Setting The Status Quo! Dead Rock Chapter 3 BREAKDOWN

It took me a minute to come up with that one; I had to calm myself down a little bit after somewhat rushing through the Dump Post I had to make so I could work on this chapter. Then I had to sit down and think about what I wanted to convey with this chapter title. I had to look over the chapter a little bit again before starting this, and then it hit me: This chapter is what’s setting the Status Quo of the story. We learn a little bit about God and his relationship with Humanity; Class F puts themselves in the eyes of the Dead Rock Academy staff- ESPECIALLY the 4 Main Enemies we’re going to be up against at the offset; and we just get the general “vibe” of what the day-to-day life at this school. I’ll say again that I don’t know how long this series is going to go, but probably not as long as some think. Though that now depends on how well Volume 1 sells. It comes out in November, so that’s 1 more chapter in October to complete the volume. 

It may also depend on how well the series does in the states, now that it’s been officially licensed. Here’s hoping it does well. ‘Cause the better it is- the longer Mashima might want to make it. Then again, he clearly thrives on having a story planned out before he makes it. So I hope he has some other ideas for it in case he wants it to continue making the series. I was so blown away by the first 2 chapters; this series has thus far been stunning. THIS chapter, though………… Good, but not the other 2 that made me just want to keep talking on an on about how great this is. This is fine, but not that; I don’t think I’ll have that much to say this time around. Let’s see how well I follow through on that by the end of this. Dead Rock Chapter 3: “Classroom Massacre.” Let’s begin……..

Overview

Human World- Evitt Region: The Villagers gather in a the Church, praying to the Harvest God Selt for the drought they’ve suffered through to end- both for the sake of their crops and for themselves. And wouldn’t you know? God Himself Appears Before Them in all his Divinity. And Grants Their Wish By Making it Rain. TWIST: Solid Pillars of Water start falling down, destroying the village with each crash. And God just watches the carnage he’s wrought, claiming to have already killed Selt a long time ago. Interesting. Demon Realm- Dead Rock: Class F is in Poison Class or whatever learning about “Hys” plant from the 400th layer of the Demon Realm. Highly Toxic if you’re stupid. Though not enough to kill God, as Yakuto had questioned the teacher. After class; they’re talking and talking until the whole of Class D comes in- aiming to take revenge for the 2 of their students they killed the other day. Yakuto blames it on Reisen and dips, leaving his classmates to clear this mass of fodder. 

The Class Leader- Narcissus- has the roots of “Treant,” which allows him to control all the plants in the room- including the Hys they just learned about. Thankfully, they have the Walking Corpse Reisen, who won’t die from swallowing up the poison gas. Which he HAS to to save Mikoto, for if she dies- he’ll cease for real. He sucks in all the poison air, though it hurts like a f*ckin’ b!tch. An action that Mikoto plans to make these people pay for dearly.

Dead Rock Chapel- Love And Death: Yakuto hides himself away in some stall in the chapel, and takes out a tool that will allow him to see through Pr Maxwell’s eyes- right into the Top Level Staff Meeting. The Vice Principal and one of the Four Demon Teachers– Bren(Roots: Gigant)- begins by saying they’re holding this meeting to discuss Class F and their recent exploits. Boltogar of the Four Demon Teachers(Roots: Kraken) says they’ve got a lot of “pep,” with Four Demon Teachers Lilith(Roots: Succubus) adding that some of them are “cute.” Boltogar is in charge of Dead Rock’s Northern Ocean Area, and Lilith the Chapel Yakuto finds himself in. Bren reminds them that they’ve already killed 2 students and the Head Chef on their first day, but Louzen of the Four Demon Teachers(Roots: Mephisto) hears that and hopes to have a Duel against them all at some point. He’s the Best Fighter of the 4 and in charge of the Death Arena. 

Bren asks that Louzen go easy on the kids this year, considering how many he’s slaughtered under the pretext of a “Duel.” But Louzen says they can overlook a few student deaths- especially when they haven’t even slaughtered and entire class. And then we cut over to them and see that that is precisely what they did; Narcissus is the only man left alive from Class D. And even THAT doesn’t last too long, as Mikoto revives them all and has them violently kill Narcissus. While at the same time, in the Staff Meeting; God arrives, as Yakuto sees through Maxwell’s eyes, which trigger a……… pretty Bad memory in Yakuto’s mind- one of trauma- and Anger. God begins to walk over to Maxwell, looks into his eyes- and pokes em out. He knew someone was watching, and that fact freaks Yakuto out so bad that he panics. 

