[Danganronpa] Ensure consistency between character sprites and 3D models

This is a continuation of an ongoing series of posts. To read the rules behind my rankings, please check out [part 1](https://www.reddit.com/r/danganronpa/s/IdWOtkGywc). The other parts are located in the comments. **Masaru Daimon** Now for the moment you've all been waiting for, the stars of the show, the Warriors of Hope! Masaru is the leader of them all, and the first one you fight. So I thought it'd be best to start with him. The first thing I noticed is that Masaru's color scheme is predominantly red and white. This makes him the 4th athlete in the series to share these colors (Hina, Leon, Akane, and now him) which is pretty repetitive. But I can't say that the colors don't fit. Red works well with Masaru's rather angry attitude as well as the amount of blood he's spilled. After all, one of Masaru's big moments is when he reveals a pile of “demon” corpses to Komaru before his boss fight. On the opposite end, white fits the image of a typical “valiant, radiant hero.” He calls himself the hero of the group. And, of course, a member of the Warriors of Hope using the hope color makes too much sense. He also has plenty of black accents all over his outfit, matching the actual despair he's causing as well as his role as one of the game's villains. And white, black, and red are of course Monokuma's colors. Masaru is presented as the leader of the group, so it kinda makes sense for him to have the most outwardly “despairful” color scheme of them all. Masaru has multiple injuries all over his body. His skin is very scratched and dirty, and he has bandages on both his right knee and left cheek. This matches with the typical anime trope of the athlete being visibly scuffed up to indicate that they've been training hard, but it also more darkly reflects Masaru's backstory. All of the WoH mainly showcase the effects of one type of abuse, and Masaru's is physical abuse. He was beaten by his father a lot, and these visible injuries show that. Canonically, I doubt these injuries are left over from his dad. From what Nagisa said, they all killed their parents before Junko left to host the killing game, so it must've been a few years since Masaru's dad was last able to lay his hands on him. But it still represents that metaphorically. And more canonically, Masaru repeats his dad's behavior when he's upset. We even see him beating himself for shaking in fear before his boss fight. So it's likely that these injuries were self-inflicted. Poor kiddo : ( His clothing fits really well. Working our way up, he appears to wear sporty white, black, and red tennis shoes. Perfect for his talent as the Lil’ Ultimate PE. The front of these shoes have the word “Idaten” written on them. Idaten (Also known as Skanda or Weituo) is a deity from various Buddhist, Taoist, and Shinto sects. Please note that info about this deity was difficult for me (someone not in any of these beliefs) to fully understand because of these many different names and origins, so take what I say with a grain of salt. While exact stories and mythologies vary, some things to note are that Idaten was depicted as a guardian of monasteries and monks (much like how Masaru wants to serve and protect the other kids), is known for running as swift as the wind (much like Masaru's athletic talents), and has slain many demons (that one is self-explanatory). And funnily enough, during my research I found a nearly 3 foot tall statue of Idaten in the city of Kamakura, Japan. I'm 99.9% sure that's a coincidence, but it's a funny coincidence. Masaru has black thigh highs socks with a couple red stripes at the top. While thigh highs are nothing new for the series, it is rare to see the boys wearing long socks at all. But it makes sense for an athlete, particularly soccer players who wear similar socks. This might suggest that Masaru's favorite sport is soccer, making his white and black outfit work well as the colors of a soccer ball. Above that he has some simple blue athletic shorts. The blue breaks up his otherwise tricolor outfit and makes it more visually interesting, as well as making his shorts stand out more. I also wonder if blue might've been chosen because of bruises. A common saying for hitting someone so hard it leaves bruises is “beating you black and blue.” Also, if you mix blue with red, you get purple: Another common color for bruises. Masaru giving himself a nasty bruise is probably the most impactful moment of his character, so emphasizing it makes sense. Masaru covers his torso in a shirt with vertical black and red stripes. It reminds me a lot of a soccer jersey, bringing in more soccer imagery. On top of that he has a white sports jersey. And as the name suggests, it's common for many different types of athletes to wear a jersey like that. It seems to fit Masaru very loosely, which would make it easier to move around in when he's being physically active. The fact that he has clothing for multiple different sports makes me believe that Masaru is simply dressing for every possibility. It’s very kid-like to go “well I'm not sure if I'll be playing soccer, basketball, tennis, or