The
Mechanics of Meifu
Some ideas about the world of Yami no Matsuei
All conjecture. Don’t mistake this for canon.
The mechanics of Meifu:
Inhabitants-
People who are closely tied to the living world after they
die and cannot pass on end up in the Meifu.
Out of this, people who have exceptional spiritual powers/ability/potential
are weeded out into a group of potential Shinigamis.
Out of these people, those who pass certain tests are recruited
as Shinigami. Tests most likely involve
things such as the potential/ability/strength of spiritual powers, and intelligence/cunning/problem
solving.
Economics-
Chinese people burn paper money for the dead. Assuming that Japanese people may have a similar
custom, perhaps money in the afterworld is dependant on descendants who mourn
you and observe the proper rites. Not
having such support systems from descendants (like most Shinigami, who generally
die too young to have children that will take care of the rites) means that
you’ll be poor. Not sure what they
use the money for, though maybe they use it as collateral to “move on” in
the afterlife. Or buy things from
the real world. Shinigami are probably
kept poor for a specific purpose, such as preventing them from ‘moving on.’
Demographics-
Most Shinigami are young and male due to the prevalence
of young males dying out of their time due to murder, suicide, accident, etc
(per population, in contrast to females, who are statistically less prone
to dying young).
Character specific:
Muraki’s powers (anime):
Innate abilities-
Paralytic touch. The
manga suggests that he can steal the lifeforce of others to strengthen his
own powers, thus it’s possible that if he invokes this ability, just the mere
act of touching another person can paralyze them or weaken them. This could account for Tsuzuki freezing up
when he gets touched by Muraki. You
would think that he could easily kick his ass otherwise.
Teleportation may also be an innate ability. It may kick in automatically in response to
serious, life-threatening danger. And
he can obviously also bring another person with him without too much trouble.
Probably requires close physical contact to do that, and either the
person’s willingness, or better yet, unconsciousness.
Unconsciousness may be a key factor, because too much thought or movement
from the other person might disrupt the transport.
He can transport out of anywhere, but he has to have a specific point
that he knows to return to. Most likely,
this is his circle.
Black magic-
To do very complex things (animate the dead, physically
bind people, control minds, etc), Muraki requires a physical circle. The closer in proximity to it, the more power
he can draw from it. Thus, if he’s
doing something complex such as a) controlling and animating the dead and
b) trapping Tsuzuki requires him to actually create and be within a physical
circle. In that particular instance,
he might even be inside the physical circle itself as insurance, in case Tsuzuki
turns out to be more dangerous than Muraki estimated.
However, he can create a ‘shadow’ or ‘mirror’ circle by
having a real physical circle somewhere, and tapping into its power from a
distance. Thus, when he summons his
creatures, he’s actually casting a mirror reflection of the circle wherever
he happens to be, and drawing the power from the original physical one. This can be considered a “remote backup.”
Red moon-
The red moon is a spiritual illusion, visible only to people
who have a certain level of spiritual ability/power. The characters (in the anime) that seem to actually see/notice it:
Oriya, Hisoka, Tsuzuki. The first
is merely close to Muraki – no clue as to whether he has any powers at all. The latter are very obviously spiritually powerful.
Given that people would notice a full red moon several days in a row,
it’s probably the case that the very least, only some people can see it.
For example, Muraki, and whoever he wants to see it. Also, summoning up that illusion may tie into
his powers somehow, such as enhancing them. Could be that it’s a sign that he’s on the hunt, or could also be
a side-effect of something else that he’s casting/doing.
Curses-
There are various levels of curses that Muraki can employ.
The one on Hisoka is particularly potent, but they can range on any
level from instant death to stipulations to long protracted torture, depending
on what he writes/carves into the person.
Hisoka’s curse-
Borrowing from X, where spells rebound onto the caster
unless the caster can block the consequences (particularly spells that are
meant to do harm), it’s possible that perhaps Hisoka is a living kage-nie
for Muraki. Refer to following translation
from X vol. 4, pages 25-28, Rabi-X’s translation: