Strand of Agony (苦悶の糸 lit. Thread of Agony) is an execution in Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, with Kirumi Tojo being executed and Monosuke being destroyed in the process.
Sequence[]
Kirumi is being chased through a hallway by a group of protesters holding signs that say "Notice to Quit" in English and other foreign languages. As she tries to run away, she gets blocked off by another group. She didn't know what to do until she sees a vine with thorns drop down from the ceiling. The vine goes through a couple of spider-webs. Kirumi grabs on and climbs up, because of it being the only way out, piercing her hands in the process.
Kirumi then stops as she encounters a large group of circular saws activating throughout the walls. Kirumi stares in hesitation for a moment, but determined to escape, she proceeds to climb through. As she makes her way to the top, she gets slashed and lacerated several times, causing her to scream in pain. Soon after she escapes from the saws, she is worn out, sustained a lot of injuries, and a lot of her clothes are cut off. She then looks up to see a blue sky and sunlight pouring through a hole on the top of the ceiling. Thinking that it is a way out, she continues climbing and reaches for the gap. Instead, she touches the ceiling and the hole turns out to be an illusion, which was actually a children's drawing of a sky and a sun. As she stares in disbelief and despair, the vine then breaks, causing Kirumi to fall. As Monosuke watches from the ground, Monodam shoves him below where Kirumi is falling, knocking his glasses off in the process. Monosuke then frantically looks for his glasses, but right as he manages to find them, Kirumi falls onto Monosuke, killing both of them instantly.
Monodam then looks over Kirumi's corpse and Monosuke's now destroyed body as various red roses flutter and fall to the ground. The children's drawing, which was previously attached to the ceiling, descends and lands onto Kirumi's dead body, soaking it with her blood.
Trivia[]
- This execution is based on the famous Japanese short story, The Spider's Thread by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. The story concerns Kandata, a cold-hearted criminal suffering in Hell; however, he performed a single act of compassion in his life when he chose not to crush a spider underfoot. Moved by this action, the Buddha takes the silvery thread of a spider in Paradise and lowers it down into Hell. Kandata, with all his might, tried to escape from the abyss using the thread, but quickly got tired because of the thread's great length. When he looked down, he saw many other sinners in Hell trying to escape using the spider's thread. Fearing that the rope will break from the weight, Kandata greedily shouts that the spider's thread is his and his alone. This action ultimately made the rope break, leaving Kandata and the other sinners to fall into the Pool of Blood once again.
- The Japanese title of this execution, Kumon no Ito, is a pun to the short story's title, Kumo no Ito.
- The chapter's title, A Thin Line Divides Heaven and Hell, is referencing to this execution's sequence where Kirumi tried to escape from the academy using the thorny rope.
- Kirumi shares similarities with Kandata; she tried to escape from the "Hell" alone and at the expense of everyone else by committing murder for the sake of escaping, similar to Kandata who selfishly tries to escape from the Abyss alone. Before she was dragged into her execution, she referred to the academy as a "hellhole".
- A spider is seen on the Execution's Title Card and several spiderwebs are seen at the beginning of the sequence. These details might be referencing to the short story.
- Kirumi's outfit also has a spider motif, evident by the spiderweb designs on her dress. This might a subtle reference to the short story and might be foreshadowing Kirumi's execution.
- The written signature on the childish sky drawing Kirumi sees after climbing the vine translates into "Monokuma, 3rd Grade Class 3".[1] This is most likely referencing Danganronpa V3 being the third main series entry in the franchise.
- Because Kirumi previously tried to escape from the class trial room before the execution, the pixel art intro to the execution shows Kirumi running away from a pursuing Monokuma rather than her being dragged away. This also ties into the beginning of the execution, where Kirumi flees down a hallway before being cornered by protesters.
- The only other executions in the franchise to have a unique pixel art intro are Please Insert Coin, The Ultimate Punishment, and Ultimate Annihilation.
- The vine tied to "nothing" that Kirumi is forced to climb might be based on a magic trick called the Indian Rope Trick.
- This is the only execution where Monokuma doesn't appear at all physically during the sequence.
- The beginning of this execution bears a resemblance to that of Leon Kuwata, which also features a distorted black-and-white image of his face while he screams.
References[]
- ↑ Signature Translation Credit @jinjojess on Tumblr (May 31st, 2017)