some other sport today. I know! I'll just dress for all of them! That way I'm always ready!” It's super endearing. Anyways, on the back of the white jersey is a red number 10, which may just be Masaru's actual age. The WoH look anywhere between 10 and 13, and if Monaca/Kurokuma's comments are anything to go by, at least Nagisa and Monaca have started puberty. So that fits in with the 10-13 age range we have. Of course they all act a little bit younger than that, but I also wouldn't expect them to be super mature when they spent most of their lives either as orphans or with parents that didn't bother to actually parent. There's a red design on the front side of the jersey which appears to be a sword stabbing into something. The WoH all gave themselves titles based off of common RPG classes, and as I said, Masaru is the hero. The protagonist if you will. Hero and protagonist characters in RPGs most commonly wield swords as their main weapons, including *the* Hero from Dragon Quest (easily the most staple RPG series in Japan). I think the sword on Masaru's shirt has an oddly short handle, but otherwise I love it. And at the angle it's at plus the round shape near the sword's tip, it almost looks like the sword is plunging into something and killing it. Much like how Masaru killed many demons and is very happy to brag about it. It shows sort of a childish understanding of heroics; That heroes are just people who kill the bad guys and not those who defend the innocent. I mean, Masaru even displays such a childish understanding by insisting that after saving the day, he's gonna “rescue Monaca” as if she were the princess locked in a tower. This symbol is perfect for the most childish member of the WoH. Masaru wears a few accessories along with his main clothes. The first of which is the silver badge on his upper left. This is something each of the Warriors of Hope have, and it appears to be an emblem for the group. I find the design very interesting. It's a 4-pointed star. Now, stars are common symbols for hope throughout many cultures, in the sense that they represent a guiding light. Makoto even has one. But I find it strange that they chose a 4-pointed star, considering that 5-pointed ones are much more common and the WoH have 5 members. I think this shape was meant to represent how Monaca has very different goals from the rest of the group, thus is fairly separate from them. Now I personally think she cares more about the Children's Paradise than she lets on, but it's clear her number one goal is to create a successor to Big Sis Junko. And if she has to burn that paradise to the ground in order to get it, she's willing to. So each point of the star acts as one of the 4 main warriors. But where does Monaca fit in? I think with the circle behind it. On a basic level, Monaca draws a magic circle at one point in the game. But more metaphorically, Monaca being the circle that surrounds the star represents her true nature. She was the reason these kids found the twisted hope to carry on and work towards paradise, being the glue that keeps them all together and focused on their goal. But she also purposefully keeps them from achieving that goal, mainly only caring about getting them to kill the adults and cause despair. In that way Monaca is like a circle around the star: Holding them together, but also preventing them from truly breaking free and accomplishing what they set out to do. Masaru's other accessories are less in depth, but they still look good. Firstly, he has a black sweatband with a red line in the middle on his right wrist. Of course, a sweatband is a normal article for an athlete to have on. But the interesting thing is this piece looks nearly identical to the explosive wristbands the captives are forced to wear. This *has* to be purposeful. I draw connections a lot of the time that I don't think were conscious efforts on the artists’ part, but I'm convinced this was a fully intentional design parallel. Being the leader, it's reasonable to assume Masaru was the one who gave the final order to give each captive a wristband (or at least Monaca pushed him to give that order). But to make sure nobody mistakes Masaru for having an actual wristband, his sweatband is on his right arm instead of his left like every other character. This sweatband also emphasizes his right fist, the one he used to beat himself until he “wasn't afraid” anymore before his boss fight. Masaru's other accessory is his headphones. They're white and red, matching his clothes. Headphones are worn by lots of people during workouts, matching his talent for PE. And they also fit Masaru's image of being the “cool guy protagonist.” At least, in his own eyes. You also just don't see a lot of headphones in general throughout the DR cast, so I like this. But unfortunately, we've encountered our next inconsistency between the sprites and 3D model. Masaru's sprites have his headphones be pure white on the outside, but his model has the same sword symbol that his jersey does printed on them. Unlike all the other inconsistencies, I don't think the colors overlapping works as an explanation. My only thought