Hey, everybody. SO- We’re here; it’s time for us to learn about our main character’s motivations. Sorry if I seem so “low energy; I’m in the middle of some sh!t at work, you know? Not sure if I’m even going to be employed when you guys are seeing this. Um…….. I’m also working on an “Edens Zero” related post, as well as updating an older one. That- AND I haven’t worked on a POST post in a few weeks. I’ve just been relaxing as much as I possibly can. Erratic @$$ work schedule- part of why I even went on Hiatus like I have. But I promised myself that if I were to do more posts; they would be for the chapters of “Dead Rock,” Boruto, and Black Clover coming out on the 25th(What A Christmas Present). I wanted to talk about this chapter no matter what– be it a Short Review like I was kind of expecting, or a Full post. And it’s not like there’s a “time frame” to get this out in while I’m on vacation. So- there you have it. Let’s begin. Dead Rock Chapter 6: “God Saves.”
Overview
A week following Yakuto’s Punishment: Class F is given a new homeroom teacher- Saru with Sun Wukong Roots(They say “Great Sage” or “Heaven’s Equal,” but, uh…………… Sun Wukong). Chako gets a laugh out of it, but soon stops giggling when Saru starts to get upset. And Hani calls her stupid. Saru starts off by reminding them that they went berserk at the Death arena; he’s holding Yakuto’s actions against the class, and punishes them by dropping boulders on them. Partly as punishment; partly to make sure they know: He’s not about to let them step out of line. And he leaves them under those boulders for a while. Meanwhile; Yakuto stumbles into the room to see his allies crushed under rocks. They blame HIM for that, and he moves the rocks off of them with his Dragon frame.
However; he’s up front in that that right arm of his- is now his current Max. As part of his punishment(and to keep him from going out of control); Lilith was ordered to drain Yakuto of his power, leaving him with only the Right Dragon arm so he’d actually- ya know– SURVIVE in Dead Rock. And drain him she did- for 3 days straight. But he claims that it wasn’t “All For Not;” he recalls the Kitsune-esque Girl that came to see him, and relays the information he was given: God’s Weakness is written in a book kept in Dead Rock Library Car’s Velocity– a Gigantic Labyrinth that contains every book in the Demon Realm. And he asks for help in finding it. THING IS:
- He’s weakened, thus making any threat he could make a “bluff” at worst and a “small problem” at best
- They never planned to go along with him, anyway
- He got boulders dropped on them with his actions
Needless to say: They don’t want to help him- never did, honestly. Except for Frey, who wants to kill Louzen for what was done to her sister. However………… she wants to know the Truth about why Yakuto is waging war against God. And she’s not the only one; Mikoto and everyone else does, too, with Hani even thinking of getting on board should they like the answer. Especially Hien; his goal involves graduating from Dead Rock. And Yakuto’s goal may just interfere with that. So if he doesn’t like whatever he’s planning- Yakuto’s life ends here. With just an arm, what’s a man to do? He tells them the story.
10 Years Ago- Level 644 Of The Underworld- Black Dragon Village “Wicked Horizon:” Those with Black Dragon roots are living humble, peaceful lives in the Demon realm when their Hero and Yakuto’s Father– Yazuma- returns from a mission! Yazuma is a member of “God Saves-” God’s Personal Guard. In short: God’s “Greatest Enemy” is people’s “Lack of faith” in him- be they Human, Demon, or whatever is up in Heaven. The God Saves are there to purge the Nonbelievers. Also Yazuma LOOKS like a guy who’s “Seen Some Sh!t,” but he’s kind of a big softy when it comes to his family; he still uses “baby talk” with Yakuto, and even has a habit of licking his wife’s face. It’s not that she’s NOT into it; she just doesn’t want him doing that in public. So he picks her up and takes her to conceive their Second Child. I’m JOKING but 1)That tongue’s about to be put to use and 2)You never know with Mashima’s stories………………
In whatever case; Yakuto is very proud of his father. Later that evening, when Yakuto is asleep; God graces Wicked Horizon with a visit, wanting to speak to Yazuma. Yazuma comes out, and introduces his wife to God. Then God says to let him take her for the evening. Red Flag Red Flag RED FLAG. Also Yakuto starts waking up. No one really understands what God is after right now, so he says that he’ll “take good care of her-” though she’ll lose a limb or 2. Yazuma is getting ready to fight for his life, but God doesn’t really care for the “lack of faith” that he’s seeing. And all those who lack faith in God- Must Be Purged.
