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Ougoku is the slash ship between Gonta Gokuhara and Kokichi Oma from the Danganronpa fandom.
Canon[]
Ever since the beginning, Kokichi considers Gonta a typical dumb muscle and plans to use him as one of his minions as well as use him in his plan to end the killing game. He is shown constantly belittling Gonta's intellectual capabilities, as well as generally insulting him. Notably, Kokichi uses no honorifics towards Gonta when talking to him in the Japanese version. This is not to single out Gonta disrespectfully, as he uses overly familiar and unwarranted honorifics with the other characters. On Gonta's side, he states that "Oma is awful!" on his official relationship chart.
During his first FTE with Kaede, if Kaede's response to Kokichi's claim that she has forgotten about him is "Are you thinking of someone else?" Kokichi tells her that only Gonta could mistake her for somebody else before quickly correcting himself and saying that not even Gonta is that dense.
In Chapter 2, Kokichi tricks Gonta to work for him by pretending to be a fellow bug lover. In order to get everyone's Kubs Pad, Kokichi uses Gonta to bring the students into his Research Lab. He lies and says that the others hate bugs and they should all have relaxing time with the insects and appreciate them. However, K1-B0 soon exposes Kokichi's lie, resulting in Gonta subjecting Kokichi to stay, telling him that they shall spend the whole night petting bugs. The other students escape the scene quickly, hearing the sound of "buzzing and Kokichi's screams" from the lab. After the incident, Gonta decides to stay close to Kokichi to keep an eye on him.
During the third, fourth, and fifth free time events of Chapter 2, if you attempt to hang out with Kokichi or Gonta they will state that they are busy with each other and will ask permission to spend time with Shuichi. In the fourth free time Kokichi will verbally lash out at Gonta, saying that no one cares about him. In the fifth free times, Kokichi has already crafted his Insect Meet and Greet plan so he is more willing to blow off Gonta. He does this whether you ask to spend time with him, or with Gonta. When trying to spend time with Kokichi, he first tells Gonta that he's trusting him with his new plan.
At the beginning of Chapter 3, Gonta was assigned to lock Maki up because the others were afraid of her. Kokichi, not wanting Gonta to do anything that will boost his self-esteem, suggests to leave everything to Kaito, and comments that nothing good ever happens when Gonta tries to help.
Before the third trial starts, Kokichi tells Gonta that he's sure Gonta has gotten a little smarter by now, although he immediately follows it with saying that he wants Gonta "to graduate from super-idiot level to at least Kaito-idiot level", showing that he doesn't respect Gonta's intelligence in the slightest and considers him to be even less worthy of his respect than Kaito.
In Chapter 4, Kokichi seemingly manipulates Gonta into killing Miu for him, because Miu had made it so that Kokichi couldn't harm her. However, it is also indicated that they both agreed that mercy killing would be the best action, and that Gonta's decision was ultimately his own. During the class trial, Gonta feels horrible and cries, having no memories of what happened due to an avatar error. Kokichi gets increasingly frustrated when Gonta is unable to argue back. At one point Kokichi states that it hurts his heart to persecute Gonta; however, this claim seems to prove empty as Kokichi immediately doubles down on condemning him.
After everyone has voted for Gonta, Kokichi gaslights Gonta into believing that he was genuine with his mercy kill plan so that Gonta wouldn't attack him. An extremely important thing to note is the fact that the others can't know for sure what exactly happened in the Virtual World thanks to Gonta forgetting everything that happened there and Kokichi being a known liar. This seems to be exactly what Kokichi was counting on. Gonta begs the others not to blame Kokichi anymore, which prompts Kokichi to enact another step of his plan. Kokichi very vocally shows regret, possibly so that Gonta won't realise that he was merely a pawn for Kokichi to use, and says that he should be punished too. Gonta disagrees and just tells Kokichi to promise him that everyone will forgive each other and be friends. Kokichi is speechless for a second, but regardless gives Gonta his word; knowing that he is going to break their promise immediately after Gonta's execution is finished. As the execution grows closer, Kokichi shows very dramatized distress once again, seemingly breaking down and crying, and shouts Gonta's name, saying he doesn't want this and telling Gonta not to go.
After Gonta is executed and Kokichi is told to explain himself, he hesitates for a bit before saying that he didn't care about Gonta at all and that he was just fake crying to stop Gonta from attacking him.
In Chapter 5 Kokichi, about to die, confesses to Kaito that using Gonta and making him into a murderer was one of the steps of his plan to overthrow the mastermind, proving that the mercy kill plan was never genuine on his side.
