Daruma Doll
Game Rules[]
All students in a class must participate. The Daruma will be provided from within a teacher's head, and will jump out and land on the teacher's table, causing the teacher's head to explode. Nobody is allowed to escape, and all possible escape routes are locked.
The Daruma will slowly turn around while chanting "Daruma-san ga...". On "Koronda!", the Daruma turns around and faces the entire classroom, and all should freeze. If one moves within the sight of the doll, it opens its mouth and makes the moving person's head explode. Speaking and eye movement are allowed.
The game is timed. On the back of the Daruma is a timer and a button. Only one student can remain alive. The student who pushes the button successfully without being caught by the Daruma will survive, and the rest will have their heads exploded.
At any time, the Daruma can change the speed of how it chants "Daruma-san ga...".
Plot[]
In the manga, a few seconds after class had begun, Takahata Shun and his classmates witnessed their teacher's head exploding. Shun notes later on that he saw the Daruma coming out of the teacher's head. Without any warnings nor explanation, the Daruma begins the game while people are confused and scared. After a few students were eliminated from the game (killed after breaking the rules; moving), Shun's class' Student Council Chief is the first to grasp the concept of the game and tells everyone not to move.
They soon notice a button on the Daruma's back, and Aya notices the timer. She warns everyone that they most likely had less than 3 minutes left, and she and Satake attempts to press the button, but the Daruma unexpectedly changes its speed in its chant, surprising everyone. Unluckily for Aya, her fingers were caught onto Satake's bag, and as the latter was too scared for what his bag had caused, she unfortunately died when the bag fell down, dragging her hands in the sight of the Daruma. Devastated, Satake tried to go to her corpse and dies as well.
Furious, an Unnamed Class Delinquent-like student (most likely one himself) decides to go for it, motivating other students to go with him to press the button, but they all die. Thought to be left alone, Shun finds himself alive with the Student Council Chief and the two tries to press the button while following the rules. They almost fail when the Student Council Chief trips, but Shun reaches and grabs the Daruma right as it turned around. They end up alive, but then the Student Council Chief's head exploded, and the Daruma announced the victory of Takahata Shun.
After the game, when Shun wakes up from a nightmare he had and discovered that the scarring Daruma game was real, the Daruma tells him to go to the gymnasium.
Actual Game Details[]
Daruma(-san) ga Koronda is the Japanese equivalent of the American "red light / green light" game, which at least three players have to play. The name of the game literally means "the Daruma doll fell down". There are many variations of the game and the rules many change based on region or merely the group or people playing the game.
Real life daruma doll
Daruma doll[]
The Daruma doll, also known as dharma doll, is a hollow, round, traditional Japanese doll modeled after Buddhism. These dolls, though typically red, vary greatly in colour and design depending on the artist.
Though considered a toy, daruma dolls have a design with great symbolism and is a talisman of good luck to the Japanese, therefore making them a good gift for encouragement.
Trivia[]
- In Shun's game, we can learn about his class;
- named but unknown; Kinoshita, Suzuyama,
- named and known; Shun, Satake, Aya
- titled; Shun's Sensei, Student Council Chief