Kaito Momota

History;Early Life:

According to Tsumugi Shirogane, Kaito Momota was a normal talentless high school boy who adored a famous reality show called Danganronpa, a series which tells the story about Killing Games, created by Team Danganronpa. In his audition video before he participated in Danganronpa, he said that he wanted to murder, earning the honor and money after winning the game so that he would no longer have to worry about what was impossible. During his high school days, Kaito attended Dodonpachi Commercial High (怒首領蜂商業高校). However, it is unclear if this memory of him is a part of the fabrication made by Team Danganronpa.

Fabricated Past:

After he successfully participated in the 53rd Killing Game, Kaito's memories and past were fabricated by Team Danganronpa as follows: In Kaito's Free Time Events, he told Shuichi a story from his childhood that sparked his dream to conquer the universe. He told him how he went on a voyage to fight with his rival, the boss of the Great Pirates and conquering the land by invading an underground civilization and befriend its emperor, all done in a summer vacation he had. Shuichi questioned the credibility of his story for several times, mentioned that Kaito was probably demented or could probably become a great writer using the materials he told him. In his middle school, Kaito was once a tennis club member and recognized Ryoma Hoshi's fame as his other teammates idolized him. As he grew older, Kaito became famous for becoming the first teen to ever pass the astronaut exams. However, in reality, he cheated his way into doing so, as he lacked the required college degree to take them and was therefore only able to get through them using false documents that he obtained through an acquaintance. Once he was found out, he was allowed to stay on as a trainee thanks to being an "interesting and amusing person of talent." [4] He hasn't been to space yet, but he harbors a great longing to do so.[5] In his Free Time Events, he claimed that he has had famous sidekicks in the past, such as a star rookie in the major league, a Nobel Prize winning engineer, and a popular pop star

The Gofer Project;part 1

Part of the fake backstories created for Kaito and the other fifteen students was The Gofer Project, which supposedly happened before the Killing Game started. It was initiated by heads of nations from all over the world after countless meteorites crashed into Earth, spreading a deadly virus all throughout the atmosphere. To try and preserve the last vestiges of mankind before the Earth’s destruction, the government decided to select sixteen talented students chosen by the Ultimate Initiative that also somehow happened to be immune to the virus, put them in a spaceship colony, and have them escape before the Earth's destruction. Kaito was among these sixteen individuals. Despite being chosen to participant however, Kaito and the other fifteen participants had no intentions of going along with the plan, not wanting to abandon their loved ones. As a result, Kaito chose to forget about his ultimate talent and decided to live as a normal high school student. Around that time an extremist cult came into power. They believed that the meteorites were a punishment humanity brought upon itself, and having heard of The Gofer Project, tried to stop it. As a result, the “Ultimate Hunt” started and spread throughout the world, and the sixteen students selected for the Gofer Project were hunted down

The Gofer Project;part 2

The government then decided to counter the situation by faking the students' deaths, calming down the “Ultimate Hunt” while providing protection to the students. The Gofer Project was then put into action while the Earth was being destroyed by meteorites. Kaito and the others went to space in the massive ark, the true form of Ultimate Academy of Gifted Juveniles, and were put to a cold sleep for several decades. Much later on in Chapter 5, after the remaining participants cleared the Death Road of Despair, Kokichi Oma lied about being the mastermind of the Killing Game and that he was the leader of the cult bent on stopping the Gofer Project. He also lied about being the one who let Monokuma enter the spaceship, which effectively forced Kaito and the others to participate in the Killing School Semester. All of this was done in order to get everyone to fall into so much despair that they would not continue the Killing Game. However, the true Mastermind, in order to get the remaining survivors at the time to continue the Killing Game, decided to connect everyone's memories of The Gofer Project to the story of Hope's Peak Academy. As a result, the true Mastermind prepared a Flashback Light that tricked the remaining participants into thinking that everyone, including those that had died, were actually students of the rebuilt Hope's Peak Academy. They also remembered that the ones behind The Gofer Project were Makoto Naegi, the headmaster of the rebuilt Hopes Peak Academy, and the Future Foundation. This Flashback light also revealed that the cult bent on stopping The Gofer Project were actually the Remnants of Despair, and that Kokichi was their leader. This lie filled everyone with the determination needed to stop the despair they were faced with.