is that maybe the artists thought Masaru's model wasn't detailed enough? So they added another element? I'm really not sure. Personally, I think the symbol looks good and would've loved if it carried over to his sprites. But at the same time, I don't hate how his sprites look currently. This is a case where neither option is bad, but they just needed to choose one or the other. Why the random difference? Masaru's face is very well done. I absolutely adore his expressions. Depending on the sprite, his teeth either have little fangs in the front (fitting his streak of violence) or are one solid shape, almost like a jack-o-lanturn (fitting his childishness). He has an adorable pouting sprite that genuinely gives Chiaki a run for her money, and his angry/stressed sprites are all fittingly intense and kinda gross with all the sweat. He also has a very tiny nose and a gigantic smile. I think Masaru's sprites are excellently posed as well. They match his high energy, confidence, and even his stubborn insistence on being able to handle everything himself despite his clear trauma. It all perfectly encapsulates how Masaru is a little cutie patootie with lots of attitude and a troubled past. Masaru's eyes are a stand-out detail that's hard not to notice. They're blue like his shorts, but this shade of blue is much brighter. That really draws the viewer's eye to his and makes them a focal point of his design. One thing I never mentioned before is how Danganronpa characters’ eyes always have little rings inside of them. I mentioned this now because the WoH don't have those rings. Instead, they have unique shapes for each kid. Masaru has the shape of flames, perfectly matching his fiery personality and red color scheme. Plus, a common saying for someone being angry or passionate is saying that they have fire in their eyes. Combine that with the eyes’ blue color, and blue fire is normally hotter than red fire, it truly emphasizes his burning intensity and passion for being a good leader. Masaru's hair is also quite fiery, being red and somewhat looking like a burning patch on his head. This matches with his very thick and spiky eyebrows. Fittingly, fire is another thing that calls back to Idaten. He's considered a god of the kitchen, and kitchens are known for their heat. He's also a wind deity, bringing to mind the expression “fan the flames.” I know I'm far from the first to point this out, but with Masaru’s spiky red hair, tiny nose, and white and red color scheme, he almost looks like a little Leon. In general, Masaru's design is pretty reminiscent of other characters. The Leon likeness, him being an athlete with a red and white color scheme, ect. But he uses these old elements in his own new ways. Plus, when you have a minimum of 24 previous major characters and have to add some more, you're inevitably going to create some similar looks, intentionally or not. So while it isn't great, I’m not gonna hold these similarities against him too much. Another thing Masaru is similar to is the general image of a shonen protagonist. Think about it. He's the leader of his group, has the personality of “cool guy with an attitude who likes physical activity/fighting,” and is the most outwardly passionate about accomplishing his goal out of the WoH. This carries over to his appearance, where he has colorful, spiky hair, thick eyebrows, battle scars, and an attention-grabbing color scheme. In fact, there's one character in particular I think he might be referencing: Masaru Daimon. You know, from Digimon. Localized as Marcus Damon, Masaru Daimon in Digimon is a shonen protagonist who loves fighting, has a red and white color scheme, and wears blue pants. That kinda sounds like our Masaru. So much so that I think this might be a chicken and the egg situation. Was Danganronpa Masaru's design based off of Digimon Masaru, or was Danganronpa Masaru designed independently and took his name from the similar looking Digimon Masaru? Or is this all a complete coincidence? The world may never know. One thing I want to mention are Masaru's animations. Looking at them individually, most of them really aren't anything to write home about. They match the somewhat stilted style of the rest of the game while still showing off his personality. But there are 2 animations in particular I want to call attention to. The first is one where Masaru angrily stomps his foot over and over again. The thing that helps this one stand out is how, with each stomp, a dust cloud and the word *thump* appears around him. The other one is the cutscene before his boss fight. Masaru snaps his fingers to summon his controller, and a white flash appears at his fingertips. I think little flourishes like that add SO MUCH to these animations. For one, they match the already cartoony style of Danganronpa. On top of that, they help to kinda hide some of the more stiff movements of the animations. I love how Masaru has these and, frankly, I wish it was done more often. Now, I get that giving every single animation one of these would be *super* distracting and take away from the “specialness” (for lack of a better word) of the ones that do have them. Still, I