Gonta Gokuhara and Korekiyo Shinguji

This story takes place in a school where 16 students have been trapped and forced to participate in a killing game.

Korekiyo is a tall, slim student with rather pale skin and long ocean green hair. He is 6’2”. His hair is stated to follow an archaic image of beauty and it "puts his female colleagues to shame". He has narrowed yellow eyes, and his mouth is covered by a sage green mask, covering his mouth and neck, with a zipper where his mouth would be, giving him a sinister and mysterious appearance. He wears the mask wherever he goes, no matter where he goes, and he even owns different masks for eating, showering, and other daily activities. He wears a dark green military-style uniform with knee-high black boots, a zipper lining the front and two straps over it. The uniform consists of a white button-up underneath it, a dark green button-up, a red armband around his left arm from his previous school, Sunset Hills High School, a green military regulation cap with his former school's insignia on the top, and a decorative chain with revolver chamber and bullet looking charms dangling from it. In his Free Time events, he states that his sister tailored his uniform for him while she was sick. He wears what appears to be some kind of silver locket around his neck. Both of his hands are completely covered in bandages, although it's likely he's not actually injured. Korekiyo is aloof and somewhat disturbing, but he is also very cool-headed and intelligent. He can keep himself composed even under confinement circumstances and believes in facing things with a calm and rational approach rather than an emotional one. He tends to stay calmer than the others during dire situations. As for him, it's an opportunity to observe. His morals have been described as being "a bit off." At one point, he even openly states he has no problem with killing and wonders why the others do, saying that killing is perceived as wrong only because of laws made by humans and such laws do not exist in the Killing Game. He is aware that his appearance and behavior cause him to come across as a potential murderer, but he does not appear to care what other people think of him. He claims the others shouldn't fear him as a potential murderer, as he merely wishes to observe. He is highly passionate about his talent as the ultimate anthropologist and can get excited when talking about it. It is shown when he panics after Kokichi touches the katana in his lab without permission, fearing that it may be damaged, and threatens to tear out his nerves. He ponders different subjects in a deep and complex manner and occasionally shares his knowledge in lengthy, unsolicited anthropology speeches. He has formed a pet theory of "humanity's unlimited beauty," believing that all human beings are beautiful, including their "ugly sides." That beauty can be created from hardship, though, as seen in how he interacts with Kokichi and Miu, he does tend to find noisy and vulgar people annoying, often asking them to be quiet. Korekiyo is extremely interested in topics he does not necessarily agree with, as he states he does not believe in any gods. Still, he finds them interesting from the point of view of studying human nature and cultures. However, he does believe in ghosts, souls, and the afterlife and shows a fascination with communication with the dead and death in general. Korekiyo usually speaks calmly and politely, but he nevertheless comes across as somewhat off and makes others uncomfortable due to his strange and sometimes morbid thinking. During the Killing Game, he observes other students with great interest in seeing what kind of beauty they will display as humans under such circumstances, seemingly not caring about their safety. It has been stated that Korekiyo is so interested in anthropology that it sometimes seems like he is not as interested in the welfare of those around him. He can say unsettling things rather openly, like randomly mentioning that Gonta could use his immense strength to crush a child's skull easily. He also possesses several idiosyncrasies. He is very fixated on keeping his mask on, taking his mask off only in front of people his sister deems trustworthy. During his Free Time Events, he claims he has a different mask for different activities, like eating, bathing, sleeping, and exercising. However, they all look exactly the same, and while they have a zipper across the mouth, it does not appear that food passes through it when he eats or drinks. He has a unique and somewhat creepy laugh, written as "kehehehe". Unlike most students in the series, he apparently has lots of experience with sexual relationships. He has described himself as very popular with local women in a village that commonly practiced bondage. He is sadomasochistic, enjoying the pain of others because he considers the raw emotions beautiful and enjoying his own suffering because he believes it makes him closely connected to his deceased sister and the beauty of humanity as a whole. Even though he is apparently willing to have strictly physical relationships with other people, he refuses to look at pornography because he has "already given his heart to someone." Indeed, he is shown to be very romantic, firmly believing in the "power of love" that can make even the impossible possible. He is very fond of romance and love stories, especially ones centered around forbidden love. Korekiyo was groomed by his older sister and is deeply obsessed with her. His hair and clothing are directly connected to her. He is noted to wake up two hours before the morning announcement, spending a whole hour carefully dressed in no hurry, leading the other students to perceive him as very effeminate. He will sometimes speak on behalf of his sister, for example, by telling someone that his sister is pleased with them or that she doesn't trust them yet. It's later revealed that his older sister is actually deceased and that he is a serial killer whose goal is to kill a hundred women he considers "pure," believing that they will become "admirable friends" for his sister in the afterlife. While normally very calm, stress can cause a panic attack, rendering him hyperventilating and unable to talk properly.

