Leon Kuwata

Leon Kuwata is a character from the Danganronpa anime and video game.

Leon is a student in Hope's Peak Academy's Class 78th, and a participant of the Killing School Life His title is Ultimate Baseball Star. However, he states he wishes to change his title to Ultimate Musician.

In the Heroes Coalition fics, Leon is brought back to life. Leon is a member of the Heroes Coalitions as a trainee.

Appearance
At the beginning of the Killing School Life in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Leon appears to be young high school-aged teenager, but due to the memory loss he is two years older than he believed. He is notably shorter than almost all of his classmates. He has dyed orange spiked hair, a goatee, and pale blue eyes. He wears a white blazer jacket with a popped collar, a white shirt with a red grunge skull design, dark blue jeans and white platform shoes with a black sole. He accessorizes with a padlocked chain necklace, two overlapping studded belts, rings, and an oversized safety pin on his lapel. He has several piercings - his labret, his tongue, and six in his right ear.

When he was practicing baseball, he wore a standard baseball jersey with his number, 18, and his last name, Kuwata, on the back.

Personality
Leon is a passionate, hot-blooded young teenager. He often slacks off from studying and baseball practice; however, his baseball skills were never diminished due to his status as Ultimate Baseball Star. Leon is also very determined to change his current title to Ultimate Musician. In Leon's Free Time sequence, the reason for that determination is revealed: to win a heart of a girl that he happened to meet at the hair salon. Later, Leon himself states that he somewhat missed playing baseball; something that he used to do every day since he was young. He even invited Makoto to play baseball with him once they get out of their current situation.

During the main story, Leon is shown to be easily intimidated and agitated, such as when Makoto spends time with him for the first time and he thinks it's a trap to kill him, or during the first class trial when he asks and finds out who Sakura Ogami is. When he becomes nervous or intimidated, Leon tends to smile awkwardly, often the right corner of his mouth stretching farther.

In the official artbook, Leon is described as an optimist who wants to get better at everything he does. He is also mentioned to be a player, and he had a new girl with him every few days. He is always flirting with girls and he's single-mindedly focused on studying "the secret of success with the ladies". He's also mentioned to be into pure-hearted girls.

In School Mode, Leon is portrayed as easily offended; for example, when asked how he managed to style his hair, he immediately becomes annoyed, automatically accusing Makoto of making fun of it and saying he should shave his hair like his baseball team made him do. He also can come off as impatient and agitated at times, like instantly becoming angry and snapping at Makoto for not knowing what to talk about. School Mode also shows that whenever he's upset or depressed, Leon likes to take naps. According to Kazutaka Kodaka, Leon can't stand the heat and hot weather.

Abilities
Leon is a natural born baseball star despite his hatred towards baseball practice. His only motivation to play baseball is to become famous with girls. It also helps him to continue his school life without studying hard and taking the entrance exam. Leon's talent in baseball surpasses even his coach and teacher's pride who begged him to play so that the team could win a quick and easy win. He states that he never needs to practice because baseball is so easy to him. His pitch is clocked at 160 kilometers per hour.

Leon proves his skills with his talent during his murder of Sayaka when he threw a crystal ball through the Trash Room gate to activate a small button on the incinerator at nearly thirty feet away, followed by throwing his own blood-stained shirt into the small opening.

Trivia

 * Notable Trivia specifically about his execution, The 1,000 Blows:
 * Due to the brutality of it, it was censored in the Danganronpa: The Animation when it first aired on television. However, on the anime DVD, the execution can be seen uncensored.
 * The design on Leon's shirt foreshadows his fate, as it depicts a skull being shattered from a heavy blow.
 * The Execution the same execution he undergoes in DISTRUST, the prototype of the first Danganronpa game. This explains why his execution is more brutal and gruesome compared to the others.
 * Leon's former high school, LL Academy, might be a reference to Little League.
 * In the Danganronpa 1 (Trial Version), unlike the actual Bullet Time Battle with Leon that happens in the end of the first class trial, the player will engage in a Bullet Time Battle at the beginning of the trial when Leon accuses Makoto of being the killer because he stutters multiple times.