think a lot of the game's animations would be elevated by things like this. Have some stars or hearts fly out around Kotoko whenever she strikes an adorbs pose. Give Genocide Jack some persona-esque purple trails that follow her scissors whenever she attacks. Have Jataro emit some sort of dark cloud or stink lines every time he laughs/makes a disturbing comment. I think Masaru's implementation of this idea was so great that I wish the rest of the game followed suit. The last thing I want to go over is Masaru's hope robot: Hero Robot Mark Guyver. I want to clarify right now that this has absolutely nothing to do with his final score. I just had stuff I wanted to say about his robot, but if I gave this robot its own section and ranking I'd have to do the same with the other hope robots as well. Then I might as well analyze the various monokuma units since they're also robots being controlled. And after that I should probably rank the nameless characters like the Monokuma Kids and Future Foundation grunts. And if I'm doing that I should probably go back and cover the more minor characters like Jin Kirigiri and minor designs like the girls’ swimsuits from DR2 chapter 2 and…yeah. It's easier just to give this robot a tiny section that doesn't really matter. In general, all the Warriors of Hope's robots are designed to look like they popped right out of a manga or anime. It genuinely feels like something a kid would build if they had the money and resources, and I love it. But onto Masaru's robot specifically, the main thing that struck me about it is how it doesn't match Masaru's color scheme at all. It's white and gold. The reason why is twofold. It makes sure the boss stands out against the red background of the Killiseum, and also calls back to hero characters in media. I mean, think of a generic legendary fantasy hero and they probably have white armor, golden armor, or white armor with gold accents. The color choice is actually quite smart and helps make this boss more memorable than if it just matched Masaru. Also, looking at the armor plating, it seems to have a large crown on its head. That fits very well with Masaru's role as the leader of the warriors. And the robot has Masaru's sword logo on its arms, just for good measure. All in all, Masaru has a design that I think is pretty great. It fits his personality perfectly and has quite a few little details that I adore. Plus, his expressions and poses are all excellent. He does tread on old ground a bit, but he does enough of his own thing that it's not too distracting. My only major issue is the inconsistency between the headphones on his model and the headphones on his sprites. But even then, I'd argue this is the least distracting and least consequential inconsistency we've discovered so far. Masaru belongs in a museum. What museum, you ask? Probably a sports hall of fame. He deserves it. **Jataro Kemuri** In my opinion, Jataro is one of the most underrated characters in the franchise. So let's give him some time in the spotlight with this analysis! The biggest thing that stands out about his look is 100% his mask. The mask is the first thing everyone in-game brings up when first seeing him, and it's something Jataro refers to constantly. It's made of a patchwork of slightly different colored fabrics and a few screwed on metal pieces around the eyes. This makes the mask appear homemade, adding some ‘Lil Ultimate Art theming to his look. At the same time, it also implies an extra layer of tragedy to the abuse he suffered. Considering this mask is homemade, and his mom forced him to wear it nearly 24/7, either he made it as a fun project and it became an object of his mother's torment, or she specifically made him build this mask only to (metaphorically) suffocate him with it. Poor baby : ( The mask appears to be falling apart in a few areas, such as the loose fabric around the left of his mouth and the back right of his head. This indicates the mask has been in use for a long time. And the fact that he's wearing this mask at all is a constant visual reminder of the trauma Jataro suffered. Despite the fact that his mom is dead and he doesn't have to wear it anymore, he still does. It's essentially a visible mental scar that consumes who he is as a person: Covering himself in something ugly, gross, and confining. Like how Jataro intentionally tries to make other people hate him because he doesn't know how to accept genuine care or love. Moving into the less metaphorical side of things, the patchwork look and breathing tube under his chin help sell an “apocalypse survivor” feel that many other characters in UDG share. The breathing tube in particular shows some ingenuity on Jataro's end, as he complains about the mask being stuffy. Ergo, he now has an easier way to breathe in it. And I love how the metal plating on this mask is restricted to only around Jataro's eyes. That, combined with the breathing tube pointing towards his mouth, draws our gaze to the only exposed parts of his face. It's like the game is trying to remind us that, despite his scary appearance, he's still just a kid in pain. The metal around the eyes also adds