Ibuki Mioda

"Someday...I want to play music with someone who trusts me as much I trust them... That's always been Ibuki's dream. I think believing that dreams come true as long as you believe is the first step toward fulfilling your dreams!" - Ibuki Mioda

Ibuki Mioda (澪田 唯吹 Mioda Ibuki) is one of the characters featured in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair and a participant in the Killing School Trip.

Ibuki has the title Ultimate Musician (超高校級の「軽音楽部」chō kōkō kyū no “keiongaku-bu”; lit. Super High School Level Light Music Club Member).

Ibuki appeared in Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak Academy as a student of Class 77-B enrolled in Hope's Peak Academy with the other Remnants of Despair. Ibuki succumbed to despair along with her classmates after being brainwashed by Junko Enoshima and became a part of Ultimate Despair.

In Danganronpa 2, Ibuki was one of the students who contracted Despair Disease and was later murdered by strangulation at the hands of Mikan Tsumiki along with Hiyoko Saionji, all during Chapter 3.

After staying comatose, Ibuki regained consciousness and her pre-despair self along with the rest of her classmates, and together they stopped Ryota Mitarai's plan to brainwash the world using the hope brainwashing video.

At the end of Danganronpa 3, Ibuki and her classmates decided to atone for their sins as the former members of Ultimate Despair.

Appearence

Ibuki is a young woman in her early twenties, around 22 at youngest. Her virtual avatar in the Neo World Program appeared as her 17 year old self.

She is a pale girl with pink eyes. She has long multi-coloured hair consisting of black, pink, blue and white, some of which is tied into two oni horns on the top of her head.

Ibuki has a style of clothing that is very unlike what one would think a Light Music Club member would wear. She wears a sailor uniform with a black pleated skirt and ripped thigh highs (the right one is pink and the left one is blue). Both of her ears have six needle earrings and an earlobe gauge. She also has three piercings under the left side of lip and black nail polish. She wears a necklace, a black scrunchy with a stitch-like pattern on right wrist, a black and pink glove-like sleeve on her on her left upper arm with a silver bracelet and three silver rings on her left hand. Her shoes are white, with blue shoelaces on the right one and pink shoelaces on the left one.

Ibuki also has a long scar tattoo with stitches on her left thigh. The tattoo was shown on her right thigh in Danganronpa 3, but this could have just been an error.

As a member of Ultimate Despair, Ibuki has the same hair, but her clothes are different with more black. She appears to have a spiked collar and more piercings.

When enrolled in Hope's Peak Academy, she wore a white button up dress shirt with a pink tie that has light pink-colored x's, a black pleated skirt with a thin belt, a blue scrunchy on her right wrist; a yellow spiked bracelet on her left, two black rings on her left hand and black thigh highs with white skeletal markings on them. She also wore the same necklace and shoes.

Personality

At first, Ibuki is a bit shocking in bold and unique personality and appearance. She is one of the most upbeat people out of her classmates. She is very energetic and loves to talk, though she almost always ends up going off on bizarre, unrelated tangents. She forgets things quite quickly, so she tries to write memos to help her remember. Ibuki is very quirky as she loves to do all sort of bizarre things and she dislikes "dull" things, like reading and studying. She has a habit of breaking the fourth wall. When she gets upset, Ibuki seems to have a bit of a verbal tic: saying things twice. She also tends to scream or froth at the mouth when she panics. She seems to really enjoy panicking when there is no real danger, like when she's watching horror movies or going into the haunted house.

In the official artbook, it's stated that Ibuki adores cute girls, and she's often seen admiring the other girls during the game. She can act flirty towards both boys and girls, though she often appears to be just joking. In the Island Mode, during a more serious conversation, she states that "there are more important things in this world than a temporary physical relationship" - she appears to have very little interest in having a lover. Instead, it's implied that she's much more interested in having a deep platonic relationship with someone she considers her soulmate ("band member", as she puts it). She also implies that she has felt despair around other people, but finding her "destined one" would make sure that she would never feel despair again.

