Junko Enoshima

"To me, despair isn't goal or a cause or a way of life or an instinct... It's what defines me as Junko Enoshima!"

- AI Junko Enoshima.

Junko Enoshima (in Japanese: 江ノ島 盾子, Enoshima Junko) is a character featured in Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc as well as its sequel Super Dangan Ronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. She is the main antagonist of the first game and has the title Ultimate Fashionista. She is also the founder of Ultimate Despair. She is the sister of Mukuro Ikusaba and had an alternate identity known as Ryouko Otonashi, which is her with memories lost and counts as a different person that was not in any of the games.

Appearance
Enoshima is a popular model, and has a tall girly figure. She has blue eyes and long, thick, strawberry blonde hair tied in two ponytails, each with Monokuma hair clips. She wears a black jacket over a white dress shirt loosely enough to expose some of her bra and cleavage, and has many accessories including a loose black and white tie and red bow. Enoshima also wears a red miniskirt and lace up boots. She has long fake red nails.

Personality
Junko is hyper-intelligent, possibly to the point of superhumanity, and as such becomes bored extremely easily. She can predict nearly every circumstance and is extremely manipulative. She has a superiority complex, believing herself to be a supreme, almost god-like being why harboring a massive amount of self loathing. She claims that the only creature superior to her is Izuru Kamukura, another nigh-emotionless, hyper-intelligent being created by Hope's Peak Academy during the Izuru Kamukura Project.

As a young fashionista, Junko is described as simply "not fake", charismatic and eager to try new things. During her first appearances, she comes across slightly air-headed and hot-tempered. In the official art book, she is described as a person who "drips with dissatisfaction the moment she opens her mouth" and tends to be in trouble with her classmates. She is also mentioned to be a bit too talkative with overly carefree attitude, though it is revealed that this is an impostor.

However, Junko's real personality that is revealed at the conclusion of the Mutual Killing incident of Class 78 is notably different. Her true personality appears to be very apathetic and easily bored, to unhealthy and abnormal degree. Because of this, her behavior and mannerisms tended to be extremely erratic and unstable by her own autonomous design; keeping up one "appearance" for too long bores her, which causes her to often switch between different  personas she made up for herself. However, she is capable of maintaining one persona for extended periods of time when necessary, such as when she was overseeing the students through Monokuma. It is a possibility that her erratic behavior is a show put on meant to intimidate or cause despair in others, as when she is alone or with someone already manipulated by her (such as Mukuro Ikusaba), she will behave consistently.

Prior to the Tragedy/Danganronpa 3 Side:Despair
As children, Junko and her twin sister Mukuro Ikusaba, had lived in abject conditions and were even homeless at some point. As she puts it, she regretted the moment of her own birth, feeling that her birth into the world was a mistake. Due to an unknown reason, she took an interest in despair at a very young age.

As a child, she was close with Yasuke Matsuda and her sister became her brainwashed puppet. One particular moment between the two when they were children was when Junko spent many days building a sand castle. One day, the sand castle was found destroyed. Yasuke went around angrily looking for the perpetrator, until finally Junko approached him that it was actually her that destroyed her own sand castle in order to feel despair.

Junko had a strong desire to "paint the world in despair" and planned to start The Tragedy, the worst, most despair-inducing incident in the history of mankind. She called herself and her sister the Despair Sisters AKA the Ultimate Despair.

As a teen, Junko began a modeling career and quickly became an idol amongst the Japanese population. One reason for her popularity was the fact that, ironically, she was using that as a cover.

In 2010, Junko enrolled into Hope's Peak Academy as the Ultimate Fashionista along with her twin sister Mukuro, the Ultimate Soldier. She was able to befriend her classmates of 78th Class and decided to use them for the High School Life of Mutual Killing in the future. During this period of time, she also influenced and corrupted many students to join Ultimate Despair with her crazy ideal of despair - including Nagito Komaeda, Mikan Tsumiki and many others.

