Akane Owari

Akane Owari, is a student of Hope's Peak Academy's Class 77-B, and a participant of the Killing School Trip featured in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. Her title is the Ultimate Gymnast.

She, along with Class 77-B, return in Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School to explore their school life leading up to The Tragedy.

Akane is the oldest of her several siblings, as a child, she lived in a very poor area where people were dying frequently. In the mornings, it wasn't that rare to find dead bodies. Because of this, she never bothered to make close friends, or even learn any names (it's also possible that she developed her fear of ghosts because of this). Akane was regularly starving and as a result, she values food more than anything. She learned to constantly search for food, often from trash she had to fight for with other people, and from anywhere else such as nuts and bird eggs from trees and small animals she managed to catch. She was also beaten up at times and was often chased by men and even a certain stray dog, though this stopped after Akane became stronger than her pursuers. Because her own home was so poor, she had a habit of resting in libraries during winters and summers, because there were proper air conditioning, free water and bathrooms unlike in her home. Through all this, no one helped her and she learned to rely on herself. She considered her home area a crappy place filled with crappy people.

Akane lived together with her several siblings and unemployed parents. She states that her "mom or dad would change", and that "there would be more siblings every time". Akane greatly loved her younger siblings, affectionately referring to them as the "li'l ones", and tried to make them happy whenever she could by doing things like fishing with them. She believed that it was her responsibility to take care of them, and thus she spent most of her time working many part-time jobs. When she worked as a waitress, she sometimes stole leftovers for her family.

In Akane's dark life, sexual harassment was the norm for her. She was often chased by perverts, which made her skilled at parkour. Her step-mother's lovers groped her when they were drunk and told her to do "weird" jobs, like serve them food while not wearing any underwear.

When Akane worked as an actual waitress, there was an old gymnastics coach that used to come to the cafe all the time. The man groped her and kept telling her that she had an amazing body. However, the man also suggested Akane join gymnastics. After many times being persuaded, Akane finally agreed. She started doing gymnastics for money and thanks to this, Akane and her siblings were able to move out and lived together in a new home.

As a teen, Akane previously attended Hikarimachi High School before being enrolled in Hope's Peak Academy as the Ultimate Gymnast, in the 77th Class.

Akane in high spirit climbed Hope's Peak Academy's main building's rooftop, like the sensation of the gentle breeze that passed through her skin. When she smelled the smell of meat, she jumped from the rooftop to reach the place where she smelled the meat. This was the perfect strategy orchestrated by her new assistant homeroom teacher, Chisa Yukizome. Nekomaru who already prepared for her appearance easily captured and restrained her with a cross.

Akane was tied in the cross through the entire day until she and her classmates gathered in their classroom to clean it together. After returning to the classroom, Chisa was happy to see that Akane and the others had waited and that the classroom was clean. When the students once again bring up that they didn't have to go to class, so long as they have their talent, Chisa reminded them that talent isn't everything, and wanted them to build strong relationships and "hope" with each other.

Akane was in a realistic training combat with Nekomaru. As it got intense, Akane wondered how to defeat him. Teruteru Hanamura then offered her his and their upperclassman, Seiko Kimura's invention called Doping Corn Soup. After drinking it, Akane gained a lot of strength that was capable to follow Nekomaru's movement.

After the training end, Akane and her classmates busy repairing their classroom until Chiaki Nanamisuggested them to play games that she brought. Akane, Gundham Tanaka, Nekomaru, and Chiaki played a duel game with her player resembles Donkey Kong.

During the break time, Akane's stomach rumbles, making a frightening sound that echoes inside their classroom. After she ate many portions of nikujagathat cooked by Teruteru and Hiyoko, she fell unwell. Nekomaru asked her whether she was fine, but Akane told him to not touch her with shy tone, making both of their heart racing.

It was revealed that Hiyoko secretly put another invention filled with aphrodisiacs created by Teruteru and Seiko inside the nikujaga. Akane recovered sometimes later in the nurse's office.

On the next day in Akane's classroom, Chisa gathered them and announced that she elected Chiaki as their class representative. Akane happy to heard that and agreed with Chisa's decision.

At the beginning of the episode, Akane and her classmates walked past Hajime heading toward the Main Course building. Later, Akane was shown laying on the ground with her classmates playing with rabbits on the school's park.

Several days later, Akane looked worried at Mahiru who cried on Hiyoko's chest after she lost one of her friend from the Reserve Course, Sato.