The Snap of his fingers- MULTIPLE HURRICANES Ravage Wicked Horizon and all its inhabitants. The last thing that Yazuma was able to say: “Who……. Are You?” And God just laughs and laughs, as the sole survivor of the Black Dragons comes out to see his parents lie dead on the ground. And that’s the story: Whoever that is- whoever is masquerading as “God” right now- is a fake that they can NOT allow to live. Dead Rock Chapter 6 END. Pretty much what you expect, but…………. me thinks there’s more to what’s going on than meets the eye………..
REVIEW
If you take ANYTHING from this chapter(and there’s a few things to take), it’s what happened in the classroom: Yakuto Has Lost His Leverage. If nothing else, he had the pure STRENGTH to get everyone in Class 1F involved in his plan. But now he’s weakened. And now the entire class knows it. And while Hani’s nice enough to help provided a good reason and Frey 1)Has a crush on him and 2)Wants to kill Louzen; Mikoto, Reisen, and especially Hien were tough enough at the start to challenge him every step of the way. Though again; I feel like Mikoto and Yakuto have a sort of “Mutual Respect-” more “Equals” than “Leader/Follower.” Reisen no long has a CHOICE in the matter now being one of Mikoto’s zombies, but Hien- HE was someone who was always opposed to Yakuto. But all 3 were a case of “I could probably take him if I needed to.” And are NOW “I’ll Kill You Where You Stand If You Make Trouble For Me.” Though they’d ALSO have to contend with Frey a little bit………….
I think that’s why he conceded and told his classmates his origin story; he can no longer force them into the plan, but he still needs their help. So hopefully- even though they are all still Demons– they have………….. some sympathy for his cause. Reisen in particular can relate, I think; chapter 2 revealed the gist of his backstory- someone he cared about is in trouble and only the power of a Demon Lord can save her. Yakuto’s trying to avenge his parents. Not exactly the same, but……….. some common ground. Mikoto herself was curious about his reasons as well, and she had already promised Frey that she would help her crush Louzen- which is now intersecting with Yakuto’s overall goal, anyway. Hani’s probably the kindest of this entire lot, so I feel like he’s on board with it now. HIEN, though; his goal is to graduate. And I imagine that a school without a Principal- especially the Ruler Of CREATION ITSELF– won’t be open for very long. THERE in lies their conflict.
That being said; I think he’s a little more accepting of Yakuto’s plan- even if he’s probably still going to try and keep out of it. If Yakuto was #1, and Mikoto- though sheer numbers- ranked at 2– Hien was definitely 3. Sorry, Frey. Forcing him to go along with it was always gonna be a challenge. He obviously WILL before all is said and done; it’s just going to take a little more convincing. I can even see next chapter everyone’s reactions to the story he told and going along with it a little more, but Hien’s like “I won’t help you- But I Won’t Stop You.” But the fact that he didn’t just cut him down right then being the indicator that he’s going to be there for them if they really need it. That- AND I think he knows that he owes Yakuto something of a Life Debt for what he did in chapter1. It’s only because of Yakuto that he got into this school he so wants to graduate. While Yakuto sees them as “Even Stevens” for him slaying that Ant; Hien is the…………. “Honorable” type- he owes Yakuto a little bit more than that- even if he won’t say it……………
Something else of note: Lilith’s Powers. She DEFINITELY R@ped that boy- maybe for more than just taking his power. This school is just kind of f*cked up like that. But the main thing is that she has the ability to drain people of their powers- in Yakuto’s case; that’s left him with just the right arm of a Black Dragon. Yakuto will definitely get his powers back; the only question is how? Will killing Lilith “magically” give it back? Or is it something he has to train to get back? It kind of dives into the nature of the “roots” system; was she able to “suck out” the Dragon’s bloodline from him? Or did it just drain him of the “nutrients” he would need to go Full Dragon again? How do either of those scenarios work exactly? Mashima- through Fairy Tail and Edens Zero– introduced the idea of a “Progressive Transformation;” a transformation that slowly engulfs the body the stronger you become until you undergo a complete “Metamorphosis.” Dragon Force gives you Dragon scales and claws, and eventually Natsu even gained a wing, a horn, and the Foot of a Dragon; Overdrive pushes one’s Ether to the point where it “changes,” altering the molecules in the body and making a form that matches the power output. Maybe “Roots” will have a similar power up.
