Despite the fact that it’s mandatory to progress the quest about disposing the corpses is treated like any other optional challenge quest mechanically. So let’s get the formalities out of the way:
Shinjuku Quest 3 - Corpse Disposal
There we go. The Ashura-kai note in the description that they are not responsible for any injury sustained during the course of the quest, but how hard can it be to clean up a buncha dead bodies? The dude standing guard by the east exit will let us pass now that he can see that Flynn has the quest registered on his Gauntlet and we’re herded aboveground to east Shinjuku. The East Entrance area should look familiar as it’s actually the same location used for those grinding DLC quests from earlier, only more intact and not on fire. Right away Burroughs says that she detects a strong demon and we can see a red blob apparition visible all the way in the northwest corner of the area. Let’s go check it out.
Corpses
HP
- 650
- Weak to Fire; Nulls Gun, Ice, and Dark
- Binding Claw - Deals moderate Physical damage and may bind one enemy.
- Life Drain - An Almighty-based attack that absorbs some HP from one enemy.
- Bind Voice - Attempts to bind all enemies.
So as it turns out the corpses we’re supposed to clear away are actually demons consisting of a couple zombies who have melded together to form one big, writhing abomination before God. And they’re simple to take down - just lay into them with Fire attacks. If they succeed in binding anyone eh, no biggie. Obariyon can remove it with Patra and they can be recruited in this area.
That’s only the first of seven that we have to defeat. The rest of the Corpses are scattered all over the east side of Shinjuku but fortunately it’s one big loop essentially and it’s very relic-rich. North of the East Entrance is Kabuki-cho, a famous/infamous entertainment and commercial district full of nightclubs and more unsavory establishments. It’s laid out in an organized grid pattern and there are a couple side rooms here containing demons who claim that they’d rather eat something the Ashura-kai have developed called “Reds” instead of humans. Hm.
Now speaking of the Ashura-kai there’s a new enemy in that family prowling the streets of the red light district and it goes by the name of Hoodlum Horde. If you encounter one, annihilate it as fast as you can! This is because they come with the notorious Macca Beam which doesn’t hurt your body, but your soul. Originating in Strange Journey Macca Beam works by vanishing your money, I think roughly 20% of your total? That was annoying enough in Strange Journey, but it’s even worse here thanks to money being so much harder to come by. On the flip side, unlike the solitary Ashura Man they’re a true Money Spider by virtue of dropping a grand of macca after each battle.
Connecting directly to Kabuki-cho is the Golden Gai, a series of connected alleyways in real life that are packed full of bars and such. Once we’ve cleared the Corpses out here we gotta return to Kabuki-cho and take an underground passage over to Ni-cho where we can hack down some wormwood to open the way back to the East Entrance. According to Wikipedia Ni-cho is Tokyo’s premiere gay life district and now that I look at the place I can see that a lot of the signage is pink and some have “ROSE” and “LILY” written on them. Anyway, the last two Corpses are located here and once they’re taken out the quest is marked complete and we’re awarded with…a single slab of Succulent Meat. …well, I guess that would be typical of the Ashura-kai…
But we’re not done yet! A Hunter immediately appears before us, none too pleased that we’ve cleared out all the zombies. The Corpses were all his doing apparently, and he rages against the leader of the Ashura-kai, Tayama, for preaching empty words about coexisting with demons while all the common people of Tokyo are stuck in the underground. He declares that he’ll smash up Tayama’s precious Tokyo and kill anyone who gets in his way - and he illustrates this by taking out one of the Reds that was mentioned earlier and pops the pill which transforms him into a demon. Interesting side effect if I do say so, especially since he’s switched genders in the process and become a Dullahan, the headless fairy from Ireland. But no fear - Walter, Jonathan, and Isabeau have all returned to lend Flynn their aid!
Dullahan
HP
- 1032
- Weak to Elec; Resists Physical; Nulls Dark
- Blight - Deals Physical damage and may poison all enemies.
- Mudoon - A Dark-based attack with a high chance of instantly-killing one enemy.
