Fictional character in the Danganronpa franchise
 is a fictional character from the Spike Chunsoft visual novel action-adventure game series "Danganronpa". She was introduced in the 2010 game ' as a high school student and the "Ultimate ???" of Hope's Peak Academy. Kyoko finds herself sealed within the building alongside her classmates, who are told by a robot named Monokuma that can only leave the school if they commit a murder and successfully evade conviction in the ensuing class trial. By the end of the game, Kyoko is revealed to be the "Ultimate Detective". Despite being initially distant to the cast, Kyoko befriends Makoto Naegi and they join forces to solve class trials and discover the identity of the mastermind behind the killing game. Kyoko Kirigiri reappears in other "Danganronpa" titles and sequels, most notably in the 2012 sequel ' as a member of the Future Foundation, the 2017 game ' as an apparition of the mastermind in the final trial, the 2016 anime series ' and the spin-off video game "Kirigiri Sou" as a supporting character, as well in the series of prequel light novels "" (2013–2020), which center on her childhood and rise through the Detective Shelf Collection (DSC), as she deals with new cases with her assistant Yui Samidare.
Kyoko Kirigiri was created by the writer Kazutaka Kodaka. Kodaka wanted to have a detective character in the first game who would support Makoto in solving cases. Their bond was intended to be initially friendly before taking a romantic shift in "The End of Hope's Peak High School." This was Kodaka's way of showing a notable character arc from a cold distant teenager to a caring young adult. Designer Rui Komatsuzaki expressed difficulties in creating Kyoko, as the game required a mysterious girl with feminine traits to replace Sayaka Maizono, another character initially presented as the first game's heroine. While Yōko Hikasa is Kyoko's sole Japanese voice actress, the character has had two actresses in English: Erika Harlacher in the games and Caitlin Glass in the anime adaptations.
Critical response to Kyoko has been positive. Multiple writers enjoyed her role in the first video game, due to how she solves cases alongside Makoto while also developing the narrative. Her return to the anime was also the subject of praise, but her fate was mixed based on the impact it brought to the story. Nevertheless, Kyoko remained as one of the most popular "Danganronpa" characters, appearing in multiple polls. The performance of Kyoko's three voice actresses also attracted a positive response.
Creation.
In the early versions of "", the demo "DISTRUST", the character was known as and was the original first victim in the narrative's killing game. In later parts of development of the games, the characters of Leon Kuwata and Sayaka Maizono were both used to establish a base body type and height. The development team at Spike quickly grew tired of them, however, and so they were the first characters to be killed in the final published game, with Sayaka replacing Kyoko as the first victim. The concept behind Kyoko's traits originated from Kodaka's desire to add a detective to the first "Danganronpa" game. Although Kyoko interacts with the main character, Makoto Naegi, multiple times, Kodaka claimed he never wrote the latter to be the former's love interest. Instead, the interactions between Makoto and his supporting characters were created due to the latter's skills as a detective which would help the player at solving cases. 
In order to balance the cast, Kodaka conceived the idea of giving the students no recollection of their past at Hope's Peak Academy. As a result, Kyoko remains the unofficial detective of the group and is not officially revealed to be a detective until later in the game.
Although artist Rui Komatsuzaki made Kyoko, Kodaka was responsible for most of the elements of Kyoko's appearance. Kodaka wanted Kyoko's design to hint at her detective role. This desire is most prominent in her black gloves and black jacket.
Komatsuzaki has claimed that Kyoko was one of the most difficult female characters to create in the first game of the franchise. At first, the staff decided that Kyoko would be attributed to be a "mysterious girl". This originally resulted in her color scheme being toneless and monotone. However, the design soon had to be altered after the game's direction changed to the lighter "Psycho Pop" art style. Her monotone color scheme was then changed to a pastel purple. Her early design prominently featured a school uniform with overalls because Komatsuzaki wanted it to have a rarer design than the other female characters; her uniform was later changed to a blouse and skirt. Komatsusaki had difficulties deciding between a shorter or longer hairstyle for Kyoko. Producer Yoshinori Terasawa suggested that Kyoko could have a symbolic hair cutting scene in the first game, but the idea was ultimately rejected, and so Kyoko's hair remained long. Because Kyoko becomes the main heroine after Sayaka's death, Komatsuzaki wanted Kyoko's design to closely parallel Sayaka's, and their similar hairstyles in different shades was a deliberate choice.
Development and casting.
In contrast to her cold personality from the first game, Kodaka envisioned Kyoko in the anime sequel as more considerate of her friends. While other returning characters like Aoi Asahina and Byakuya Togami show a more caring side in the anime too, Kyoko's personality was Kodaka's favorite. Furthermore, in contrast to the first game, Kyoko's relationship with Makoto in "" was written to implicate a more intimate tone than in the original game. Kodaka carefully planned this through a scene where Kyoko takes off her gloves for the first time in the series in order to comfort Makoto. This was also meant to provide a parallel between the romantic relationship between two other characters from the same series, Kyosuke Munakata and Chisa Yukizome who are also implied to be involved romantically. Makoto's voice actor, Megumi Ogata said she found the anime too dark not only for the gruesome moments but also because of Kyoko's apparent death which has a parallel with Chiaki Nanami's death from the "Despair Arc".
