User blog:Revriley/DMDP Musings

This blog post is intended to compile various ideas, theories, speculations, and other musings I occasionally entertain about DMDP. For instance, those that I couldn't help but scribble down in User blog:Revriley/Ongoing DMDP Notes, a blog post meant for a different purpose. Moving the musings content from that blog post to this one is the impetus for the blog's creation; that content will be pasted below.

Jinba
(Moved from DMDP Notes.)


 * In Chapter 6, Iwanome checks with Clarissa that the boss of the men injured in the human knots case was her protégé Jinba. Underneath Jinba (according to a hierarchy diagram shown in one of the chapters was): [Hidden name]; Yamauchi; Osato; Saku.
 * I may just be very slow at putting 1+1 together, or overly-cautious, but--ahhh, was Jinba in fact the guy who killed Misaki's parents after all? The client who started the whole mess clearly knew "big sister" Clarissa. He wants Misaki's help because [the yakuza?] are after him, so that night he takes Misaki to a building where he claims the killer/yakuza guy is sleeping. He says the encampment Misaki "took out the other day" were friends of this killer.
 * The encampment had been filled with murderers who'd go so far as to kill their target's families, which reminsd Misaki of her parents' killer. The encampment has lately devolved--its members having become more pickpocketing hoodlums than murderers. Misaki guesses this is why the encampment's members stopped listening to Clarissa.
 * Then the client shoots Misaki, because "we'd" (they'd) lose all credibility if they did nothing after letting their boss die. Right. It's a trap! Which means Misaki probably killed their boss.
 * In my defense "Jinba = Sakimiyas' killer" did cross my mind at the time, but I wasn't very confident; the whole 'encampment' topic had me a tad confused. I had presumed this must have happened off page; Misaki's killing of her parent's killer (at Clarissa's request) in Ch2 didn't seem to involve any other people (oh hey, did she kill him in the torture building?)--in other words, I couldn't reconcile 'encampment' with 'individual hit' and thought, "no, these are probably discrete events." I also wasn't entirely sure if the parent killer actually answered to Clarissa or if he was an independent criminal.
 * But if Lisa did order the hit on the Sakimiyas' killer despite him being (we surmise) her so-called protégé...
 * Well damn, that sheds a whole new perspective on the orphanage flashback. Did Clarissa seek out Jinba (the murderer of Misaki's parents) after getting to know Misaki? Did she keep Jinba close specifically so that Misaki could someday take revenge if the opportunity arose? Not super great considering, you know, he was pretty high-risk for killing innocents.
 * Not to mention Takeru's Jinba namedrop in Chapter 10: "I see...so Jinba's already been killed. Oh well. I never really cared who finished him off." I never quite 'got' why Takeru knew about Jinba or why he cared, but hot damn the implications the above just opened up... Right. Jinba killed the Sakimiyas, we can safely surmise. Takeru says in Ch14 he is indebted to the Sakimiyas for their aid many years ago. Then, in bold lettering: "that things turned out as they did... It really is a terrible shame." CG's takeaway from this is that Takeru is 'scary'.
 * My takeaway now is, "Excuse me, are you suggesting Takeru was involved somehow in the Sakimiyas' death." Right now Misaki is 17, Takeru 26. If her parents were only killed seven years ago, Takeru would have been 19. Ten years ago, 16. I suppose he'd have been old enough that ordering a hit on the Sakimiyas wouldn't be out of the question, with a probable motive being business; this would explain how he knows of Jinba, and why he seems to have eventually wanted Jinba dead. Better than risk Jinba someday spilling the beans on the Sakimiya murder.
 * All this talk of Takeru has inspired me with a new guess as to Grocer's predecessor. (Hint: Kiri.)

