though he soon says it's just a lie. Interestingly, when Gonta is genuinely saddened because he won't see Kokichi anymore, Kokichi reacts with slight anger and believes Gonta is trying to trick him back, showing that he believes other people can't genuinely care about him, not even someone as kind as Gonta. In his Harmonious Heart Event, he even considers stopping lying for a moment in order to get closer with Shuichi, and if Shuichi agrees with this, Kokichi appears annoyed and says it's arrogant to expect other people to change such vital parts of themselves just for other people. In general, he appears to be somewhat against cooperation and strong inspirational speeches during the killing game, as he has pointed out that this makes you suspicious and a threat in the eyes of the mastermind. However, it's been shown that he does cooperate in his own way, which can be easily mistaken for troublemaking. There are also quite a few moments when Kokichi appears to give genuine advice and warns the other students about the patterns he has noticed in the students or Monokuma's behavior, though the others of course never take him seriously.

During Chapter 4, in the Neo World Program created by Miu, Kokichi persuades Gonta to murder Miu because he cannot do it himself due to Miu's programming. After learning the horrifying truth of the outside world, Kokichi and Gonta both agree that mercy killing the others while they're not aware of the horrible situation would be the best option. Even though he did not receive the memories of his avatar, Gonta is still willing to forgive Kokichi and tells the others not to blame him during the trial. This seems to genuinely affect Kokichi a lot, causing him to cry and listen to Gonta's last wish, and he even asks to be executed with Gonta. However, following Gonta's execution, Kokichi puts up his "evil" facade once more, and more intensely than ever. In an eerily casual manner, he tells the other students that he won't tell the truth of the outside world to "stupid heads" and claims he had just been fake crying. He begins to act exaggeratedly "evil", claiming he enjoys the killing game and the suffering of others from the bottom of his heart, making the others think he is pure evil and very likely even the mastermind. However, he does appear genuinely affected when Shuichi tells him that he's the kind of person who will always be alone.

Later in Chapter 5, Kokichi gives his life as a part of his plan to defeat the mastermind. During his last moments, he appears to genuinely cry bitterly as he confesses that he was just lying to others and himself in order to survive and be able to go on, and his evil and extreme behavior was heavily implied to be part of a plan to outwit the mastermind. He appears disgusted as he explains how much he hates the creator and the viewers of the killing game, who enjoy toying around with people's lives. He says he wants to ruin the killing game even if it costs him his life, thus making its viewers taste "true despair" and honor the memory of those who died. Later, it is revealed that his organization is actually just a small group of pranksters who commit mild crimes for laughs and they are indeed strongly against killing, implying that Kokichi was honest during his last moments and possibly explaining his strong dislike for Maki's Ultimate talent. This was also implied by his very serious and genuinely frustrated looking crying expressions, which are very different from his usual, obvious fake tears, and the fact that K1-B0 believed he was honest (and he is multiple times shown to be right due to his inner voice). Moreover, in Chapter 1, Kokichi is also seen visibly concerned after hearing the first body discovery announcement. During his Free Time Events, while talking about his usual supreme leader claims, Kokichi describes himself as a pacifist whose number one priority is peace and he rather settles fights with games. He claims that all the world's mafias he controls would fight, destroy each other and cause unnecessary trouble to everyone around them if he wasn't there to maintain them. During the bonus mode Love Across the Universe, Kokichi even claims that he truly respects police officers and detectives who fight the bad guys yet get blamed by the public, and he reacts negatively about the criminal organization documents as he claims that thinking about all the bad things they bring to the world makes him sad.

