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Deadman's Questions (デッドマンズQ, Deddomanzu Kuesuchonzu) is a short story manga written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki; originally published in Shueisha's Manga Allman magazine from June 16 - July 21, 1999 (Issues #12-14). It was later compiled with Araki's other stories in Under Execution Under Jailbreak.
The story follows the day-to-day life of a vagabond spirit trying to find happiness by performing assassination requests.
Summary
The protagonist is described as a vagabond spirit who is unaware of his life when he was alive. As a Ghost trapped in the living world after his death, he works for a monk, doing the "dirty work" of killing targets she gives him in exchange for money. He believes that, by making this job his purpose to live, he might find happiness. For one of his contracts, he is sent to kill an on-the-run child murderer hiding out in an apartment with his significant other. After a convoluted attempt to enter the apartment due to the rules of being a ghost, the target is eliminated, at which point the protagonist reveals his name to be Yoshikage Kira.
On another mission, he is sent to a soldier's mansion that turned into a spirit to find out the reason behind the deaths of people around the area. He is surprised to see even objects can become spirits and wishes to live in the mansion, as he can not only manipulate objects, but feel them, as they are spirits just like him. Enthusiastic and finally finding happiness, Kira investigates the entire mansion, including the various spiritual books, CDs and fire within it. He comes across many suspicious-looking eggs and touches some of them. The eggs crack open and releases creatures revealed to be Spirit Cleansers. One of them enters inside Kira's arm and begins to eat him from the inside, forcing him to cut his arm off as the creature climbs through his entire body. Kira then comes to the conclusion that they are cleansers of spirits and the mansion was a nest of its eggs. They try to cleanse him because he touched their eggs, but he luckily enters the painting of a soldier and uses the gun in it to kill the creatures. Kira escapes the mansion and goes to investigate the information the monk gave him, stating that if he found any errors, he would make sure she finds out the credibility of the nether realm personally. He then wonders if her arm would stick in place of his lost one.
Author's Note
Author's Note
“
I wrote this story down with the idea of a protagonist who–even after death–seeks for a peace of mind and continues to "live" in this world in the form of a
spirit. It’s that kind of story.
The protagonist of Deadman is actually the ghost of the "main villain" from the fourth part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, the deceased homicidal maniac known as Yoshikage Kira. In my story of the world of the dead, not everything is possible, rather, it is regulated by "rules" that are far more restrictive than our own. Ghosts continue their existence the same way as they did when they were alive, but also have to overcome their own set of trials and tribulations. This is the idea I had in mind when I wrote the story, and I went head first in coming up with different ideas on the type of problems they might have to face.
Even so, when I got to the scene where he discovers that he’ll no longer have any way of listening to his favorite music, I got a little teary-eyed.
”
“
『デッドマンズQ』
(オールマン99年12~14号掲戴)
死んだあとも心の平和を願って、精神的に生長していこうとする主人公の行動を、スケッチ風に描いた作品。(作品タイプでA) 主人公のデッドマンは『ジョジョの奇妙な冒険第4 部』の最大の敵•吉良吉影という、死んだ殺人鬼である。
死後の世界、もし魂が残っているのなら、それは何でもありの世界ではなく、この世と同じ『ルール』があるはずだ。幽霊も生きてる時と同じか、それ以上に苦労しなくてはおかしい……という発想で描いた。それにしても、好きな音楽を楽しめない彼を描いてて、何か涙が出て来た。
”
Gallery
Manga Allman 1999, Issue #12
Manga Allman 1999, Issue #13
Manga Allman 1999, Issue #14
Trivia
- Araki hid the fact that the main character was Kira until the very end of first chapter, as he didn't want core fans to read through the story with the image of Kira in mind.[1]
- The outfit worn by Kira in Deadman's Questions is available as a costume for Kosaku-Kira awarded for completing the DLC mission in Eyes of Heaven, and changes Kosaku-Kira's name to 'Deadman's Q Kira'.
References
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