Junko also discovered the identity of abandoned project Izuru Kamukura, and asked him to join forces with her affirming that, both of them are bored with the world and it's hope, and despair is the only fun, unpredictable thing that's left for them. She invited him for a "date", which turned out to be an invitation to watch The Student Council Killing Game, which she planed and enticed by kidnapping and possibly torturing people close to the students, and then giving weapons ranging from a frying pan to firearms. After the game, she uses the recordings of the game and leaks out about it, blaming Izuru and enticing the Reserve Course Students to a riot against Hope's Peak.

Meanwhile, she meets Ryota Mitarai, the Ultimate Animator, who she learns to be using brainwashing techniques to make an anime that would fill the watcher with hope. By using her analytical super powers, she learns how to use them and creates her own Despair Video using Mitarai's techniques and the video of the Killing Game, during that time, she and her sister kidnap Mikan Tsumiki, who is used as a guinea pig for her video. She finally manipulates and scares Mitarai enough for him to help her finish and perfect the Despair Video and goes on to use it on the Reserve Course Students.

Nagito tries to kill her to stop her despair but is stopped by Izuru, and when she tries to convince Chiaki to watch the Despair Video, she is stopped by Chisa Yukizome, who, when Chiaki, Mitarai and Nagito escape, becomes subjected to the brainwashing. When the 77th Class groups together to go rescue Chisa, she goes after Mitarai and tells him she will let him go, so he can suffer the despair of being at fault for giving her the power to drown people in despair. Juzo Sakakura, the then Head of Security, tries to stop her, but is tired out by brainwashed Reserve Course Students, and she blackmails him into not giving her up to Kyousuke Munakata, who was investigating the killings, in exchange for her never telling Kyousuke about Juzo's feelings for him, out of fear to be outed, Juzo agrees and Junko flees back to her hideout.

Back in her hideout, she throws Chiaki on a death trap dungeon similar to a rogue-like game, her death is used as a live Despair Video to brainwash her classmates into becoming the Ultimate Despair. When the riot hits it's peak, with Reserve Course Students killing the Main Course Students, she can be seen happily enjoying the view from afar and when it's all over, she sends an alternate version of the Despair Video called "Monokuma's Gloomy Sunday", that leads the students to kill themselves.

Jin calls out the 78th Class, Mukuro and Junko included, to hide themselves inside the Hope's Peak Academy Building, leading into the events of the first game.

Danganronpa/Zero
In preparation for the Mutual Killing of 78th Class, Junko tested procedures for memory-erasing with the reluctant assistance of Yasuke. Having succeeded in erasing her own memories with Yasuke's memory-erasing technology, she assumed the fake identity of Ryoko Otonashi and hid from suspicion.

As she no longer remembered who she was, she only had false information in a notebook and the continual deception by both Yasuke and Mukuro (who pretended to be Junko) to go off on. Around the same time, the school board members were killed one by one by Mukuro.

Eventually, she managed to recover all of her lost memories and she killed Yasuke in a fit of despair. Afterwards, Junko returned to her school life and continued preparations for the 78th Class' Mutual Killing along with Mukuro.

The Warriors of Hope
Around the time when The Tragedy was beginning, five abused kids from Hope's Peak elementary school called Monaca Towa, Nagisa Shingetsu, Kotoko Utsugi, Masaru Daimon and Jataro Kemuri were about to commit suicide. However, Junko stopped them and took them under her wing, convincing them that the adults who abused them were wrong.

She manipulated and brainwashed the children, giving them their first true hope and acting loving towards them. She made them think that they're her property. However, in truth, she was only interested in Monaca, who as a member of the Towa Group mass produced extremely dangerous Monokuma robots for Junko.

Furthermore, Junko decided to use the children to cause more despair and taught them that all the adults are Demons who need to be killed. The children started to call themselves the Warriors of Hope unaware that Junko just used them to be evil just for the fun of it.

During The Tragedy
At Junko's bequest, all the Reserve Students committed mass suicide, furthering the message of despair. The riots spread outside the school, both online and off, and slowly became more violent and destructive as more and more people succumbed to despair. Wars started and soon the whole world fell into despair. The whole incident was known as The Tragedy.