Despite her general quirkiness, Ibuki can be a startlingly wise and contemplative person, as in her last free time event she gives Hajime Hinata advice about being himself. Though she may appear a bit insensitive at times, she is actually a very caring friend, as she spends her whole Free Time Events trying to help Hajime with his memories and sense of identity. She seems to have strong respect for individuality, which is contrasted with her Gullible Disease which makes her for the most part unable to act on her own will and also tones down her unique quirks.

Ibuki often refers to herself in third person and calls everyone by their first name with "-chan" honorific in the original Japanese release. Ibuki also speaks in the third person in the English version, but not as frequently.

Relationships

Hiyoko Saionji

Ibuki appears to like Hiyoko, though she is amazed by how many tears Hiyoko can cry. They seem to have a similar taste in music, which is revealed in Ibuki's "Welcome Back" party for Fuyuhiko. Ibuki played one of her songs, but Hiyoko was the only one who enjoyed it.

Hiyoko seems to think of Ibuki as a friend as well, despite the fact that she often insults her. She joins Ibuki's improvised band as a dancer. During the events of chapter 2, it is revealed that both Ibuki and Hiyoko, along with Mahiru, Mikan, and Sato, were best friends at Hope's Peak Academy. During the Killing School Trip, Ibuki and Hiyoko were murdered together by Mikan, but despite this, the three were seen celebrating together along with Mahiru on the ship, following the events of the Tragedy and their awakening from their coma.

When Ibuki and Hiyoko were still members of Ultimate Despair, the two of them often performed together on the stage, rallying the spirit of the brainwashed army using the Monokuma helmets.

Mikan Tsumiki

Prior to The Tragedy, Mikan was one of Ibuki's best friends, which was later revealed in Monokuma's second motive, "Twilight Syndrome Murder Case". Ibuki was the only one in their class who addressed Mikan by her first name back then, along with Mahiru.

Ibuki takes joy in watching Mikan fall into humiliating poses, however no real harm is actually intended on her side. She is often one of the first to notice when Mikan finds herself in these situations and claims that Mikan looks so adorable whenever she is embarassed. Despite usually finding it entertaining, Ibuki sometimes shows concern for her, namely when Nagito knocked her down in Side: Hope and Ibuki being the first person who tried to chase after Mikan. Mikan is very shy around Ibuki, and is often interrupted by her. Ibuki still cares for Mikan after the murder incident and even forgives her for it and treated Mikan as her closet friends as usual. Ibuki's taste in music deeply disturbs Mikan, who reacted in horror upon hearing Ibuki play for the first time.

During the Killing School Trip, when infected with the Despair Disease, Mikan targets Ibuki as her first victim, due to Ibuki's illness turning her naive. It was shown that Mikan killed Ibuki for the sake of Junko Enoshima since Ibuki is the closest person and a dear friend to Mikan and Ibuki is the only one who could led Mikan into despair even more for her beloved. Despite this, the two remain close friends upon awakening from their coma and are even seen celebrating together on the ship alongside Mahiru and Hiyoko.

Mahiru Koizumi

Mahiru was another one of Ibuki's best friends before the Tragedy. Like she does all her friends, Ibuki called Mahiru by her first name. In return, Mahiru adressed her as Ibuki-chan.

Mahiru seems to be weirded out at times by Ibuki's eccentric behavior but still considers her a friend. She is deeply disturbed by Ibuki's odd taste in music, seen covering her ears when she hear Ibuki play at Hope's Peak Academy. Ibuki likes Mahiru and feels guilty about Mahiru's death in the Neo World Program because she didn't accept her invitation to talk.

After the two awaken from the Neo World Program, Mahiru helped Ibuki when a brainwashed troops attempted to shot her, and they are seen high-fiving each other. Later, they celebrate together on the ship along with Mikan and Hiyoko after the battle has ended.

Ultimate Imposter

Ibuki has a friendly relationship with the Ultimate Imposter (impersonating as Byakuya), though they are sometimes a bit annoyed with her.

