Kotori Fukuoka

The content below contains **spoilers** for **Danganronpa Mauve**. Proceed with caution.

## Fangan Info

### Voice Actors

TBA

 —Danganronpa Mauve

**Kotori Fukuoka** (후쿠오카 코토리 *Fukuoka Kotori*) is a main character featured in **Danganronpa Mauve**, made by **Team Mauve**. She is the **Super High School Level Baker** (초고교급 공학자 lit. *Super High School Level Baker*).

## **Profile**

The chief baker of a famous confectionary brand. She has been a baker since she was very young, and gets easily excited when talking about bread. Her personality seems to be not that different from ordinary girls, but she is very ambitious with pride and spirit.
## **History**

### **Background**

Early in her life Kotori's family was often met by her mother's friend, a businessman who saw Kotori as a daughter. At the time he went to Kotori's family with several business proposals, and eventually, used Kotori as the namesake of a small bakery he was running. Feeling a sense of closeness to her sensei, Kotori often followed him with his work, and he became a huge influence in finding her talent. When she later started to show talent, her sensei cut his hours to support her.

Despite this, Kotori's parents were never interested in Kotori's talents, not wanting to stand out.

While she was attending elementary school Kotori travelled abroad to France, on the strong recommendation by her sensei. Even at a young age, Kotori claims she was able to 'conquer' france with her talent and skill. During her travels she befriended another student, Adrien. Around two years later she moved back to Japan, where she started to work at Kotori in earnest. During this time 'Kotori' was beginning to make a name for itself, and was opening branches in several areas. After joining the bakery its sales skyrocketed, and the brand's name was known all over the country. Kotori claims it only took five years for 'Kotori' to become the popular brand it is now known for.

### **Killing School Life**

Kotori was one of sixteen freshmen student's admitted into Hope's Peak Academy. Upon waking up in the school building Kotori went to investigate the kitchen, where she later introduced herself to Mayu Ego and Hiruto Iwada. Shortly afterward Kotori made her way to the entrance hall where the opening ceremony was meant to begin; confused by the lack of any staff and the weird situation they were in, the student's began to discuss what had happened to them, but were soon interrupted by an anonymous announcement telling them to go to the gymnasium. After arriving they met Monokuma, their self-proclaimed headmaster who revealed the student's would be forced to participate in a killing game, where they had to kill one of their classmates to escape from the school. As he begun to discuss the rules of the game Justin Blade, the Super High School Level Bounty Hunter, tried to apprehend Monokuma. At that moment a low beep emitted through the room, and he was urged to get away. As soon as he threw Monokuma across the room he exploded, causing the student's to panic.

To their shock a duplicate Monokuma appeared just a few seconds later. Despite what just happened he started to explain the rules of the Class Trial's, revealing the only way any of them could escape was by sacrificing the rest of their classmates. As everyone begun to delve into panic, Erika questioned whether anyone was willing to kill, causing everyone to fall into silence. Following this Kotori and the rest of her classmates begun to explore the school building, hoping to find an escape from their situation. Later on everyone regrouped in the cafeteria where they discussed their findings; however, nobody was able to find an escape and every possible way out had been closed-off with no way to unlock it without breaking the school rules. While investigating the school building Kotori ran into Hitomi Tadaira; together they decided to investigate the kitchen, confirming there was an unlimited supply.

During their conversation another announcement went off telling everyone to return to the Gym. There he introduced a latecomer and another classmate; Nozomi Mizuki, the Super High School Level ???. As they tried to get to know Nozomi, it became evident he was suffering from a form of amnesia. Unable to remember anything about his past, including close details such as his family and friends, suspicion fell onto him when Erika suggested he was lying about his amnesia. Unable to learn anything more from Nozomi, the class split up to continue investigating the school.

### **The First Motive**

A few days after Nozomi was introduced into the killing game, Kotori attended one of the morning meetings with several of her classmates. While trying to reassure Nozomi their conversation was abruptly cut-off by Monokuma, who announced a meeting in the dining hall. Frustrated by the lack of any murder's, Monokuma tried to incentivize the student's by introducing a set of short videos of the outside world. In her motive video Kotori witnessed her brand seemingly destroyed, eventually making her develop a need to escape from the academy. Later that night Kotori stole a kitchen knife and a large piece of fabric from the warehouse, taking both back to her room afterwards.

Unexpectedly, she was then visited by Misaki Kuzu, who asked for Kotori's help in preparing for a surprise concert, wanting her to bake some confectionaries for everyone. Worried that she would notice the missing knife, Kotori lied to Misaki, but still joined the preparations anyhow. She, Shoji Shinano, Hitomi Tadaira, and Misaki later visited Hiruto Iwada's dorm room and asked him to help with the concert. After agreeing everyone left to organize the concert in one of the vacant classrooms. There, Hiruto agreed to prepare the classroom early the next morning. Already frustrated with him due to his talent, moreso the lack of one, Kotori used this moment to her advantage. She later transferred the fabric to the classroom.