The Ultimate Despair members worshipped Junko and spread all over the world to cause terrible things for the sake of despair. They even killed their friends and families. The Warriors of Hope started to kill adults, even their parents, in order to create a paradise for children.

Junko's classmates, the 78th Class, sealed Hope's Peak Academy and lived peacefully inside it for a year without knowing that the Ultimate Despair members were already in their midst. Junko incapacitated them somehow, executed the headmaster Jin Kirigiri, and erased her classmates' memories.

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Junko starts the Mutual Killing of 78th Class and speaks to her classmates through a smaller version of Monokuma, hiding her true identity.

She worked behind the scenes and controlled Monokuma in order to cause anxiety and paranoia between the students to make them kill each other. She also began to broadcast everything as a TV program for the public to enjoy and fall into despair.

Junko decided, possibly on a whim, to kill Mukuro, in order to “set an example” for the students not to directly rebel against Monokuma, while the "true reason" was that the way Mukuro had acted did not resemble Junko's true personality at all; this was, of course, a lie, as the true reason Junko killed Mukuro was to bring her and her sister despair, since beyond all appearances she truly did love Mukuro.

All of the students then believed that Junko had died, not knowing that the Junko they knew was an impostor, because at the time the students were not privy to the fact that there were actually sixteen students.

Junko continued to work in the shadows, while manipulating and motivating other students like Celestia Ludenberg and Mondo Oowada to kill each other for her own entertainment.

After her classmate Chihiro Fujisaki, the Ultimate Programmer, is killed, a program called Alter Ego is found on a repaired laptop, hidden in a locker from the cameras hidden around the school. Alter Ego is meant to emulate a person, and as such Alter Ego retains a very similar personality to their creator. Alter Ego agrees to look into the mastermind behind the events, helping the remaining students as much as possible.

Alter Ego is destroyed by Monokuma after Sakura Oogami's suicide, as Monokuma lacked someone to execute but still wished to cause additional despair. Alter Ego is believed to be completely destroyed, and the students mourn Sakura and Alter Ego's deaths.

During the course of events, Junko was able to ensure the deaths of several of the students, before realizing that Kyoko Kirigiri had somehow managed to break into the headmaster's office and steal the master key and part of Mukuro's profiled information. She then decided to break her own rules and stage a murder by using Mukuro's body.

Junko almost succeeded in her attempt to kill Makoto and frame Kyoko, but was ultimately fruitless when Kyoko saved Makoto just as she was about to stab him, and then by Makoto not calling out Kyoko's lie during the Class Trial when Kyoko announced that she would not have been able to access her own room.

With Kyoko's lie not called out, a frustrated Junko had no choice but to call guilt on Makoto, who remained under unconvincing suspicion throughout the trial. Junko's plans to execute Makoto were thwarted by Alter Ego, however, who had stopped the execution in time for Makoto to evade death. She taunted the students, still, despite the setback, and proclaimed that even if Makoto survived the execution he would eventually rot inside the school garbage dump, making his punishment worse than usual.

However, Junko had not counted on Kyoko jumping into the rubbish chute to save him, and was properly thwarted when both Kyoko and Makoto showed up at the gymnasium to issue an ultimatum. She was forced to accept that a retrial is necessary, but then Junko —then still in Monokuma form— decided to gradually reveal the whole truth to the students, confident that even if she was exposed, they would not be able to handle the shock of the outside world they longed to go back to having already “ended” due to The Tragedy.

During the final Class Trial, Makoto and Kyoko deduce that Junko was the one pulling the strings the entire time and she was revealed to be the mastermind behind everything at the Academy. She then confirmed the suspicion - one that emerged from the intense Class Trial debates - that she erased everyone's memories of the last two years so she could implement her plan to make the world suffer in despair.

