The Vice President of Hope's Peak Academy's Student Council. Kotomi appears to be quite impulsive and protective of her friends.

~!She and the rest of the council were summoned to the school's old building late at night and forced into a killing game by Junko Enoshima and Mukuro Ikusaba, an event that would later become known as the The Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy. When Mukuro announced they would kill each other, Kotomi was the first to react, angrily rejecting the idea. But before she could be calmed down, Mukuro shot her, killing her instantly and setting off the killing. This makes Kotomi the very first killing game victim in the Danganronpa timeline.!~

Chisa Yukizome begins her job as homeroom teacher for Hope's Peak Academy's 77th Class of Ultmate students. Meanwhile, Hajime Hinata, a student of the school's Reserve Course for students without talent, prepares to undergo an experiment to make him the Ultimate Hope. What follows is a series of tragic events which lead to the birth of the Remnants of Despair and the realization of "The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History." 
 
Aired alongside of Danganronpa 3: Mirai-hen, with Mirai-hen starting first.

**Height:** 153 cm (5'0)

__[Profile (Osawa)](https://osawa-inc.co.jp/women/kayanoai/) | [Twitter](https://twitter.com/kayanoai_0913) | [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/kayanoai_0913/) | [YouTube Channel Official Twitter](https://twitter.com/_kayanomi) | [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0D6qi-Gr5RW7hqOvTEKmAw)__

__Introduction:__
Ai Kayano is a Japanese voice actress and vocalist currently affiliated with Office Osawa.

__Biography:__
Kayano wanted to work in a job that would involve "healing people", leading to initially take up a course at a vocational school. She worked in the beauty industry and became interested in acting after having seen [Aria](https://anilist.co/anime/477/). While attending school, Kayano continued working in the industry and paid for her tuition.

Kayano began working at Pro-Fit in 2010, voicing two supporting characters in the original video animation [Princess Resurrection](https://anilist.co/anime/9159/). In 2011, she voiced [Meiko "Menma" Honma](https://anilist.co/character/40592/) in [Anohana](https://anilist.co/anime/9989/) and received the Best Rookie Actress award for said role at the 6th Seiyuu Awards. Kayano, [Haruka Tomatsu](https://anilist.co/staff/95890/) and [Saori Hayami](https://anilist.co/staff/95869/) performed the series' ending theme "Secret Base – Kimi ga Kureta Mono (10 years after Ver.)", a cover of a song originally sung by the band Zone.

She is often praised for her vocal range, having voiced a variety of characters such as [Mayaka Ibara](https://anilist.co/character/55137/), [Mashiro Shiina](https://anilist.co/character/61371/), [Darkness](https://anilist.co/character/89363/) and [Akari Kawamoto](https://anilist.co/character/24311/) for example, none of which one would connect to the same voice actress.

**Trivia:**
- Worked part-time at a coffee shop with [Chinatsu Akasaki](https://anilist.co/staff/107652/) before becoming a voice actress.
- She got around 100 suggestions for her nickname in the Anohana radio show, from which she herself picked out Kayanon.

Non-anime roles:
- Atago - Azur Lane
- Graf Zeppelin - Azur Lane
- Kaga - Azur Lane
- Renown - Azur Lane
- Y'shtola Rhul - Final Fantasy XIV

Kotomi Ikuta