Indeed, despite all of his flaws, Kokichi is stated to have certain innocence which makes him hard to hate.[9] Overall, he often appears to have good intentions, but acts on them in a harsh and confusing manner. He himself has claimed that he lies in order to entertain others and that his lies are told half out of kindness, and even the Skill received after his Free Time Events is called "Kind Lie". He has also pointed out that while there is only one truth, there are countless lies, many which of are white lies and ones used for good and told out of kindness, and that the world would not have true freedom without lies. He appears a bit offended and even saddened that the other students hate lies so much, and has once pointed out that the "truth isn't that good anyway". Even though he enjoys to lie and stir chaos, he also addresses many valid points and is occasionally the student who speaks the most sense. He sometimes harshly calls out other characters and brings up their major issues, but also appears to push them forward and improve. At one point, when he is accused of bullying, he pointed out how the other students have no problem bullying and ganging up on him despite claiming to be good people. He also occasionally appears to have moments of genuine compassion, like when Miu reveals that she is afraid to trust the other students, which seems to make Kokichi feel bad for her and listen to her very seriously. During his Free Time Events with Kaede, he warns her in a cryptic manner, though he claims he only does so because he actually cares about her. He also sympathizes with Himiko when she lies to herself and helps her out, albeit in a harsh manner, claiming that he was only doing it because he cares. In his Free Time Events with Shuichi, he seems to make sure the detective won't get actually hurt even if it means hurting himself instead. He occasionally even seems to feel sympathy towards K1-B0, like when the robot talks about having only average or even less than average human-like functions. He also seems to feel strong guilt for his more notable bad actions, but he is willing to take drastic actions if he believes he has to do it, and it's implied that he wishes to spare the others from this role—in Chapter 4, he appears genuinely saddened as he points that the "role of the villain" is perfect for him, because everyone hates him, and he says that he would have taken Gonta's place as the murderer if he could. After Kaede's execution, he appears tearful and angry with himself and he says he's so pissed off at himself for being so useless, but he soon claims he was just lying. In Chapter 2, he mentions that everyone's got it all wrong and he claims that he only acts like a bad guy so that the others wouldn't get too soft. He has multiple times claimed that he always does things for everyone's sake and complained about the other students not realizing it. He is well aware that he is the most disliked student of the group since the very first chapter, claiming that nobody would care if he died. He appeared more serious as he stated in Chapter 5 that he thinks of everybody as his friends, but would watch them from afar because nobody would want him around. During the bonus mode Love Across the Universe's graduation event, his only dialogue is him crying about how much he loves everyone and is so glad that he met them.

While there isn't much information about what kind of person Kokichi was before the claimed brainwashing, it's shown in the Prologue that he appears much more outwardly worried about the situation the students are in, clearly visible from his facial expressions. Furthermore, he didn't show any villainous behavior, and instead, he offered to go check if the Exisals are still nearby when the other students showed worry about it.

In the original Japanese release, Kokichi refers to everyone, including boys, with the suffix "-chan", although it is actually a tender suffix used for soft characters which are often female. He has a habit of referring to some of the other male characters, particularly Shuichi, in an affectionate way as his "beloved" (in the English localization, this habit is more inconsistent, as it is sometimes translated as "dearest" while other times replaced with different wording). He is known to use this term of people he seems to like, but it also could be sarcastic or just flattery at times—in the bonus mode Ultimate Talent Development Plan, he seems to use it sarcastically for Junko Enoshima, as he claims he is "besties" with the fashionista even though he openly considers her a "rude blonde bitch", and he also claims to love Yasuhiro Hagakure and Kiyotaka Ishimaru seemingly simply because it is so easy to trick and make fun of them. He also has a very unique laugh, which is "nishishi"—ironically, this is also the Japanese onomatopoeia for a horse, something which relates to his last name. In the English localization, the laugh is changed to "nee-heehee", which still gives a slight impression of a horse. Kokichi also occasionally uses childish way of speech such as saying "sowwy" instead of "sorry", valspeak type of dialogue such as "like", "totally", "omigod", and colloquial words like "wanna" and "gonna", and tends to drag out certain words such as "toootally".

According to Kokichi's Japanese voice actor Hiro Shimono, he is "an emotional rollercoaster of a character" and "the guy who says the things no one wants to say". He believes that Kokichi is actually really meek if you take away his strong wish to outwit everyone, and notes that people should keep a close eye on him, to understand his character better. According to Kodaka, his character focuses on duality, and his creepy expressions express his true nature to some extent.[5]

Talent and Abilities

Ultimate Supreme Leader

According to Tsumugi, Kokichi's talent as the Ultimate Supreme Leader is a fabrication made by Team Danganronpa. Due to that fact, it is unclear whether Kokichi is the leader of D.I.C.E. in the past.

