4208: Garfieldronpa: Lasagna Goes Forward!

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Garfieldronpa: Lasagna Goes Forward!

Made by: Mack Straubel

Explanation

This strip, a rare instance of the original 2017-11-17 strip not invoking some variation of the "Linguistics with Liz" running gag, involves Monokuma, the antagonistic two-toned bear figure in the Danganronpa series serving as a blend of school headmaster and reality show host, initiating what appears to be an execution sequence; the phrase "it's punishment time" leads into such execution sequences. The clamp appears to be part of the method chosen by either himself or his employers in which Jon is to be put to death; each execution sequence is tailored specifically for each killing game participant. This strip appears to have Monokuma trigger the execution sequence on his whim; Monokuma never actually triggers an execution unprovoked. Danganronpa executions are typically the culmination of class trials, and the execution victims are typically the killers who've been found guilty and correctly identified as the killer during these class trials of murders perpetrated earlier on within each of the game's episodes; if the wrong party is identified as the killer, that killer wins the game right then and there and all other participants are subject to execution. Execution without class trial only takes place should one of Monokuma's rules be broken.

The author's notes themselves ended up being a positive version of the Tempting Fate trope; it was indeed published on the tenth anniversary of the original Japanese release of the first game in the Danganronpa series, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc on the PSP. (Only Japan saw the game on that platform; the rest of the world first saw the game, and by extension the series, via its PlayStation Vita port.) Despite what the author's notes imply, this strip was likely the first to reference Danganronpa.

The author writes:

I'm gonna bet this doesn't get published on the 10th anniversary of Danganronpa. There's probably another strip with the same premise, so—

Original strip: 2017-11-17.

Transcript

Monokuma: Jon?
Jon: Yes?
Monokuma {suddenly laughing}: Let's give it everything we've got! Iiiiiit's PUNISHMENT TIIIIME!
{A clamp soars towards Jon's neck as he looks at the fourth wall in fear}
Jon: Uh - oh.
Garfield {genuinely concerned for Jon}: Jon? Jon, look behind you! There's a -

Trivia

This strip's author's notes were hit with mojibake errors in a later site recoding effort; the original author's notes unaffected by mojibake are currently lost to the public due to this.