Danganronpa is a Japanese video game franchise created by Kazutaka Kodaka and developed and owned by Spike Chunsoft. The series primarily surrounds various groups of apparent high-school students who are forced into murdering each other by a robotic teddy bear named Monokuma. Gameplay features a mix of adventure, visual novel, detective and dating simulator elements. The first game, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, was released for the PlayStation Portable in 2010.

Monokuma is a fictional identity adopted by several characters in the Danganronpa series, serving as the mascot and central antagonist of the series. Monokuma first appears in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc as a disguise used by Junko Enoshima during her killing game in the fictional school of Hope's Peak Academy. Monokuma was created by scenario writer Kazutaka Kodaka and designed by Rui Komatsuzaki. The identity is used primarily as a disguise for the masterminds of each game to conceal their identities while overseeing and organizing killing games, and as such has been voiced by several actors. The character has often appeared in popular culture since its inception, spawning a series of action figures and merchandise. Nobuyo Ōyama and TARAKO voice Monokuma in Japanese, while Brian Beacock provides his voice for the English dub.