Following the visual novel prequel centered around Kyoko, "Kirigiri Sou", writer Kitayama Takekuni was selected as the lead much to his surprise. Takenkuni admitted that Kyoko was his favorite character from the franchise and thus aimed to write her story with the idea that the title character would stand out cool, believing Kodaka does the opposite to the cast in his works. This also led to the inclusion of sidekick characters who would come across as less appealing than Kyoko in the process. However, Shikiba Santa was selected as a character who does activities other than Kyoko. Some scenes from the game, like Kyoko's appearance in the main character's car, were an homage to the game "Otogirisō", a 2002 Chunsoft visual novel, but slightly modified to give a more realistic scenario.
In all of her appearances in Japan, Kyoko is voiced by Yōko Hikasa. The actress commented that she grew to like playing the game and thus enjoyed her new works in the first anime. When asked about her role, Hikasa found Kyoko mysterious and cool, but felt she was too distanced from the other characters. Erika Harlacher did the English acting. She described Kyoko as the calmest among the wacky characters and always on top of things. Although Harlacher did not reprise her role for the anime adaptations, the actress remained in touch with her replacement, Caitlin Glass. Glass enjoyed Kyoko's characterization in the anime due to how supportive she is to Makoto despite believing she will not survive the next time the cast falls asleep. She felt the scene touching and at the same time felt shocked about such a twist. However, she felt that Kyoko's revelation of her survival shocked in the finale and wanted to use her last line as a way to say goodbye to the character. A stage play based on the anime was made with Natsume Okamoto expressing joy about her role as Kyoko.
Appearances.
"Danganronpa" video games.
Kyoko Kirigiri is introduced in the video game "" as a mysterious girl trapped in the school Hope's Peak Academy. The main character, Makoto Naegi, simply knows her as , as he has no idea what her Ultimate talent is. Makoto and Kyoko, along with the rest of their classmates, then learn that they are trapped in a killing game: in which they can either attempt to leave through a successful murder and evasion of a guilty verdict in a class trial, or spend the rest of their lives in the school. This killing game is organized and regulated by the robot Monokuma. Despite the group's initial determination not to kill, Monokuma's motives are persuasive enough to push the students to action and indirectly start the killing game. Through the murders and ensuing investigations, Kyoko and Makoto join forces, as they attempt to find the truth in the class trials. This causes the player to either expose Kyoko and kill her, ending the video game. If Makoto chooses to protect Kyoko, Makoto is instead blamed for Mukuro's death. 
Kyoko begins to take a central role in the story in the later chapters, when it is revealed that she has learned about the presence of a sixteenth student among the group: Mukuro Ikusaba. The mastermind, growing threatened by Kyoko's growing knowledge, decides to create a murder that frames Kyoko as Mukuro's killer. At the end of the class trial for Mukuro's murder, Makoto can decide to indict himself or Kyoko. If Kyoko is chosen to be the killer, she dies and the remaining students live out the rest of their lives in Hope's Peak Academy. However, if Makoto chooses to protect Kyoko, he is blamed for Mukuro's death. Fortunately, during his execution, Chihiro's artificial intelligence program manages to save Makoto from Monokuma. Kyoko then finds a way to rescue him and return him to the group, at which point she apologizes to Makoto for prioritizing her investigation over him, and reveals she used to be called the . Kyoko ended up being subjected to more forced amnesia than the other students, as her talent would hinder Monokuma's plans. She then recalls that she is the daughter of Hope's Peak Academy's headmaster, Jin Kirigiri; however, she detests her late father. In the final investigation, she learns more about her father and herself as the remaining students attempt to uncover all of the school's secrets and win their freedom from the killing game. During the final class trial, Kyoko and Makoto (alongside their classmates) confront Monokuma one last time and expose the robot as Junko Enoshima, the true mastermind of the killing game and the one behind Mukuro's death. Since the group successfully discovers all of the secrets around Hope's Peak Academy, Junko loses and decides to execute herself. Following Junko's suicide, the survivors abandon the school to confront the apocalyptic world.
"" follows a group of sixteen high-school students who are marooned on a tropical island and forced into a killing game by Monokuma. Kyoko Kirigiri does not appear until the last chapter of the game, in which she joins Makoto and Byakuya in the virtual world. It is revealed that the three students are a part of the Future Foundation, an organization designed to combat Junko Enoshima's despair. Makoto, Byakuya, and Kyoko take a divisive stance against the Future Foundation, however, when they take action to protect Hajime Hinata and his classmates, the Remnants of Despair. Kyoko, Makoto, and Byakuya help Hajime and his classmates stop Junko's physical resurrection. Beating the game unlocks the novel "Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc IF", an alternate version of the first game. There, Kyoko meets Mukuro as Makoto prevents her death from Junko. Despite initially suspecting that Mukuro is allied with Junko, Kyoko agrees to help her protect the wounded Makoto, eventually leading to the Killing Game's cancellation and all the students leaving the Academy in the process.
During the climax of "", Kyoko's persona is taken on by the new mastermind to reveal the truth of the world of "Danganronpa", with her character being praised by "the people of the outside world."
Kyoko also appears in the visual novel "Kirigiri Sou" where she investigates a seemingly abandoned mansion in the woods with Kouhei Matsudaira, encountering her apparent duplicate. Kyoko is also present in the action video game