Ibuki thinks that they are very cool and reliable and she admires their leadership skills. During chapter 2, after their death, she states that she misses him a lot. She even told Hajime that she also misses his piggy fingers. In addition, during chapter 5 when she and the other deceased characters show up, she greets him by oinking and explaining that she said “You're so cool” in pig talk.

While not apparent in the game, many manga portray Ibuki with a some sort of crush on the Ultimate Imposter and she's often shown to be attracted to his build. Though, it should be noted that the manga are non-canon.

Peko Pekoyama

Ibuki appears to be attracted to Peko. In Chapter 1, when Peko offers to be on guard duty and leaves the room, Ibuki grins and mutters to herself that she feels Peko has "this super cool, melancholy vibe".

In a Special Event during the first chapter, the two are walking together on the beach when they meet Hajime, Kazuichi and Teruteru. Ibuki winks and claims she was holding hands with Peko, though Peko stoically denies this and tells Teruteru not to fantasize about weird things when he imagines the two girls having sex. When Peko talks about splitting open a coconut and describes how she wouldn't make a mistake with a sword, Ibuki gets really excited, screaming that she's so cool and that she might fall in love with her quiet words. She then begins to call her "Peko-Peko". Peko seems to mostly ignore her behavior.

Ryota Mitarai

Upon meeting him for the first time, Ibuki seemed to take a liking to Ryota, most likely due to to her friendship with the Ultimate Imposter who impersonated him. She developed a similar relationship with Ryota, and likes to play around with him. She is seen eagerly talking to him on the ship with the Imposter, and even shoves food into his mouth at one point.

Teruteru Hanamura

During their time at Hope's Peak Academy, Ibuki found Teruteru to be very gross, due to his perverted nature. She would constantly physically hurt and interrupt him because of this. However, much like her fellow classmates, she enjoys Teruteru's cooking very much.

Sato

In Twilight Syndrome Murder Case, it was revealed that Sato was one of Ibuki's friends. They, along, with Mikan, Hiyoko, and Mahiru spent time together prior to Sato's murder.

Hajime Hinata

Ibuki and Hajime seem to be good friends. They bonded over performance exercises during her free time events. Also during her free time events, Ibuki was trying to help Hajime remember his talent. She insisted that it should've been obvious what she was trying to do, but Hajime claimed he didn't even realize it, and was touched that she was trying to help him.

Ibuki often pokes fun at Hajime, saying that he has developed a crush on her or, that he is looking for an excuse to be alone with her. Ibuki also gave Hajime some advice that even when people are constantly changing, either physically or otherwise, that they are always going to be their true selves and she made Hajime promise her that he will never give up on trying to find out his true self. In Hajime's official relationship chart, Ibuki states she wants him to be the drummer in her band, and insists that the two are in a band, even teaching him lessons. However, according to Hajime, she only taught him how to use a loudspeaker.

Mako Mankanshoku

Mako Mankanshoku and Ibuki Mioda became friends really quickly. Ibuki enjoys Mako's outgoing and energetic personality and even becomes part of her "HALLELUJAH" sessions. Mako loves her personality and even play music with her as part of her band.

Samus (Ibuki Mioda's Guitar)

Ibuki Mioda's Boyfriend. Ibuki thinks he is real, but he is just a guitar. Ibuki's friends make fun of Samus. However, she does know he is just a guitar, as revealed in Ibuki's Sleepover.

Mine

Mine meets Ibuki in LOTM: Weirdmageddon. Mine finds Ibuki the most tolerable of Black Star's friends. But Ibuki does still annoy Mine when she plays loud music or when she does crazy things with her friends and does scold her to act more serious. Ibuki enjoys hanging out with Mine. And while she and her try to keep Black Star and the others from doing TOO dangerous things, Ibuki's sometimes oblivious to when she's annoying Mine.

Nonon Jakuzure

Nonon also thinks Ibuki is annoying and calls her "Wannabe Rock Star".