Early the next morning Kotori ambushed and killed Hiruto while he was distracted by the morning announcement. After safely shielding herself with the piece of fabric, Kotori quickly left the classroom, leaving Hiruto to choke on his blood. Not wanting to be seen leaving, Kotori chose to leave the fabric behind. Soon after Hiruto's death Hitomi, who had woken up earlier to recite her performances, was unable to find Hiruto. After running into Misaki she and several other classmates started to explore the school, where they soon found Hiruto's corpse.

### **The Class Trial**

Initially, Kotori went under-the-radar for Hiruto's murder, though she was unknowingly suspected by two of her classmates. After narrowing the suspects down to those who were with Hiruto the night prior, Hitomi was initially suspected by the rest of her classmates due to her contradicting alibi, meanwhile Shoji and Misaki were cleared based on their alibi's with Ukyo and Rintaro respectively. However, between Satoshi's and Hitomi's own alibi, she was soon cleared of suspicion when she revealed her condition, which left her completely blind. With everyone else cleared, suspicion then fell onto Kotori who, shocked by this, tried to refute the evidence with no success. Left with no alibi , Kotori began to panic, drawing further attention from her classmates.

In a last-ditch effort Kotori tried to frame the murder on Hitomi; although this fell apart when she was refuted by Nozomi. When the rest of the evidence began to point towards her being the murdered, Kotori mentally broke and confessed to the crime. She was later voted by the rest of her classmates and found guilty. Kotori was then dragged away to her execution.

## **Creation and Development**

### **Design**

Little is currently known about Kotori's conception. On April 26, 2020, her beta design was shared through the projects Twitter account, alongside her reworked profile. Kotori had some of the most major changes of the entire cast, with nearly her entire design changed since her beta. She originally had brown hair and green eyes. While the top of her head was still covered with a baker's hat, her hair style originally wasn't shaped into croissants. In addition to this, her uniform completely changed. She initially wore a white sailor fuku with a red collar, a light pink ribbon along its front, a badge with an unknown logo, and rolled up sleeves. Kotori also wore a red skirt with a white lining and a pair of brown heeled boots.

### **Name Etymology**

Kotori's surname is written with the Kanji 福 ('Fuku') which means good fortune, and 岡 ('Oka') which means hill. Her first name is written with the Kanji 小 ('Ko') which means small , and 鳥 ('Tori') which means bird. Together, her name means 'small bird'.

## **Appearance**

Kotori is a short young adult who stands at 153cm. She has waist-length dark blonde hair and green eyes. Her bangs are swept over her forehead, and she has multiple strands of hair which curl into her face. She also has two twin-drill sidebangs which rest over her chest. The ends of her hair curl and take the appearance of croissants. Kotori wears a white chef's hat on top of her head with a black ribbon around the base of it and a silver logo attached to the left side of it.

Kotori has sometimes been depicted to have light brown hair in illustrations.

During the killing game Kotori wears a white chefs jacket, which she wears under a blue school jacket with black checkered flaps and sleeve cuffs. With this, she wears a similarly styled pencil skirt, a pair of thigh-length white socks with a light brown line along the top of it, and a pair of knee-length black boots which have golden-yellow clips along the sides of them. Her school crest can be found printed in white on the left side of her chest. Over the front of her chefs jacket she wears a large black ribbon.

## **Personality**

On the surface, Kotori appears to be a kind-hearted, prideful, and caring person. The owner of her own confectionary brand, many of her classmates often went to Kotori for help; such when Misaki asked for her help for the concert, and when she and Hitomi investigated the kitchen together. She is frequently shown to be prideful of her work, and becomes easily excited when talking about it. Similarly, Kotori has an interest in classical music, which she often plays while coming up with new recipes. Perhaps because of her prideful nature, Kotori holds a lot of confidence in her confectionary brand, and later felt disgraced when she found the kitchen's bread supply. She also claims to love bragging.

Underneath this, Kotori frequently hid her true feelings of detest from the rest of her classmates. Due to her fame, Kotori has developed a sense of superiority, and cares very little for other people, admitting so at the end of the first Class Trial. Despite the time she spent with her classmates, Kotori was willing to sacrifice everyone so long as it meant she could escape the academy, prioritising her own need to check-in on her brand after its supposed destruction. Before this, Kotori had long decided to kill Hiruto because of his lack of talent, believing his appearance in the school was arrogant. Kotori was able to near-perfectly mask her true feelings, with them only showing after she felt pressure during the class trial.

Despite her confident personality, Kotori is shown to be self-conscious about her relationship with her sensei. During her Free Time Event's with Nozomi, she confided in him that she believed she was a better baker than her sensei. Over time this became a source of frustration for Kotori, who wasn't sure of how to confront him over this.

Kotori is shown to be a quick-thinker, coming up with numerous of the murder tricks on the spot.

