Top 10 Best Executions from Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

You know you're in for something wild when an execution in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc starts playing out and you're torn between wincing and applauding the sheer theatrical flair. These aren't your standard game over screens. They're twisted stage plays, each one tailored to the personality and sins of the unlucky student about to meet their over-the-top demise.

Sure, it's technically a punishment, but the game makes it feel like performance art if performance art involved a lot more blood and screaming. There's something disturbingly brilliant about how each execution manages to wrap humor, horror, and symbolism into one compact, nightmarish package. It's messed up, and yet, it's part of what gives the game its personality.

Vote for the executions you think deserve the spotlight.

1. The 1,000 Blows

   

   Leon Kuwata is dragged into a batting cage and shackled to a post. A baseball pitching machine fires thousands of balls at him at high velocity. The bombardment continues until he is battered to death, marking the first execution of the game.

   Now, for me, it is a tie between 1000 Blows and Burning of the Versailles Witch. So, I chose the less popular one. Here's why:

   1000 Blows: I respect the art style of this execution. Eerie colors like red, black, and white were used to make it creepier. Not to mention how the brutality sets the stage and makes the killing game more serious. All the facial expressions and the red blood left me wondering what the hell I just watched. I was legitimately scared, especially since when I was seven, I got hit with one baseball and cried. Anyway, this execution actually makes me feel bad for Leon, as it is brutal and scary.

   Burning of the Versailles Witch: Celestia Ludenberg is an interesting character, making her one of my favorites. She wanted to be royal and special. The execution starts out looking like a royal execution. It has an old-timey setting as Celestia is tricked into believing that she will be burned at the stake. However, in Celestia's last seconds, a fire truck comes crashing into her. This brings despair, as she wanted to be special but dies in the most common way. Not to mention, the music is very good and distinct from the other executions.

   So there, this is why my favorite execution is a big tie. While The Burning of the Versailles Witch says more about Celestia's character, The 1000 Blows shows the brutal nature of the killing game.

2. The Burning of the Versailles Witch

   

   Celestia Ludenberg is tied to a stake dressed in Gothic French attire resembling a witch. As a fire burns around her, a fire truck suddenly crashes into the stake and kills her instantly. A fireman then climbs out of the truck, revealing Monokuma underneath.

   Out of all the executions, this one definitely fits the role of bringing despair the most. While others may be more brutal, this one is great due to how much despair it brought Celeste while still being ironic. As she is being burned at the stake, she looks happy as she is dying in such a way. Then, at the last second, Monokuma comes in on a fire truck and runs her over, giving her one of the most common deaths possible. This also fits nicely into her talent, which involves bluffing.

   It perfectly fit Celestia's style and had amazing art. From the bunny on the top to the fire truck smashing into Celestia, it was perfect.

3. The Ultimate Punishment

   

   Junko Enoshima happily undergoes a gauntlet of every previous punishment used in the killing game. She experiences the pain of the "1,000 Blows," "The Cage of Death," and others before finally being crushed. This final act serves as the ultimate despair-inducing conclusion to the game.

   I'm not a particular fan of this one for the sole reason that I feel it to be quite lazy. After having so many cool, creative ideas to kill people, the game devs ended it by repeating them all. That said, Junko's reactions were definitely enough to forgive them, as she was absolutely hilarious the entire way through.

   It was all the executions from Trigger Happy Havoc put into one, more or less. It was nice to see all the executions once more, ending in After School Lesson, my favorite, where Junko gets brutally crushed.

4. After School Lesson

   

   Makoto Naegi sits in a chair on a conveyor belt moving toward a massive trash compactor. While Alter Ego intervenes to save Makoto at the last second, the Bad Ending shows Kyoko Kirigiri suffering this fate. She is crushed flat by the machine, leaving only her skeleton behind.

   This one goes for both characters, as the main reasons that this was so well made were because of how off it felt. I had the distinct feeling that something wasn't right in either case. The buildup was also perfect as the characters' faces slowly changed more and more as the sounds of the machine grew louder and louder.

   I never wanted to see my favorite character get executed, and thankfully, Alter Ego saved him. But I voted for this one because it has so much detail in it.

   Having to be strapped to a desk, watching a bear teach and hearing of the falling crusher, just waiting to crush you? What could be scarier? There are more brutal executions, but this one evokes fear rather than pain, which I find interesting.

5. The Cage of Death

   

   Mondo Owada is strapped to a motorcycle and forced to ride inside a spherical electrified cage. He spins at dizzying speeds until the intense centrifugal force liquefies his body. The execution concludes with Monokuma processing his remains into a tub of Mondo Butter.

   This is the nastiest of all the executions. The only reason why I find others better is because I wasn't exactly aware of what was happening. When I found out, my jaw dropped. Using the intense speed of the cage to melt Mondo down into butter, but using electricity to keep his brain active as he was being melted, making him feel every second of his body melting.

   I have no idea how Mondo got turned into marketable butter, but it's still really cool.

6. Blast Off!

   

   Jin Kirigiri is strapped into a rocket shaped like a swan's head and launched into the atmosphere. The craft plummets back to Earth and crashes, reducing the headmaster to a skeleton. This execution serves as the opening scene for the game and sets the tone for the despair to come.

   The opening shot of the game has a lot going for it. It nicely incorporates the insanity of the game's aesthetics while still being somewhat brutal. That said, since I felt no connection to the character who was killed, a lot of its impact was weakened for me.

   This was a decent execution, though I preferred the Killing Harmony version more.

7. Spears of Gungnir

   Mukuro Ikusaba is assaulted by Monokuma while disguised as Junko Enoshima. She is suddenly impaled by multiple spears that shoot out from the surrounding area. Her body slumps forward, pierced by the legendary weapon references.

   While technically not an execution, Monokuma killed her, therefore I'll count it. This one caught me off guard greatly as I didn't expect "Junko" to get killed right there and then. The way her body was jittering as she had the spears through her also added to the extreme unease that was felt.

8. Excavator Destroyer

   

   Alter Ego is placed on a conveyor belt heading toward an excavator. The excavator smashes the laptop repeatedly until it is completely destroyed. The fragments are left on the conveyor belt as a final image.