Fitting for his title, Kokichi claims to be a leader of a secret society, with more than 10,000 members. His name, title, and clothing also have references to dictators. He has claimed that, among other things, his organization has covert agents in every country, control over all the mafias in the world, torture as a form of punishment, and that his defeated opponents will get sent in Siberia. He has also implied that his main goal is to, of course, take over the world or just watch it burn. However, on the other hand, he has also claimed that he is a pacifist who likes to settle fights with games and that he uses his authority to control mafias so that they wouldn't fight each other and cause trouble for everyone. He also claims that his organization has mandatory tea breaks to increase productivity. However, he has also described himself as a "pretty dickish dictator", claiming that is why his minions probably wouldn't want to save him from the killing game.

With him being a liar and his overall claims seeming unlikely, most people do not believe Kokichi, believing he is either delusional or lying for attention. However, they do consider him suspicious for possessing such a title. Kokichi often tries to ask other people to join his organization, claiming it would have multiple benefits such as having all the food, sleep and sex you can wish for. In the bonus mode Ultimate Talent Development Plan, Izuru Kamukura is shown to be uninterested in Kokichi's organization due to his ability to sense lies and his overall apathy, and Nagito Komaeda also seems to believe the organization doesn't exist because he would've already found out something about it if it did with his luck (though, out of respect, he won't tell Kokichi this out loud).

Underneath all of this, Kokichi appears to be quite childish and harmless. In his Love Suite fantasy sequence, it's shown that he likes to imagine himself as a legendary phantom thief who has a romantic rivalry with a detective. The weapons and other inventions he designed have a very childish fantasy look. Whenever he threatens to kill Shuichi and challenges him to play even dangerous games, he always makes sure Shuichi won't actually get hurt even if it means getting himself hurt. His Research Lab is shown to resemble a stereotypical evil villain's lair, including a throne, yet it only has quite comical and harmless looking items. It is later revealed that his organization is called D.I.C.E., and it is indeed just a small group of eleven pranksters (including himself) who only commit "laughable crimes" such as mild pranks, vandalism, and petty theft. Their only motivation seems to be just to have fun and while their appearance can be creepy, they have a rule of not killing anybody. All of them wear similar clothing as their leader—white suits resembling straitjackets and checkered scarves (supposedly referencing the pattern associated with harlequin clowns). They also wear different clown masks as a symbol of their group and supposedly to hide their identity. The group includes both boys and girls. Kokichi's organization is very loyal to him, implying that they consider him a charismatic and well-liked figure (unlike most other people), and he considers them to be like a family.

Intelligence, acting and lying

Bearing the talent of the Ultimate Supreme Leader and a very talented liar, he is shown to be very intelligent, skilled in detecting people's lies and good at acting.

In fact, Kokichi is one of the most intelligent students. He has explained to the other students that if you want to expose a liar you have to corner them psychologically and he has referred the process of elimination. He does lots of investigation alone without other people noticing, analyzes the other students, and writes their fates and his impression of them on his whiteboard. He even creates a plan to have himself killed and had written a script for Kaito to use during the class trial. The script is written thoroughly about possible reactions and possible routes of how the class trial will play out. On top of this, he correctly predicted how or when some of the other students die, as well as foreshadows many other events. He was also the one who came up with the ideas of a bugvac and electric weapons against Monokuma in detail. Kokichi also elusively gives clues and hints during trials and even outside of them. However, he also goes to extreme measures, such as claiming himself as the killer during the third class trial in order to bring out the real killer. This is similar to how he purposefully acts as the game's mastermind in order to lure out the real one. It's shown that while he is not as evil as he appears and feels guilt, he is willing to take drastic actions if he believes he has to.

With his notable acting skills, Kokichi is capable of hiding his true intentions and lie so well that the other students can never tell what he is truly thinking. Many of his sprites have very subtle differences, like a very tiny drop of sweat, and he can pull very demonic, even inhuman looking faces. As a notable exception, the other characters almost never believe Kokichi's obvious crocodile tears, though it's likely that he just uses them to annoy others and doesn't really even try to use them to trick others. It's also possible that he uses the dramatic crying as an outlet to let out some genuine strong emotions he is feeling yet is unwilling to show sincerely.