The Gofer Project;part 3

In the Mastermind's rush however, they accidentally overlooked slight inconsistencies and plot holes when linking both stories together, such as "Ultimate Despair" only referring to Junko Enoshima, and that Class 78 was trapped by the Ultimate Despair when they had actually locked themselves within the school in order to shelter themselves from the tragedy outside. While Kaito did remember about the Ultimate Hunt in Chapter 2, his and everyone else's funeral in Chapter 3, and the meteorite impacts and the state of the outside world in Chapter 4 thanks to the Flashback Lights, he ultimately has no complete recollection of the event, as he was not present when the complete memory about The Gofer Project was triggered by the Flashback Light in Chapter 5.

Killing School Semester Main;

Kaito was among the first fourteen people gathered in the gymnasium before Kaede Akamatsu and Shuichi Saihara arrived. Just like everyone else, Kaito was confused about their current predicament, asking Kaede and Shuichi if they were also chased by those monsters, referring to the Exisals. Once the Monokuma Kubs arrived and revealed themselves from within their Exisals, they gave the sixteen participants their Ultimate wardrobe, and their first memory via the Flashback Light. Kaito and the other fifteen talentless students underwent the fabrication process, where all of their past memories and personalities were heavily fabricated. He also received the talent and title of Ultimate Astronaut. All of this was done for the sake of satisfying Danganronpa's audience from all over the world. After the fabrication process was completed, Kaito and the others entered the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles as totally different people, officially commencing the 53rd killing game season known as the Killing School Semester.

Killing School Semester Main;

Kaito was later found outside the main school building by Kaede and Shuichi, the Ultimate Detective. He didn’t seem particularly worried about the End Wall, unlike the duo was. He then introduced himself as the Luminary of the Stars, proudly declaring that even crying children adored the Ultimate Astronaut. Kaede was irritated with him when he said that he had a friend of his forge documents in order to pass the exams, but Kaito stated that they let him in regardless due to his personality. He dreamed of one day going into space, saying that there’s no way he could wait until after college and that sometimes you have to take risks in order to make your dreams a reality.

Killing School Semester Main;

Kaito would later gather with everyone else in the gymnasium after the Monokuma Kubs made their announcement, stating that it was quite something for all these Ultimates to be gathered together like this. Not long after everyone gathered, The Monokuma Kubs and Monokuma, the Monokubs' father and the self-appointed headmaster of the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles, arrived and announced that they would be participating in a Killing Game. Kaito became furious at such a concept. While almost everyone else was shocked or horrified by this. With that, the Killing School Semester had officially begun. Attempting the Death Road of Despair

Attempting the Death Road of Despair:

After Monokuma officially started the Killing Game, Kaito read the rules on his Monopad and became increasingly more outraged, threatening to smash his Monopad into the ground. He was stopped by Rantaro Amami, the Ultimate ???, who explained to him that he would be killed for doing so as breaking the Monopads violated the school rules. Kaito reluctantly agreed to Rantaro’s statement, but still refused to participate in such a thing. A majority of the group wasn't sure what to do either after reading the rules and began to panic and argue. Thanks to Kaede's motivational speech however, the panic died down and everyone seemed to become united. Kaito was very impressed with Kaede unifying everyone, stating that what she said was what he would have said. Afterwards, Gonta Gokuhara, the Ultimate Entomologist, remembered that he found a manhole inside the boiler room behind the school building. Kaito along with everyone else immediately followed the Ultimate Entomologist's lead, with hope of finding a way out.

Attempting the Death Road of Despair:

Descending the manhole, Kaito and the others found a tunnel leading outside of the academy. Though everyone thought that the tunnel probably ended up being a trap, they still had to test every single possibility in order to escape. Kaede continued to encourage everyone, with Kaito becoming even more impressed to the point where he offered her a hug because they shared the same opinion, he was of course turned down immediately by the Ultimate Pianist. Everyone went into the tunnel with determination. However, Kaito and the others exhausted themselves both physically and mentally as they found that escaping through the Death Road of Despair was next to impossible. Due to this, Kokichi revolted, saying that Kaede's repeated motivational speech is the source of the group's agony, added by some of her friends giving up on escaping the tunnel, the group's harmony came to a swift end. The tunnel ended up being a trap set by Monokuma and the Monokuma Kubs, much to everyone's dismay. Kaito was incredibly angry with the rest of the group for putting all the blame and responsibility on Kaede. He tried to reassure Kaede that she wasn’t wrong before leaving the tunnel and heading to his dorm room to get some rest.

