Izuru Kamukura (カムクラ イズル Kamukura Izuru), also known as Izuru 1.0, is one of the two main antagonists of Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, and a major character in the Danganronpa series. He is an alternate identity of Hajime Hinata.
Izuru was the end product of Izuru Kamukura Project, and as a "genius out of the ordinary" and Hope's Peak Academy's ultimate goal, went by the title of Ultimate Hope (超高校級の「希望」chō kōkō kyū no “kibō” lit. Super High School Level Hope). He is named after Hope's Peak Academy's founder.
In Danganronpa 2, he is mentioned to be the culprit behind The Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy as well as a Remnant of Despair, who aided AI Junko Enoshima by putting her into the Neo World Program. However, during Chapter 0, it's implied that he now considers her an enemy and has his own motives. By the end of the story, he awakens into the real world and chooses to live as Hajime Hinata.
Izuru is also briefly shown in the epilogue of Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, preparing his plan for the second game.
Izuru returns in the prequel Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak Academy. It is shown that he seemingly joined Ultimate Despair, after being persuaded by Junko. However, in actuality, his true motive was his desire to see whether hope or despair was more unpredictable, following Chiaki Nanami's death. It is also revealed that he wasn't the culprit behind the school's Tragedy and was simply blamed by Junko.
In Side: Future, it's revealed that his and Hajime's personalities have merged. As shown in the ending of Danganronpa 2, he has chosen to live as Hajime, but he still has all of Izuru's talents and other people sometimes seem to mistake him for Izuru. With his talent, he cured the comatose students from the brainwashed effect and brought them alive from the Neo World Program, setting off to the Future Foundation off-shore faculty to stop Ryota Mitarai from using his hope brainwashing video.
At the end of Danganronpa 3, he returns to Jabberwock Island and lives in peace with his classmates.
LOTM: Weirdmageddon[]
TBA
Relationships[]
Hajime Hinata[]
The Izuru Kamukura Project pushed Hajime’s memories into the darkest recesses of his mind and effectively erased his personality. Although Izuru is a completely different person, however, he can still be recognized as Hajime Hinata by those who knew him prior to the project. Izuru himself eventually becomes aware of his true identity because of this.
Although Izuru was at least aware of his previous identity as Hajime, it's been confirmed that his first sixteen years of his life as Hajime were removed from his memory, and thus he is unable to recall the memory of his past self. However, Hajime does exist within him at a subconscious level, allowing him to cry at Chiaki's death despite having no idea of who she was. In addition, the Neo World Program was able to dig up his past self in order to use as an avatar. During the conversation Izuru had with Nagito in Chapter 0, Izuru stated that "he will not be able to participate in what lies ahead", most likely a reference to that fact.
Another hint to this can be the fact that during the final trial of the Killing School Trip, Makoto, Kyoko Kirigiri and Byakuya Togami were all surprised when it was revealed that Hajime and Izuru are the same person, despite the fact that they had already met and probably spoken with Izuru in the real world before putting him in the Neo World Program. It is also possible that when Izuru was secured and interrogated with the other Remnants of Despair by the Future Foundation, he presented himself as Hajime in order to hide his true identity and fool them, as Makoto and Kyoko did not know much information about Izuru Kamukura.
Junko Enoshima[]
In Danganronpa 2, Izuru is stated to be a Remnant of Despair and according to Junko he is also the culprit behind the Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy. According to Junko, she made him join her by "breaking his spirit". Though he seems to be an ally of Junko based on her words, in Chapter 0, Izuru acknowledges that she used him in the past and wants to use her like she used him. He also acts unusually angry and bitter while talking about her, showing that he now considers her an enemy. However, Izuru's true motives remain unclear.
Their relationship is explored a bit more in Danganronpa 3 - Despair Arc. Junko, at first, seemingly attempts to kill Izuru because of his status as the Ultimate Hope, but her true intention was to attack him knowing she couldn't win as a way to show despair's unpredictable nature and with this in mind, Izuru wishes to see more. She makes the student council kill each other and frames Izuru to show him what despair was, and eventually convinced him that a world of hope was boring and a world of despair was too unpredictable for even an Ultimate Analyst which makes life much more exciting. Izuru once protected Junko from Nagito after he attempts to kill her with a gun, showing that he was on Junko's side.
Junko believes that she and Izuru are destined for each other and perfect for spreading despair together, occasionally acting like an overly enthusiastic fan and flirting with him in a joking manner, though he is completely unresponsive and uninterested to this. She had far more respect for Izuru than the other Ultimate Despair members, considering him more of an ally instead of a servant.
After Chiaki's death, Izuru started to question Junko's way of thinking, and decided to leave her and test which better fit him: hope or despair. In the end, he never truly cared for her as a person, and was just affiliated with her to see how unpredictable despair is. In return, Junko saw him only as a tool in her hand, like the other members of Ultimate Despair, stating that she'll always find a use for him. It's implied that she used his interest for despair's and hope's unpredictability to manipulate him into doing what she wants, seen as when she used him to upload herself in the Neo World Program with the promise of an unpredictable battle between hope and despair.
