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This article contains FANSLATIONS and needs to be updated to official translations. |
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| “ | Rise and shine, Ursine!
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The Monokubs, AKA The Monokuma Kubs, (モノクマーズ Monokumāzu lit. Monokumarz), also known as the "Children of Monokuma", are a group of five child-like robots that claim to be the children of the malicious robotic bear, Monokuma featured in Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony.
They work under their father in Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles, supervising the Killing School Semester with their "Exisal" mechs, monkey-shaped killing machines.
Monokubs/Nanokubs[]
| Profile | Name | Position | Status | Causes of Death |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Monotaro (モノタロウ) |
Leader | Inactive (Destroyed) | Killed during Gonta Gokuhara's execution (First death); Destroyed by Monokuma (Second and final death) |
|
Monodam (モノダム) |
Member Temporarily Leader & Headmaster of the Ultimate Academy |
Inactive (Destroyed) | Committed suicide during Korekiyo Shinguji's execution (First death); Destroyed by Monokuma (Second and final death) |
|
Monokid (モノキッド) |
Member | Inactive (Destroyed) | Murdered by Monodam during Kaede Akamatsu's execution (First death); Destroyed by Monokuma (Second and final death) |
|
Monophanie (モノファニー) |
Member | Inactive (Destroyed) | Killed during Gonta Gokuhara's execution (First death); Destroyed by Monokuma (Second and final death) |
|
Monosuke (モノスケ) |
Member | Inactive (Destroyed) | Murdered by Monodam during Kirumi Tojo's execution (First death); Destroyed by Monokuma (Second and final death) |
|
Nanokumas (モノチッチ) |
Member Acting as the Killing Game's Surveillance Cameras |
Inactive (Destroyed) | No longer active as a result of the Killing School Semester having finally ended |
Description[]
The Monokubs are Monokuma Units featured with five different colors. They are red, blue, yellow, green and pink. Each of the Monokubs has a different major personality trait, with Monotaro being the clumsy leader, Monophanie being the kindest one, Monokid being loud and wild, Monodam being quiet and shy because of his history of him being bullied, and Monosuke being the more money orientated type. The Monokubs also have a notable unique object for each of them such as a scarf, a guitar, a flower, and a pair of glasses. All of the Kubs have their own version of Monokuma's signature laugh "puhuhu" ("upupupu" in the Japanese version) and they repeatedly refer to the students as "you bastards", clearly copying their father's way of speaking.
Strangely, the Monokubs appear to bleed when they receive serious damage, despite being robots. They also seem to have the capability to eat and sleep, as they are often seen eating and repeatedly mention that they sleep during night time, though it's possible that they are just acting like their father sometimes does.
Objectives[]
The Monokubs assist their father in many ways, though they often get distracted. All of them respect their father in some way but are also afraid of his anger.
They use their Exisals for guarding and building the school building, as well as to reprimand and threaten the students. They deliver messages from Monokuma to the students and in general attempt to answer some of their questions, though sometimes they just seem to speak nonsense. They also take care of the official school announcements, with one of them being in charge of each announcement.
It's been mentioned that the Monokubs do not seem to have much loyalty or care towards each other, which is why Tenko Chabashira's idea to use one of them as a hostage was turned down.
It is unclear how sentient they are and how much they know, though there is some implications that they are in a way victims of the situation as well. While they can be sadistic, it seems they are mostly motivated by their fear of Monokuma. They are shown to be genuinely sad when their father turns increasingly cruel and abusive, and they mention that their father used to love them so much in the past. During the last trial, Monokuma decides to destroy them all simply because they are not useful nor needed in the story, causing the Kubs to panic. In the end, they end up crying and desperately begging for their lives, shouting in fear that they do not want to die and that they don't know anything. In the bonus modes, it's shown that they do whatever jobs Monokuma gives them, even if they're highly different from killing games and not something they like.
Creation and Development[]
According to Kazutaka Kodaka, the Monokuma Kubs were created quite late during development, after the staff pointed out that it looked quite empty to have Monokuma alone without other mascot characters by his side. Thus, the Monokuma Kubs were created, with the joke being that they don't have any actual purpose in the story. This is lamp-shaded by Monokuma during the game when he grieves all of their deaths only to wonder why they even existed in the first place. [1]
The Kubs are a reference to one of the popular Tokusatsu Series, "Super Sentai". They each correspond with the main team's traditional colors (red, blue, yellow, pink and green) and consist of four male members and one female member with the leader wearing red.
