Kyouko Kirigiri

"If I don't have to, I think I won't."

- Kyouko Kirigiri

Kyouko Kirigiri is one of the characters featured in Dangan Ronpa: Academy of Hope and High School Students of Despair. An enigmatic girl whose talent was unknown from the beginning, she often helps Naegi to make a breakthrough during the investigations and trials. Later, it was revealed that she was actually an amnesiac. Her true identity was the daughter of Jin Kirigiri, the previous Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy. She survived the final trial and escaped with the other survivors at the end of the game.

She is also one of the returning characters in Super Dangan Ronpa 2. Kirigiri joined the Future Foundation after the events of the first game.

A light novel based around her past has been announced, titled Dangan Ronpa Kirigiri.

Appearance
Kirigiri is a relatively tall, pretty girl with purple eyes and a pale complexion. She wears her light purple hair down and with a braid on the side, tied with a black ribbon. Her outfit consists of a dark-purple collared jacket over a white blouse and tie, along with a short skirt and knee-high boots. She also always wears her custom-made black gloves to conceal scars on her hands that she received back when she was an amateur.

Personality
Kirigiri is a stoic and mysterious girl with amnesia. She has a calm demeanor and tends to be completely unfazed by most of the events that occur, even when a body is found. Kirigiri is also one of very few students that sees things objectively and doesn’t jump to conclusions in the trial, making her a valuable ally to Naegi. Kirigiri is very sensitive regarding the subject about the Hope Peak’s Academy Headmaster (who later is revealed to be her own father), going so far as to even lose her cool when Alter Ego mentioned the possibility of him being the mastermind. She also doesn't like it when people keep secrets from her, as Naegi finds out. Ever since the first murder, she becomes close with Naegi, evident from her later interactions with him hinting some sort of mutual attraction. When Naegi allows himself to be found guilty in Chapter 5 (though he's saved at the last minute by Alter Ego), Kirigiri realizes that she's been putting her own desires ahead of his safety. When they discover that Naegi ends up at the garbage disposal room, she risks her life to save him.

She can also be seen as beign able to find the good in people's motives, for example, after the first trial (Sayaka Maizono's death), she goes to Naegi and tells 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 LEON on the wall. Another example is in episode 5, where she points out the broken ID card is actually Chihiro Fujisaki's-Kirigiri says that Mondo Oowada broke it to protect Chihiro's secret.

Trivia

 * Her voice actress, Yōko Hikasa, is famously known for voicing Mio from K-On.