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.
Mondo Owada is tied up in the center of a traditional dojo setting surrounded by robotic arms. Each arm delivers a rapid punch in succession until Mondo is reduced to a puddle of butter. The execution ends with a close-up of his remains placed in a butter container. 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.
Celestia Ludenberg is tied to a stake dressed in Gothic French attire resembling a witch. A fire truck crashes through the execution chamber and sets her ablaze with a flamethrower. A fireman then removes his helmet, 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.
This term refers to executions in general within the Danganronpa universe rather than a specific sequence. It is used to label the elaborate death sequences carried out by Monokuma. No single execution is titled solely as "The Ultimate Execution" in canon context. 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.
Kiyotaka Ishimaru is seated in a school chair while a mechanized Monokuma teacher delivers a frantic and overwhelming lesson. As time passes, his hair turns white and he collapses from exhaustion. The execution concludes with the chalkboard covered in indecipherable scrawls. 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.
Hifumi Yamada is strapped into a rotating circular device surrounded by deadly traps. As the cage spins at high speed, it slams him into spikes and blades repeatedly. Eventually, the machine sparks and breaks down, leaving his lifeless body inside. 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.
Leon Kuwata is strapped to a rocket in a baseball-themed execution chamber. The rocket launches into space and violently incinerates from atmospheric pressure. A charred baseball drops to the ground as the aftermath. 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.
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.
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.
Sakura Ogami is shown surrounded by enemy fighters in a battle simulation. She fights them off until succumbing to her injuries in an explosion. The sequence emphasizes her physical power without Monokuma directly intervening.
This is another of my favorite character execution scenes, and it makes me sad because she is probably the best character ever besides Korekiyo. I hate how she got executed. It made me sad.
The Newcomers
This killed my favorite character of V3, and it made me so sad. I can't believe that they killed Kiyo so he couldn't be with her.