Juzo Sakakura

**Juzo Sakakura** (逆蔵 十三 *Sakakura Jūzō*) is a character featured in Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School. His title during his time at Hope's Peak Academy's Class 74th was the **Ultimate Boxer** (超高校級の「ボクサー」*chō kōkō kyū no "bokusā"* lit. *Super High School Level Boxer*).

He is a member of Future Foundation and the leader of the 6th Division. His responsibility as the leader is policing, including riot suppression and investigate special crimes which includes the Special Crime Investigation Unit featured in Danganronpa Gaiden: Killer Killer. He, along with the other Future Foundation heads, is forced to participate in the Final Killing Game.

## Appearance

Juzo is a man in his mid-twenties, around 25 at youngest (about 20-21 in Danganronpa 3 - Despair Arc).

He is a tall, muscular man with an intimidating stature and is described as good-looking. He has short dark greenish grey hair, pink eyes, and tan skin. He wears a heavy dark-colored jacket with thick fur trimming and a red crest on his left shoulder. Underneath, he wears a white muscle shirt, black pants, and long black boots. His Future Foundation ID is pinned to the reverse side of his jacket's top button.

## Personality

Juzo is rough and prone to violence when he loses his short temper. He has a harsh way of speaking and he is accustomed to bullying others to get his point across. He is rather serious, with many of his smiles being mocking rather than genuine. He is described by Misaki Asano as "the most aggressive person in Future Foundation." People who work underneath him in the 6th Division are constantly fearful when he is around. However, he can restrain himself and become serious when needed. In Danganronpa Gaiden, he is shown to be calculating and carefulーdevising an undercover operation in order to confront Killer Killer. He is also resourceful during the Final Killing Game, making use of his environment to create weapons, like an office chair or a pipe, to avoid triggering his own NG Code.

In his official profile, it's stated that Juzo is often misunderstood due to his appearance and behavior, and only a few understand his true intentions. Despite his harshness, he is described as a good guy in the end. He hates people who care more about protecting themselves than protecting others—which is shown by his disgust at Hope's Peak's actions trying to cover up Natsumi and Sato's murders to preserve their reputation. He also cares very much about his friends; he is incredibly loyal to Kyosuke, described as willing to "dirty his hands without regret" for him. He is mostly seen smiling, joking and generally showing a more softer side in Kyosuke's company. He values Kyosuke's life and opinions over his own, being very determined to support him in every situation. Being seen as useful to Kyosuke is the one thing that seems to make him happiest and in general he seems to relax in his presence. He is also close with Chisa Yukizome and treats her as an equal, with genuine warmth like he does with Kyosuke, though being a serious person himself he is consistently annoyed with how carried away she could get.

While being very prideful, Juzo also suffers from deep insecurities and weakness. Despite his strong desire to please Kyosuke and help him with his plans, he has an unlucky tendency to screw up constantly. He is also described as incompetent at everything else but boxing, and sometimes even his boxing skills fail him. In the group of three friends, Juzo considers himself a third wheel due to Chisa and Kyosuke having a closer relationship. As a result of all of this, Juzo suffers from a fear of abandonment and uselessness, which strives him to work even harder. His multiple insecurities could also explain some of his aggression, as he likely wishes to appear as tough as possible to others.

Above everything else, Juzo is deeply insecure about his sexuality and his secret romantic feelings for Kyosuke, which is likely made worse by his status as the world champion and his country's rather negative views of homosexuality. He doesn't tell his friends about these feelings, preferring to watch afar and silently suffer from jealousy. Coming out of the closet, especially to Kyosuke, appears to be one of his worst fears. Junko uses this to her advantage, forcing Juzo into a position where he has to choose between protecting his own pride and betraying Kyosuke. He betrays Kyosuke, which makes him feel very guilty and angry with himself. It appears that at one point he was finally ready to tell Kyosuke about his feelings and admit his mistake, but he was betrayed by Kyosuke and died before that could happen. In the end, he didn't hold a grudge against Kyosuke for abandoning him and attempting to kill him, believing he deserved his fate as a price for everything he had done. Furthermore, he still cared about Kyosuke and wanted him to live more than anything, admitting to himself that he is "such a softie" after all.

## Talent

### Ultimate Boxer

Before even graduating Hope's Peak Academy, Juzo had won the World Championship, cementing his place as the Ultimate Boxer. He fights with a predominant southpaw (left-handed) stance, but can most likely fight either southpaw or orthodox (right-handed), given that he is a former Ultimate Boxer. He would go on to win at least one more Championship before putting his career on-hold in order to help Kyosuke investigate the Academy.

According to Misaki, after the Tragedy, Juzo builds up a reputation of being "the most aggressive person in Future Foundation," and is known for his short temper and boxing talent. He is stated to be able to take down countless Ultimate Despairs using only his fists, and will even mock people for using weapons against him. He is also shown to be able to take out a target in a single punch.

However, Juzo is generally described as very incompetent with his boxing skills being his only good point. According to Kazutaka Kodaka, he is a "weak" character, as he isn't even really that strong from a brute force perspective. He would probably be no match for very strong opponents like Sakura Ogami and even Junko could defeat him (supposedly with her Ultimate Analyst talent). Furthermore, others were able to counter him during the Final Killing Game; including the Great Gozu, Gekkogahara (who is able to incapacitate him with a taser) and Kazuo Tengan (who, with his bare hands, reflected his thrown chairs). Though, it should be noted that Juzo's combat skills were heavily hampered by his highly restrictive NG Code—directly punching others.

## Trivia

* Jūzō (十三) is written using the kanji for 13 (jū san, lit. "ten-three.") Though this belief comes primarily from Western culture, some Japanese do associate 13 with misfortune. This could be in reference to Juzo's constant failures and bad luck.
	+ The two unlucky numbers in Japanese culture, 4 and 9, can be added to equal 13.
	+ 4 is unlucky because one of its pronunciations (shi) is similar to how you would pronounce "death." 9 (ku) is unlucky because it has similar pronunciation to "agony/torture."
	+ Interestingly he has a one-sided rivalry with Makoto, who represents good luck.
* He is shown to have attraction to people of the same gender, as in Despair Arc #10 he is revealed to be in love with Kyosuke.
* His initial draft version indicated him as "hoodlum character".
* He likes sweets, but he cannot eat them very often, because as a boxer he has disciplined diets.