Akane was still upset after the deaths of Natsumi Kuzuryu and Sato affected her class' morale greatly when Chisa announced the annual practical exam will start tomorrow.

At the end of the episode, Akane protested Chisa's transfer to the Reserve Course after the bombing incident involving Nagito. However, the principal's decision cannot be changed and she must bid her farewell to her beloved teacher.

Akane and the rest of the class celebrate Chisa's return as their homeroom teacher after being downgraded to teaching the Reserve Course a few months ago. They have made a classroom party and Akane is busy eating before questioning with her mouth full if Chisa has a stomachache as a reason for being so flustered. They all enjoy the party together.

Akane and the rest of the class have moved to their new classroom in the new school building. Akane inquires about when Nagito will be returning to class, referring to him as 'the idiot' and Chisa responds awkwardly by telling her 'it should be soon'.

Akane is seen watching Gundham as he plays with a bear. When Hiyoko placed a flower on Nagito's desk, commemorating a year of his suspension, Akane wondered where he was.

After learning about the Izuru Kamukura Project and The Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy via an email sent out by Junko, the Reserve Course students begin to riot. Despite seeing this, however, Akane asks about what exactly was happening.

When Chiaki explains to Nagito that Mikan has gone missing and he questions her name out loud, Akane acts aggressively hoping he hasn't forgotten her after all this time. When Nagito tells the class he saw Mikan in the West District, Akane, and the rest of them all act in surprised and shocked fashion, she and the rest of the class go to search for Mikan on the school grounds. She, Nekomaru and the Ultimate Imposter search for Mikan as a group before Akane questioned whether Mikan is in the cafeteria. When her stomach growls, Nekomaru concedes and agrees with her to search the cafeteria.

Akane and the rest of the class reconvene at the school classroom as they are unable to find Mikan, assuming what Nagito told them was false information. Chiaki reaches the classroom with an unconscious Nagito, explaining to them that Chisa is in danger, Akane is automatically willing to help in any way she can. Nagito convincingly makes clear that it'll be dangerous and there is a possibility of them dying, to which Akane contemplates these concerns but Chiaki convinces her otherwise although she states she was planning to go no matter the situation.

The Ultimate Imposter reveals his true identity, to Akane's shock along with the rest of the class although they come to accept it quickly. After leaving the Main Course building, the Reserve Course students seek to take them on in a battle to open placements on the Main Course, Akane and the class go on ahead, leaving Nekomaru and Gundham to fend them off, Akane wishes Nekomaru good luck before leaving him.

On the way down the stairway to Junko's lair, everyone becomes worried for Gundham and Nekomaru's safety although Akane is convinced Nekomaru will have the students in submission before too long.

Akane and the class continue down the corridor after making their descent of the stairway, Mikan eventually catching up with them. After a door is flung open unexpectedly, with multiple eyes appearing in the darkness, Kazuichi screams loudly, catching the attention and dismay of Akane and the rest of the class. Only to find it was Nekomaru and Gundham, Akane smiles, relieved that they are both okay. After Gundham explains in his own way that he and Nekomaru are tired from their battle, Akane becomes confused, expressing he's making less sense than usual, to which he smiles. Ibuki proclaims all that is left is to save Chisa, to which Akane and the rest of the class agree.

Mikan, now leading the group, approaches a large red door at the end of the corridor, pressing a button which opens the door, Akane and the rest of the class follow her inside. Once inside, Junko reveals multiple monitors showing Chiaki Nanami's Punishment, Akane horrified by what she is seeing, wants to find a way to save Chiaki but is powerless.

Once Chiaki reaches the "goal" in her execution, she opens the door. She sees Akane, the rest of the class, and Chisa on the other side. Once she reaches for Chisa's hand, spikes appear from under the ground and stab Chiaki everywhere on her body. As the broadcast ends, Akane and the class falls silent, with a patterned swirl in their eyes, they have now lost their hope and become part of Ultimate Despair.

Akane and the rest of the class have returned to the classroom, receiving their final lesson before graduation. Chisa stated that she has been honored to be their teacher, and started reading a letter she prepared. Akane and the rest of the class clap with gratitude.

After the speech, red lights turn on, and Chisa started to cry. The patterned swirled return in their eyes as they all make a declaration of what they will do upon graduation. Akane expressed she will 'eat her fill'. After bidding her class a final farewell, Chisa activated a bomb that fakes the death of Class 77-B. Akane and her class stand outside the school grounds as they watch Hope's Peak's destruction.

