| “ | My self introduction is over. How long are you planning to stand here? You’re an eyesore. Go away. | „ |
| ~ Byakuya Togami |
Byakuya Togami (十神 白夜) is one of the characters featured in the Danganronpa series. His title is the Ultimate Affluent Progeny.
Etymology[]
His forename Byakuya is written as 白夜, which means "white night". His surname Togami is written as 十神, meaning "ten Gods".
Appearance[]
A sprite of Byakuya Togami in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Togami has a tall, slim figure and usually dons a black suit. He wears a white shirt underneath and a green necktie. He has short blond hair and he wears white framed glasses. Togami is usually seen with his arms crossed, a personal quirk in line with his arrogance.
Ultimate Talent[]
His ultimate talent is the Ultimate Affluent Progeny. "Affluent" means having a lot of wealth and power, and "Progeny" means being the descendant to someone. Therefore, his talent means that he is the best descendent to his father's inheritance.
The Togami family has a strange tradition in where the boss has many children with many outstanding women to try and father the most Togamis as possible. Then, the Togamis battle (unknown in what way), and the last standing one will be the sole heir of the Togamis' wealth. Byakuya is the youngest of his half-siblings, yet he still managed to win the title of the sole heir, surpassing all the expectations of his father, which could be why his talent is named this way.
Brief History[]
Background[]
He was the youngest sibling and heir to the financial giant Togami family, and rumor has it that he already held several management positions at a company, and managed to acquire a considerable amount of fortune on his own. Before he entered Hope's Peak Academy, all of the schools he enrolled in to were exclusive ones.
He was scouted as the Ultimate Affluent Progeny for Hope's Peak High School's 78th class. After spending one year as a student there, The Tragedy took place.
Trigger Happy Havoc[]
As the ultimate despair had destroyed the world, the 78th class and the headmaster of the school Jin Kirigiri decided to seal themselves off from the outside world and stay in the school until the despair had subsided so they could rebuild humanity. However, Junko Enoshima and Mukuro Ikusaba had hidden among them, and forced everyone to participate in a killing game after wiping everyone's memories to make it seem like they never went to high school before.
Throughout the game, he was cold and arrogant, making him unlikeable among his peers in the killing game. He was frequently accused to be the murderer, but he was never killed. At one point, he found out that Toko Fukuawa was Genocide Jack, and when Chihiro Fujisaki was killed, he tampered with the crime scene to frame Toko for the murder, but his deceit was exposed by Makoto Naegi.
During Sakura's murder trial, Byakuya was dead set on Aoi Asahina being the murderer, but after the truth that Sakura was the murderer of her own trial came to light, Byakuya could not comprehend how someone could do that so selflessly and temporarily collapsed emotionally. After recovering from the blow to his sanity, he seemed to gain some character development and started working towards escaping from the school.
He survived the final trial and escaped with the other survivors at the end of the game.
His pixel icon
Ultra Despair Girls and Goodbye Despair[]
After finding out that Junko's words were true and that humanity was pretty much destroyed, him and the rest of the survivors decided to join the Future Foundation to try and rebuild humanity. He joined the 14th Branch of the foundation and lost his ultimate title.
In Ultra Despair Girls, Byakuya's mission was to rescue Komaru Naegi from being trapped at the hands of Junko, but after meeting her, they nearly got killed by Monokuma's minions. At one point, he was captured and held hostage, but was saved by Komaru and Toko. Afterwards, Byakuya agreed to partner up with Makoto.
He also appears in Goodbye Despair, working with Makoto and Kyoko to save Hope's Peak students trapped in a rehabilitation simulation for ultimate despairs gone horribly wrong.
The End of Hope's Peak High School[]
After leaving the ultimate despairs isolated and not killing them, Makoto faced a trial for treason, but as the Future Foundation members and Makoto gathered to hold a trial, they were all forced into another killing game. Byakuya was not present in that killing game, but he mobilized his army units after hearing that other members of the Future Foundation want to kill the ultimate despairs. He managed to rescue Makoto, Aoi and Yasuhiro from the killing game, and temporary peace was restored as the road to humanity seemed more hopeful.
Killing Harmony[]
Although Byakuya was not present in the third game, Tsumugi Shirogane, who was the mastermind of the game, claimed that everything from the past two games in the franchise was not real in the Danganronpa universe, and that all that was just a work of fiction designed to entertain the world, who have been at peace for a long time and yearned for new entertainment.
The truth behind Tsumugi's claims were left a mystery on purpose, and it is unclear as to whether those events actually transpired or not.
Personality[]
Some beta designs for Byakuya. He has had many redesigns.
In Trigger Happy Havoc[]
Togami is an arrogant young man who saw himself superior to others, due to being the heir of an extremely successful family business. He is often cold, blunt, and taciturn, but has a deviously manipulative tendency. Togami had often expressed irritation from Toko Fukawa's (Genocide Jack's) obsessive behavior toward him, though he often used it to his benefit by ordering them (technically, her) around.
Throughout the story, he frequently antagonized the others, saying he would be the one to emerge unscathed. Despite his prudish demeanor, he was actually one of the group's most sensible students, and had proven to be a competent investigator. He greatly revered his family, often speaking of the vast power of the Togami Group; when Enoshima revealed the state - or rather, cessation of existence - of the entire Togami Group, he did not take it well initially, although he would later recover from the shock to announce that he would rebuild the family from the ground up.
