no subject

[rambunctiousgirl]

PLAYER
Name: Luciano / Luc
Age: 21
Personal Journal: pocketprince
E-mail: puppyfacemccall [@] gmail [.] com
AIM/MSN/etc: gueyprince

CHARACTER
Name: Peko Pekoyama
Canon: Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Age: 18-real / 15-apparent ('deceased', in a way, but that's spoilers)
Timeline: Post "death"

Personality:

My name is Peko Pekoyama. It is nice to meet you, too.

With a character from a game about a game originally designed to be a friend-making ("dating") simulator, it may be best to start with their introduction. From the get-go, it is easy to believe that Peko is an unfeeling, cold person. And she is cold, but her narrative shows that she is definitely not unfeeling. She is stern and shows little emotion, but she is not unsocial; though she knows she is not well-trained to handle crowds and social gatherings, she agrees to go to at least three separate social events with the others on the island.

At times, she seems very practical and business-like. However, her practicality is based solely in the ways of a warrior, and sometimes her concerns can come across as grave or dramatic or comical because of they way they relate to real life. The way Peko responds to a murder game being announced is to analyse the technical and fighting skill of all those on the island and freely discuss concerns about their potential power with closer members of the group. Though the protagonist finds this strange, Peko's concerns are perfectly normal to her, and eventually the protagonist comes to understand this.

Even with lost memories, the moves that the body has memorized cannot be forgotten so easily.

In addition to being business-like, she is both analytic and active. Once again probably relating to her being raised as a swordswoman, Peko is quick to note certain things about her environment when placed in a new one and is an apt surveyor, likely because warriors and guardians must always be aware of their surroundings.

She notes that the protagonist must not be a warrior from the way he carries himself and then notes the powerful team that would be Akane and Nekomaru (SHSL Gymnast and SHSL Coach/Trainer). In her eyes, they are the biggest potential threat, and her analysis of their teamwork isn't altogether incorrect. She herself is much slimmer than they, and as for physical power, they may have her beat. However, she is just as active both in sword training and other activities as they.

It is apparent from her choices in the game that she is one who prefers to do active, athletic hobbies; she is among the students who choose to take Usami's gift of a swim-suit to swim in the beginning of the game, and is again shown swimming later on in the game. (This also proves that she is at least somewhat fashionable; though her choices usually include dark clothing, the clothing she chooses for herself is always elegant in some way.)

No matter what I am told, I am nothing but a tool for killing... If my young master intends to kill, then it is only natural for me to act as his tool.


Later in the game, when it is revealed that she is Kuzuryuu's personal hitman and bodyguard, it is clear that she takes her role very seriously. All her life she was trained to be Kuzuryuu's tool, a being separate from mind and body, something less than human. However, it is evident in her treatment of both Kuzuryuu and the other students that she is not at all heartless. Though she makes all sorts of lies to protect her young master, in the end, it is revealed that her feelings toward him are the true reason she does so and not her usefulness as a tool at all.

Kuzuryuu's parents had pulled her from being abandoned and given her a life and a purpose. She felt as though she could not defy this, but all along, Kuzuryuu had wanted her to be herself. Their time on the island allowed for this, and though during her trial she denied her friendship with the others (saying she was working only under her master's orders), Peko shows many times during the investigation how much she regrets that she has betrayed the others. For this reason, and for her willingness to defy Kuzuryuu's orders so that she can protect him, Monokuma calls her the tool with a heart.

However, shortly before she is killed, the other students remark that she is not a tool, but a human being. Peko, who has lived her entire life as a tool and believed she owed her existence to Kuzuryuu's parents, had trouble accepting their sentiments, arguing, "If you think humans cannot be tools, try telling that to all the men and women out there destined to only ever be means to an end." Her offence at their reactions makes it clear that she, in that moment, was still tied to the fact Kuzuryuu's parents had saved her and without Kuzuryuu's urging, was unable to reconcile that they were not denying her reality or trying to have her seem ungrateful. Of course, it is a lesson learned too late for Peko.

Anyway, until now, I tried to think of myself as being just a tool. I thought it would be fine just as long as I was his tool. But now, I want to accompany him to his destination. I want to see the scenery he sees. Not as a tool… but as a comrade.

Peko's personality outside of being a tool is strong, though she attempts many times to deny it. She is not shy, but can be skittish and easily flustered when it comes to things like friendship, relationships, and the fact others value her. She is also compassionate and caring, despite the sadness that comes with Kuzuryuu's rejections of her being his tool. She is quick to break up fights and has no will to kill her fellow students, and just a few stern words from her can convince even the most stubborn to behave. She loves fluffy things and cute things, and regrets that her presence as a warrior frightens most animals away.

However, even when she does not view herself as a tool, being a swordswoman and guard is very important to her. Though Kuzuryuu is convinced otherwise, her need to protect him isn't just a part of her orders, but the will of her heart. She has always been near him and always done her best to protect him, using her blade as a means to do so.

She is not always the most practical person by conventional standards, as mentioned, and isn't the most expressive. Peko also confesses in the game that it is difficult for her to smile, though she later learns this is because a smile cannot be forced and must be natural. However, her aim to protect her charge goes beyond just defence; to give him a reason to smile is also important, and part of why she wishes to learn to smile better.

Peko, as stated before, has a strong connection to Kuzuryuu, both as his (former) tool and as his friend. In one version of the game, Island Mode, she declares affection for him; however in the main version of the game, it is easily viewed as either romantic or platonic. It is not the nature of the relationship that proves anything about Peko, but the strength of it; her real affection for Kuzuryuu, whether romantic or platonic, proves that she is not just a mere tool. She cannot push all of her emotions away, and cannot deny herself from the budding friendships that begin to flourish in her life. It is also the strongest fuel behind Peko's will to live, and even if she no longer exists as a tool, Peko will protect Kuzuryuu as his friend.

Background:

Peko's character page and a wikipedia plot summary

Abilities:

Peko Pekoyama is Super High School Level Swordswoman. This title is not to be taken lightly; she completely capable of killing a man with only a bamboo sword. She is capable of taking down full-grown men in kendo and her aim is impeccable. However, she is only a human girl and is neither impervious to injury nor impossible to kill.

First Person:

Peko on the test drive

Third Person:

(from a musebox thread where players can respond to Junko after the events of SDR2)

By all rights, Pekoyama Peko should be dead. She'd felt it-- felt the first blade sink into her spine, felt warm blood soak through the fabric of her uniform. That had been all she'd felt; she knew that her senses had probably been severed thanks to the cut to the spine, a small mercy that would have been appreciated had Fuyuhiko not been there, had she been able to defend him-- was he alright?

She shouldn't be able to wonder, she noticed, because she should be dead. Or perhaps there was an after-life. It was probably hell. She should be in hell, if she still has senses, but she wasn't.

Unless hell is a beach.

Hell could very well be a beach, she decided, when she gets to her feet and dusts off the sand, but hell being the very same beach she'd swam at before she died, that couldn't be right. It couldn't be true. Just the same, her uniform should be so damaged. She should be mangled, but she could see her palms just as unsullied as they had been just minutes before her death.

Something about the beach is different now. Something wasn't right, but that wasn't the point, not the most pressing matter.

In that instant she had to investigate, for without information, she could not make any decision. She did not know that her data was the first to come together once more from the recovery, nor does she know she was data at all.

She moved to Jabberwock Park, sure that if she was going to see anyone, they would be there.