As shown in Danganronpa 2s Chapter 0 and Another Episodes Epilogue, Izuru later feels unusual hatred and bitterness towards Junko because she used him in the past. It's also possible that he is subconsciously angry because she killed Chiaki.
Remnants of Despair[]
While Izuru is counted as an actual member of Ultimate Despair by the rest of the world, in actuality he was simply affiliated with it. As he remained undecided between hope and despair, he decided to stay with the other members of Ultimate Despair to witness Junko's despair. He doesn't seem to admire her like all the other members of Ultimate Despair do. This is most likely due to the fact that, unlike the other members, Junko was mainly trying to sway Izuru into joining her in filling the world with despair, instead of outright brainwashing him into doing so.
The only Remnant of Despair Izuru is seen interacting with is Nagito, who he finds completely boring. Though they met before once, Izuru had Junko erase all of the Remnants' memories of him, as he himself also erased his own memories of them.
However, since the Remnants of Despair entered the Neo World Program of their own will with the purpose of handing over their bodies to AI Junko in order to resurrect her, while Izuru personally installed AI Junko in the program, it can be presumed that they planned it together, with Izuru as the plot's mastermind.
It's also possible that at least Mikan Tsumiki knew Izuru, since after regaining her memories in Chapter 3, she claimed she knew who the traitor was, meaning she knew that all the others, including Hajime/Izuru, were members of the Ultimate Despair.
Chiaki Nanami[]
Real-Life Version[]
Izuru meets Chiaki for the first time in an underground room, after he stepped in to save Junko’s life from Nagito. Chiaki, recognizing him as Hajime, quickly tries to start a conversation with him, asking what happened to his hair in the year that passed since they’ve last seen each other. Izuru merely asked who she was in response, as he was unaware of the relationship that his past self had with her. However, he is seen staring into Chiaki’s eyes until Junko interfered and personally told him to stop, heavily implying that he is showing some sort of interest in her. This is most likely due to the fact that Chiaki is the only person he knows who recognized him by someone else, and he knew that the project that created him erased all his memories of who he previously was.
In Chiaki’s final moments, Izuru comes to see her for no known definite reason. He asks Chiaki if Hajime was his previous identity, to which Chiaki, in response, desperately tries to get him to remember her. Unfortunately, despite her attempts, Izuru is still unable to recognize her, stating that all of his previous memories were erased.
When Chiaki passes away, Izuru notices her hairpin and picks it up. Upon looking at it, he unconsciously begins to cry, which surprises him. This implies that he was able to remember her, just seconds after she died, as he then keeps the hairpin with him, carrying it as a way of remembering her. Even years after the incident, he says during his conversation with Nagito in Chapter 0 that the contribution that a person left to him still rest in his pocket, referring to Chiaki's hairpin. She seems to be the only person Izuru genuinely cared for, as Izuru still mourned over her during the Tragedy.
It was actually Chiaki who made Izuru question Junko's opinion of despair being unpredictable, therefore much more exciting. Remembering Chiaki's hope, Izuru lingered between hope and despair, and decided to test out which of the two better fit him. This is heavily implied to be the reason for him masterminding the events of the Killing School Trip.
Izuru has shown unusual hatred and bitterness towards Junko. It's possible that he is subconsciously angry because she killed Chiaki.
AI Version[]
It's strongly implied that Izuru knew about the AI of Chiaki that existed in the Neo World Program, and he installed the AI of Junko there in order to see which of the two would stand triumphant.
Nagito Komaeda[]
When Izuru first meets Nagito he attempted to kill him with a gun after the latter prepared to do the same to Junko. However, because of Nagito's luck, the bullet pierces his student handbook instead. Nagito appears almost immediately attracted to Izuru and Kazutaka Kodaka has described the scene as similar to a beautiful, elegant dance.
Both Izuru and Nagito joined Ultimate Despair in order to get a better look at the battle between hope and despair. Both of them also helped out with Junko and Monaca Towa's plots, respectively, for the very same reason, with Nagito heavily assisting Monaca with her plans by guiding Komaru to become a symbol of hope, and Izuru being the mastermind of the Killing School Trip.
When the two meet again (both as members of Ultimate Despair) they do not recognize each other, and while Nagito is very excited about Izuru's company, he merely thinks of him as a completely boring person. This was due to the fact that Izuru asked Junko to erase all memories of him, as he would later erase his own memories about Class 77-B.
In the end, after Hajime and Izuru's identities have mixed, Nagito recognizes him as Hajime and calls him by the name (though at first glance he assumed he is Izuru).
Sakuya Izayoi[]
Kirei Kotomine[]
Gallery[]
