Danganronpa: The Animation - Episode 03

Kill Free or Live Hard - #3 Abnormal Days is the third episode of the Danganronpa: The Animation. It first aired on July 18, 2013.

Summary
The students arrive in the underground courtroom. The Class Trial begins in order to find Sayaka Maizono's murderer. After some arguing and discussion, the students decide on the order of events and deduce that Leon Kuwata was the culprit. Leon is then executed.

Plot
The episode starts with Makoto Naegi's thoughts explaining how there is only one way to leave Hope's Peak Academy - to kill someone and get away with it. Scenes of Junko Enoshima and Sayaka Maizono's deaths flash upon the screen.

The scene changes to the classmates standing in the lift to the courtroom. Makoto continues, saying that he was suspected for her murder, even though he, Kyoko Kirigiri and Sayaka know that it was not the case. The lift doors open to reveal a courtroom. This is where they begin risking their lives - The Class Trial. The students stand stunned in the courtroom. Monokuma appears on the other side of the room lounging in a chair. After being asked by Kyoko, Monokuma explains how the stands showing pictures of the deceased students were to ensure they weren't excluded. Celestia Ludenberg points out that there are 16 stands in the room when there were only 15 students. Monokuma says that the courtroom just happens to be large enough to accommodate 16 students.

The students go to their places. Monokuma announces for them to begin the discussion. Makoto thinks how he cannot afford to make false assumptions as everyone's lives are at risk. The words "Classroom Trial" flash across the screen in red lettering.

School Trial Start!

The camera pans around the circle of students, Evidence Bullets that were shown in the game appear on the side of the screen. Kyoko begins the discussion by trying to figure out the murder weapon. Kiyotaka Ishimaru says that the knife in her abdomen was no doubt the murder weapon. Makoto expands on that point, saying that someone must have taken a knife from the kitchen. Leon stresses that Makoto must be the culprit. Aoi Asahina begins to recall how she and Sakura Ogami were in the kitchen the previous night drinking tea together. Toko Fukawa interrupts, accusing them of being partners in crime. Monokuma explains how even if they were accomplices, only the murderer would be allowed to graduate. Sakura begins saying that while they were in the kitchen, only one other person entered - Sayaka herself. Makoto assures everyone that it must have been for self-protection, and Byakuya Togami states that it must have been taken from her by the culprit and killed with it.

Everyone begins to accuse Makoto as the killer, until Kyoko steps in, saying that there was evidence to show he wasn't the culprit. Everyone is surprised. She continues, explaining how the bathroom door in Makoto's room showed signs of trying to be broken into. Mondo Owada reports, saying that if the door was locked from the inside, then the only option was surely to break it down.

Makoto claims Mondo is wrong. An evidence bullet is fired. He states that only the girls' bathrooms can be locked from the inside. Monokuma confirms that. Makoto continues, explaining how his door originally had a problem with opening. As the culprit believed that it was locked, they broke it down. Makoto wouldn't have had to do that if he already knew that the door was stuck like that; Kyoko thus concluded that he wasn't the culprit.

Celestia moves on to another point: Why did the culprit believe the bathroom to be locked if the room belonged to a male? Kyoko quickly explains how the nameplates on Sayaka's and Makoto's room had been switched around, meaning the culprit thought Makoto's room was Sayaka's. From this, one could assume the culprit was someone who didn't know she and Makoto swapped rooms for the night, which could be everyone apart from Makoto.

Hina continues with the discussion, asking how the culprit got into the room. Chihiro Fujisaki suggests that the lock was picked but is countered by Taka who says the locks are protected from picking. Hifumi Yamada conceives that Sayaka must have let the culprit in herself. Makoto doesn't believe it, recalling how Sayaka was shaking in fear and that she said she wouldn't let anyone in.

Kyoko suggests that she was just acting. Everyone is shocked at the idea, while Makoto strongly disapproves of it. Regardless, Kyoko shows him a note found at the crime scene:

"''There is something I need to discuss with you. Please come to my room. Also, to find the correct room, please check the nameplates." '' Shocked, he reads the note Kyoko hands to him. She asks him if he wrote it, and he denies that he did. A signature at the bottom identifies the note as Sayaka's. Kyoko continues to explain how Sayaka must have used it to lure someone into the room. She explains how the nameplates had been swapped around so the culprit thought they were going to Sayaka's room when it was in fact originally Makoto's. Makoto concludes the only person who could have done this was Sayaka.