## **Talent and Abilities**

### **Super High School Level Baker**

Kotori is the head baker of 'Kotori', which is known for being one of the most famous bakeries in Japan history. Due to the success her business has received, Kotori has recently been able to sell a confectionary bread franchise overseas. As its head baker, all of the business's recipes were made by her. As a result of her work Kotori feels a great sense of confidence for her brand, and expresses sadness when Nozomi reveals he had never tried her bread before. To this extent, she is the only person allowed to work on her brand's recipe's, believing working with others will get in her way. To Kotori, her abilities as a baker are the only thing she has accomplished in her life.

'Kotori' was first opened by Kotori's sensei, and her mother's close friend. During a business proposal, her sensei made Kotori the namesake of a small bakery he was running at the time. Enamoured with this, Kotori later decided to follow him in life, and took up an interest in baking. Even at a young age Kotori displayed a talent in this, something which her sensei took notice of. Although her parent's didn't want to stick out, they later agreed to send Kotori abroad to France. In France Kotori learned more about baking, and befriended Adrien, one of her classmates. After returning to Japan two years later, the skills Kotori learnt were greatened to such an extent that 'Kotori's' sales skyrocketed. Now, Kotori works as the company's CEO. With her work her bakery has become an extremely famous brand that is recognized all across Japan.

As a result of her deep connection to her bakery, Monokuma was able to manipulate Kotori into murdering one of her classmates, after she witnessed it in a state of destruction. After seeing it in such a state Kotori felt she had to escape the school to see it again; no matter what it took.

## **Relationships**

> Family:
>
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### **Kotori's Parents**

Little is known about Kotori's relationship with her parents, though she seems to see them in a negative way, believing they didn't care about her talents.

### **Kotori's Sensei**

Kotori appears to be closest with her sensei, who named his bakery after Kotori. Throughout her entire life Kotori has followed her sensei, learning after him and feeling his support when she started to find her talent in baking. Later on Kotori decided to work in the same bakery as him, acting as the head baker of the business while he focused on the promotions and behind-the-scenes work.

In spite of their closeness, Kotori doesn't believe her sensei is a good baker, and believes she is superior to him. During her Free Time Event's with Nozomi, she admits that she wants to talk to him about this, but feels self-conscious about how to do so.

> Classmates:
>
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### **Hiruto Iwada**

Just before the beginning of the killing game, Hiruto has the option to work with Kotori to investigate the school building. After the participants received their first motive Kotori, who had felt a build-up of resentment towards Hiruto for his lack of talent, made a plan to murder him and escape the school building. Although Kotori completely detested Hiruto, this appears to be a one-sided hatred.

### **Nozomi Miyuki**

Though they don't interact much during the killing game, Nozomi and Kotori can interact during their Free Time Event's together. During their time together, Kotori and Nozomi are shown to be on friendly terms, although Kotori sometimes expresses frustration towards Nozomi. Despite this, Kotori later confides into Nozomi about her relationship with her sensei, and asked for his help regarding it.

### **Hitomi Tadaira**

Although Hitomi and Kotori aren't seen interacting much throughout the killing game, they seemed to be on friendly terms. During the organization fo the secret music concert, Hitomi and Misaki asked Kotori to help prepare food for the event. Later, Kotori expressed a shared interest in classical music.

### **Adrien**

Little is known about Kotori's relationship with Adrien. He is a friend Kotori made while she was abroad in France.

## **Trivia**

### **Miscellaneous**

* Kotori's introduction card was originally planned to have a brown and green colour palette. This was updated in the demo prologue, which updated it to have two shades of brown.
* Kotori has an interest in classical music and often plays it while coming up with new recipes.
* Kotori's execution is likely inspired by "The Cage of Death", in which the executed is turned into a tub of butter. At the end of Fukuoka Bread, Kotori is turned into a pastry dish.
	+ Ironically, one of the gifts the player can unlock is a tub of butter, further referencing this execution.

### **Pushoong Trivia**

The following trivia was discussed through Danganronpa Mauve's Pushoong, and doesn't appear in the main game. The following information is STC.
* Although Kotori is confident in making any type of bread, her favourite bread to bake is croissants.
* Kotori is the fourth strongest of the female characters.
* Kotori is the third wealthiest of the female characters.
* Kotori believes she is cute.
* Kotori has the highest self-esteem of the entire cast.
* Kotori is the fifth best singer of the female characters.
* Of the entire cast, Kotori is one of the most afraid of death.
* Kotori can speak English.
* If there was no opportunity, and the secret concert hadn't been organized, Kotori may not have killed Hiruto, and instead would have targetted someone else.

## **References**

1. ↑ Voice Actor Announcement
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 **YouTube:** Danganronpa Mauve (January 14, 2024)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 **Danganronpa Mauve:** Complete Prologue (Zephirum)
4. ↑ **YouTube:** Danganronpa Mauve (January 13, 2024)
5. ↑ **Danganronpa Mauve:** Prologue