The First and Additional Motive:

The next day, everyone gathered in the dining hall. As soon as Kaede arrived, Kokichi greeted her, having made the group consolidate once again with his “kind” lie. Kaito however, was still angry with everyone for pushing all the blame onto Kaede without taking any responsibility themselves, but Kaede said it was fine, not wanting the group to fight again. Afterwards, Monokuma came to the dining hall and announced the first motive, anyone who committed the first killing will graduate without holding a trial, effectively calling it a "First Blood Perk". Everyone was worried about what this would mean, aside from Kaito, who became increasingly outraged with Monokuma for doing whatever he wanted and lunged at him. This caused the Monokubs to show up, showing no hesitation to punish Kaito with the Exisals for attempting violence against their father, effectively breaking the rules. The red Exisal charged at him, but accidentally ended up crushing Monokuma instead, supposedly destroying him. The Monokubs were incredibly saddened at the sudden demise of their father, stating that he had no spare and that he was one of a kind. Upon learning this, Kaito and everyone else's mood improved greatly, thinking the killing game to be over. Kaito proudly thought that it was all thanks to him that the killing game had ended.

The First and Additional Motive:

The next morning, Kaito was with everyone else in the dining hall once again, happy that the Killing Game had supposedly ended. However, it didn't take long for Monokuma to show up once again, much to the dismay of the students, but to the joy of the Monokuma Kubs. Monokuma goes on to reveal the additional motive, that if a murder did not occur within two days by noon, everyone who was forced to participate would be killed. This motive caused a majority of the group to become too depressed to stay united and leave the dining hall. Kaito declared that he would think of something to stop Monokuma no matter what, though his words weren’t taken too seriously. He also noticed that Kaede and Shuichi had a secret that they weren’t willing to share with the group, but he trusted them when Kaede said that no matter what, she would end this killing game.

On the Clock:

On the final day of the time limit, Kaito held a strategy meeting in the basement's game room to discuss a plan to fight Monokuma after the time limit ended. He managed to gather six participants, Gonta, and Tenko Chabashira, the Ultimate Aikido Master, due to their physical capabilities. He also gathered Himiko Yumeno, the Ultimate Magician, and Angie Yonaga, the Ultimate Artist, believing that their magic and belief in Atua respectively would prove useful for fighting Monokuma. Maki Harukawa, the Ultimate Child Caregiver, would also be dragged along by Kaito, thinking that she probably knew how to fight. Rantaro would end up joining the meeting as well. All seven of them headed down into the game room as soon as the time limit was almost up. Before the meeting begin, Rantaro left the room, claiming that he wanted to go to the bathroom. Kaito didn't want the meeting to start without Rantaro however and decided to find him along with Tenko. The duo happened to run into Kaede and Shuichi in front of the library and said that they should join their strategy meeting. Kaede however, told the two of them that they might succeeded in catching the mastermind of the Killing Game and that they were inside the library. Hearing this, Kaito and Tenko joined Kaede and Shuichi in storming the library, seeing the bookcase move back into position at the back of the room. The four moved closer to inspect it, only to discover Rantaro’s body not far from the moving bookcase. Kaito was shocked to find him dead, frantically asking what was going on before Tenko let out a scream, alerting everyone else in the game room. Eventually, everyone else gathered due to the body discovery announcement. Kaito was angered at the loss of their friend, asking all of them who did it and that he would “punch them into orbit”. With Kaede’s motivational speech once again however, everyone became united and began to investigate the truth of Rantaro’s death

On the Clock:

During the investigation, Kaito and Himiko would question Gonta in the AV room, finding it suspicious that he would lock himself in during their meeting. Gonta seemingly panicked and tried to tell the duo that he didn't kill Rantaro. Kaito tried to get him to relax, saying that they didn’t suspect him, just that they wanted to know what he was doing alone. Himiko however was more willing to suspect him, saying that he had the face of a killer. Kaede and Shuichi did find this odd, but didn't automatically suspect Gonta

Protecting Friends:

During the Class Trial, when everyone was accusing Shuichi of being the culprit, Kaito was on the half that chose to defend him and refused to believe that he would be capable of murder. When Shuichi pointed out Kaede as the true culprit however, Kaito still could not believe it and tried to defend her as well near the end of the trial. However, Shuichi's deduction makes it apparent that Kaede committed the crime, much to Kaito's dismay. However, upon hearing that Kaede only did what she did so that she could kill the mastermind and save everyone, he did not blame her at all, still viewing her as a great person,After the Class Trial ended, and Monokuma wanted to proceed with the execution, Kaito along with Tenko, and Gonta stood up for her despite facing an Exisal. He stated that if Kaede was willing to risk her life for them, he would put his life on the line as well, though she eventually told them to stop, saying that she was ready to die and that they could end this killing game together and all be friends before being dragged off to her execution. Afterwards, Kaito threatened Monokuma out of anger of seeing one of his friends get killed, but he simply replied with ominous foreshadowing by saying he doesn't have much longer to live.