a lot more of a shadow to Jataro's eyeballs and even cuts off his pupils in some sprites, adding a feeling of some creepy monster peering at you from the shadows. Jataro's mask, as well as most of his clothing, is brown. While this color is the textbook definition of a “boring” color, I adore its use here. First of all, think of what a typical artist character looks like. You probably imagined someone with a long apron, tons of bright, colorful clothes, and splatter paint all over them. But Jataro goes for the complete opposite: Being almost completely one color, and not even a very vibrant one. It's an excellent subversion of expectations. The brown also ties into Jataro constantly talking about very gross things. Brown is pretty much the signature color of “eww!” after all. The only other competition for that title is green, which also shows up in the form of some patches on Jataro's mask. This is the one design that manages to make brown look interesting, and I adore that. He wears a large, brown apron over most of his body. Like I said earlier, aprons are common among artist characters as real life artists often wear them to protect their clothes. There seems to be a dark stain on its top left, almost creating the idea of artist splatter paint without actually doing that. On this apron he wears his Warriors of Hope badge as well as carrying a bunch of sculpting tools. I actually really like how, despite being an artist, Jataro's focus is mostly on sculpting, sewing, and other 3D forms of art rather than drawing and painting. Of course he's good at that too, but it's not the main focus of his design or his skills in general. And that's very refreshing. Despite art being a *very* broad concept, artist characters are most often just shown as painters or sketch artists. I like that Jataro's more of a sculptor. On top of that, the sharp tools help him feel more intimidating than if he were carrying around pencils or paint brushes. It's like he could actually hurt you with his sculpting instruments if he wanted. Anyways, the tools and the bottom of his apron all have a symbol on them. This symbol, while stylized so it's not exact, looks very similar to a cross. This perfectly fits Jataro's title among the WoH as their priest. But due to the way his tools are being hung, the “crosses” on them appear to be upside down. Of course, upside down crosses are used as common shorthand for demonic or devil activity in fiction (despite the historical roots of the symbol, but I digress). I love the irony of the kid who calls all adults demons having a demonic symbol on himself. Actually, all of the warriors have something on them that could be considered “demonic.” Jataro has his crosses, Masaru has fire motifs (like hellfire), and we'll get to the others in future analyses. This apron is very shredded, being visibly torn at the bottom and having a tear in the orangish-brown pocket on the bottom right of it. This adds to the “apocalypse survivor” idea I mentioned earlier, as it makes these clothes feel like they were scavenged for (which in Jataro's case might actually be true). I especially love the tears around the bottom as, if we look at his flappy sleeves, we can assume that Jataro might be wearing an adult sized apron. And he had to cut out the bottom so he wouldn't constantly trip on it when he walked. That's just a really cute image, and it adds further to the cross on his apron if the apron itself is “demon sized.” It's like he's trying to purify it. It's a bit hard to see the clothes underneath Jataro's apron, but there's a few things to gather there, too. He wears orangish-brown shorts that are identical in color to the pocket on his apron. Shorts, while it's perfectly normal for adults to wear, are seen as more casual clothes on them (especially in Japan, to my understanding). That's why shorts are more often considered children's clothing. Wearing them is fitting for a kid whose entire identity and motivation revolves around protecting kids and being one himself. On his upper half he wears what appears to be a more formal brown shirt with a collar and orange tie, creating a fun contrast between his lower and upper clothing in both their formality and how much skin they cover. And like I mentioned earlier, the flappy sleeves. I ADORE these. It adds to the visual storytelling of his clothing being too big, but it also helps to remind you that Jataro is just a kid. While the other Warriors of Hope have their childish faces exposed at all times, Jataro has his covered. And on top of that, he's always saying creepy things and acting in creepy ways. These sleeves are pretty much the main thing reminding you “This is a child, not a monster.” Long sleeves like this are common to see on kids, as many parents will get oversized clothing that their children can grow into. Plus it looks cute, which is always appreciated. The sleeves do make me curious. Sculptors, like all artists, need to use their hands a lot. Having long sleeves that drape over your fingers would cause problems in keeping them dexterous, making it harder to create the art you want. So why does Jataro continue to wear