The Monorangers
The Kubs also share resemblence to the Monorangers (モノレンジャー), other Tokusatsu inspired minor characters that appear as recurring villains in the 2011 manga Danganronpa: Kibō no Gakuen to Zetsubō no Kōkōsei 4koma KINGS.
One of Monomi's beta designs show her wearing a pacifier may have inspired the design of the Monokubs in Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony.
Considering the fact that the Kubs are child characters without any actual roles or purpose, and the fact that Team Danganronpa's series is portrayed as one that has continued way too long and seemingly even begun to copy ideas from other franchises, the Monokuma Kubs may be in-universe examples of kid characters who are added into a series to boost ratings even though the audience often feels there isn't any need for them.
History[]
Prologue - Ultimate Revival[]
When all the students woke up and left their classrooms, the Monokubs started to lure them into the gym by chasing them around in their Exisals. Once everyone has gathered around the gym, the Monokubs burst in with their mechs to greet them, but after realizing they went off-script and aren't supposed to be in the Exisals for their first appearance, they launch out of their machines to greet the students.
Naturally all of them have lots of questions over what's going on, but the Monokubs simply ignore them with their rambling banter until they realize they've completely screwed up, as they haven't even given the students their "first memory" yet, so they immediately correct this by giving the students flashy outfits and erasing their memories of the event.
After the students wake up once again, the Monokubs pop up to make their proper on-script introduction, and instruct Kaede, Shuichi and presumably the other students to explore the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles and get to know each other, as they're all gonna do an "activity" together later. They then occasionally pop up to explain to Kaede about the different odd functions of the school, such as the Ultimate Labs and the End Wall they're confined to. Just as the students have finished introducing themselves, the Monokubs announce for everyone to hustle over to the gym, where the Exisals also make their proper on-script appearance.
However, just as Monokid is about to say the line we've all been waiting for, Monodam steals his line and blurts out the true nature of the school as the site of the Killing Game, which makes all of the Monokubs start to bicker with each other before bordering on a full blown battle. But just as they're about to duke it out, they hear a hauntingly familiar voice... The voice of their father, the one and only Monokuma. After making his GRAND entrance to the scene, he beats the Monokubs silly for dragging out the prologue and explains the rules of the students' new lives in the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles, with the Monokubs pitching in to explain the rules of the Class Trial.
Monokuma and his children laugh away at the disbelief of the students, as the Killing School Semester finally begins.
Chapter 1 - My Class Trial, Our Class Trial[]
In the Killing School Semester, the Monokubs take over Monokuma's previous role as the hosts of the dayttime and nighttime announcements. When Monokuma and his Kubs pop up to taunt the students over their failure in the Death Road of Despair, they also offer some inneffective reassurance to try and try again until they accept the reality that they can't get out of the school.
When Kaito Momota commits violence against Monokuma, the Monokubs appear to squish him with the Exisals, but they end up accidentally killing Monokuma instead. They then tearfully gather up his remains to eat in a big stew, after all, as the new Headmasters, they need to eat up to grow big and strong. By the next day, Monokuma returns and licks all of his Kubs as part of their "emotional reunion," while also revealing that while he has spares, the Monokubs don't, and Monosuke theorizes that somewhere in the school... There's a machine that can make a whole lotta Pops... With that in mind, Monokuma announces his "Time Limit" motive, in which if a murder dosen't occur two days from now, all of the students will be torn to shreds by countless Monokumas from the rumored machine. With the Monokubs reminding the students of said time limit in the subsequent announcements.
When Rantaro Amami is found dead and the Investigation begins, Monophanie pops up to develop the photos taken during the incident. Eventually the Monokubs announce for the students to head to the basement and get their developed photos, where Monophanie gives them to Kaede and Shuichi while role-playing as a couple in a fancy restaurant with Monosuke.
Five...
In the 1st Class Trial, when Kaede Akamatsu is found as the blackened, the Monokubs bust out their Exisals to prevent the students from interfering with her impending execution, but Kaede gets them to stop. The Monokubs assit Monokuma in her execution, in which they pull on the ropes that hang her to death. As Kaede's hanged corpse is about to be crushed by a spiked piano lid, Monodam suddenly murders Monokid by pushing him under the lid as well, crushing his body and leaving only his decapitated head left.