Grocer's Predecessor
(Copied)

Debunked "Chief Editor" theory

 * On June 27, 2020, Narita tweeted some comments in response to Fujimoto's Grocer info sheet. One such comment seems to be something along the lines of, "By the way, the previous generation may have already appeared in the main story?" (And Fujimoto seemed surprised by this, haha).
 * I'm going to go ahead and guess the previous gen is the Weekly Dry chief editor. The Grocer has a long diagonal scar slashed across his left eye; the Chief Editor has a long vertical scar slashed across his right eye. Coincidence? Maybe, but two characters having the same type of unusual scar (how many people's eyes are slashed and blinded like that??) in the same manga now seems...not coincidental now that I think about it. If it isn't, then what's the reason/meaning behind those scars?
 * Oh right, Clarissa also used to wear an eyepatch, so that's at least three people with eye distinctions. I don't think Clarissa is related, though; I've been assuming her eye was injured when she was kidnapped? Could simply be a case of bad eyesight correction, but that seems so...ordinary for DMDP.
 * Also consider their jobs. The Grocer sells all sorts of things...including information. So does the Chief Editor, in a sense. Tabloids contain information: gossip; news; rumors; articles; news stories; etc. Retiring from the merchant role (passing it along to next gen) to go work in news/tabloid industry sounds like a plausible backstory. Again, the next question is, 'why'? Tired of the business? Something to do with the eye (got too dangerous)?
 * "They both have black hair, so that cinches it," hah, hah. Seriously though, maybe we'd better keep an 'eye' out for the symbol on Grocer's happi given it's probably a family symbol. Whenever I have time to make a theories blog post, I'll probably move all these bullet points there.
 * July 24, 2020: Psh, so I missed Narita's other tweets on June 27 that essentially state "by the way the predecessor isn't the editor-in-chief, that guy's just awkward" and there's no point in guessing things like "it was Hosorogi" or "the bartender"! Well, then. I guess I should be glad me jumping to Chief Editor conclusions was a predicted train of thought?

Kiri Shinoyama

 * Sorry, Narita, I'll guess as many people as I damn well please. I now submit for your consideration my new theory: Kiri Shinoyama. Second-eldest daughter of a "wealthy family" said to rival the Shinoyama Group in terms of power. Her marriage to Takeru is said to have been a political arrangement. Well, the Grocer comes from a powerful wealthy family. Kiri has black hair, and, more importantly, a mole under her left eye. Grocer has three moles, one of which is also under his left eye.
 * If Kiri has more/similar moles, she has enough money to afford makeup to cover them (or even surgery). Could be birthmarks or otherwise common to the family line, perhaps.
 * Now, if this is the case, a follow-up train of thought might be whether Grocer's arrest was related in any way to Kiri's (renouncing?) of the 'Grocer' role. Her marriage, even. The fact that Grocer is under arrest would potentially indicate that whatever scandal, imbroglio, or crime committed was so great the clan couldn't simply keep him out of jail with money. Or that an 'arrest' was a far better outcome than other possible consequences. A renouncement of the Grocer title and a politically arranged marriage are certainly possible outcomes of imbroglios.

Fire-Breathing Bug
(copied)
 * I'm not convinced there's one umbrella-carrying Bug. My working theory as of Chapter 42 (latest chapter at time of writing) is that FBB temporarily...'possesses' or 'takes over' the bodies of others as needed. The umbrella-carrying Bug who kills the people in Ch23 or so while Sorimura steals the skin has a much stouter figure than our regular Bug; if my possession theory isn't off the mark, I think he took over the stout figure we see hurrying to the safe room with the others. The speech bubbles darken and the text slows down, just like the speech bubbles of the police who were escorting Know; I'm guessing that's the process of them being 'controlled'/'spoken through' or whatever. The computer forums in Ch26 or so mention disguises.
 * Update as of Chapter 51: Well, we now know have an idea of how FBB pulls off the remote fires. Emitters. We also can confirm FBB is more than just a single entity, though I'm sure readers had already picked up on that much. Iwanome concludes FBB is "a group." Yes, but I'm still not so sure what kind of group. Iwanome probably reasonably assumes the group is composed of individuals--perhaps they'll turn out to be after all, but Narita's fondness for hive minds makes me hesitate. We still have the speech bubble cues, the halting mode of speech, the police officers' confused reactions back in Ch17. Not letting go of my possession musings just yet.

