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| Kyoko Kirigiri | |
|---|---|
| Danganronpa character | |
 Art of Kyoko Kirigiri by Rui Komatsuzaki. | |
| First appearance | Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (2010) |
| Created by | Kazutaka Kodaka |
| Designed by | Rui Komatsuzaki |
| Voiced by | English: Erika Harlacher (games)[1] Caitlin Glass (anime)[2] Japanese: Yōko Hikasa[3] |
| Portrayed by | Natsume Okamoto (stage play) |
Kyoko Kirigiri (Japanese: 霧切 響子, Hepburn: Kirigiri Kyōko) is a fictional character from the Spike Chunsoft visual novel action-adventure game series Danganronpa. She was introduced in the 2010 game Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc as a high school student and the "Ultimate ???" of Hope's Peak Academy. Kyoko finds herself sealed within the building alongside her classmates, who are told by a robot named Monokuma that can only leave the school if they commit a murder and successfully evade conviction in the ensuing class trial. By the end of the game, Kyoko is revealed to be the "Ultimate Detective". Despite being initially distant to the cast, Kyoko befriends Makoto Naegi and they join forces to solve class trials and discover the identity of the mastermind behind the killing game. Kyoko Kirigiri reappears in other Danganronpa titles and sequels, most notably in the 2012 sequel Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair as a member of the Future Foundation, the 2017 game Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony as an apparition of the mastermind in the final trial, the 2016 anime series Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School and the spin-off video game Kirigiri Sou as a supporting character, as well in the series of prequel light novels Danganronpa: Kirigiri (2013–2020), which center on her childhood and rise through the Detective Shelf Collection (DSC), as she deals with new cases with her assistant Yui Samidare.
Kyoko Kirigiri was created by the writer Kazutaka Kodaka. Kodaka wanted to have a detective character in the first game who would support Makoto in solving cases. Their bond was intended to be initially friendly before taking a romantic shift in The End of Hope's Peak High School. This was Kodaka's way of showing a notable character arc from a cold distant teenager to a caring young adult. Designer Rui Komatsuzaki expressed difficulties in creating Kyoko, as the game required a mysterious girl with feminine traits to replace Sayaka Maizono, another character initially presented as the first game's heroine. While Yōko Hikasa is Kyoko's sole Japanese voice actress, the character has had two actresses in English: Erika Harlacher in the games and Caitlin Glass in the anime adaptations.
Critical response to Kyoko has been positive. Multiple writers enjoyed her role in the first video game, due to how she solves cases alongside Makoto while also developing the narrative. Her return to the anime was also the subject of praise, but her fate was mixed based on the impact it brought to the story. Nevertheless, Kyoko remained as one of the most popular Danganronpa characters, appearing in multiple polls. The performance of Kyoko's three voice actresses also attracted a positive response.
- ^ "Credits". Erika Lynn Harlacher. Archived from the original on 23 April 2020. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
- ^ "Danganronpa the Animation English Cast Announcement – Funimation – Blog!". Funimation – Blog!. 2015-04-04. Archived from the original on 2018-12-04. Retrieved 2017-01-20.
- ^ "Kyoko Kirigiri Voices (Danganronpa)". Behind The Voice Actors. Archived from the original on 26 June 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2021. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.