Monotaro and Monophanie are horrified by his sudden death, but Monosuke dosen't seem to mind that much, saying they could all use a little more tension in their lives anyways, Monokuma is briefly shocked at his death as well, only to quickly move on, after all, he's still got four MORE cubs! Monophanie gets a little shaken up at how little meaning their existance has. Monotaro and Monophanie question Monodam on his actions, but he simply replies that "I-DID-IT-FOR-US" and quietly leaves the scene. Monosuke brushes it off as payback for all the bullying.
Chapter 2 - A Thin Line Divides Heaven and Hell[]
At the beginning of Chapter 2, the Monokubs appear to hand over prizes to the students for surviving the Class Trial, though they're all uneasy around the recently revealed Kub Killer Monodam. Throughout the Chapter however, Monotaro and Monophanie begin to warm up to Monodam as he becomes more talkative and supportive of his siblings, even letting him do his own announcements and showering him with praise, though Monosuke keeps trying to antagonize Monodam over his past actions... Which dosen't do much as none of them were particularly fond of Monokid to begin with. Monokuma then entrusts the Monokubs into handing over Kubs Pads holding motive videos to each of the students while they sleep, but they screw up and end up handing the videos to the wrong students. When Angie calls out for the Kubs in the middle of the night, Monodam is the only one to appear, as the rest of his siblings are asleep, and simply hands the Pads off to the correct students.
Four...
When Ryoma Hoshi is found dead, Monosuke is thrilled that another murder has occurred, and proposes a merchanidizing deal with the Monokuma Files to pops, but Monokuma's too overwhelmed by his cuteness to listen and drags him off to lick a whole bunch. In the middle of the 2nd Class Trial, Monosuke ends up accidentally slipping up vital information in finding the culprit, which his siblings resent him for relentlessly, however Monodam jumps to his defense, as he dosen't approve of bullying. When Kirumi Tojo is found as the blackened, Monosuke expresses how sick he is of this lovey-dovey attitude his family's been on lately, and that he's through getting along with those dummy bears, triggering Monodam's ire and his demise.
At the end of her execution, Monodam once again coats his family's blood on his hands by pushing Monosuke right under the spot where Kirumi's body was plummeting towards, crushing him to bits. The rest of his siblings puke in horror at this, and Monodam justifies himself by saying that Monosuke was no different than Monokid, in that he was getting in the way of them getting along, they don't need him. Monodam then proclaims that nothing will stop the Monokubs from getting along, not even his father if he knows what's good for him. He loudly declares that this academy belongs to them, and that "THE-AGE-OF-THE-MONOKUBS-BEGINS-NOW." He runs off once again while doing a comically stiff evil laugh.
Chapter 3 - Transfer Student From Beyond the Grave[]
At some point, Monodam turns against Monokuma, accusing him of treating his children like slaves. Since the Monokubs have Exisals on their side, Monokuma is forced to surrender, causing him to go into a bald shock. through the chapter Monotaro and Monophanie are terrifed of Monodam, pretending to be friendly and doing what he says because they fear what he will do to them if they disobey him.
Three...
After the second body discovery, another Monokuma appears and reveals that the balding Monokuma is simply a part-timer that was put in his place while he was on a vacation. After Monokuma regais his title as the Headmaster, the other two siblings start to mistreat him even more so than before, making fun of him and ignoring him, Monotaro even saying that he "wouldn't waste a resurrection on Monodam's corpse".
During Korekiyo Shinguji's execution, Monodam commits suicide by rushing past Monotaro and Monophanie and into the flames that were boiling Korekiyo alive, causing them to burn even more. Monotaro and Monophanie are shocked by him doing that and mourn his death, though Monophanie denies that she had a factor in his suicide, and Monotaro already forgets he existed.