Being just a human, he occasionally needs a small moment to control his true feelings and put his mask back on while suffering from shock, which is portrayed by having his face being darkened by a shadow. In Chapter 4, after Kokichi leaves the trial grounds alone with an evil grin on his face, for a very short moment his face is shown to turn very serious before turning back to "evil". He also occasionally seems to just show his true emotions more openly, knowing that the others wouldn't believe them anyway, while during some other moments he seems to accidentally speak out loud what he is really thinking. Most notably, whenever his voice and face goes blank, it's heavily implied that he is being genuine and honest, and taking the current situation very seriously.

Being a skilled liar himself, Kokichi can tell whenever other people are lying, though he occasionally acts like he didn't notice or claims the other person is lying even though he knows they aren't. He can also notice when people are lying to themselves, which is a trait he considers "not good". Ironically, he claims to hate lies and liars. While Kokichi's ability to sense lies is often accurate, it is not flawless nor supernatural.

Thieving skills

While Kokichi claims its due to his supreme leader status, Maki has pointed out that several of his skills are more suitable for a petty thief. Being a prankster and a thief, he is skilled at lock picking and is able to unlock Angie's locked Research Lab in the day of her murder in Chapter 3. He can also snatch things from others without them noticing at first. It is stated that his lithe body significantly helps him to do this and he can also swiftly run away if noticed. Furthermore, he is skilled at hiding and lurking without other people noticing him, and sometimes uses this ability to overhear other people's conversations. He himself claims to be a master of hide and seek. However, this ability is not supernatural, meaning that he can sometimes be spotted by other people.

It's also implied that Kokichi can fight back quite well if he wants to, but his strength and fighting abilities are a bit unclear. He has claimed multiple times that he is physically weak and appears fearful whenever he is physically attacked by other people, often preferring to run away fast and claiming that he prefers to sneak around. However, it is also noted that his lithe body makes him very agile and in Chapter 4 he manages to punch Kaito with incredible agility (as described by Maki), though it should be noted that Kaito was at the time greatly weakened and slowed down by his illness. During the moment, Kokichi claims he had lied about not being good at fighting, and later in Chapter 5, he is seen punching Kaito without warning and earlier fought against him despite his wounds. All of this implies that he prefers not to fight and isn't technically strong, but possesses fighting spirit if he is in danger and willing to fight.

Designing and drawing

Kokichi had a habit of drawing very simple and childish sketches, including a silly self-portrait on his whiteboard and several boxes full of documents of fantasy weapons like rainbow ray guns and beam swords. However, while investigating his room, Maki and Shuichi quickly realised that this was likely a cover to hide the truly important blueprints meant for Miu to use. Maki eventually found a one blueprint he drew seriously and it turned out to be extremely detailed and realistic ("too detailed" according to Maki) design of a bugvac that was fully functional when transferred to real life by Miu.

In other languages

Kokichi's talent as it appears in official translations of Danganronpa material.

Language Talent Translation 日本語 Japanese 超高校級の「総統」 Super High School Level Supreme Leader ‪中文(台灣)‬ Chinese (Trad) 超高中級的首腦 Super High School Level Supreme Leader * 中文 Chinese (Simp) 超高中级的首脑 Super High School Level Supreme Leader * Français French Despote Ultime Ultimate Despot *

Relationships

Kokichi is highly protective of the members of his group, caring about them like a family. In turn, the D.I.C.E. members are extremely loyal to him. When they are shown to be imprisoned and/or beaten, Kokichi is very distraught and plans his own death to save them. However, due to the mind manipulation of Team Danganronpa, it is unknown if they actually exist.

Kokichi appears to be amused by and in some way fond of Shuichi, having stated that the other boy seems "decently not boring", which is a very rare and notable compliment coming from him. He regularly calls him his "beloved Saihara-chan" in the Japanese version, and occasionally calls him "mister detective" or "mister Ultimate Detective". He also once called Shuichi "Shumai", as a parody to Kaito's "Maki Roll" nickname for Maki. Kokichi enjoys his company, finding him one of the most interesting person in the group and praises him often. He has also more than once mentioned that he is "constantly thinking about" Shuichi, and claims that he is his favorite whom he loves the most. On his whiteboard, it's shown that Kokichi has a more positive, though slightly unclear impression of Shuichi, considering him "trustworthy?". Considering his hatred of boredom, it seems Kokichi is intrigued by Shuichi's development. During the trials, he often does not rev