Mashima wants this series to be something a little bit “different” from his norm, but………… it’s still HIS series; he’s not gonna break every “mold” he’s made! But since this is supposed to be a shorter series(possibly longer depending on fan reception but still a monthly so chapter count will just by nature be smaller), he may have chosen to reveal the “power up” early through Yakuto; maybe going full Dragon is the max output for the Roots- something along the lines of……………. what would be a good name? Hm…………. they are “roots” at the end of the day- a genetic factor that Demons channel to use their ancestral powers. He’ll obviously think of something cooler and more “recognizable,” but for not- let’s call this process “Reversion-” going backwards on the Evolutionary ladder and giving yourself over to your roots. Yakuto had hit the Max, but his mind couldn’t handle the feedback from his primal traits, and……….. went berserk.
Something else I wanted to quickly bring up: Bebel The Hecatonchiere– the missing applicant from chapter 1. Yakuto’s backstory……….. I don’t think he’s telling the whole truth. In fact I know he hasn’t because of chapter 3; he hasn’t told them anything about his curse or how much time he has left to…………….. whatever.I bring all this up with Bebel because I think that he’ll act as Yakuto’s “Dark Reflection-” someone with a similar origin and of similar circumstance to Yakuto, working towards the same goal of killing God. Where they will DIFFER, however- is their methods; Yakuto is asking these people to help him avenge his family and his homeland- Bebel will give whatever allies he has no choice in the matter. “Friends” vs “Tools.” Something simply and Mashima-esque. And I only bring up the idea of Bebel having allies because– for the 3rd time in a 6 chapter story; Chako the Yatagarasu of Class 1F has disappeared. I had been thinking that she was either God in disguise spying on Yakuto’s group, or at least a mole he planted in that class because he knows about Yakuto. And I mean; it’s not like that last one is completely outside the realm of possibility………….
Chako SURE WAS Lucky to have avoided getting dropped in the Antlion pit in chapter 1. You would think that God would have done something to make sure ALL applicants get dropped into the exam area- especially for “The Most Evil Man In All The Realms.” And there’s no way GOD didn’t notice a surviving Black Dragon in the crowd- especially if he was the one who cursed him. So either he knows Yakuto is there and doesn’t think him an actual threat– OR he’s having Chako keep an eye on him and let him know what Yakuto is up to while he’s off doing………… whatever………. Is what Mashima wants us to think, when in truth she’s working with Bebel, who’s looking for more pawns to use in his own war against God. And a super rare, super powerful Black Dragon would be MIGHTY USEFUL in whatever he has planned. But now that I lay the evidence out in front of me, it really does look more like it’s God that Chako’s reporting to– “As All Creature’s Should“ I’m sure God would say……………
LAST THING: Why did God wipe out the Black Dragons? He said that he wanted to take Rizuya for a night, and……….. the intention behind it was pretty obvious, but………… it’s the Losing Limbs bit that’s sticking out to me. Unless Mashima just went “Too Far” in terms of how “Dark” this series is- making it “Edgy Teen Fanfic” by imply she would lose body parts and be r@ped afterwards- OR that was him hinting that God was going to conduct a few experiments on her. And maybe some r@pe. But I am thinking that there’s something to the Black Dragon’s that “God” is worried about- be it their innate strength and this is a Dragon ball reference(Replace God with Frieza and the Black Dragons with the Saiyans), OR they might know something they shouldn’t…………….