Could Lemmings be a "complete t'ing-fu?"'
(Speculation d. June 03, 2022)

In Chapter 65, Taipei compares the sinister air of the Abandoned Building to that of a "cage of a wild beast... No. It's more like the deep, dark sensation of death that I got when I was in the presence of a complete t'ing-fu." Taipei's description somehow reminds me of Lemmings c.f. Volume 2, where Lemmings has this inhuman air about him. An air of 'life and vitality' in an atavistic sort of way, "like a colony of ants taking form." More importantly, I'd say Lemmings had as much an air of death about him as he may have been full of life and vitality, considering the weight of the murdered souls hanging about him.

Lemmings and the Heilei both serve Takeru, so it's not farfetched that Lemmings could be as much Heilei as much as Bao or Taipei are Heilei. Right there is the context for Taipei's statement, too; he's been in Lemmings' presence plenty of times. Sure, his statement sort of has the sense of a singular event—as if he was only ever once in a complete t'ing fu's presence—but, "like, it's totally not the only possible interpretation, yanno?" He could mean "in the presence . . . . for the first time," right? Right?

The one glaring problem with this theory is that a t'ing fu is a vessel (aka human body) for cultivating a bacteria that can only grow in the bowels of a living child; the bacteria acts as a poison...

...so how would Lemmings have really survived to adulthood? I mean, I had the impression from Chapter 23 that the process of repurposing a 'broken', 'low-value', 'otherwise useless' child('s body) into a t'ing fu is not one that places any high bets on the child's potential longevity. In other words, it seemed to me that the t'ing fu shebang was a onetime sort of deal, an "okay, you'll cultivate this bacteria in your bowels until you die" sort of deal. Maybe not; maybe it depends on how the bacteria finds itself in the bowels in the first place. If it's ingested in the typical way, then yeah, by the time it finds its way to the bowels...yikes. But if they surgically implanted xyz directly inside the bowels...?

Eh, you know what, I can always handwave "Lemmings surviving the t'ing fu cultivation period somehow" in the manner one might handwave "Soara surviving the transplant of an otherworldly magical beast's organs in her childhood somehow." Then again, a t'ing fu could very well turn out to be a protomolecule death à la The Expanse after all and I would not be surprised.

How About a Mummy?
Lemmings debuts in Chapter 4 with a bandaged hand reaching for the men (his perspective); on the very next page, Corpse God's folklore book is open to the vampire and mummy entries, with the mummy in the illustration reaching a bandaged hand out to the reader. Straightforward, don't you think? Narita definitely wanted to plant the possibility of Lemmings being a mummy, or at least he wanted to associate Lemmings with mummies.

(Hah...Imagine Lemmings' other job being a gig at a temp/moving museum exhibit. The idea amuses me if not for its impracticality).

17 Nov 2023: Is Lemmings...Ryouma Kannagi?
What. What. In Chapter 108, Lemmings...


 * 1) Checks his schedule on his phone. There are three items scheduled from six to seven PM, with the third labeled "Magazine interview." From nine to ten PM, Lemmings has a TV Meeting followed by a TV taping. After 10 PM is another event block, but its label is cut off by the panel so that we only see the word "location."
 * 2) Pulls down his face bandages to address the missing girl (face still partially obscured to us). The girl didn't seem to recognize Lemmings before, but now she says, "No way... How...? Why are you here...?" The chapter ends with the meta line, "His true face erases all anxiety..."

The only obvious DMDP character with a job that involves magazine interviews and TV tapings is...Ryouma Kannagi. (Kannagi should be the right spelling now; early chapters used Kannagiri.) Lemmings standing next to that Ryouma Kannagi police poster in Chapter 8 = foreshadowing, what. Ditzy airhead Ryouma = polite, untouchable jack-of-all-trades...? Well, it wouldn't be the first time Narita has written a showbiz character moonlighting as an underworld denizen.

Come on, though. Would the sight of a pop idol/actor really erase "all [the girl's] anxiety?" I imagine I'd be overwhelmingly confused and wondering if the celeb set me up for some sick TV show.