Chisa's narration later reveals Akane helping the world fall into despair. One of her wrongdoings is killing random people that she met.

The members of Ultimate Despair did all kinds of horrible things during the Tragedy, causing despair all over the world. It is known that some members of Ultimate Despair starved themselves to feel despair, and considering Akane's constantly showcased love of eating, it's possible she may have been one of these individuals.

After the death of Junko, the remnants of the Ultimate Despair agreed to an insane plan to have Alter Ego Junko take over their bodies, so they could resurrect their leader.

The remnants of Despair were later found by Future Foundation. Makoto Naegi planned to undo Junko's influence by putting them into the Neo World Program, but the program is taken over by Alter Ego Junko, right according to the Ultimate Despair's plan.

As members of Ultimate Despair, in the flashback, Akane and Nekomaru reinforced Fuyuhiko and Peko who were battling the Future Foundation, but all of them eventually captured by the Future Foundation.

Akane was one of the students who did not panic when they were transported to the Dangan Island. She, along with everyone else, went exploring after Usami dismissed them.

Akane is first seen at Usami's Corral and wandering about. When Hajime introduces himself, Akane asks who the other guy is. Nagito Komaeda gets slightly offended and tells her that they met already, and Akane suddenly remembers. Akane then introduces herself, and after that, she seems to be in a world of her own, as when Nagito asks Hajime if he likes sexy bodies loudly, she doesn't respond.

Akane is later shown with the rest of the group at the beach, and after the Ultimate Imposter finishes his story, she states that she doesn't care what the island is called, only that they still have to stay there. When everyone is talking about life on the island, she asks why they don't just swim back, but her solution is shot down by Mikan Tsumiki, who says it is too far.

Akane is one of the several students to throw the Usami stamp away, but when Usami mentions another surprise, Akane says that it might be a party and she is pleased to know that she was correct. However, Akane doesn't join to swim with the others.

In Chapter 1, Akane eating Teruteru's food was essential in proving the fact that it was not drugged with laxatives as Peko Pekoyama and Nekomaru Nidaihad suffered from digestive problems throughout the night. She also eagerly volunteered to eat the bone-in-cut of meat that was alleged to conceal the murder weapon, vowing to devour the entire thing in a minute or less. Unfortunately, Akane was beaten to the punch by Monokuma, prompting her to angrily declare "That's MY meat!" when the Headmaster reappeared with the meat in tow.

In Chapter 2, Akane is the first one to arrive at Jabberwock Park for Monokuma's announcement of the second motive, if only because he promised a bowl of homemade curry to the first person to arrive at the park. It was later revealed that the curry was made of several unsavory ingredients, but Akane enjoyed it anyway.

When Sonia Nevermind invited the girls to a swimming party on the beach, Akane planned on going. However, when she arrived at the diner, she was covered in blood, due to getting into another scuffle with Nekomaru on the way. She was immediately dragged to the bathroom by Mikan for treatment.

During the investigation into Mahiru Koizumi's murder, Akane and Hajime revealed that the window leading out of the beach house inside the shower room could be exited through two people getting on one another's shoulders.

In the Class Trial, Akane helped clear Hiyoko of suspicion by pointing out that Hiyoko's inability to dress led her to smell as terrible as she did after the first Class Trial. Kazuichi briefly suspected her as the culprit due to her being covered in blood when she came to the diner, but Nekomaru confirmed that he had injured her in their fight since it was the only way to get her to back off. For Kazuichi's suspicion, Akane vowed to bend him in half until he was stuck in a bowing position for the rest of his life. She later threatened Nagito when he lamented being unable to help the killer with their plan, assuring Ibuki Miodathat they could "lightly punch him to death later".

Akane later supported Hajime's claim that the culprit could have used a wooden sword as a step to reach the window, claiming that it was a classic ninja technique.

In Chapter 3, when the others are at Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu's welcome back party, Akane challenges Monokuma to a duel, only to find herself outmatched. When Monokuma goes for the kill with a bazooka, Nekomaru steps in to save Akane, shielding her with his own body. Akane was stunned and heartbroken by the consequences of her rash decision but felt a small amount of hope when it was revealed that Nekomaru was still barely alive.

