Kiyotaka Ishimaru [Zombie Apocalypse.]

Taka Height 176 cm Weight 66 kg (146 lbs) Birth Date ♍ August 31 Chest Size 31 in (79 cm) Blood Type B

Family Toranosuke Ishimaru (Grandfather) † Takaaki Ishimaru (Father) Appearance: At the beginning of the Killing School Life, Kiyotaka appears to be a high school-aged teenager but, due to the memory loss, he is two years older than he believed. He has short, spiky black hair, large and long matching eyebrows, and intense red eyes. He wears a military-style white Japanese school male uniform with five golden buttons on each sleeve and five on his chest, a red and bronze medal above his right breast pocket featuring his Former High School symbol, yellow epaulettes, a red, black, and white armband with the kanji 風紀 fūki (meaning "Public Morals"), and knee-high black lace-up boots. The kanji character adorning the collar of his uniform, 参, actually represents a verb read as 参る mairu which can mean either "to be defeated", "to be annoyed", "to be madly in love" or "to visit a shrine/grave". Personality: Befitting of the Ultimate Moral Compass, Kiyotaka is righteous and values order and rules above all else. He takes his role as a student very seriously, shown when he gets upset that there are currently no classes going on during the Killing School Life. He also states he has 10 sets of his uniform so he never runs out and so he is able to wear one every day of the year, even on holidays or days off from school. He is shown to be very polite and respectful, as in original Japanese release, he addresses people, even girls with "-kun" honorifics. He also believes that people who are easily provoked to violence are cowards. Described as "enthusiastic to the point of being mad", Kiyotaka believes that every action must have a purpose and he absolutely hates wasting time.

Fitting his talent, Kiyotaka often takes up and views himself as a leader, as seen when he organizes the morning meeting for the other students. However, he often isn't taken very seriously—due to his extreme dedication to studying and proper conduct, he could not even hold a "normal" conversation with another person, which becomes clear very soon if someone spends free time with him. Furthermore, he is very expressive and intense in his manner of speech and is almost constantly shouting. Due to his lack of social skills, he often bursts out the first thing that comes to his mind and forces his values and beliefs on others, which he's aware of and feels guilty about. Nevertheless, Kiyotaka truly cares about his classmates. He is willing to take pragmatic approaches to avoid murder, such as offering to have everyone, starting with himself, reveal their secrets to avoid Monokuma's second incentive and naively thinking during the first trial the killer would raise their hand and reveal themselves to avoid said trial. In the non-canon Free Time Events, he even dubs Makoto "Professor", much to the latter's discomfort. Though he acts confidently and is quick to take the role of leadership, he suffers from low-self esteem at times and he is quite sensitive, sometimes crying very easily if he is shocked or touched by something. Inside, he wishes he could make friends and have someone to talk to, but he feels that he might be a nuisance to others, as he is stated to overreact to everything. Some of his other weaknesses appear to be his slight naivety and slow-wittedness, as he sometimes figures things out slower than the most other students, and tricking him seems to be rather easy. One of his unique traits is also his belief that "when the body is naked, so is the soul", meaning that showing each other their naked bodies helps two men form mutual trust.

In the end, the death of his first and best friend, Mondo, renders him in a state of shock and he becomes almost completely speechless and unresponsive. He only comes out of this state when seeing Alter Ego, to whom he apologies to for Mondo's actions. When Alter Ego impersonates Mondo to try to help Kiyotaka, he adopts the persona of "Kiyondo" and becomes more aggressive as well as very protective of Alter Ego, whom he sees as his "Bro". Similar to Mondo, his behavior and language is more aggressive, though refuses to use vulgar language (though he does so in the Japanese version). However, he still sees himself as the Ultimate Moral Compass, mentioning himself that he wouldn't perform criminal activities. History: During Kiyotaka's early life, his grandfather, Toranosuke Ishimaru, was once Prime Minister of Japan; a title Kiyotaka believed he gained through his own natural genius rather than any hard work. After only a few months in office, the public opinion of Toranosuke changed from high praise to widespread criticism due to a disastrous scandal, and he was forced to step down. After that, his business collapsed and the Ishimaru Family was left mistrusted and in huge debts which Kiyotaka has stated “Still have not been paid off, and continue to trouble my family to this day” and “My family is middle-class... No, we are below even that...” His family name shamed, Kiyotaka's grandfather allegedly spent the last years of his life in shamed silence. Kiyotaka gained a deep resentment for his grandfather and the label of “genius” that was associated with him, though he simultaneously seemed to feel sorry for him and believed that his grandfather's tragedy was an important lesson for him.

He swore to restore honor to his family name by gaining his success through hard work rather than natural talent, sacrificing hobbies, and most of his social interactions for study sessions and good grades, even going as far to tell Makoto he never played video games or watched TV due to his dedication. Because of this, his social skills suffered and he didn't have any friends. He was a model student in his middle school, known for participating in its morals committee (disciplinary committee in the original Japanese game). During the Tragedy, Jin Kirigiri, the Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy, planned to seal the school building and let the students live forever inside the Academy in order to protect them from the destruction. The class agreed to his plan, and they sealed the building together. The students lived peacefully inside the school building for a year without knowing that the Ultimate Despair members were already in their midst. After Monokuma first appeared to make his announcement about the Killing School Life, Kiyotaka assigned himself as a de-facto leader to the students and organized the morning meeting where the students would meet in the cafeteria to discuss trying to escape the school. Later, as an incentive to murder in order to escape, the students were each given a DVD featuring a video from Monokuma which implied that their loved ones were in danger. Kiyotaka's father, Takaaki Ishimaru, was captured by Ultimate Despair for this motive. The negative relationship between Kiyotaka and Mondo Owada came to a head in a "Stamina Contest" between the two of them after arguments. The Stamina Contest was in the sauna, and who could have survived the longest in it as the heat was turned up. Makoto was set to judge, only to be chased away and leaving the pair alone for the night.

In the Class Trial of Chihiro's murder, Kiyotaka became horrified when Mondo was identified as the culprit by Makoto. He refused to believe it and even came to Mondo's defense. This proved fruitless as Mondo was indeed revealed as the Blackened, and when it came time to vote, he did not vote for Mondo and instead voted for himself. Afterward, he broke down into tears and wailed in despair over losing his close friend. The culmination of the second trial traumatized Kiyotaka to a point that he was rendered completely mute and near-catatonic, not responding to anyone. After he received news about Alter Ego (whom he mistook as Chihiro Fujisaki's spirit) and their discovery from the other remaining students, he immediately went to Makoto's room and asked him to guide him to Alter Ego, since he wanted to apologize to Chihiro for what Mondo had done. When Kiyotaka and Alter Ego finally met, Alter Ego tried to console Kiyotaka by mimicking Mondo's voice, personality, and changing their avatar to Mondo's face.