He tries to run, but something’s going on that’s taking the breath out of him. That Kitsune-Lookin’ Girl from Last Chapter roles up Yakuto’s sleeve, and sees something spreading up his arm, meaning that he doesn’t have much time left. Dead Rock Chapter 3 END!! Welp, the Goals have now been established; a plan is forming as we go; and we’re now getting to see glimpses of a much different Yakuto………… Still A F*ckin’ Golden Series Thus Far. 

REVIEW

This chapter- more than anything- is setting up the plot of the series. If killing God is the Ending Goal of the story, then defeating the Four Demon Teachers and surviving Dead Rock Academy is how we’re going to get there- both in terms of “Getting Stronger” and “Dampening God’s Forces.” This is why Yakuto needs strong people backing him; 1 Strong Person is a Manageable Problem- Several is where you find out what you’re made of. Which is why it’s important that they take out the Demon Teachers; they’re- as far as we know right now– God’s Second-In-Commands here at Dead Rock. There’s no rule saying they can’t kill teachers and staff- you’re more than welcome to if you can. Yakuto can’t- and he may never be able to on his own. He knows this. So it’s important that he has strong allies at his back when he’s going up against God and his Armies. 

I had a whole point going back to Mikoto and the Relationship she has with Yakuto right now– something that can either develop into something more or not. It’s not necessary for them to be “in love;” I think seeing them as friends is perfectly fine. ‘Cause they just have this “chemistry” to them; Yakuto is the self appointed leader, and everyone’s still getting a feel for how strong he is before they challenge that notion. But Mikoto ISN’T the type to just blindly follow him; not when she’s holding more of the “cards.” Her ability allows her to erect an Undying Army– perfect Canon fodder to use against God’s own legion of followers and God Himself. And heck, the more people they and her legion of Zombie Puppets take out- the more Puppets she can make. She has the advantage in Numbers– which Yakuto needs. That won’t matter when Yakuto blitz past them all and squashes her head, but then there goes something that would have made fighting God easier. Yakuto needs Mikoto for this. 

I go back to it every month, but Yakuto and Mikoto’s dynamic is something I find really interesting about this series so far. And we haven’t even gotten to the point where they’d have a conversation like that. Though I kind of forgot a lot of what I meant to say on it this time. Part of it was that Mikoto has her own ambitions in all of this, and doesn’t plan to halt them just to help Yakuto, nor will she be as “obedient” as he thinks. But she ALSO realizes how strong he is- how cunning he’d have to be to have not gotten caught on his Dragon roots and his plan to kill God- how ruthless he can be- and that there’s something to what he’s saying that he’s withholding. In there might lie the key to what she wants, too, but she’s keep that to herself. They’re Demons at the end of the day; they aren’t “Good” in any sense- just “less evil” than God. 

This chapter also functions in establishing Class F as the “Class To Beat” this year around- the one that all classes and even some staff are about to start gunning for. They killed a whole class by themselves; anyone who wants to show they’re Demon king Material will take every chance to f*ck with these guys. They’re small fry if that’s how they’re thinking, but enough of them might just wear ’em out. Then the REAL B!tches are come out of the woodwork and try to prove they’re like that. No, no; the one’s to watch out for are that Bevel guy from chapter 1- and the Demon Teachers. If I were to do match ups: 

• Yakuto vs Louzen(Main Character vs Strongest Non-Final Boss)
• Freyr vs Lilith(Lilith is the type to run and Freyr clearly isn’t- and also girls. Mikoto isn’t a straight up combatant)
• Hien vs Boltogar(Freezing the water and leaving him to freeze to death sounds bad@$$)
• Reisen vs Bren(’cause he’s the only Super-Duper Strong One Left In This group)

Haniwa(this is the official releases translation, but I’ll switch between it and “Honey” every now and then), Chako, and Mikoto will all have their roles to play in these fights- Honey is clearly strong in some manor to have made it in, and Chako………. Mascot, but like Plue, Happy, and Pino before him- probably serves some larger purpose, be it like Plue in that there’s a Direct relation to the plot, or Happy in a 1 off story. Probably a plot related bit, seeing as she left before the battle started. No clue where, but it’s probably gonna be relevant later on. 