Chapter 4 - Live and Let The Languid World Live[]
Monotaro suffers with major memory loss where he becomes more and more confused about his identity. He comes to believe that he is the drunken husband of Monophanie and also thinking that Miu Iruma and K1-B0 were his parents, a role that Miu happily took up while K1-B0 didn't. Monotaro then began to act romantic towards Monophanie, saying he had never thought of her that way before. However, the next morning, he is seen acting completely different, kicking a crying Monophanie and demanding she give him money like an abusive husband, seemingly due to his memory issues. Because of this, Monophanie hides, causing Monotaro to panic since he can't remember anything. However, Monophanie feels bad for him and later takes him back, and he apologizes as the two of them cry. The announcement then ends with "the end", as if it were all theater.
The remaining Monokubs later appear when Miu is found dead. Very upset to see his adoptive "mother" was murdered, Monotaro ended up assisting the students in solving the murder to avenge his dead mother by hacking into the Neo World Programs via the main computer inside the Computer Room.
Two... One...
During Gonta Gokuhara's execution, Monophanie was killed from having a giant, insect-like creature burst out of her chest, which promptly sliced Monotaro in half, destroying them both.
Chapter 5 - Voyage Without Passion or Purpose[]
Just before Kaito Momota's execution, all five of the Monokubs are revealed to have been rebuilt and are active once again, though they still have their factory settings, so they don't remember anything that happened before they all died.
Chapter 6 - Goodbye Danganronpa[]
The Monokubs once again appear along with their father to stop K1-B0 from destroying The Ultimate Academy and try to destroy him using the Exisals.
Along with their father, all five Monokubs are present during the final trial and are much more vocal, and invested into the discussion this time than they have been in any prior trial, actively trying to refute evidence that the survivors present and participating in Nonstop Debates and even engaging two Rebuttal Showdowns.
Despite them all being brought back, Monokuma had a self-destruct button prepared which he promptly uses to destroy the Monokubs once again when they got on his nerves or did anything to anger him. By the time Tsumugi Shirogane was revealed as the mastermind, all five of the Monokubs were destroyed one-by-one throughout the trial, supposedly ending them for good.
Relationships[]
Monokuma[]
Monokuma is the self-proclaimed father of the Monokubs. He calls them his "adorable children" and seems even disturbingly attracted to them because they look like him and he loves his own looks.
While Monokuma seemingly acts sweet towards his children at times, he seems to be neglectful and violent most of the time, punching or otherwise physically abusing them if they annoy him and overall acting very passive aggressive. Considering himself the headmaster, he seems annoyed if his children try to steal the show, with him even stating multiple times that he tolerates them only because they are so cute.
Monotaro and Monodam usually refer to him as "father", while Monokid calls him "Papa Kuma", Monosuke as "pops" and Monophanie as "daddy". Out of all the Monokubs, Monokuma seems to like Monophanie the most due to her unique kind personality and general cuteness, creepily stating that he could eat her up, which startles even her.
In Chapter 3, Monodam forcefully takes Monokuma's place with the help of the Exisals, accusing him of treating his children like slaves. The Kubs also accuse him of being too old for his job. Monokuma seemingly begins to lose his hair over this and becomes unresponsive in shock for a while, though another copy of him appears later claiming that he'd just been on a vacation and left the job for his Kubs and the balding substitute.
Monokuma doesn't really seem to care whenever his Kubs die, and he even decides to kill Monotaro and Monophanie himself during Gonta's execution in Chapter 4. He gives a petty excuse saying that they had been spending time together and ignoring him. He quickly feels a mix of sadness and amusement and then laughs it all off by stating that he's probably never going to get the hang of the whole parenting thing.
Students[]
The Monokubs are all under the control of the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles' students and host the Killing School Semester along with his father. The Monokubs usually call the students' "bastards" to imitate their father, as Monokuma refers to the students that way. The Monokubs also give prizes to the students after completing the Class Trial by making it out alive.
Videos[]
Merchandise[]
The link below lists all official licensed merchandise featuring Monokubs:
Trivia[]
- The Monokuma Kubs were first named as "Monokuma Cubs" in NIS America's trailer, however this was changed after they revealed the Monokuma Kubs in the official website.
- The Monokubs are the shortest characters so far in the series, standing at 40 cm (1' 3").
- Monophanie is the only female Monokuma Unit in the entire series.
- The Monokubs are one of the only characters to have a character song in a game along with the Warriors of Hope.
Appearances in Other Media[]
- Monokubs masks appears in PixelJunk Monsters 2 as DLC.
- The Monokubs appeared in the Danganronpa V3 x Gravity Rush 2 Live Broadcast.
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