Protecting Friends:

Once Monokuma and the Monokubs left, Kaito yelled at everyone to shut up because their constant whining and complaining annoyed him, but then stated that Shuichi was the most annoying one of them all before promptly punching him in the face. He angrily abused Shuichi for doing nothing and letting Monokuma do whatever he wanted while Kaede passed her wish onto him and believed in him before Tenko stops him. As everyone else headed back up and out of the elevator, Shuichi and Kaito remained behind for a bit. Kaito recommended him to check out Kaede's Research Lab. The Ultimate Astronaut stated that while there probably weren't a lot of things to remember her in there, there still had to have been many things she liked. Kaito told Shuichi that the only one who could get him through this awful feeling was Kaede in his memories before also leaving the trial grounds. Shuichi would take his words to heart and end up paying a visit to the Ultimate Pianist's Research Lab.

Appearance:

Kaito is a tall, young man with gel-spiked purple hair that's grown out both at the top and bottom of his head, that Kodaka describes as a space jet coming out of a black hole and a short goatee. His eyes are a warm lilac, and he has fairly long eyelashes. He also has a slightly tanned complexion. Kaito wears a white t-shirt kumadori design stamped on it, on top of that he wears a long sleeved dress shirt with a breast pocket. On this shirt are black buttons which are currently not in use. On top of that, he wears a long, purple blazer with a galaxy design on the inside of it. However, his coat is worn improperly at all times, instead, Kaito wears his left sleeve and leaves the right side of the coat to drape over his shoulder to leave it fluttering to show the space design.[6] He wears purple pants matching the color of his blazer that are rolled up over his ankles. Kaito wears slippers with the same galaxy design on them. In his promotional art, he's featured his entire coat draped over both of his shoulders, no slippers, and a mysterious pipe that resembles Kiseru. In the prologue, he wears the uniform of his previous high school. He wears a dark blue gakuran with yellow buttons, unbuttoned along with the button-up beneath, showing off a red t-shirt underneath. It's sloppily put together as well. His slacks match the top part of his uniform as well, and white shoes that are worn outside usually. His hair is still styled the way it is during the killing game for some odd reason.

Personality:

Kaito is an energetic person with a passionate heart, who lives for dreams and romance, and tends to give somewhat dramatic encouraging speeches for others. He believes you need to take risks for the sake of your dreams and shouldn't limit yourself nor ever give up. Due to his clichéd hot-blooded spirit and his document falsification he could pass the astronaut examination, proving that he is smart. Being the Ultimate Astronaut, he harbors a dream and a great longing to go to space, and already considers himself a space legend. He often refers to himself as "The Luminary of the Stars" and talks about the Universe being on his side. Furthermore, he talks about being popular with women and children, and he thinks that his goatee gives him a "glamorous celebrity vibe",Throughout the game, Kaito described himself as a passionate protagonist of his own story who would help the others to survive the killing game. He considers himself a hero type, and occasionally offers to make other people his "sidekicks". Because of that, Kaito always tries his best to unite the group, and he 'is very much a reliable older brother type of character. He is very loyal to his friends and always there in order to aid them, such as when Shuichi Saihara broke down after Kaede Akamatsu's death. He offered his help to regain his spirit by starting training routine during the nighttime and even made him his "sidekick". It is also because of this nature that he became a moral support to the other participants. According to Shuichi, Kaito has the ability to draw people to him, and he has been described as an interesting and amusing person.[7]

Personally:

In his Free Time Events and Love Suite Event, Kaito shows interest in friendly and even romantic rivalry, though he is shown to feel conflicted about romantic feelings because he doesn't wish to be held back by anyone as his true longing is the space and the universe. He appears insecure during the scene, believing that there is no way the other person will feel the same. After Maki revealed her feelings for him, Kaito was relieved and believed in Maki that she can start to love herself if she is able to fall in love with someone like him. While he is excited to look at the dirty books in the library as he thinks it's something guys would normally do, there has also been a moment in which the conversation topic was girls and peeping, and he appeared to become completely distracted and forgot the original topic and instead begun to talk dramatically about man's passion for exploring unknown worlds, claiming it is true man's passion. His obliviousness to romance and sexual matters has also been shown in the way he didn't realize Maki's jealousy at all and appeared oblivious when the other students more or less jokingly talked about Shuichi being a masochist

Personality:

