The 1,000 Blows is the name of Leon Kuwata's execution, as featured in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc as part of the Killing School Life.
In Danganronpa: The Animation this same execution is known as Million Fungoes, a direct translation of the original Japanese name for the execution (千本ノック Senbon Nokku).
Sequence
A long chain linked to a shackle closes around Leon's neck from behind. It quickly drags him through a dull, prison-like hallway and into a batting cage with a typical baseball scoreboard (no score). Leon is lifted up to a post at the center of the batting cage, where three more metallic shackles appear and snap on his torso, thighs, and just below his knees to keep him in a still position, sticking his hands in the neck shackle.
Two large spotlights then rise from the ground and focus on Leon's face from either side. A pitching machine appears in front of his helpless form and shoots a few slow balls at him while the scoreboard begins counting - though only for a split second - as in the next moment the pitching machine starts shooting countless baseballs at immense speed (making the scoreboard's mechanism go out of control) while spinning around Leon's suspended body.
The rest of the students watch from behind the fence as Leon is bombarded from all directions when Monokuma, equipped with a baseball cap and a bat, suddenly appears inside the cage and proceeds to frantically pitch a few balls himself. The execution ends when Leon, beaten from head to toe, receives the final blow to the face by multiple baseballs. As the batting cage reopens, the remaining students, having witnessed the gruesome execution, stand frozen in shock before Leon's dead body - still bound to the post and surrounded by bloodstained baseballs.
Gallery
Videos
Trivia
- Due to the brutality of Leon's execution, it was censored in the anime. However, the uncut version was seen in the Funimation Dub.
- The execution has also been evidently toned down during the game's development, as made clear by its more graphic early version.
- Leon's execution is similar to Teruteru Hanamura's execution. Both begin with the blackened getting nervous as the other students gather around them before being dragged by the neck with a chain and tied to a pole.
- The similarities above are also shared with Kaede Akamatsu's execution.
- The execution could very likely be a reference to Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Stone Ocean, as in Chapter 688, the main character pelts another character with a baseball 1000 times.