Danganronpa R: Beyond Hope and The Shadow of Despair [DISCONTINUED]

Kurai Kage Redesign

OG Design

New Design

OG Post Date: 12/5/19
The famous Kurai Kage, the only character to last all three iterations (to some degree) of my cast in some form. You can read about him here: [Amino Post about him.|http://aminoapps.com/p/ruhn1f] Design wise, I wanted to lean more into the ninja aspect of the character. I originally wanted the design to look modern but looked too much like the Ultimate Blacksmith's or like he came out of Fire Force. I still wanted him to have wounds that he tries to hide which you can see with the bandages. I wanted to make him look a little more detached from modern society and a bit out of touch of it because of his upbringing (especially in this Fangan). In Despair Returns (a different story concept), starts off faking his emotions and lying by acting like Joeseph Watagiri (another OC from another project) but that lie will eventually become the truth. He grows close with everyone, especially the MC, and it makes it hard for him to betray them later on. In Beyond hope, he is much like Maki where he starts off cold and distant but genuinely wants to make a human connection. He'll eventually open his heart to Usagi in Beyond Hope and he escapes and tries to get help and end the killing game early but abandoning her pushed her into despair. This would've eventually lead to his death in the diary chapters. Backstory wise, they were basically both iterations are the same. They come from a clan of assassins known as the Kage. They were both on the hope and despair during tragedy and hid in the shadows. They didn't care about good or evil, they kill anyone if they are properly paid. From birth, Kurai and his older twin were trained to become assassins by their father. Obviously, training was harsh and the father was abusive not only to his children, but his wife too. None of them could escape him, he was simply too strong for the twins to fight and the mother had NO TRAINING whatsoever. The brothers and mother were each other pillars. Until one unfortunate day, it was time to announce the heir of the clan. Since Kurai and his brother were twins, they had no choice but to fight to the death. The older twin refused to fight making the father angry. The father threatened to kill both of them and just make another child who can be heir. The Kurai vividly remembered his father grabbing his mother by the hair. The older twin held his ground but Kurai stabbed in in the back with a spear. The older twin's last words will forever hunt Kurai... "Why?" Later that night, his mother committed... unalive due to everything that's happened and Kurai finished the last bit of his training. His father was proud of him that day and even hugged him... but... he wasn't proud of himself. He regretted his actions and wished he somehow escaped with his mother and brother. He knew that if he did somehow escape, he'd just be killed later so he just accepts it. He accepts that he's no longer human... just a shadow who'll never see the light.

Fun Fact(s): Kurai Kage name means Dark Shadow. His older twin was Kuro Kage which means Black Shadow. I think his father and mother's names would've been "Guragura" and "Hikari" respectively.