Mikan Tsumiki

Mikan Tsumiki is a character from the Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair game.

Mikan is a student of Hope's Peak Academy's Class 77-B, and a participant of the Killing School Trip. Her title is Ultimate Nurse.

She, along with Class 77-B, return to explore their school life leading up to The Tragedy.

In the Heroes Coalition fics, Mikan is a member of the Heroes Coalition and works as a medic.

Appearance
Mikan is a young woman in her early twenties, around 22 at youngest. Her virtual avatar in the Neo World Program appeared as her 17-year-old self.

She has long, choppy, dark purple hair that is cut unevenly as a result of bullying. She has light, greyish-purple eyes. There is a beauty mark under her left eye's corner. She wears a nurse uniform which consists of a pale pink, collared short-sleeved shirt with puffed sleeves.

Mikan wears a white apron over this which is tied behind her neck with a ribbon. There are two red lines on the left side of the apron, one going down to her middle and another short red line perpendicular to the vertical one. A short pale blue pleated skirt is visible under her apron. Mikan has bandages wrapped around most of her left arm and right leg. Additionally, she has a band-aid on her left kneecap and wears white socks and shoes.

During her high school years, she wore Hope's Peak Academy uniform. She had a band-aid on her right cheek and bandages wrapped around her right leg and left knee.

As the Ultimate Despair, she wears white nurse clothing along with a hat. She has bandages wrapped around her right arm and left leg. She wears one elbow length medical glove on her left arm, as well as a glove on her right hand that only goes up to her bandaged wrist.

Personality
Mikan is an extremely meek, paranoid and fragile individual who suffers from hazardously low self-esteem as a result of severe abuse and bullying. This has resulted in many behavioral symptoms such as being easily intimidated, breaking down and crying with little provocation, profusely apologizing and nervously stuttering while speaking. She constantly worries about annoying, boring or offending others, going so far as asking Hajime Hinata if it would be alright for her to remember his name when introducing herself. This delicate persona makes her a natural target for Hiyoko Saionji's instinctively predatory and cruel personality. However, as the Ultimate Nurse, Mikan tends to act much more confident while doing her job, and she is decently knowledgeable and intelligent. Her medical knowledge proves to be useful in murders, as she provides autopsy reports, including information on the corpse's state, details on injuries, cause of death, and time of death. Furthermore, she sometimes gives (often unwanted) health advice to others concerning things like eating and sleeping, and may occasionally start to describe things like bodily functions in way too much detail in her wish to give the other students' information on the subject at hand. Unlike most students, Mikan has even mentioned that she likes being on Jabberwock Island, because her classmates acknowledge her and her talent makes her useful.

Perhaps because of her high understanding of human physiology, Mikan is shown to be very skilled at reading people's faces, but she tends to over-analyze them and is quick to assume that she is disliked by those around her. She generally wants to be liked by and help other people, but her utter lack of confidence and wish to not be a bother causes her to rarely assert herself or state her feelings openly; if she feels the need, she will more than likely ask for permission from her peers to do so. This is exacerbated considerably during Class Trials, where despite her talent being incredibly useful for solving a murder, she will rarely ever speak up by her own accord. Since her social intuition is generally poor, if there is an awkward pause in a conversation, she will immediately begin to panic and apologize, believing it to be her fault. However, despite lacking many basic social skills, Mikan does actively attempt to gel with her surroundings by altering aspects of her conduct to suit what she projects as the thoughts of her peers. Notably, she appears exaggeratedly clumsy and often ends up in embarrassing and revealing poses, leading her to apologize profusely, though it's been heavily implied and even pointed out by Hiyoko that Mikan does these poses on purpose in order to gain attention and pity. Because of her insistently klutzy and cloying personality, even for all the pity and leeway she generally receives from her kinder classmates, many of them do still see her as somewhat off-putting, incompetent or irritating, causing them to distance themselves from her rather than outright mistreat her.

Because of the severe abuse she has incurred in the past, Mikan is very awkward and has a warped perception of both positive and negative social interaction. When treated with any sort of individual respect or sympathy, her first response is most often outright confusion, and sometimes assuming she has done something wrong. When first becoming friends with Hajime, she offers him to beat, strip, draw on or do other bad things to her, and states that she has done so multiple times with previous schoolmates so that they won't hate her and will continue to associate with her. She relates this to a belief that being ignored is even worse than being abused, thinking that the people who don't bully her don't care about her existence at all, a prospect that scares her much more. If someone treats her well and is outwardly kind to her in the long-term, she tends to become obsessive and cling to them, similar to the behavior of a stalker, which is interpreted as being extremely creepy (by Hajime at least), showing that she is unable to compartmentalize and reciprocate those positive feelings in a normal, healthy way. This was taken full advantage of by her supposed beloved, who turned that affection into a pathological, slave-like subservience.

