Title: Dead Mount Death Play Vol. 12
Author: Ryohgo Narita (Story), Shinta Fujimoto (Art)
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 170
Genre: Supernatural, Action
Publication Date: September 17, 2024
The Story
Volume 12 of Dead Mount Death Play picks up in the hospital as Polka continues to investigate what’s going on after reports of YouTubers going missing during hunts inside the building. Katashiro shows up and is accused of working for the Agakuras. He has to think fast to escape and ends up running into Polka right when he’s in the middle of creating a magic circle! Despite not actually falling for the excuse, Katashiro temporarily buys the fact that he witnessed a shared hallucination and not magic. Polka knows he didn’t buy it but is willing to run with it anyway for the sake of progress.
Meanwhile, our new mediator Yumeji continues his exploration of the hospital when all hell breaks loose and he runs into some werewolves! With no other choice, Yumeji curses the fact that he needs to take things seriously and he unveils his incredible power that makes him worthy of being his mediator’s successor! This is accompanied by a new flashback that explains the origins of Yumeji as well as a relationship to one of our main characters!
To make matters even worse, once Yumeji cleans up the werewolves, he’s paid a visit by Lemmings! Looks like business is about to pick up for him! As for Misaki/Xiao/Majiri/etc. They are in a room when two children come crashing through the ceiling! Naturally, they’re scared; however, things are not what they seem and when Polka arrives and discovers them, one of the theories about those children that he sensed using his powers just might be true!
Characters
The biggest focus here is on Yumeji. We see his backstory of how he was torn away from his parents and made into the person he is today. All he wants to do is lead a normal life due to the way he was raised (or rather cultivated). When he gets serious, his true power awakens. While his power is explained, it’s not really a “power” per se (at least in my interpretation). It’s just that his mind and body react differently than a normal person’s which grants him the power that he has. It’s a pretty interesting concept but Yumeji went from some weakling who lucked into his new mediator role to someone worthy of the title and someone who could give Lemmings a run for his money! He’s quickly becoming my favorite mediator which says a lot since Katashiro is such a cool character, too.
We get a SLIGHT bit of development and world-building with Polka when he talks to Framrodia about the werewolves. Nothing too major here but still a cool bit of information to know.
Speaking of Katashiro… no real significant development is to be had here; however, I just wanted to mention him because I love his inner monologues that portray him as someone vastly different from his outward-facing mannerisms. Seeing his actions and then reading his polarizing thoughts is hilarious and until Yumeji steps it up some, Katashiro will remain one of my favorite characters. I look forward to the battle between them for my utmost attention, haha.
Final Thoughts
There is one other character I glossed over in the characters section because it does reveal a lot of spoilerish information; however, we did learn something about Higuro, and what we learned saved this from feeling like a filler arc. Until that moment, this just felt like some side adventure to deal with some werewolves and solve some sort of janky mystery but with the addition of this one small moment, it tied it straight into the main plot of the series and added even more mystery and raised even more questions.
That’s one thing that Ryohgo Narita is good at… answering questions and asking new ones at the same time and this volume is no different. In typical Narita fashion, there are many factions actively participating in this battle/scenario each with their own stakes and interests; however, it seems that no matter how different the stakes are, they all seem tied to Polka and the land he originated from… just some of the factions are aware of this (the land, that is) and some are still trying to figure it all out.
This volume definitely upped the stakes and turned it into an interesting read. I have a feeling we might either get a battle to start off Volume 13 or some more lore that was hinted at earlier in the volume about werewolves and how a particular species is related to Polka’s home world… which if it’s the latter, it raises another question… how did they get there?
So many questions! Here’s another one… Volume 13 when?
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This item was provided for review by Yen Press.
