Ryota Mitarai entered Hope's Peak Academy's Class 77-B as the Ultimate Animator, renowned for animation skills that evoked profound emotional responses. His frail physique bore light brown hair, hazel eyes, and prominent eye bags, reflecting chronic exhaustion from overwork. Intense passion for anime warred with severe social anxiety and a fragile self-image, leaving him viewing himself as a burden despite strong moral convictions. He credited anime with saving him during a childhood scarred by parental neglect and bullying, fueling his belief that animation could spread hope. This idealism manifested as an obsessive work ethic, causing self-neglect like forgetting to eat or rest during his quest to create hope-inducing anime. Academy isolation in his dormitory led to malnutrition-induced collapse, forging a pivotal bond with the Ultimate Imposter—who assumed Ryota’s identity for daily activities while Ryota worked secretly. His technical mastery included sophisticated sensory manipulation: color adjustments to stimulate the visual cortex and sound design to control viewer focus. He openly termed these methods "brainwashing" when explaining his process to Junko Enoshima, stressing their ethical dependence on user intent. Junko weaponized his techniques, crafting the "Despair Video" from footage of Chiaki Nanami’s death to brainwash Class 77-B into despair. Witnessing his work’s perversion for tragedy traumatized Ryota, who fled the academy in guilt after Junko revealed her plans. Post-Tragedy, he joined the Future Foundation as Director of Branch Office 10 for cultural and educational restoration. There, he developed the "Hope Video"—a refined brainwashing animation stored on his phone that hypnotized viewers into embracing hope by erasing negative emotions. During the Future Foundation’s killing game, his NG Code barred talent use, preventing video deployment despite escalating violence. Witnessing multiple deaths, including Kyoko Kirigiri’s apparent poisoning, eroded his faith in cooperation and deepened self-loathing. Upon learning Chairman Kazuo Tengan engineered the killing game to manipulate him into global brainwashing, Ryota moved to broadcast the Hope Video worldwide. He justified this as essential to forcibly eradicate despair, convinced free will perpetuated suffering. Intervening former Class 77-B classmates—cured of their despair—shared their atonement experiences, persuading him that eliminating despair would strip life of meaning. With seconds left in the broadcast, he canceled the transmission and discarded his phone into the ocean, rejecting forced hope. This culminated in his choice to join his classmates on Jabberwock Island for collective atonement.