Cultural Melting Pot (今昔仕置絵巻 konjaku shioki emaki lit. Picture Scroll of Punishments Past and Present) is an execution in Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, with Korekiyo Shinguji being executed and Monodam being destroyed in the process.
Sequence
Korekiyo is tied up and hanging from the ceiling. Monotaro and Monophanie then begin to rapidly spin Korekiyo around. His hat is tossed during the process, as Korekiyo grows dizzier. As Monotaro and Monophanie cease the spinning, the ties are cut off by a samurai, sending him falling down a hole and into a boiler.
Monotaro and Monophanie ignite the fire and start boiling Korekiyo, causing him to start crying blood. Monodam suddenly commits suicide by jumping into the fire under the boiler, so his siblings could pay more attention to him.
As he is boiled alive, Korekiyo's soul ascends into the sky, where he reunites with his sister's spirit. They share a happy reunion until Monokuma shows up in the garb of a Shinto priest and sprinkles salt onto Korekiyo. To add insult to injury, His sister joins in the sprinkling as well. Korekiyo yells in horror as his spirit is "purified" and is banished to the afterlife. Monokuma and Korekiyo's sister then sit on a perch overlooking the city as the execution ends.
Trivia
- The execution features an array of punishment, torture and execution methods used in Japan historically, along with customs from antiquity.
- The execution begins with Korekiyo being tied in what is known as a "shrimp tie" (海老責め ebizeme), more specifically "reverse shrimp tie", a kind of bondage (see Hojōjutsu) used in the Edo Period as a torture and interrogation technique, as the position exerts force on the victim's body and causes a burning sensation over time. Interestingly, a variation of this archaic bondage is used today in BDSM (short for Bondage Dominance/Domestic Sado-Masochism, see Shibari), making this punishment reflective in a way of Korekiyo's unorthodox relationship with his sister.
- The way the rope binding Korekiyo is eventually cut by a man holding a katana seems to be reflective of Seppuku, specifically the stage where after the disembowelment itself, an attendant beheads the subject of the ritual.
- The actual method of execution used on Korekiyo, that is death by boiling, was a form of state-approved execution method for severe criminals in the Tokugawa Shogunate. One notable character in Japanese history and theatrical tradition who suffered this fate is Ishikawa Goemon.
- Throwing handfuls of salt as a means of banishing evil spirits is a tradition in Japan originating from ancient history. Also, the outfit Monokuma wears for this stage of the execution is often identified with Onmyōji, practitioners of Japanese esoteric cosmology, who are traditionally said to have been capable of communicating with and controlling spirits.
- This is a first execution that Monokuma tried to cease the blackened's soul.
- The scenery that Monokuma and the spirit of his sister are viewing in the closing scene of the execution seems to based on the ancient Kyoto, which served as the capital of imperial Japan from antiquity until 1869.