By defaulting to a state of unnaturally intense submissiveness and self-deprecation as a defense mechanism, Mikan is somewhat prone to bizarre outbursts, where the repressed elements of her personality rapidly surface for brief moments before burying themselves again, usually followed by an apology for her erratic behavior. These traits include deep-seated resentment for her abusers, general frustration over how she is treated, various sadistic or otherwise disturbing obsessions, an intense yearning for control, attention and sympathy, as well as her sexual urges. During Chapter 2, she has a fleeting moment of lashing out angrily and shouting "you are done for" and "you're not gonna get away now that I've caught you" at no one in particular and seemingly completely out of nowhere, and then tries to write it off by claiming that she says nonsensical things when she's nervous. During one of the Class Trials, she also mentions that she finds a sudden urge to kill quite understandable (implying she has had such fantasies of enacting revenge on her abusers), and in Island Mode she mentions that she enjoys horror movies because of all the blood and helpless victims, especially appearing to enjoy bully characters getting what's coming for them. She also has a disturbing liking for syringes and shots, repeatedly offering them to Hajime when she gains access to the Pharmacy, and she even chases him around attempting to inject him with one during a Free-Time Event. She is also mentioned to creepily stare at Hajime after their free time together and he sometimes had a feeling that she is forever watching him from somewhere, indicating that she may have stalked Hajime. In spite of her often tightly pent-up demeanor, Mikan also shows by far the most sexual desire among all of Class 77-B's female students, particularly for Hajime. When either extremely tired or inflicted with the Despair Disease, respectively, she ends up cradling his head and falling asleep on top of him on two occasions, as well as unsubtly implying she would like to have sex with him through some brief, coy remarks. Out of the whole class, the blatancy of her sexual innuendos is only rivaled by Teruteru Hanamura.

The dichotomy of Mikan's two-faced psyche is best represented by her mixed motivations for becoming the Ultimate Nurse. Directly contrasting her abusers, Mikan sincerely wants to help those who have endured physical harm, and generally wants to assist and participate in the group. However, she has also admitted that she occasionally relishes the power she holds over the sickly, helpless people who have no choice but to rely on her and listen to her to survive. While acting as a nurse allows her to feel useful, something she doesn't normally feel, it also indulges her selfish urge to assert absolute dominance over something, a sensation she essentially never feels otherwise given her general docility. In her Island Mode ending, she openly contemplates rendering Hajime an invalid so he can stay with her forever, but he convinces her that he'll stay regardless, and thus doing so would be unnecessary. This shows Hajime's deft understanding of how Mikan manically depends on having other people around despite seeing herself as undesirable company, as well as his empathy toward her.

Due to a specific strand of the Despair Disease known as the Remembrance Disease, Mikan recovers her lost memories during Chapter 3, reverting her back to a Remnant of Despair, accompanied by a drastic personality shift which gradually reveals itself as she begins to be suspected as the blackened during the Class Trial. All of her repressed, negative and selfish traits take dominance within her, causing her to become angry, manipulative and dangerous, and in a private moment with Hajime, somewhat seductive. She is highly embittered and clearly aware of her maltreatment, and in distinct opposition to before, boldly calls the others out on it, even those who defended her in the trial but otherwise ignored her day-to-day. She angrily questions why everyone hates and bullies her, and blames her classmates exclusively for her evil deeds and transition into Despair, taking advantage of their pity in an attempt to escape her accusations all the while. Before her remembrance, Mikan was primarily self-effacing and would adapt to her environment for the benefit of others and to reduce conflict; but once the Despair Disease sets in, she is cunning and deceptive purely to preserve herself, even at the cost of the others' lives. As she turns increasingly violent and unstable, her apologizing habit still persists, repeatedly asking to be forgiven in a way that seems to be reflexive or like a mantra, but while also staunchly denying her charges to the point of angrily pulling her hair when accused. When finally backed into a corner and revealed as the culprit, Mikan ultimately finds solace in her beloved, and says that her motive for murder was simply her affection for them. She claims to no longer care about anything except that person, believing they were the only one who ever loved and accepted her. In Danganronpa 3, Mikan's brainwashed Ultimate Despair form has a resemblance to a sadistic horror nurse, and it's indicated that she tortures her victims with her medical equipment and knowledge, as well as sexually harasses them.