these, especially with his clear willingness to cut his clothes to fit? I think it's meant to have similar symbolism to the mask. Jataro's mask is restrictive and keeps himself hidden, but also provides a twisted sort of comfort: As that's the only way he knows how to live. I think these sleeves are meant to represent the same thing for his art. We can assume his mom never supported his artistic ambitions, so he likely grew up ashamed of, or at least secretive of, his art. And even though now he's free to make whatever he wants, he keeps himself “trapped” under his sleeves because that's the only world he knows. He makes things harder for himself because he's not used to not receiving any push back. It also might have to do with his sense of self-loathing. Jataro wants people to hate him, and what better way could he make him hate himself than by making his passion more difficult to achieve? The long sleeves, in this sense, are one of the ways Jataro perpetuates his self-hatred. And on a less dark note, I think the long sleeves plus the long apron are meant to bring to mind imagery of monk robes. While his title in English is the priest, in Japanese his title is actually the monk. And certain monks wear long, brown robes like the ones Jataro looks like he's wearing from a distance. Another thing Jataro wears is a white backpack. The straps covering his front almost remind me of the white ropes monks often use to tie their robes, adding more to that imagery. But white in general is also just a good color to break up the overwhelming amount of brown and other dark shades all over this design. His straps have silver clips, like his WoH badge. And is it just me, or does the clip on his top left strap almost look like a beetle? The top being the mandibles, the middle being the head, and the bottom being the thorax? Just me? Well, if that is the case, it works well in Jataro's favor. He brings up bugs quite a lot and even has a bug-themed room when you explore the warriors’ headquarters during chapter 4. Anyways, this backpack is actually a very specific type. It's a randoseru, which is a backpack made of leather or a leather-like material commonly given to elementary school children in Japan. This adds one more childish feature to his look, and the leather aspect even fits. While I don't think it's ever explicitly said, Jataro's mask and apron very much look like they were made out of dyed leather scraps. Jataro's bag repeats the cross logo on the back of it, fitting as white is often used for holy imagery and symbolism. He uses this backpack to carry around all of his art supplies. We even see one of them, a large hammer, poking out of it. Hammers are another sculpting tool commonly used as a weapon that ups Jataro's intimidation factor, making it perfect to be the most visible item inside his bag. Unfortunately, the hammer is a point of inconsistency between the model and the sprites. The hammer in Jataro's sprites is grey while on his model it's a *slightly* darker grey and a tad less brownish. And you can tell this is a color change and not just making the pigments more vibrant (like with most 3D models) because in the sprites, Jataro's hammer is the same color as his breathing tubes. But that's not the case in the model. As for why they made this change, I think they darkened the hammer to make it stand out more from his backpack and breathing tube. Like I've said, with a lack of thick outlines on the models, you need more contrasting colors to make each detail distinguishable at a distance. Out of the 2 I prefer the hammer in his sprites, but as I said, the difference is small. I think they could've used the same color for the model if they had the hammer stick out more to the side, but oh well. At the very least, I'm pretty sure we can all agree this is the least intrusive inconsistency from any of these comparisons. The last bit of clothing we need to go over are Jataro's shoes. They're standard brown shoes with some sort of dot pattern on the sides. And underneath them he's wearing bunched-up white socks with some seemingly torn edges on them. These articles match everything else on his outfit without doing anything particularly noteworthy. One comparison people often draw is how Jataro looks like a little Leatherface, and I'm inclined to agree. Both characters wear patchwork skin masks (leather is cow skin), large aprons, formal collared shirts, ties, and Leatherface is even known for wielding a cattle hammer, similar to the craft hammer poking out of Jataro's bag. Whether or not these similarities are intentional, they fit very well. Both characters talk in strange voices, butcher innocent people, have disturbing family histories, and use their victims’ body parts as decoration. