How Danganronpa’s Monokuma Was Made

While Makoto Naegi is the protagonist in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Monokuma, the evil teddy bear principal of Hope’s Peak Academy, is my favorite character. Siliconera spoke with producer Yoshinori Terasawa and asked how they made Monokuma.

"Monokuma was created by the scenario writer Mr. Kodaka and the character designer Mr. Komatsuzaki. He was created with an image of contradictions in mind, like good and evil, hope and despair," Terasawa explained. "These contradicting elements create a sort of highlighting effect. Although it ended up being much darker than expected (laughs). But I think that’s just an expression of Mr. Kodaka’s nature, as well."

Monokuma is Spike Chunsoft’s most recognizable character too. Because of that he’s made cameos in other games like Terraria, which Spike Chunsoft brought to Japan, and Conception II as a DLC boss battle. We asked what the team thought of Monokuma making appearances in other titles.

"It’s nice to see Monokuma show up in different games, because I get to see him from a user’s perspective. Even within those different game worlds, I think he still exerts his presence," said Terasawa.

When Monokuma isn’t trying to crush hope, it’s at the heart of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc’s story. Why did Spike Chunsoft choose that as a core theme?

Terasawa answered, "Society these days seems to have a general feeling of hopelessness. So I thought it would be good to emphasize the importance of having hope and just moving forward."