White Star

Friends: Hajime Hinata/Izuru Kamakura, Hiyoko Saionji, Mikan Tsumiki, Mahiru Koizumi, Ultimate Imposter, Peko Pekoyama, Black Star, Mako Mankanshoku, Rottytops, Mine

Enemies: Junko Enoshima, 

Trivia

• The name "Ibuki" (唯吹) means "a sole breath" or "merely breathing". This could be a reference to her demise later in the game by strangulation.

• The name "Ibuki" may also be a reference to the Touhou Project character Suika Ibuki, an oni, which Ibuki Mioda also has several references to in her design.
• Ibuki's last name, "Mioda" (澪田), could be translated as "rice field of the waterway".
  • Each kanji on her name is directly taken from the 4 protagonists of K-On!
  • She also shares the same birthday with the main character of K-On!, Yui Hirasawa, which is on the 27th of November.
• While Ibuki's title in the official English translation is "Ultimate Musician", her original title, "UltimateLight Music Club Member" is actually much more specific. "Light music" is a very common after school club activity available in many high schools across Japan. Not to be confused with the music genre know as light music whose origins are in late 19th century Britain, the Japanese "light music" (or 軽音楽 "keiongaku") genre is something similar to pop music.
  • Despite her success as a light music performer as proven by her title, Ibuki's original music, some of which she performs in the beginning of Chapter 3, reveals her musical preferences to be much closer to the heavy metal genre.

• There are currently two known songs from Ibuki's solo repertoire: "From Me To You Too" and "I Squeezed Out The Baby But I Have No Idea Who The Father Is"; the former she performs in the beginning of chapter 3.

• Ibuki has extremely sensitive hearing.
• The way Ibuki calls her classmates in the Japanese version, using their first names and adding "-chan" (i.e. Hajime-chan, Hiyoko-chan, Nekomaru-chan), is considered the stereotypical way for girls to call their close female friends in Japanese. Considering her friendly nature, it is highly possible that Ibuki calling both her male and female classmates this particular way is due to a habit she picked up back at her previous high school (where all of her classmates were girls).
  • Incidentally, the story of K-On! takes place in a girls-only high school as well.
• Ibuki's school uniform - a sailor fuku with a pink ribbon - is reminiscent of Sayaka Maizono's casual attire. This might have been the character designers' intention as both characters have talents involving a career in music.
  •  Also, in a very early draft for her beta design, Ibuki looks strikingly similar to Sayaka.

• The 'X' on her sign during and after Chapter 3 resembles a pair of drumsticks.

• Ibuki knows how to sew and had promised Hajime that she'd sew him a stage outfit.

• Ibuki has screamed inside six different libraries and now isn't allowed to enter any of them.

• During the Chapter 2 Trial, when she was told she is Girl C, Ibuki says "I guess I'll 'C' U Next Tuesday", which is a song by Pop Artist, Ke$ha. Additionally, that statement contains an obscene acronym.

• During one of her free-time events, (at the end, specifically), Ibuki recites the beat-box portion of "Freak on a Leash" by American rock band, Korn.

• In her last free time events, Ibuki breaking the 4th wall by saying, “After all this is the last event”.

• One of Ibuki's sprites is a reference to Pinocchio.
• Ibuki is one of the known LGBT+ individuals in the Danganronpa series.
  • In the official artbook, it's stated that Ibuki adores cute girls.
  • She is excited about seeing Mikan's embarrassing poses and the others girls in bikinis. In the official art book, she states that she was disappointed when Sonia didn't wear a bikini, and she excitedly talks about how the girls nowadays are curvy in just the right way.
  • In a Special Event during Chapter 1, Ibuki claims she was holding hands with Peko and talks about falling in love with her "quiet words", though Peko stoically denies this and seems to ignore her flirting.
  • During her Island Mode ending, it's heavily implied that she doesn't have much interest in a physical relationship.
• In LOTM: Mageddon Trilogy, Ibuki is the smartest of Davey and the Multi-Universe but also the weirdest. 
• Ibuki is the oldest of Davey and the Multi-Universe at the age of 22.

Gallery

Despair Ibuki