After awakening from her coma, Mikan reverts to her original temperament, and Junko's brainwashing is undone. She is shown to feel guilty for her actions as an Ultimate Despair and decides to atone along with her other classmates. Notably, she is seen capable of fighting, as she rescued Hiyoko wielding a massive syringe. She also independently took care of Kyoko and saved her life. While obviously still very insecure, she now appears happier and closer with her classmates, and even has a friendlier relationship with Hiyoko.

Talents
Because there was no one to take care of her wounds, Mikan learned to take care of herself from a very young age. As she became more and more skilled in this area, she took an interest in nursing, realizing that it gave her a feeling of control over sick and injured people - as weaker people would have to depend on her completely, and their lives would be in her hands.

As the Ultimate Nurse, Mikan's medical knowledge proves to be useful in murders. She provides autopsy reports, including information on the corpse's state, details on injuries, the cause of death, and time of death. Furthermore, she sometimes gives (often unwanted) health advice to others. She also appears to be more confident while she is nursing. Unlike most students, she likes being on Jabberwock Island, because her classmates acknowledge her and her talent makes her useful.

As talented as she is, Mikan's abilities as a nurse have limits; she doubted she could keep Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu alive due to the injuries he sustained during Peko Pekoyama's execution. Nonetheless, her abilities are highly effective, as she was able to successfully revive Kyoko Kirigiri after the Final Killing Game, where she was near-death after using Seiko Kimura's medicine to survive her NG Code Poisoning.

Expression Reader
Like Hajime said, Mikan is very perceptive. She is very skilled at reading other people's faces. She knew what Hajime was thinking when she examined his face in the fourth Free Time Events. Mikan could easily know what others would think about her based on their actions and their reactions. However, due to her very low self-esteem, Mikan overanalyzes and assumes others hate her if she notices even a slight indication of boredom, hesitation or annoyance in others. She also uses her perceptiveness to tell when and how someone is ill.

Trivia

 * Her first name means “mandarin”, as in the type of orange, while her last name means "sin tree".
 * Her last name could reference how she killed out of the despair Junko had planted inside her.
 * It is also somewhat possible that her last name is meant to reflect her similarity to the biblical Eve, who has committed a sin (the "original") related to a tree (the Tree of Knowledge) due to an innate "human" desire to try and do what is forbidden. Similarly, Mikan has committed double murder due to a desire - her presumably romantic attraction to Junko and wish to please her. She is also similar to Eve through the concept of "not being forgiven" for her actions.
 * While her title in the official English translation is Ultimate Nurse, Mikan's original title is Super High School Level Health Committee Member. The "health committee" or “health and hygiene committee” (since hoken means both “health preservation” and “hygiene”), is a common student committee in Japanese high schools with the duty of preparing and administering first aid during school events, monitoring the school's state of sanitation and promoting health-preserving behavior.
 * One of Mikan's Free-Time Events implies that she is qualified to administer vaccines (like a nurse and unlike a health committee member) - meaning that her circumstances as a health committee member are special.
 * Mikan's Birthday, May 12, coincides with International Nurses' Day.
 * Mikan's death poster in the trial room is crossed out with a nurse's cross, in reference to her Ultimate talent.
 * There is a strong possibility that Mikan suffers from dependent personality disorder, as she fits nearly all of the symptoms.
 * However, there is a chance Mikan also has social anxiety disorder, because of stuttering in speech, nervousness in social interaction, fear of bothering, boring, or offending others, and she is easily upset.
 * Mikan is implied to be able to develop feelings for multiple genders.
 * After the Class Trial in Chapter 3 of Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, Mikan confesses that she committed murder for the sake of a gender ambiguous person she called "my beloved", who is implied at the time and later revealed to be Junko Enoshima: "What I did... was for the sake of my beloved. If only they were still alive... They'd be so happy. My beloved... was the only one... That's right, the only one who... never hated me. They forgave my existence. They forgave me and accepted me. They gave me value. They loved me. I loved them with all my heart and they returned it in full. [...] And it was also my beloved who created the me that everyone can't forgive. But my beloved still forgives me and still accepts me... "
 * During the course of Mikan's Free Time Events, it's heavily implied she develops feelings for Hajime due to his friendship towards her. In her last Event, she states she believes in Hajime's kindness with the reasoning "Because you...are the person who has forgiven me.", which is the reason she gave for her feelings towards Junko.


 * Mikan makes a cameo appearance in Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls on a poster in the hospital in Chapter 1.
 * In Island Mode, she mentions that she enjoys horror movies because of all the blood and helpless people.
 * Mikan is included in the collaboration of Danganronpa 3 x Hōkai Gakuen.
 * Mikan's Japanese voice actress, Ai Kayano, also voiced Kotomi Ikuta.