Junko then put a vote together to have students vote for the abstract ideas of “hope” versus “despair”, where all but Makoto would live their lives out within the confines of the Academy if any one of the students chose “Despair”, and Makoto alone will take a huge punishment - meaning he would have been subjected to the Ultimate Punishment if anyone would vote for despair.

However, Makoto reassured the surviving students of a future ahead despite the difficulties, and thus was able to convince all the students to vote for “Hope”, condemning Junko to a final defeat in the climax of a Machinegun Talk Battle of “Hope” versus “Despair”.

Though seemingly livid over the results shortly after the vote was settled, Junko instead became perversely delighted as she realized she would be able to experience the extreme despair of painful, unnecessary death. She delightfully accepted her execution and death, but not before giving the remaining students the means to escape the Academy, as well as telling them that her death would make the school unlivable.

Aftermath
After Junko was executed, most members of Ultimate Despair committed suicide. The surviving members hacked her body into pieces and attached those parts to themselves; one notable example was Nagito Komaeda, who took her left hand and treated it as his own, despite it being non-functional.

As a back-up plan, Junko had created an AI version of herself, with the knowledge she stole from Chihiro Fujisaki. It's even implied that her death was planned right from the start.

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
AI Junko manipulates both the Warriors of Hope and the adults of the Towa City in the form of Shirokuma and Kurokuma. In the end, both robots are destroyed by Izuru Kamukura to salvage their hard-drives for their AI.

Monaca decides to become Junko's Successor.

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
Izuru, after being captured by the Future Foundation along with other Remnants of Despair, downloads AI Junko into the Neo World Program. Once in the game she started changing the programming surrounding the Graduation and also began the Field Trip of Mutual Killing. Her motives behind doing both things was so that she could obtain comatose bodies and also to lure the Future Foundation into the game.

Chapter 6 - This is the End, Goodbye Academy of Despair
Once Hajime Hinata and the rest of the survivors reached the final trial and the choice to either graduate or live on the island forever, Junko pretended to be Makoto and force them to graduate. After the survivors realize they are being tricked, Junko reveals herself in the form of a giant body and communicates with them through the use of a giant cell phone which displays her. As the trial carries on, Makoto, Kyoko, and Byakuya Togami appear in the game and Junko's full plans are revealed to the cast.

Junko planned to use the graduation ceremony to upload her own AI into the comatose bodies which would effectively revive her in their bodies and to also keep the members of the Future Foundation locked in the game forever as she is the one that must allow a student to graduate.

Junko's overall goal in the end was to fill the entire world with copies of herself that she dubs "Junkoland". Junko spreads her despair into the survivors and manipulates them into wanting to graduate but with the help of Chiaki Nanami, Hajime is able to become awakened and put an end to her despair. With this the eight are able to activate the Forced Shutdown, which put an end to the AI Junko for good.

Trivia

 * Enoshima is voiced by Megumi Toyoguchi, who has also been known to voice Yukari Takeba from Persona 3.
 * Junko means "shield" coupled with "child", while Enoshima refers to two things.
 * Enoshima can literally mean "island of the bay", or refer to the island in the Kanagawa prefecture.
 * Her Ultimate ability in the Japanese version is Gyaru, this is a Japanese way of pronouncing the English word 'Girl'.
 * Her voice changes several times throughout the final school trial in order to represent her changing personalities.
 * One of her poses is the same of Dio Brando from Jojo's Bizarre Adventures; she also says his catchphrase, "Useless, useless, useless", during a Machinegun Talk Battle.
 * At the very last part of her execution, Enoshima assumes a puzzled expression as the crusher slows down and seemingly glitches. General fan consent is that this was purposefully done to deny her despair (although it actually was extended).
 * As a prime antagonist of the series, Enoshima appears in both games and both novels (including her fake identity as Ryouko Otonashi).
 * It is unknown how her body managed to stay intact for Ultimate Despair to retrieve and cut up after it was crushed during her execution.
 * Enoshima has slight similarities with Jigsaw from the Saw franchises, particularly involving their victims in death games, killing them by torturing them brutally & using toys to act as their fake body.