Dullahan has a guest artist design and has a fully blown-up battle sprite…yet is only a mini-boss, and not a very difficult one at that. Mudoon can be ugly but there are plenty of demons available right now that null Dark like Parvati, Sedna, and Macabre and Flynn’s guaranteed a Dark-resistant armor in the Black Demonica. She shouldn’t last any more than three turns at absolute most.
Winning earns us a Tetraja Stone.
All the apprentices really have to say to that outburst is that Unclean Ones must have their own troubles and Isabeau wonders how they came to be known as Unclean Ones. I believe the Japanese term was kegarebito and kegare is a type of defilement in Shintoism that you get from your surroundings rather than through direct action. Interesting. Dullahan’s unlocked for fusion as the penultimate Ghost demon at Lv. 67. Notably the Corpses demon can actually be fused too as it’s part of the Undead race but fusing it is…a major pain in the ass to say the least.
That’s because Corpses can only be fused via a fusion accident. This is a mechanic where basically something goes wrong during fusion and you get a demon other than what was intended. In practice it can be any demon, so the chances of getting what you want via accident any time you fuse is well, pretty small. There are ways to manipulate the process a bit (the fusion contains a Foul demon, the fusion contains a KO’d demon, etc.) but it’s still a monumental pain since unlike past games there’s no way to guarantee a fusion accident. Corpses isn’t the only demon that’s exclusive to accidents though - most of the Famed race (Yoshitsune, Jeanne d’Arc, Lanling Wang, Hagen, Siegfried, Kanseiteikun, Rama, Tokisada, and Huang Di) are accident-exclusive as well. Big, big pain in the ass for completionists.
Before we head back underground there’s actually a Domain we can access in the East Entrance area, and the guardian demon is…
Sui-ki
HP
- 1269
- Weak to Fire; Resists Dark; Reflects Ice
- Fatal Sword - Deals moderate Physical damage to one enemy.
- Rakukaja - Raises Defense.
Zzz…
This Domain contained the Corked Bottle relic. Better hold on to that.
Now that the Corpses are dealt with we’re still not actually done with Shinjuku yet, for the bartender in the Hunter Association says that if we were tough enough to handle that outbreak we should consider taking a crack at the Metropolitan Building. According to that Ashura-kai member at the shutters at the far end of the underground some Jirae demon has set up shop there and has been giving them any number of headaches. So in exchange for agreeing to take it out he’ll open the shutters for us so that we can reach Shinjuku’s west side and he’ll give us the Jirae Talisman upon completing The Seat of Government. Sounds like a decent deal so we accept.
Compendium
- Hathor
- The Ancient Egyptian goddess of luck and love, married to the god of the sky, Horus. Despite this gentle nature she was said to have turned into the literally bloodthirsty war goddess Sekhmet at one point in time until Ra placated her with blood-colored beer, returning her to her normal self. This story likely reflects the unrest in Egypt during the time before the upper and lower parts of the country were united to form the Middle Kingdom around 2000 BC.
- Obariyon
- In Japanese folklore an Obariyon is a monster that leaps out from the brush at a hapless traveler and attaches itself to their back. While extremely heavy and hard to remove, if the victim manages to reach their home anyway the Obariyon will turn into a small cache of gold coins.
- Corpses
- Corpse is simply an English word used to refer to dead bodies. This demon appears to be made of numerous reanimated bodies that have melded together into one big collective mass.
- Senri
- Senri are a variation of the nekomata yokai that are derived from extremely long-lived wildcats as opposed to the more well-known nekomata forming from the common domestic house cat. They can take the form of attractive men or women to drain energy from humans so there\'s a little trace of succubi/incubi in there too.
- Sedna
- Sedna is a one-eyed Inuit goddess whose domain is the sea and its creatures. She used to be a beautiful princess who was tricked into a loveless and abusive marriage and when she tried to escape on her father\'s boat her husband sent a flock of murderous gulls after them. Her father pushed her overboard and mutilated her when she tried to climb back aboard.
- Thoth
- Thoth is an Egyptian god that is commonly depicted as a man with the head of an ibis bird. Initially his role was to maintain the universe but in later Egyptian writings he became a god of arbitration, mediation, and knowledge. In this role he is depicted with a baboon\'s head instead and he is the discoverer of many scientific, literary, and philosophical disciplines.