Something I put off talking about from the offset is what God says in the chapter: He killed the Harvest God Selt a long time ago. And the way he says it implies that there were Multiple Gods at some point- who he more than likely killed as well. And from there it becomes clearer what happened: “God” is a Highly powerful Demon who rose up and killed all of the Gods in the past, and made himself the “One True God.” I suppose there’s some kind of link there with Christianity; Missionaries going to other lands in the past and doing their utmost to erase all other mythologies(most notably Norse Mythology). God is the Missionary who wiped out the other Pantheons and made himself the only God. For what reason? Depends on how Mashima wants to play this; he could go the Sympathetic route and the Gods betrayed him on some Gor The God-Butcher type of stuff- or he’s just a Greedy piece a sh!t. It’s all in the origin……..

Though it also brings into question what he is and his relationship to Yakuto. We see a small glimpse into Yakuto’s past, and it looks like a lot of people died around him- people he cared about. Either God slaughtered them all himself- or he somehow made Yakuto do it. And now Yakuto is out for revenge. But I definitely think what he said at the beginning of the last chapter that is in part true- even if he’s just using it as pretext. He aims to “restore the Demon Realm to its true state,” but 1)What does that even mean and 2)How does he know about it? 

This got me thinking about the idea of Yakuto- like Honey- is the descendant of an actual God. In fact, that’s probably why Honey’s involved in this story; Honey is the descendant of Thor– a God that God likely killed in the past as well. I imagine he’s going to wipe out there spawn so that no one will come to usurp his rule, too. And Yakuto might the prime example of why. The bloodstained environment that we saw Yakuto in might just be where all of the Gods were slaughtered– one of them being Yakuto’s Parental figure! So Yakuto might not just be a Demon/Dragon, but also some kind of God. A Dragon God? Or was just being raised by a God as their adoptive child? And having been exposed to such bloodshed at such a young age- he’s not exactly the “Mass Murder” type. He will be if it COMES to that, but he probably doesn’t relish in the notion. 

Another idea goes back to the “Sovereign” of the Demon Realm that Yakuto mentioned in chapter 2. Perhaps this True Sovereign was the True God Of The Demon Realm– a deity who’s job is to keep some semblance of “order” in the Demon Realm, letting only a few out to keep the “balance” of good and evil in the Human world, yeah? God KILLED them and took their place, and proceeded to slay all the other Gods or this world to become the only God- unchecked by any and does whatever he desires, causing a mass imbalance between Demons and Humanity. Again; no clear reason as of yet, but he clearly gets a kick out being some kind of “Genie” for the Humans. So there’s that. 

Some of the last stuff I had was just talking about the new “Roots” revealed in this chapter: 

• Treant(Narcissus)- A Fictional organism that looks like a tree, but has human-like Mobility and facial features. Think something like the Pokemon Trevenant. It lets Narcissus control plants. Yeah. 
• Gigant(Bren)- A straight up giant, but Mashima used the root word from Greek Mythos that described their rendition of Giants. No clue what’s different, but he’s a Big Strong Dude. 
• Kraken(Boltogar)- Self Explanatory, and clearly something of a reference to Poseidon Nero from Mashima’s current weekly manga Edens Zero(which you should be reading). Probably has a full Kraken transformation when he gets in the water. 
• Succubus(Lilith)- Come on now. I’m more interesting in the name “Lilith,” cause this is the 3rd “Meant To Be Evil Woman” named “Lilith” that I’ve seen. It’s apparently a reference to some Demon lady from Jewish folklore. Look into it if you have the time.
• Mephisto(Louzen)- A Demon from German folklore. In Faustian Legend, he is an Agent of the Devil- the “Middle Man” when Faust makes his deal with the Devil. Don’t know what that entails for his abilities, but clearly he’s no one you want to fight. 

Conclusion 

It feels like it’s less than what I wanted to say. Probably because I didn’t write down every idea I had in my head right when it came to me. But also it’s kind of just regurgitating what I’ve been saying for the last 3 months- kind of a bad sign in terms of my abilities as a writer. Though NOT indicative of the quality of this series; it’s been LEGENDARY thus far!! If you’re a long time Mashima fan, then you may find this series a little too “much.” And if you’re not and despise his biggest work to date Fairy Tail– you’re gonna Lo~ve this. Another banger for the history books, folks. Now if only that first volume coming in November(In Japan) sells well. Please Let It Sell Well. ‘Til next time, peoples. Later!!