Kyoko Kirigiri

"“The power of the words you believed became everyone's hope, right? It became my hope. Have confidence in yourself. Isn't that little bit of optimism what's great about you? Hope is infectious. If your power isn't enough, we're here for you. Everyone is behind you.”""—Kyoko Kirigiri"

Kyoko Kirigiri (霧切 響子), is a student in Hope's Peak Academy's Class 78th, and a participant of the Killing School Life featured in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. She doesn't remember her talent at the beginning of the Killing Game, so her title is the Ultimate ??? (Detective) (Super High School Level ??? [Detective]).

Years later, she is a participant of the Final Killing Game featured in mh:besttvshows:Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School with the other Future Foundation Directors.

Her past as a young teenager is explored in the novel series Danganronpa Kirigiri as a participant of the Duel Noir along with Yui Samidare.

Why She Rocks

 * 1) She shows fierce determination and arguably works the hardest out of all the characters in solving the game's mystery.
 * 2) Behind her stone-cold personality, she's actually heavily implied to easily get emotionally upset, which is masked by her strong will. Showing she's not at all as cold and stoic as she seems.
 * 3) She's able to find the good in people's motives: for example, after the first trial (Sayaka Maizono's death), she goes to Makoto's room to tell him that she thinks that in the end, Sayaka actually wanted to make sure he didn't get the blame for her death, which is why she wrote "11037" on the wall.
 * 4) Character Development: While she was originally quite hostile, she warms up to Makoto both in her Free Time Events and in the game itself to an extent. She first becomes closer to him during the first murder case, and her later interactions with him indicate some sort of mutual affection towards the latter. By the time the remaining students escape the Killing Game, she's opened up much more and is friendlier not just to Makoto, but towards the other students as well.
 * 5) She's the best detective in the entire Danganronpa series, something she uses to help Makoto become more knowledgeable on how to solve the murder cases that occur during the Killing Game.
 * 6) She was the first person to see Makoto as the Ultimate Hope and a leader who could free the other students from the Killing Game. Over the course of the game, she serves as a mentor figure to Makoto, helping him solve every murder case and grow into becoming a better detective and leader, encouraging and motivating his character development.
 * 7) * Speaking of her relationship with Makoto, the romance between them (despite the fact that it never officially becomes canon) doesn't feel forced at all and instead feels natural and well-developed, given how many meaningful interactions they've had over the course of the game and anime.
 * 8) After his failed execution, she comes to the realization that Makoto was never the culprit of the case and comes to his rescue when he was trapped in the basement's garbage dump, risking her own life in the process. And even before that, she expressed remorse over not being able to save Makoto from his fate, as shown when she got choked up, for the first time revealing her frustration and sadness for letting him down.
 * 9) Her backstory and Free-Time Events are incredibly interesting and intricate and help us understand why she is the way she is. She came from a family of famous detectives (which explains her talent). But when she was just 7 years old, her mother turned ill and was hospitalized when Kyoko and Fuhito were doing detective work abroad. Her father Jin tried to contact them, but Fuhito, her grandfather, refused to aid his family and didn't even let Kyoko see her dying mother, because to Fuhito being a detective was more important than anything else. Kyoko's mother then died, with Kyoko's last memories of her being "a white face floating above a hospital bed". Absolutely furious with his father, Jin left the family, and Fuhito, who Kyoko was left with, encouraged her to hate Jin by claiming that he only used her mother's death as an excuse to leave the family and pursue his own dreams. She became very close to her grandfather, Fuhito, who raised her and taught her all she currently knows in the detective business, and he protected her from anything he deemed a threat. However, Fuhito was also shown to be extremely strict in his wish to make Kyoko a perfect heir and a detective, even causing the young girl some emotional issues as Fuhito wanted her to be a detective above everything else. And at the age of 13, Kyoko and 16-year-old Yui solve a case called "The Sirius Astronomical Observatory Murder Case".

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Her dubious actions in the fifth trial are done with far more clear regrets in the original game when compared to the anime, where she comes across as more callous and cold-blooded thanks in due part to how rushed the whole sequence is.
 * 2) She's originally smug, cold, and self-centered, but luckily, she gets better as the game continues.
 * 3) In Chapter 5's non-canon bad end, she's executed instead of Makoto.
 * 4) Danganronpa 3 has her suffer a fake-out death (which also happened to be the third time it had tricked the audience into believing a major character had died). It also felt like it's only purpose was so that Makoto could reconcile with Kyosuke Munakata after they've both experienced the loss of someone they cared about and can therefore become more capable of sympathizing with one another.

Trivia

 * Kyoko is included in the collaboration of Danganronpa 3 and Guns Girl Z
 * The name Kyōko means "sound, echo" (響) (kyo) and "child" (子) (ko), which fits her composed, quiet speech and how, during the trials, she more than once guides Makoto Naegi to conclusions she has already reached herself and lets him be the one to voice them. Kyoko's surname Kirigiri means "fog" (霧) (kiri) and "cutter" (切) (giri), which refers to her detective background.
 * Kyoko shares her title The Ultimate Detective with Shuichi Saihara.