Spoilers in App!

Player
Name: Daisy
Personal Journal: seasided
Timezone: EST

Character
Name: Aoi Asahina
Series: Dangan Ronpa
Timeline: At the end of the game
Canon Resource Links:
Play Through/Full Translation
Series Wikipedia Entry
Series Wiki
Aoi Asahina Wiki
TV Tropes



Personality:
It might sound like a bad water pun to describe a swimmer as bubbly, but in Asahina's case, it's true. She's cheerful and outgoing if a bit airheaded at times. When she first meets Naegi, she repeats his name over and over while writing it in her palm to help her remember. Unfortunately she can't figure out how to spell it,. This is a first impression on the protagonist, one that lasts. She's very determined and extremely passionate about the things that she loves -- mostly swimming and donuts. She... really really likes donuts. A lot. Asahina is friendly and upbeat, but she's not always the brightest crayon in the box. However, she does display, from time to time, a remarkable perceptiveness, especially emotionally. And later she proves herself capable of at least pulling the wool over some of her classmates eyes.

In a way, people tend to label her a ditz even before they get to know her. She looks the part -- cute, perky, short shorts, not shy on the cleavage -- but this is not entirely who she is. In particular Fukawa gives her a hard time, insulting her intelligence and calling her "swimming monkey" among other sweet endearments. But then, Fukawa is fairly terrible to everyone who isn't Togami, so that should be taken with a grain of salt. In general, Asahina gets along with nearly everyone. She and Hagakure butt heads repeatedly, especially in later chapters.

In general, Asahina does not filter out her reactions or emotions. Though she is friendly and seems to want to get along, she is not shy to call people out for being jerks or stupid. She takes on Togami for saying things about Sakura and yells at Oowada for making Fujisaki cry. She's energetic and very concerned with her friends. Naegi seems to recognize her as a bit of a ditz sometimes, but seems to have a great deal of respect for her. In the chapter four trial, he notices a few times that Asahina is not acting like herself (and realizes she acted out of character when the body had been discovered s well) and understands that this means more is going on than she is telling. But more on the chapter 4 murder/trial later.

Asahina is a sensitive girl. The idea of killing and murder is horrifying to her, and she cannot forgive what happens to her classmates. She takes all their deaths very seriously, be they victim or culprit. She openly cries over Yamada's body, even there is no evidence the two were especially close. After the first murder, the idea of investigating it is too much for her. She doesn't know where to begin and winds up remaining in the cafeteria while the rest of her classmates go to investigate. When Naegi asks her about it, she says that she's taking a break, and has been taking a break since it began. This sensitivity also manifests itself in the fact that she turns to Sakura near immediately because she is frightened after the first round of motives is given out, and asks Sakura to spend the night with her so she won't have to be alone. Her friendship with Sakura comes to define many of her actions and thoughts. It's crucial to who she is; you can't talk about Asahina without mentioning Sakura-chan.

Almost immediately Asahina and Sakura are drawn to each other. It's in some ways a surprising match-up. Sakura is a large and intimidating presence, proper and reserved. Asahina is tiny, bouncy and a bit air-headed. But the two are drawn to each other, and become fast friends. In fact, Sakura calls Asahina her best friend later on. The two are nearly inseparable, and Asahina draws a great deal of strength from Sakura.

So when Sakura dies, it hits Asahina harder than anyone else. In a way, it breaks something in her (temporarily anyway). Because of Monobear's tampering with Sakura's suicide note, she believes that Sakura killed herself because she'd been pushed to it by everyone hating her and treating her so badly. Asahina is so distressed by this that she decides to make it look like she murdered Sakura so that they'll all be executed for choosing the wrong culprit. She believes they are all to blame for her friend's death and that they all deserve to be punished for it, herself included. She manages to fool Togami, Hagakure and Fukawa entirely. But not Naegi and Kirigiri. When it becomes clear that it isn't going to work and Sakura's true suicide note is read, she realizes that Sakura sacrificed herself not because of despair, but because she wanted to help them, to put their suspicions to rest so that they could live and defeat Monobear. Something in Asahina is restored, to know that her best friend didn't die because of despair and sadness, but as an act of selflessness.

After this trial, there is something missing from her life now that her best friend is gone, but Asahina bounces back fairly well. She becomes much more of a player in the later trials (though the majority of the mental work is still done by Naegi, Kirigiri and Togami). Asahina is very much the heart of the group, especially the survivors. She does not guard her emotions like Togami or Kirigiri. She expresses her frustration and outrage and happiness and sadness and fears without censoring them, though on occasion she will put on a braver face than she really feels. She cares about her friends and never treats any of their deaths lightly, and is willing to immediately stand up for her friends, even against other friends when it is warranted.

Additionally, like all the students at Hope's Peak, Asahina has had her memories wiped away. She's actually a couple years older than she believes she is. Her memories of her real time at school are gone. Incidentally, through pictures and other tidbits of information, it seems she and Sakura were also very close during this time, which may explain how they got so close to fast. Her brain may have forgotten, but her heart it seems, has a somewhat stronger grip on emotional memory.

Strengths/Weaknesses:
Well, to start with Asahina is a Super High School Level Swimmer, so she's more at home in the water than anywhere else. She's extremely gifted and dedicated to this talent, working very hard at it. When the pool is revealed in the school, she is intensely excited about it.

More than that though, her greatest strength is definitely her ability to connect and forge relationships with people. Though there are those she consistently does not mesh with (Fukawa mostly), she is eager to help. She offers to help Fujisaki train to grow stronger, and is confused when her classmate turns down her offer, not knowing the reason is Fujisaki's closely kept secret. The thought of murder never crosses her mind until she tries to take down the entire group when she believes that they've all pushed Sakura to her death. When she realizes how wrong she is, she's immediately appalled at herself and very sorry for it. In the false ending where the survivors live out the remainder of their lives in the school, Asahina somehow manages to be the mother of all the surviving guys' children.

Additionally, she's resilient. Things hit her hard and deep, but she keeps moving forward. Even after Sakura's death, she manages to continue and still be herself.

Her weaknesses are also fairly self-evident. She's not the smartest among her classmates. Investigation isn't her strong suit. She's sometimes a little timid about frightening situations and will hang back, especially when it has to do with investigating and murder. Sometimes her emotions are her weakness as well, since she reacts without always thinking first or lets her feelings overrule her rational thought.

No motives manage to ping Asahina enough to have her even consider murder. She wants to put her faith in her friends, and one of her biggest fear seems to be losing all of them. She is so deeply affected and angers so quickly at any disrespecting the dead that it's almost starting at times. After Sakura's sacrifice, her biggest fear is letting down her deceased friend and failing the chance that Sakura tried to give them. She wants to make her proud, to not waste that sacrifice no matter what.

Aside from trying to self destruct everyone along with herself, she will absolutely not consider murder as an option. That is not the person she is. She tries to stay optimistic, even if her fear and doubts sometimes make it difficult.

She also has a weakness for donuts. A huge weakness for donuts.