Akane Owari earned the title Ultimate Gymnast through extraordinary strength, agility, and endurance. This natural talent surfaced in childhood, driving her competitive success which became vital income for her impoverished family—unemployed parents and seven younger siblings. Her early life in extreme poverty involved frequent starvation, witnessing dead bodies, and enduring sexual harassment from adults, including a manipulative gymnastics coach who exploited her while advancing her career. These harsh experiences forged her worldview: a casual attitude toward nudity and harassment, an intense appreciation for food, and a deep fear of ghosts. She honed survival skills like parkour to escape predators in her neighborhood. Physically distinctive with tan skin, unkempt chestnut hair, and an athletic build, Akane prioritizes fundamental needs like eating and physical activity, declaring sustenance and movement define her existence. Her personality blends fierce loyalty and protectiveness—especially toward "small hungry things"—with impulsiveness, gullibility, and a readiness to solve problems through violence. Despite intellectual limitations, she possesses sharp intuition and an enhanced sense of smell, frequently acting on accurate gut feelings. She venerates physical strength, idolizing those who possess it, and initially perceived vulnerability as weakness. Key relationships include a close bond with Nekomaru Nidai, who became her coach and friend, and camaraderie with Teruteru Hanamura, whose cooking she admires. As part of Hope's Peak Academy's Class 77-B, Akane endured the Killing School Trip within the Neo World Program. Significant moments included nearly facing execution for defying Monokuma, an act prompting Nekomaru to sacrifice himself for her. She later contracted the Despair Disease, amplifying her grief into cowardice. Her resilience faced another test when Nekomaru returned in robotic form, which she attributed to her own recklessness. Akane and her classmates were forcibly transformed into Remnants of Despair after Junko Enoshima brainwashed them using subliminal techniques embedded in a video of Chiaki Nanami's execution. As a Remnant, she adopted a shorter hairstyle and wore a torn white coat, participating in global terror under Junko's influence. She later made a cameo appearance during Nagito Komaeda's virtual world reconstruction. Following Junko's death, Makoto Naegi placed Akane and her classmates into the Neo World Program to cure their despair. After rehabilitation, they faked their deaths and accepted permanent exile on Jabberwock Island to atone. In Hope Arc, the group intervened to stop Ryota Mitarai's global brainwashing broadcast, confronting brainwashed Future Foundation forces. Akane aided in neutralizing attackers, demonstrating her combat skills by deflecting thrown knives with her teeth during one engagement. After Ryota halted the broadcast, Akane and her class publicly claimed responsibility for the Final Killing Game to protect the Future Foundation, cementing their life in secluded exile on the island.