Interestingly, Kaito seems to be a good judge of character and can give correct advice at times. While he is seen helping Shuichi and Maki in the main story, this is even more notable in the bonus mode Ultimate Talent Development Plan, as he correctly judges multiple other charactersーfor example, he tells Izuru Kamukura that he will begin to think everything is boring if he keeps repeating how boring everything is, he quickly notices that Nagito Komaeda isn't truly interested in him nor space (as he only cares about him as a symbol of hope) and he tells Mondo Owada you can't move forward in life if you keep looking at past. Perhaps most notably, Kaito sometimes seems to understand Kokichi's reasoning better than any other student. However, he is also shown to be easily angered by mindsets that contrast his own, and he stubbornly refuses to believe in them. He strongly hates Kokichi's lies and unwillingness to cooperate, and his anger often clouds his judgement. He also cannot empathize with Ryoma's

Personality:

suicidal way of thinking, considering him a sissy and a fool, as he believes there is always a reason to live even if just small things like good food or friends. He is also notably hot-headed in general, occasionally taking action without thinking and wanting to punch others if angered enough. He can also be quite forceful when offering his support to others. In the Japanese version, he also swears a lot, but this is downplayed in the English localization.With his clichéd passionate nature, Kaito possesses some slightly old-fashioned opinions, believing that men should be real men (often dramatically talking about "man's passion") and women should not use real weapons and are more suited to childcare (even telling this to Maki, who is the Ultimate Assassin.) Along with considering Ryoma a sissy for having suicidal thoughts, he doesn't like it whenever Gonta cries and apologizes because "men shouldn't apologize so much". At one point

personality:

, during Chapter 2, he calls Korekiyo Shinguji with the Japanese term "okama" for appearing effeminate, which is often used as a derogatory term for very effeminate gay men or crossdressers (in the English version, he just calls him out for acting "so girly"). However, Kaito himself also has trouble with weakness and appears to have a sort of complex for being the hero, not wanting to show his own weaknesses and troubles to his sidekicks even if it means lying to them as he wishes to come across as a strong figure they can lean on. He had a hard time admitting that even he can make mistakes and felt envious of Shuichi who used his detective skills to save everyone. In his Harmonius Heart Event, he is troubled by the students' trapped situation and feels he cannot show such weakness in front of his sidekick. If Shuichi tries to reassure him that it's okay to be afraid sometimes, Kaito insists that it's not like him to make others worry. He feels embarrassed, believing he has failed his sidekick, and tells Shuichi that he wants to be left alone. Even if Shuichi agrees that it's not like him to show weakness and that he never backs down, Kaito is still bothered by it and Shuichi can tell he is hiding something even when he claims with

Personality:

a grin that he is motivated again. If Shuichi reminds Kaito that he is not just a sidekick but also a friend, and that Kaito can open up to his best friend, Kaito is silent for a moment and then thanks Shuichi with a smile and claims he is okay now. He claims all his doubts are gone now that he knows that Shuichi thinks of him like that.Undoubtedly, Kaito's biggest flaw is his arbitrary complete trust in others, which is often misguided. He is sincere and believes in friendship no matter what, trusting who he wants to trust even against all evidence and logic. He believes Maki without questions despite evidence against her, with his only reason being "an official hunch from Kaito Momota, the Luminary of the Stars himself", causing other students to call him an idiot because of it. He hates to be called an idiot, claiming that it hurts his feelings. During the fourth trial, he denied all the clear evidence that showed Gonta Gokuhara is the killer of Miu Iruma, which ended up making things worse and caused a major risk to everyone.Kaito can also be slightly comical, sometimes having very over exaggerated expressions and reactions, and can easily come across as not that smart due to his beliefs and occasional silly

Personality:

behavior such as eating way too much food at one point due to feeling pumped up or him claiming he was the one who wore women's underwear in a desperate attempt to clear suspicion against him. His notable weakness is his massive fear of supernatural, strongly disliking anything related to it and grabbing other people in horror during such situations. After Kaito and some of the other students enter the casino in Chapter 2, Kaito is shown to have horrible luck in gambling, which is something Kokichi makes fun of while Kaito seemed to completely lose his spirit and cried wondering how could The Luminary of the Stars lose so pathetically. He then made excuses such as claiming that his true skills are meant for the universe and not something like gambling, and pointed out that he had quit gambling earlier, even though he had just been playing. However, despite some of his comical traits, Kaito is actually very intelligent and talented in various ways as he is an astronaut trainee.It was revealed that before the brainwashing, Kaito was a psychopath who planned to murder all the other participants in order to gain money and honor, with the attitude he had during the game having a twisted meaning of "nothing is impossible after you're rich and famous enough". Though, it should be noted that it is left unclear whether or not this is true and it could have been a lie made by the mastermind, as pointed out by Shuichi.