- Ubu
- An Ubu is a spider-like monster born from the spirit of a deceased baby. They cling to and kill passerby and the recommended way of dealing with one is to throw a shoe over your shoulder and trick it into thinking it\'s their mother.
- Dullahan
- The Dullahan is a headless Irish spirit that can be either male or female. Their heads, hideously decayed and leered, are held in the crook of their arm. Usually they either ride a horse or a horse-drawn carriage that\'s made from human bones and skin and adorned with candles that cast an eerie light. Wherever a Dullahan stops someone is fated to die and they whisper the name of the doomed to call away their soul.
- Yoshitsune
- Full name Minamoto no Yoshitsune, Yoshitsune was an actual historical figure from the 12th century. Yoshitsune was a famous general who fought in the Genpei War, which saw the Minamoto and Taira clans fighting for control of the imperial court. Though the Minamoto clan won the war, in the following years Yoshitsune was betrayed by the Fujiwara clan with whom he was allies, and he and his family committed seppuku in the early summer of 1189. Today he is enshrined in the city of Fujiwara of the Kanagawa prefecture.
- Jeanne d\'Arc
- More commonly known as Joan of Arc. Joan of Arc was an actual historical figure from 15th century France who was inspired by visions from God to join the French army during the Hundred Years\' War against England. She became known as the \"Maiden of Orleans\" after her role in ending the English siege of Orleans, a turning point in the war for the French. However, in 1430 she was captured by French forces loyal to England and accused of witchcraft, and a year later was burned at the stake. Posthumously she was cleared of wrongdoing, and in 1920 she was canonized as Saint Joan by the church.
- Lanling Wang
- Lanling Wang, or \"Prince of Lanling\", was a title given to Gao Changgong, a 6th century general of the Northern Qi Dynasty of China. Gao was a very popular general most famous for repelling the invading Turks and defeating the Northern Zhou who were laying siege to the city of Jinyong by fighting through an army of one-hundred thousand with only five-hundred cavalryman. According to legend none of the defenders recognized him until he removed his mask and the sight of him filled them with courage. He was poisoned by the emperor in 573, and the Northern Qi Dynasty met its karmic end at the hands of Zhou a few years later.
- Hagen
- A figure in the Germanic epic Nibelungenlied. In the poem he is a violent, half-elven warrior who kills the hero Siegfried by stabbing him in the back, the only vulnerable part of his body, and throws his hoard of treasure into the Rhine. In turn, he himself is slain by Siegfried\'s vengeful wife Kriemhild.
- Siegfried
- Siegfried is the legendary hero of the Nibelungenlied Germanic epic. He was said to have skin that was as hard as iron after bathing in the blood of a dragon but thanks to a fallen leaf had one vulnerable spot on his back. He met his end due to a squabble between his wife Kriemhild and Queen Brunhild of Iceland; Kriemhild embarrasses Brunhild by claiming that Siegfried took her virginity (he did not) and the queen has the warrior Hagen kill Siegfried by stabbing him with a spear in his one vulnerable spot.
- Rama
- Rama is the seventh avatar of the god Vishnu and the hero of the Hindu Ramayana epic. The Ramayana details his life as the prince and later ruler of the city of Ayodhya in India and of the war he fought against Ravana, the king of the Rakshasa, after his wife Sita was kidnapped. During his journeys and battles his allies included Hanuman, the inspiration for the hero Son Wu Kong, the vulture demi-god Jatayu, and Vibhishana, a Rakshasa who turned against his brother Ravana.
- Huang Di
- Huang Di is the legendary Yellow Emperor who supposedly ruled China during the 27th century BC. Whether he actually existed or not has not been proven, but his myth credits him with many inventions and achievements that bettered the life of the Chinese people to the point where he could be considered the inventor of Chinese culture. He became the ruler of China after defeating both the Yan Emperor of central China and the monstrous warlord Chi You. Huang Di also had a great knowledge of the supernatural and died after meeting a phoenix and a qilin after ruling for a hundred years.
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