Who Killed Cock Robin

Who Killed Cock Robin is the first chapter of the Deadman Wonderland manga.

Ganta Igarashi's life takes a turn for the worst when a man possessing unheard abilities known as "The Red Man" relentlessly murders everyone in his class but him. He is impaled by a red crystal and is sentenced to death at Deadman Wonderland - a theme park-like prison, after a suspicious and unjust trial. There, he meets a strange albino girl named Shiro who claims to be his friend and after a series of events discovers that he too had similar powers to that of The Red Man.

Summary
The chapter opens with a scene of young children, a boy and an albino girl, (Ganta Igarashi and Shiro) playing together as a weeping woman plays the piano and sings the Woodpecker Song. The following pages show images of various unnamed soldiers fighting and dying by the hands of a blood-covered, armor-wearing man that causes immense amounts of destruction.

The scene changes to a short description of Deadman Wonderland and then to Ganta Igarashi at school as he watches an advert about Deadman Wonderland on his cell phone. As his friends (Mimi and Yamakatsu) are introduced and usual the usual school routine plays, Ganta hears the familiar but forgotten tune of the Woodpecker Song. Turning to see where the source of the song came from, Ganta sees the same armored man previously shown, at the window and floating.

Almost as soon as Ganta acknowledges this, the floating man (dubbed by Ganta as The Red Man) releases an unknown and powerful attack on the classroom thus, blowing a huge hole in it. Ganta, once recovered from the impact, asks Mimi if she's alright only to see her severed head in the grasp of The Red Man and the rest of his classmates brutally murdered as well. As the Red Man approaches Ganta, grinning wildly, he forms a red crystal, the Crystal of the Nameless Worm, from the palm of his hand and impales it into the center of Ganta's chest, knocking him unconscious.

As Ganta's consciousness returns, he awakes to find himself in a hospital and is instantly charged with the murder of his classmates and teacher. When the memory of the event comes flooding back to him, Ganta checks his chest for the scar from the Crystal of the Nameless Worm but finds it unharmed as if nothing had happened.

Then, after a suspiciously short trial, Ganta is sentenced to death at Deadman Wonderland and soon encounters Makina, the chief warden, as she explains the 'truth' behind the gates of Deadman Wonderland. After a series of events involving Yō Takami, Makina is shown to be talking with Tsunenaga Tamaki, the same person who was Ganta's lawyer in the trial, revealing that he is the boss of the prison.

After, Shiro is shown singing the Woodpecker song at the top of one of the rides and somehow smells Ganta's scent despite that being humanly impossible and him being far away. Ganta, obviously traumatized by the events, cries uncontrollably whilst talking to himself until the point he wishes to be dead. Shiro, overhearing this, bursts through his window and attempts to kill Ganta (as she believes he really meant it) and questions why Ganta dodged her attacks. Without giving him time to respond, Shiro feels his chest and realizes that he was lying due to the fact that his heart was beating rapidly (which is more likely to be because of the sudden adrenaline rush).

Shiro then informs him that they are friends and a quick flashback shows a close-up of the children playing beforehand and therefore reveals them to be Ganta and Shiro. Ganta retorts saying that friends wouldn't try to kill one another but, that brings back the memory of him being accused of just that.

In another scene, Tamaki is shown reading Ganta's defense statement and points out that seeing the Branch of Sin of the Wretched Egg and living is incredibly lucky.

Ganta is made to clean up the mess Shiro caused and reports to the construction site. At the construction site, Shiro comes out from a manhole with a biscuit and states that he should be happy as he doesn't really want to die. They are soon attacked by other prison members and one of them recognizes Ganta and his "crime". Shiro comes to his defense until she is hit by one of the men. Showing no reaction to the attack, Shiro surprisingly defeats him with a kick as she does a backward handspring, but is then knocked-out with a shovel to the back of her head.

Suddenly, a bomb goes off at the top of a tower which causes a large sphere to come crashing down and the thugs run away. Ganta has an epiphany about his life and the events in it as the Red Crystal in his chest re-appears. This then causes blood to be released from his body and produce a projectile which is surrounded by similar hexagons as of the Red Man's attack, which he then fires at the sphere which destroys it.

Ganta, not really acknowledging what he had just done, thinks to himself with a new-found hope as the chapter closes with a broken duck-shaped speaker saying "Welcome to Deadman Wonderland" and a close-up of a crystal.

Characters in order of appearance

 * Ganta Igarashi
 * Shiro
 * The Weeping Woman (flashback)
 * The Red Man
 * Mimi
 * Yamakatsu
 * Tsunenaga Tamaki
 * Makina
 * Kasuga Kyōko
 * Yō Takami
 * Unnamed thugs

Trivia

 * The title Who Killed Cock Robin is the first line from an English nursery rhyme Cock Robin, which has been much used as a murder archetype in world culture.