**Monokuma** (モノクマ, lit. *bear-thing* or *bear-person*) is the main antagonist of the series. He is a strange, remote-controlled teddy bear who proclaims himself to be the headmaster of Hope’s Peak Academy and initiates a life of mutual killing among the students. He has various copies of himself throughout the academy and will punish anyone that attempts to attack him or breaks the academy’s rules.

Visually, Monokuma is divided into two halves. Seen from the front his left half is a cute white teddy bear with black details and grey shading; his right half has black fur and adds red as a spot color applied to his eye to contribute to his sadistic appearance together with an evil smirk.

The identity of Monokuma’s controller, as well as his motives for bringing the students together, are central to the mysteries that the students must investigate. It is revealed that Monokuma is actually a series of robots created by Monaca Towa for an army that Junko Enoshima used.