He is also quick to zero in on suspects without alibis, or those who seem to be most suspicious, as shown in the fifth school trial when Kirigiri did not have credible alibis to back her absence, although it became obvious that, having spent much time within a highly competitive environment, he was unable to account for the human factor, thereby committing errors in judgement when attempting to resolve the death of Sakura Oogami.
He is also extremely reluctant to admit to any mistakes he might have committed, and when he has made a mistake in his calculations, he crumples emotionally. However, he manages to pick himself up afterwards.
After joining the Future Foundation[]
He is shown to be a little bit more compassionate towards others, especially with Toko. He is still disdainful and arrogant, but he seems to be a bit more caring.
After finding out that his family and his wealth was no more, he started seeking to resist the ultimate despairs alongside the rest of the Future Foundation. It is evident that Makoto Naegi's hope has affected him and make him better.
Relationships[]
Makoto Naegi[]
Byakuya and Makoto got off to a rough start, as Byakuya was Makoto's "rival" in Trigger Happy Havoc, and Makoto did not like his attitude. Their relationship worsened because of Chihiro's murder, as Makoto despised Byakuya's lack of morals. However, their relationship slowly improved afterwards, especially after Sakura's murder, as Makoto started pitying Byakuya. They eventually teamed up to take down Junko and escape the high school.
After Trigger Happy Havoc, Makoto and Byakuya joined the Future Foundation together, but were never incredibly close, but they were friends and allies in the Foundation. After Makoto decided to help the ultimate despairs, Byakuya decided to side with Makoto, showing that they are actually quite similar in their mindsets.
Byakuya also saved Komaru, who is Makoto's sister. He is forever grateful towards him for that.
Komaru Naegi[]
Byakuya first met Komaru in Ultra Despair Girls, as he was dispatched to rescue the loved ones of the killing game survivors, which included Komaru. Byakuya was not particularly fond of her at first, but he was taken hostage by the Warriors of Hope as he was going back to the Future Foundation, and Komaru and Toko rescued him, so he warmed up to her and is grateful towards her.
Byakuya in Trigger Happy Havoc's bad ending.
Toko Fukawa[]
Toko is madly in love with Byakuya, but Byakuya despises her and thinks that she is disgusting. Their relationship in Trigger Happy Havoc is mainly Toko stalking Byakuya and him verbally abusing her, but they have gotten closer towards the end of the game.
In the bad ending of Trigger Happy Havoc, the final screenshot shows Byakuya holding a memorial portrait of Toko and smiling, perhaps happy that she is dead.
After they both joined the Future Foundation, their relationship seemed to be slightly better. Although their dynamic seemingly hasn't changed, they seem to have gotten a bit more familiar with each other and work well together. Byakuya does not seem to mind Toko too much, although he still verbally abuses her.
Genocide Jack[]
Byakuya found out that Genocide Jack and Toko were the same person in Trigger Happy Havoc, and he used that fact to try and frame Genocide Jack for Chihiro's murder, although he had failed because Makoto saw through his lies. He feels strong disdain for Genocide Jack, and his hatred for her was around the same level of hatred he bore for Toko. Genocide Jack, however, is also madly in love with Byakuya and fantasizes about killing him.
Byakuya's relationship with Genocide Jack herself never really improved, even if Toko and him grew closer with each other. He had found a way to partially control Genocide Jack's appearance, and he utilizes it to the fullest and calls on her when he needs her in Ultimate Despair Girls. However, he never calls her out outside of the combat situations, showing that he never completely warmed up to her enough to have a conversation with her. Perhaps he is just worried that she will kill him.
Byakuya, Kyoko and Makoto as Future Foundation members in Goodbye Despair.
Kyoko Kirigiri[]
In Trigger Happy Havoc, Byakuya hates Kyoko and Kyoko hates Byakuya too. Because Kyoko did not know her ultimate talent, Byakuya heavily distrusted her and suspected her to be the mastermind. He never believed anything that she said, and because she was very good at solving the murder cases, he found her weird and unsettling. Kyoko also aided Makoto in realizing that Byakuya had framed Genocide Jack, so he carried that grudge with him for a while through the game. However, they united in the end to defeat Junko.
After they joined the Future Foundation together, they seem to be able to work together, although they are not usually seen to be very close. They appear together on Goodbye Despair, and they seem to be working together in perfect harmony.
Junko Enoshima and Monokuma[]
Byakuya despises Junko for destroying the world and his company, as all that wealth he had amassed before joining Hope's Peak all do not matter anymore. He despises Junko and her despair so much he is willing to work with people he previously despised in order to take her down, yet he is rather cool-headed whenever he deals with her.
Trivia[]
- He claims to have a personal fund of 400 billion yen.
- He is the youngest and only one of his family to ever inherit his family business.
- He appears to be fluent in French, as he was easily able to read Mukuro Ikusaba's Fenrir Mercenary Corps profile, written entirely in French.
| Danganronpa | ||
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General Trigger Happy Havoc Goodbye Despair Killing Harmoney Ultra Despair Girls | ||