Byakuya states 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 Celeste 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. The evidence bullet 'dying message' is fired. 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 Ultimate Baseball Star. 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.

"Isn't that right, Leon Kuwata?" By this time, Leon is shaking with anger. Kyoko asks if he has anything to defend himself with. Leon begins to chant "Idiot" over and over again. 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 begins saying excuses that he only killed her for self-defense. However, Monokuma continues, saying that if you brought disruption, you have to be punished and that it was a rule of their own society. Leon screams and beats the walls with his fists, yelling for someone to get him out of there. Monokuma announces a special punishment had been made for Leon. A red button appears in front of Monokuma. The bear hits it with a hammer and the scene changes to a red, black and white pixel scene where Monokuma drags Leon away.

GAME OVER. Leon Kuwata has been found guilty. Time for the Punishment!

The execution starts with Leon looking nervously around at his classmates, who are all staring at him. This scene is shown from different angles. Leon's mouth is wide open as a metal clamp closes around his neck. He grips the clamp with one hand and stretches out for help with the other. Suddenly, he gets dragged away by a chain the clamp is attached to and is hurled through the school corridors. The corridor door shuts and a red warning sign saying "In Use" lights up. Leon gets slammed against a pole in a baseball pitch and chained to it. The gates to the baseball pitch, which are covered in warning signs, slam shut. A canon pops up and baseballs are loaded into it. His classmates watch from the other side of the gate. The cannon starts up. Monokuma appears wearing a baseball cap and carrying a baseball bat. The words "The 1000 Blows" Flashes across the screen. The cannon begins firing balls one by one and then shoots violently at Leon from all directions. A scene of Leon screaming as dozen of baseballs fly toward him is shown just as they smash into his face. The gates open and the horrified faces of the remaining students flash upon the screen. The silhouette of Leon's remains are shown as a bloody baseball rolls away slowly.

Monokuma seems to find the execution incredibly adrenaline pumping and amusing while everyone else is aghast. Monokuma says that if they don't want this to happen again, they should just live inside the school walls peacefully for the rest of their lives. Makoto clenches his teeth and Monokuma tells him he knows he's despairing after being betrayed by Sayaka. Makoto angrily confronts the bear, saying that it was all it's fault and lunges for it, only to be stopped by Kyoko telling him to calm down.

The scene changes to Makoto lying on his bed. Kyoko comes into his room, wanting to talk to him about something. He asks if it's about Sayaka and she confirms it.

''"Surely, it is without a doubt Sayaka Maizono tried to lead you into a trap, that is the inevitable truth. However, what was she thinking before she died?... Even though we can't ask her, we can reason. It's likely that the very last thing she thought about was what she could do in order to save you. If she didn't care about the consequences you would have to face, she would not have left that message. I believe that she hesitated in tricking you and trying to kill someone. Her hesitation is what caused this outcome, unfortunately." ''

Makoto says that she probably left the message to avenge her death and asks why Kyoko is saying this. She answers:

"You are definitely someone who can go beyond, someone who can go beyond their friend's death and move forward. If you weren't that type of person, you wouldn't have been able to overcome this horrific situation." Makoto says that it is a difficult situation for him so he won't go beyond, he will carry the burden of Sayaka and Leon's deaths and move forward.

"To go beyond a friend's death...That's...That's difficult for me! That's why...I won't go beyond! I will carry the burden and move on. Sayaka's death and Leon's death! I will keep carrying it and move on! I will carry it and move on! To go beyond while forgetting such thing...I will not do such thing! I will carry everyone's deaths and hearts, move forward and leave this place!"

Kyoko smiles and looks at him, saying how it was a difficult path, but she looked forward to it. She asks Makoto one more thing.

"Just before, how did you know I was going to talk about Sayaka's case?" Makoto replies,

"That's because I'm psychic." The screen goes black.

"Just kidding, I just have good intuitions"

Trivia

 * In the original version of this episode, Leon's execution was censored in which only shots of the baseball cannon were shown instead of him being pummeled by baseballs. In the English dub, the uncensored execution scene was implemented in place.

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