In the next day, Akane became one of the victims of Despair Disease, the motive of the third chapter. Under its influence, she became a cowardly crybaby, which most of the students initially dismissed as grief over Nekomaru's severe injuries.

After the third murder(s) was committed, Akane and Nagito were cured of the Despair Disease by Monokuma. Back to normal, they helped the others to investigate the murder of Ibuki and Hiyoko. During the investigation, Akane helped Hajime and Nagito find Hiyoko's motel key inside her kimono.

In the class trial, Akane kept insisting that Hiyoko was being abducted by the culprit, but this was disproved by Hajime as he explained that Hiyoko went to the music venue by her own free will. She refused to admit that the culprit of the third murder case, Mikan, is the person that treated her when she got the Despair Disease.

In Chapter 4, when Akane and the rest of the group found out that Nekomaru turned into a robot, she didn't feel devastated or shocked, although she felt sorry for him. She believed that because of her recklessness, Nekomaru lost his human body.

After Akane and the rest of the group get trapped inside the Surprise House by Monokuma on the fourth island, she, Hajime, and the girls decided to stay at the Grape House while the boys excluding Hajime stay at the Strawberry House. She chose to stay in the poor/worst room because she was used to living in a poor house.

In Chapter 5, Akane, Fuyuhiko, and Kazuichi attempted to apprehend Nagito.

Akane plays a side role in the final trial, she constantly asks questions in order to discover the truth behind the virtual game mystery, to which Hajime and Alter Ego Junko are able to provide an answer. She objectifies to forgetting everything they did on the island stating 'I don't want that!' and begins blaming their current ordeals on the Future Foundation themselves. However, she later starts to lose out into despair until a re-invoked Hajime convinces her of a new hope for the future. She eventually states that she wants to fight for what she believes in because that's what confidence truly is, the decision to start the shutdown sequence isn't just easy for her but for everyone because of a hope for the future.

After the defeat of Alter Ego Junko, Akane and former Ultimate Despair members opted to stay on the Jabberwock Island, possibly in hopes that they could do something to help their comatose friends.

Akane appeared in Nagito's imaginary world following his death in the Neo World Program.

During the morning in the classroom, Akane is seen using two chairs as a stand to perform handstand push-ups to which Nekomaru observed.

She later attended Kazuichi's funeral after he was murdered by the World Destroyer Izuru. Akane, with an umbrella, waits in the rain after the service is finished before leaving.

Akane also appeared in Nagito's flashback during the events of the Killing school trip as his imaginary world is destroyed he began to remember the events that had transpired.

Nagito is awakened from the Neo World Program by Hajime. Akane along with the rest of Class 77-B board a ship to take them to the Future Foundation Headquarters.

Akane returned in Side: Hope alongside the rest of the Class 77-B, who had been resurrected by Izuru Kamukura although Izuru was now combined with the personality and memories of Hajime. They arrived at the island where the Future Foundation's off-shore facility was located, having left from Jabberwock Island and proceeded by rescuing Byakuya Togamiand Yasuhiro Hagakure from being trapped under rubble, they then began their fight against Ryota's brainwashed rescue squad troops, including the Former Super High School Level Elite Task Force.

Venturing into the underwater facility beneath the main building, Akane commanded Teruteru to begin serving the meat he was cooking from a stove, swallowing it whole and giving her the energy to run at a very fast speed, bumping into Teruteru, causing him to spin uncontrollably. She faced off against the former Ultimate Street Performer, who began to throw knives at her continuously although she directed them away using only her teeth. The squad member, realizing his efforts were in vain, began to blow fire from his mouth but Akane is able to block this fire with two large chunks of meat. Taking a bite of this meat, she attacked by firing him into the air with one of the large pieces.

Later, Akane helped convince Ryota to abandon his plan to brainwash the world. When Hajime began persuading him to join them in atonement, she happily accepted Ryota. Upon leaving the broadcasting studio, Nagito held Makoto Naegi's hand and began to ramble about their comparable talents before being swiftly carried away by Nekomaru and Akane for speaking too long.

Shortly afterword, Akane and the other Former Remnants of Despair shoulder the blame for the Final Killing Game in a broadcast to the Future Foundation, presenting themselves in their despair persona and relieving the organization of any wrongdoing.

With the battle won, Akane and the Class 77-B return to Jabberwock Island by boat. She is last seen with Nekomaru, enjoying Teruteru's cooking.

And she is reprised by Wendee Lee in the English dub and Romi Park in the Japanese dub.