Danganronpa: The Animation - Episode 03

Not Normal Arc: Kill and Live (イキキル 非日常編) is the third episode of Danganronpa: The Animation, the anime adaptation of the video game Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.

Summary
The first classroom trial has begun. Naegi has to think fast or everyone innocent will get punished! Kirigiri seems to be on to something, but she isn't handing out answers. When the trial is over, will Monokuma go through with his "punishment"?

Gallery

 * For episode screencaps, see: Danganronpa: The Animation - Episode 03/Gallery

Plot
After being called to the Class Trial room by Monokuma, the students board the elevator down to the courtroom and are instructed to stand behind the podiums with their names on. Extra podiums are in the courtroom for Sayaka and Junko, who have a mourning portrait in a stand behind their podium, because Monokuma "wouldn't want them to miss out". Kyoko also notes that although there are only 15 students, there is also an additional 16th podium. Monokuma dismisses her questioning, answering that it just means that there are a maximum of 16 participants. The students take their places, and the Class Trial begins.

The students begin trying to piece together the timeline of the crime, beginning with the murder weapon - the knife in Sayaka's abdomen. Aoi and Sakura recall that the two of them were in the kitchen the previous night, and saw Sayaka enter the kitchen ostensibly to get a snack, but leaving the kitchen with a kitchen knife. Toko accuses Sakura and Aoi of being accomplices in crime, but Monokuma interjects that even if they were accomplices, only the student who committed the murder would be allowed to graduate, so there would be no reason to team up. Makoto assures everyone that Sayaka taking the knife must have been for self protection, since the previous night she had been so frightened. Byakuya summises that the knife must have been taken from her by the culprit and used against her.

Makoto is the prime suspect once again, but Kyoko steps in, bringing up the fact that the bathroom door's handle had been unscrewed from its hinges - something Makoto would never have done, because he knew the trick to opening it. Mondo interjects that the killer must have just assumed it was locked, but Makoto counters that only the locks in the girls' bathrooms have locks. Celestia questions why the killer would have assumed that the door was locked if the room belonged to a boy, but Kyoko explains that the door's nameplates had been switched, which meant the killer assumed the room belonged to Sayaka.

The students then discuss how the culprit got into her room, ultimately surmising that Sayaka must have let the culprit in herself. Makoto doesn't believe this because Sayaka assured him she would not open the door to anyone, but Kyoko produces evidence that proved Sayaka had invited someone other than Makoto to her room - a letter Kyoko had found in pencil impressions left behind on the notepad in Makoto's room. In the letter, Sayaka told the recipient that she had something to discuss with them, and to check the nameplates to see that they had the right room.

Byakuya suggests that the only reason she did this was to frame Makoto for a murder, and the only reason she failed was that she was counter-attacked by her target. The target defended themselves from her attack with the golden sword in Makoto's room. Makoto doesn't believe she would do something like that but is assured by Celestia that she only did it to try and escape. Some of the classmates begin to argue, but Kyoko tells them to focus on finding the culprit.

Leon says there wasn't any more evidence, but is quickly contradicted by Makoto. Kyoko begins to talk about the dying message behind Sayaka's corpse; "11037". Mondo asks the Ultimate Programmer Chihiro what it meant, but she admits that she can't make any meaning out of it. Makoto begins thinking over the events: after locking herself in the bathroom, the door was forced open and Sayaka was stabbed by the knife which was taken away from her. Suddenly Makoto realizes the message was the culprit's name. He explains to the surprised students; if you flip 11037 180 degrees you get... LEON, the first name of Leon Kuwata.

He looks at Leon, who begins to get angry. Makoto expands, saying how she was lying on her back when she wrote it, so the message was from her point of view. Leon strongly denies that he was the culprit, but Kyoko contradicts him with the evidence that he tried to get rid of: the remainder of a bloody shirt sleeve and a smashed crystal ball which were found by the rubbish incinerator. Yasuhiro Hagakure mentions how he couldn't find his crystal ball.

Makoto goes over what must have happened: after killing Sayaka, the culprit hurried to get rid of the evidence. However, they couldn't get to the incinerator as there was a shutter gate in the way. So, the culprit used Hiro's crystal ball to open the gates by throwing it at the "ON" button through the shutter gates. For a normal person, this would have been a near impossible feat, but the culprit knew they could do it because they must have been the Super High School-Level Baseball Player. They threw the bloodied shirt into the incinerator and quickly left the garbage room. However, a part of the shirt which was not completely burnt fell to the ground, and thus was being used as evidence. Makoto confronts the culprit.

Leon begins to break down, shaking violently. Kyoko asks if he has an alibi, but he doesnt. Makoto lists the evidence against him, which he all strongly denies. Makoto says that there was one way to get into the bathroom, and Leon forcefully denies there is. The evidence bullet 'Toolkit' is fired. Makoto asks to see Leon's toolkit which Leon is unable to show. Leon stands shocked and horrified, unable to speak. Monokuma announced that it's time to vote on the culprit. A fruit machine with the all students' faces on it is shown. The machine stops with all three columns on Leon's face. Leon has been voted as guilty. Monokuma happily confirms that the person who killed Sayaka was Leon. Leon shakily admits it. Everyone is horrified at the revelation. Mondo demands to know why he would do something like that. Leon slowly replies: "...Then what else should I have done? I was about to be killed myself! That's why I had no choice but to kill her."

He breaks down and sinks to the floor, crying. Monokuma exclaims that because they successfully caught the culprit, Leon will be given a punishment. Leon tries to reason with Monokuma and the horrified students that he only killed her in self-defense, and brings beating the walls with his fists. Despite Leon's protests, Monokuma hits a button on in front of him with his gavel and Leon's execution begins.

A metal clamp is strapped around Leon's neck, attached to a long chain. Leon tries to remove the clamp, but it's closed tight. The chain yanks Leon back through a long corridor into a baseball batting cage, where Leon is clamped against a pole. A baseball pitching machine begins firing baseballs at Leon's body, first one at a time, then increasing in speed until eventually the machine is firing baseballs like a machine gun. The final blow comes in the form of a dozen or more baseballs fired at high speed directly at his face. Leon is left hanging lifeless from the pole as baseballs covered in Leon's blood roll towards the students, watching the scene from behind a closed chainlink gate. The gate opens and the students are left to stare at Leon's body.

After the students have returned to the building, Monokuma is in high spirits after the execution, and reiterates that if they don't want to see another execution happen, they should all just live peacefully within the school for the rest of their lives. Makoto confronts Monokuma and lunges towards him, but is stopped by Kyoko before he can break the "no violence towards the headmaster" rule.

In the final scene, Kyoko comes to Makoto's room to talk, and Makoto correctly surmises she wants to talk about Sayaka. Kyoko tries to reassure him that despite the fact Sayaka had lured him into a trap, her final thought must have been to save him, or she wouldn't have left the dying message on the wall implicating Leon. Kyoko tries to get him to keep moving forward, but Makoto insists that he will carry Sayaka and Leon's deaths with him for the rest of his life. Kyoko smiles at him, happy to see him move forward. She asks how Makoto knew she wanted to talk about Sayaka's case. Makoto replies: "I'm psychic...just kidding, I just have good intuition.", quoting Sayaka.

Opening & Ending
This episode features no opening or ending theme. Instead, the opening and ending credits are displayed over the episode itself.

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