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 ??? (Super High School Level ???).

Years later, she is a participant of the Final Killing Game featured in 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) 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.
 * 5) She's the best detective in the entire Danganronpa series.
 * 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 helping him become a better detective and leader and motivating his character development.
 * 7) After his failed execution, she came to Makoto's rescue when he was trapped in the basement's garbage dump, risking her own life in the process.
 * 8) Her backstory and Free-Time Events are incredibly interesting and intricate and help us understand why she is the way she is.

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) * And even in the canon ending, she nearly caused Makoto to be executed.

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.