 * Hello. A drug dealer, a female friend, and I went on a corpse hunt in an abandoned hospital. The former was dragged away and the latter became a werewolf, but I managed to hobble on an injured leg to this hidden room. Not long ago, a teenager unwittingly brought the latter friend to me and had to brutally neutralize her when she attacked him. I've been stuck watching her wheeze in pain until just now: an ominous bandaged man has entered the room, what if he's as horrifying as that boy?—oh, he's pulling down his bandages, and—Harry Styles?

No, I really can't see myself feeling relieved. Would you?

Is Kana Proppen?

 * In the latest chapter (Chapter 94), Katashiro thinks, Speaking of Proppen... Previously, in Chapter 86, he thinks that he recognizes Kana Agakura or at least has seen her before somewhere. ...Don't tell me Kana is Proppen. That is what we're meant to guess, isn't it? Proppen and Kana are both short and wear similar glasses, and by 94, "Why does Katashiro recognize Kana?" is still an unanswered question. I had supposed Kana simply ran in similar circles, like, say, gaming clubs. This feels weird.

There's probably another explanation. Perhaps Katashiro vaguely remembers Proppen mentioning corpse hunts on your YouTube channel or the like. Or...maybe the weird goings-on at the hospital remind Katashiro of the strange flock of hands that Proppen caught on her livestream?

Sundry Thoughts
To be added later/over time.


 * "Dragon King's Palace Agency" // Any deeper significance to that name?
 * Right now Takeru is still the main suspect for "who wants Polka dead," since the manga clearly wants you to suspect him for it and he clearly has some sort of designs against Polka. If he's a red herring I certainly don't know for whom.
 * Arius Sabaramond's title is provided in Volume 3, Episode 3 as "Shiranui Sky Tower" (不知火天楼); I have a sneaking suspicion it's no coincidence that 'shiranui' is an actual term in Japanese. Check out its Wikipedia article--shiranui/shiranuhi is an 'atmospheric optical phenomenon' that occurs in Kyushu; it used to be considered ghostly lights/lamps of the Dragon God (hence the meaning unknown fire).
 * Given all the indicators far that the Other World and Our World may have once been One (connected) World--and given the Sabaramond namedrops in Our World... what do you want to bet Sabaramond was somehow behind or connected to Our World's shiranui phenomenon?
 * All I'm saying is that Corpse God has only shared Arius' name, not title, with his friends; surely the moment "Shiranui Sky Tower" comes up Takumi or someone who's likely to have heard of shiranui will go, "Wait, say that again?"
 * Also, "Dragon God"--hey look, another association with dragons.
 * FBB asks Sorimura how he knew about "[him]" "and...the computer" c. Chapter 20 or so. The first question concerns FBB's identity, but the latter...the computer with that message group? Aka the Bastards; FBB wants to know how much Sorimura knows on that front.
 * "Grim Reaper" is even more of a long-con tease. We know they are rumored to answer to Clarissa. I always thought that her employees, when Iwanome asks Clarissa about the person who has been frequenting the bar all this time, all stare down Iwanome because they thought he was about to ask about Grim Reaper. I also guessed that the smiling figure with the stitches who is glimpsed smiling at the dirigibles might be Grim Reaper, for lack of any other ideas. Think that person's identity is still an open question.
 * Jirotarou Takanosu's name sort of resembles the name of that FBB founder Takajirou Toura, doesn't it...? Jirotarou makes a point of specifying his name is pronounced Jirotarou, not Jiroutarou, hm.
 * The children in Chapter 101 are wearing simple shoulder-fastened tunics that remind me a bit of Civil's tunic since the latter also is fastened at the shoulders. It is probably a reach to immediately point and yell "they're connected!", but still, the kids' tunics are at least unusual, right? I want to say the dark straps underneath them also remind me of Civil's choker, but that's definitely a reach. Might as well mention Grocer's double wristbands if I'm going to free associate; Grocer's tunic is short-sleeved, I think, not sleeveless.

Currently drafting/sketching out a rough estimated timeline for events that I may share as a blog post here, but I've hit a snag with the immediate sequence of events following the Shinoyama estate arson.