Which brings me to the VERY LAST THING that I want to talk about: Who IS This? Yazuma confirms with his reaction that this is indeed how God looks, but the way he questions “Who Are You” leads us to believe that this isn’t his personality. He works so closely TO God, he should know how he truly is. So him implying that this isn’t the God he’s been working for means that there’s something going on. I think one of the indicators that God might be under some kind of possession would be his eyes- the way one of them is darkened out and glows. Chapter 1 say his silhouette simply having that eye glow before the big double page spread. And on that spread, we see that the other eye is closed so as to focus on the glowing red eye. That means something, but I cannot for the life of me tell you what it is. Because the way this series has been portraying it; God has been the ruler of all 3 realms since………….. let’s say “Inception.” Yakuto talked in chapter 2 about how God is some kind of fake; that no one who rules over the Demon Realm would proclaim themselves “God.” And chapter 3 indicates that- whoever this is– has killed multiple Gods in the past. Ah………. it’ll all make since when we learn the truth, but right now it feels like we’re missing something……….
Maybe “God” needed to bide his time some how; using the God Saves to purge all non-believers to make himself the “One True God,” and killed off all the other ones so that everyone would pray to Him alone, thus boosting his power and allowing him to be his True Self– the God who killed the Black Dragons and is committing all these atrocities. That’s the Safe option, but I’m not the one writing the story. Mashima probably has another idea in mind, so we’ll just have to wait and see, I guess.
Conclusion
That was…………… Pretty Good if I do say so myself! There aren’t many chapters right now, so I just have to keep referencing the one’s we already have like 10 and 20 times, linking to both the chapter’s and the posts just to make sure you know what exactly I’m talking about. I doubt that’ll be the case a few chapters down the line, though a monthly series- specifically one intended to be a little on the short side(though I think it might end up becoming a Full Serialization)- every chapter has to add something to the narrative; there’s less “downtime” for the main cast- they’re always doing something and learning something. And it seems like Mashima- despite not having experience in writing a monthly series- grasps that Pacing idea. Because for all the accolades I’ve given to this series with just 6 chapters, I don’t think I’ve ever talked about the Pacing. It’s…………… Smooth; fast enough to get us from Point A To B without dragging or rushing- enough time to teach us about the character’s themselves without bogging down the story. Less fan service than what’s typical of a Hiro Mashima series, but I think everybody universally agrees that that’s a Good Thing. Less “Filler” pages, yeah?
MAN there’s just so much about this series I could talk about right now!! I even thought halfway through about where the “Oracion Seis” concept will be coming in! Looking at it now, I’m thinking that name will go to the students with the Highest grades in the school; a term to refer to the “Big Bads” like in Edens Zero as opposed to an entire faction like with Fairy Tail or Rave Master. My original idea was that Class 1F would collectively refer to themselves as the “Oracion Seis,” but then I remembered Chako was a thing. Which is when I made that theory, knocking the number of students down to 6(Yakuto, Hani, Hien, Reisen, Frey, and Mikoto). But that “6 Top Students” idea sounds more like something Mashima would do. Plus that name- for long time fans of his- would denote them as the Villains. Which they AREN’T, but they are still Demons. Gotta be careful how you sell a series about Bad Guys– just look at what happened to My Hero.
Okay, I’m done. That’s all I got for you guys this month. Wonder which I’ll end up doing; Boruto chapter 5 or Black Clover 369? Probably Black Clover, but I’ll at least TRY and do Boruto, too. And if I AM losing my job, then I might just have time enough on my hands to do that Knock On Wood Knock On Wood Knock On Wood. Let me know what you guys are thinking in the comments. ‘Til next time, all. Laters!!
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