Kokichi Ouma
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Kanji: 王馬小吉 Katakana: オウマ コキチ Hiragana: おうまこきち Romaji: Ōma Kokichi Latin Alphabet: Kokichi Oma |
| Occupation: | High School Student |
| Relationships: | Shuichi Saihara (rival; alive) Kaito Momota (rival; deceased) Shuichi Saihara and Kaito Momota (trio; only Saihara is alive) |
| Fandom: | Dangan Ronpa |
| Other: | Talent: 超高校級の「総統」lit. Super High School Level Supreme Leader Official English Translation: The Ultimate Supreme Leader |
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Kokichi Ouma is a student from Dangan Ronpa. He was a prominent character within the series and is very popular with fans. Ouma debuted in the third game of the main-line series, Dangan Ronpa V3: Killing Harmony, but did not survive the Mastermind's Killing Game.
Canon Overview
[characterization, story role, further important appearances]
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Popular Tropes & Fanon
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Subjects of Fannish Interest & Meta
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The Nazi Hat
In Ouma's promotional splash artwork, released in 2016, he wears a hat which was based off of actual military caps worn by officers in Nazi Germany. Its general shape and the placement of its pins are the same. What's different are the pins themselves, which were drawn to not match the real pins directly, but they still have wings and a skull on them. His talent of "Supreme Leader" was also unveiled publicly the same year, as was his love for "Panta," a parody of the Fanta brand of soda. Fanta was created by Germans during WW2 after a trade embargo made exporting Coke very difficult, further solidifying the Nazi symbolism.
Needless to say, this made many fans incredibly weary of Ouma's character before the release of Killing Harmony. It was the biggest discourse in the fandom for a time since Ouma was looking to be the game's primary rival to the game's protagonist, a role filled by the fan fave Nagito Komaeda in DR2 and Byakuya Togami in DR1. Many feared he would be a Neo-Nazi or a malicious troll type of character.
It died down during 2017 after the game released and spoilers became widely known to non-Japanese-speaking fans. Ouma, as a character, was not bigoted towards any people group, nor does he mention Nazi Germany in-game. He was the "supreme leader" of a gang of misfits and he detested violence. The hat and cape he wore in the promotional artwork was not something he wore regularly.
Fans at large eventually chalked the hat up to a design choice by Spike Chunsoft, the creators of Dangan Ronpa, which translated incredibly poorly to non-Japanese-speaking fans. As of 2018 and beyond, the "Nazi Hat" is a largely non issue and is primarily brought up to spread awareness that the hat was indeed Nazi-inspired and that it should not be worn in cosplay, or at least should be worn with caution. Fan artists may draw the pins on his hat to resemble flowers.
...I don’t blame people for being uncomfortable with Ouma’s promotional art. I myself am uncomfortable about it, and was very wary about Ouma’s character pre-release until I played the game for myself and confirmed with my own two eyes that he had nothing whatsoever to do with these kinds of things. I really do not appreciate that Kodaka chose such an insensitive and hurtful way of trying to market a character for cheap shock value, because it’s in extremely poor taste. And I really cannot blame other people if they’re disappointed or put off by Kodaka’s decision either....[1]
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Relationships
- Ouma's most popular pairing is his rival Shuichi Saihara, which is M/M, aka Boys' Love. In Japanese, this is most often called 最王, meaning Saihara attacks and Ouma receives in the coupling. This is the second-most popular pairing in the entirety of Dangan Ronpa fandom. The ship is similar to the other popular Dangan Ronpa protagonist/rival pairings: Naegi x Togami from Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and Hinata x Komaeda from Dangan Ronpa 2: Goodbye Despair.
- See Ouma x Saihara for more.
- Ouma is also shipped with Kaito Momota, which is M/M, aka Boys' Love. In Japanese, this is most often called [x]. In Killing Harmony, the two have a rivalry. This is a Murderer x Victim ship, since Momota killed Ouma, and this is a trope specific to Dangan Ronpa.
- See Momota x Ouma for more.
- Ouma's biggest polyship is Momota x Ouma x Saihara, which makes sense given how all possible combinations of these three are popular in their own right in terms of shipping. This ship is labelled various things by both Japanese-speaking and English-speaking DR fandom.
Less Popular Relationships
This is purposefully an incomplete list, as Ouma is shipped with much of Dangan Ronpa's cast. In Kanji, Ouma is usually represented in a pairing names with [x] ([x]). For Katakana, it's usually [x] ([x]). In Hiragana, [x] ([x]) is common.
The order seen should be what's most popular unless marked with "possibly." ENG portmanteaus are also subject to change. Relationships listed fall into GL, NL, BL, Poly, Combi or Cargo.
| With... | Full Label | Type | Portmanteau / Phrase | Kanji | Hiragana or Katakana | Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Example/Notable Fanac
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Fan Art
- 桜論破企画 by 庭白, Archived version (2017), Ouma with the pins on his hat changed to resemble a flower.
- untitled by 貴方, Archived version (2021), a collection of well made works of Ouma fanart.
- Post-game by anemonaflorist [Unable to archive] (2023), Post-canon AU where he survived DRV3.
Meta
- untitled by oumakokichi, Archived version, an untitled meta deep-diving into why Ouma is not a Nazi as seen in DRV3.
Zines
- Oumazine, a zine finished in 2018.
- Roll the DICE!, Archived version, a zine finished in 2021.
- Heard He's Shredded, twunk Ouma zine.
- Liar Liar
Videos
- Danganronpa V3 - Kokichi Oma's best moments, Archived version, a video on YouTube with 4.1 million views.
Playlists
- Fire Coming Out of the Clown's Head, a playlist on 8tracks and Playmoss.
References/Further Reading
- ^ meta by oumakokichi on Tumblr, Archived version on March 17th, 2017