Gonta is a very tall and muscular student with tanned skin. He is 6’6”. He has a noticeably angular face and very long, unkempt green hair, with noticeable prominent curls at the top of his head. He has red eyes and wears round glasses. Gonta wears a white shirt, a brown school blazer and matching brown pants, a dark, lime-green tie, and is barefoot. He carries a bug box strapped over his shoulder which rests at his hip. The strap is a light green, nearly matching his tie's color. He has a silver button on the lapel of his blazer, showing the insignia of his previous high school, and gold cufflinks. As his appearance suggests, Gonta has incredible, superhuman strength, but he is gentle and kind, once saying that he would never hurt even a bug. Gonta likes animals very much, especially insects, and he can even speak with them. He is a kind-hearted, gentle, and polite person. He is very pure and naive, as he easily believes strangers and can get easily discouraged by other people's comments. When he is accused of being the culprit, he answers with complete honesty even if it makes him look much more suspicious. He also does not seem to understand sexual matters very well, as after seeing a half-naked Miu he states he got a "weird feeling", and he assumes being "horny" means something like having horns on your head. He himself acknowledges and often points out that he is dumb, which is one of the reasons why he listens to other people so much. Naturally, he strongly dislikes killing and cruelty, which can rather easily make him cry. However, despite his gentle nature, he can turn very angry if he sees or hears someone hating on insects, and he believes bug lovers can't be bad. Due to his strong love for bugs as the ultimate entomologist, he is often seen searching and yelling for them to come out, claiming that he wants to talk with them. In order to repay his woodland family, he aims to become a true gentleman. Gonta wants to be useful to others, but he prefers not to do physical fighting and violence. He also gets very ashamed of himself if he does something a gentleman wouldn't do, like telling lies, losing his temper, making rude assumptions, seeing someone naked or half-naked, or accidentally touching someone inappropriately. It's noted that he isn't very gentlemanly yet, as he's a bit clumsy and sometimes gets controlled by sudden and strong emotions (which is implied to be a result of being raised in the wild), but he tries very hard. He occasionally gets very scary with intense expressions, especially when talking about bugs or if he is otherwise upset or frustrated, making other people afraid. He sometimes does not seem to notice that he is unintentionally scaring others, while during some other moments he can be very perceptive of others' feelings. He sometimes fears he might never become a gentleman and he can be very hard on himself. He doesn't seem to acknowledge many of his past or current accomplishments, thinking they're just some things all gentlemen would have done. Because he spent his childhood in the forest, Gonta is lacking general cultural knowledge and even has trouble with language, and so he often has trouble speaking with the other students. This is made worse by his intimidating appearance, which made him somewhat of an outcast even when he was a very young kid. Because of this, he doesn't like to start conversations, and he is shown to be very grateful whenever someone else approaches him, saying "thank you" as in "thank you for talking to me". He also has notable difficulties with understanding the virtual world and computers, so much in fact that the other students often don't even try to explain it to him, though he does seem to understand television and movies. Due to his background, he prefers being barefoot over wearing shoes. He is very protective towards his friends during the Killing Game, promising to protect them from any harm caused by the Killing Game. He states that in order to fulfill that goal, he will go as far as to risk his own life. Whenever he failed to fulfill this promise, he would cry and regret that he couldn't save his classmate. Gonta seemingly wishes to have a motherly figure to take care of him, possibly because he was separated from his own mother for many years during his childhood.

Shuichi Saihara is the ultimate detective. He has a rather mild and polite personality, seeming unsure of himself most of the time.

Kokichi Ouma is the ultimate supreme leader. He is trickster character, elusive and manipulative, and to put it lightly, annoying.