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is also a movie known for being very gross with its heavy gore, and Jataro loves grossing people out. I wonder if he even intentionally made himself look a bit like Bubba (or whatever his name is in the other incarnations) for the sake of making people hate him. Jataro's sprites are *chef's kiss*. While many of his expressions would look absolutely adorable on an unmasked face, the mask makes them look downright terrifying. I think in particular the sprite where his eyes get huge and “cutesy” fits this bill. I've seen a few fan made edits of maskless Jataro with this face, and they're always so cute! But with the mask on, it almost makes him look inhuman. Like some bug-eyed alien trying to imitate a person. This reflects perfectly how Jataro, in reality, is a pretty cute and nice kid. But he purposefully tried to make himself unapproachable, scary, and ugly to make others hate him. I also love how the sleeves are incorporated here. We never see Jataro's hands, and the sleeves are always swaying around to imply gentle, light movements. All except for the sprite where he's wide-eyed and spitting, where Jataro is clearly putting in more effort to flail his arms around wildly. I'd also like to point out the abundance of sprites with visible drool and how his mask almost makes the skin around his mouth look like a swollen pair of lips, adding to the gross image Jataro tries to paint for himself. These are all great. Not my favorite sprite set by any means, but they're still excellent. While we don't get any sprites of him looking like this, unmasked Jataro is too important not to mention. Obviously, he's designed to look like a typical cute kid. Huge eyes, tiny nose, clear skin, big smile, and floofy hair. I've actually seen some people complain about this, since Jataro's mother wrote that she made him wear that mask because he was ugly. I want to explain this a bit to people who think that way. Yes, Jataro's mother finds him ugly. But on top of beauty being in the eye of the beholder and all that jazz, she finds him ugly because when she looks at him, she doesn't see a child. She sees a physical representation of all the opportunities she lost by giving birth to Jataro. Like she writes in her note, “There's so much I can do if my son didn't exist. So much I could have done if I never had him. I could have obtained qualifications and licenses, taken lessons, worked more. Instead, my entire life is just a platform for my son's life.” She doesn't see him as ugly because he's physically ugly, she sees him as ugly because she blames the sacrifices she made for her pregnancy on him. Now, I would like to say I understand the desire for a less…conventionally cute character, I think is the best term here. Designs that intentionally look ugly or weird are usually only saved for comic reliefs or irredeemable villains, and Danganronpa is no exception to this. So I get the desire to have a more “ugly” character in a sympathetic role. But honestly, I feel like Jataro is the wrong character to put this trait on. Not only would that show his mother's abusive treatment as more “understandable,” it would make Jataro fall into the cliche of being a masked character with an ugly face. This is common for masked characters in fiction, even Leatherface like I mentioned earlier. So by making Jataro look more like a conventionally adorable child, he subverts that trope. Now back to my analysis, Jataro's face is absolutely adorable. 10/10 would squish those cheeks. His brown hair works well with the rest of his colors while being a noticeably much lighter and “cleaner” brown than the rest of his clothes. I also want to mention Jataro's white eyes. With his mask on, they look ghostly. Haunting. Dead. But with his mask off, they look almost pure and angelic; Fitting both his image as a cute kid and his title as the priest of the Warriors of Hope. You also see his long eyelashes without the mask, which helps that transformation. I love how his eyes can give two completely different vibes just based on what he's wearing. I also want to talk about the shapes in Jataro's pupils. While Masaru had a flame pattern, Jataro has…well, it's more like what he doesn't have. Jataro's eyes almost look like his scalpel was used to cut a little shape out of them. This is hard to notice on his sprites, but much easier in his 3D model. This is probably my least favorite shape out of any of the WoH, but it works well for Jataro's character. It mixes together his artistic talents and a bit of his gross side in a way that makes sense. Jataro Kemuri has one of the most creative designs in the entire Danganronpa series. NOBODY else could pull this look off, and I really appreciate that. His mask has so many layers to it, both literally and figuratively. His outfit works perfectly for who and what he is: An artist, a priest, a monk, an apocalypse survivor, a traumatized child, and a cute kid all while avoiding cliches that these archetypes usually fall victim to. Each little detail builds on top of the last and elaborates on what's already there. The *one* The problem I have is the inconsistency in his hammer color, and even then, that took me a lot longer to notice than for any of the other characters. It's very unintrusive. And his positives are so strong that I genuinely wanted to find an excuse not to call it out in this analysis (but for the sake of integrity, I still did). Finally, after so many close calls, we've found an Ultra Despair Girls character that truly earned a spot in peak.