In the bonus mode Ultimate Talent Development Plan, Kokichi often tricks Gonta with his lies, such as telling him that he's positive Gonta would end up killing someone by playing basketball, which ends up discouraging Gonta from active play, but Gonta still considers him a friend after the three years they spent together. However, Kokichi tells Gonta that they won't see each other anymore after graduating due to them being a gentleman and an evil supreme leader. Kokichi tells Gonta that he won't be tricked by someone like him anymore. He claims he is so sad he barely eats and he cries himself to sleep at night, which makes Gonta worried, though Kokichi soon claims it's just a lie. Interestingly, when Gonta is genuinely saddened because he won't see Kokichi anymore, Kokichi reacts with slight anger and believes Gonta is trying to trick him back, showing that he believes other people can't genuinely care about him, not even someone as kind as Gonta. Nevertheless, Kokichi bids Gonta his farewell, claiming he isn't a gentleman like Gonta. Gonta feels even more sad as a result, and says he wishes it was a lie.
Kokichi and Gonta share multiple interactions in the non-canonical Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp. In one, they visit the beach hut together. Gonta is amazed by the amount of food on offer, and Kokichi comments that he feels as though he is living a life of luxury after completing an evil mission. Gonta suddenly worries that Kokichi will spend all of his allowance, but Kokichi tells him he should relax. Gonta says that Kokichi's job as Supreme Leader sounds difficult, and Kokichi replies that it would be in comparison to someone who "plays with bugs" all day. Gonta comments that he must be fortunate to have a life that he enjoys, and Kokichi calls Gonta too honest, saying he worries for him.
In another event, the pair go swimming. Kokichi asks about Gonta's bug box, which he carries everywhere. Gonta says he likes to bring nice bugs back to his room, which prompts Kokichi to say that Gonta is lucky; he has bugs, but Kokichi has been seperated from his subordinates. Gonta asks if Kokichi is lonely, and Kokichi cheekily replies that he didn't know he could feel loneliness. Gonta tells Kokichi that he considers him a friend, and Kokichi asks how he can do that after how many lies Kokichi has told to him. Gonta replies that Kokichi may lie, but he makes everyone laugh too and Gonta understands how important that is. Gonta swears he'll never leave Kokichi behind, saying its the gentlemanly thing to do.
In Gundham Tanaka's "My Future" event, Kokichi goes looking for Gonta and Shuichi Saihara as he notices that they have "gone missing". Gundham tells Kokichi that the meeting doesn't concern him, which offends Kokichi. Gonta tries to defend Gundham, saying he only trusts the "chosen ones". Kokichi offers his help, but Gundham declines. Shuichi says that he can see why Gundham would be wary of Kokichi, but Gonta tries to encourage Gundham to let Kokichi join them. He says that Kokichi only causes trouble because he likes to make people laugh.
Gonta and Kokichi are both present in Kaede and Sayaka's swimsuit events, although they do not share any significant interactions with each other.
Quotes[]
- “You're a true gentleman!? More like a true nincompoop!”
- — Kokichi screaming at Gonta during the fourth Class Trial.
Fanon[]
The ship sailed as a result of the two often interacting together and Gonta being one of very few students who are willing to be nice towards Kokichi. However, a lot of fans do have a dislike for the ship because of the events of Insect Greet and Meet incident in Chapter 2, and even more so because of Chapter 4. It is a controversial ship among the fandom both for Kokichi's general toxic behavior as a character and his abuse of Gonta, as most would rather ship Gonta with someone as nice as him.
Ougoku is an extremely popular ship in the Japanese fandom, often being portrayed in merchandise together. However, the ship is much more divisive in the Western fandom. This is likely due to cultural differences, as well as translation and localization choices. The English language version punches up Kokichi's poor treatment of Gonta, while also overly infantilizing Gonta's character as a whole. There is much debate in the fandom about Kokichi's morality, and when he is lying or when he is telling the truth. Fans of Kokichi often believe that he genuinely cared about Gonta, and enjoy this dynamic. On the other hand, fans of Gonta tend to be more critical of the ship and wholly blame Kokichi for Gonta's death in chapter 4.
Whether Kokichi truly cared about Gonta and only pretended to be fake crying over his death to match his upcoming lie of being the mastermind or whether he indeed didn't care about him is a wildly debated topic. His confessions to Kaito as he was dying in the hydraulic press in Chapter 5 about hating the killing game proved the former for a lot of fans. Regardless, this shouldn't negate that he had a relationship with Gonta and eventually betrayed him.
Due to Miu Iruma being shipped with both of them, they are sometimes shipped in a polyship with her. Certain polyship variations may also include K1-B0.
Ougoku currently has over 130 works on AO3, but is slightly more popular as a platonic ship with over 150 works. The platonic and romantic versions of the ship are Gonta's second and third most popular and Kokichi's eighth and ninth most popular ships, respectively.
Fandom[]
- FAN FICTION
- Gonta/Kokichi tag on AO3
- Gonta & Kokichi tag on AO3
- Gonta/Kokichi tag on FanFiction.Net
- FAN ART
- Gontouma tag on DeviantArt
- Ougoku tag on DeviantArt
- WIKI
- Gonta's relationship with Kokichi on Danganronpa Wiki
- Kokichi's relationship with Gonta on Danganronpa Wiki
Trivia[]
- They died back-to-back in New Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, with Gonta being Chapter 4's culprit and Kokichi being Chapter 5's victim.
- They're both shown going into the cryogenic sleep chambers next to each other near the end of the game.