UQ Holder

but to assume that society is on the edge of collapse is a step too far.

Friendly reminder every timeline shown/mentioned so far eventually does end up in a collapse and a war between the worlds.

edited 18th Apr '15 7:55:53 PM by NapoleonDeCheese

I thought the central plot was Touta wanders around vaguely, occasionally tripping over more interesting character's subplots.

edited 18th Apr '15 8:06:43 PM by Arha

That said, from what little we saw of Asuna in the future, things appeared to have panned out fairly well, so whether or not things were ever as bad as they are in Holder is questionable. Unless Holder does lead to that sort of end, but eh.

It is fatalist to treat society based on what will happen 15 years in its future when there's no current signs of war in motion, and I'm hesistant to say it "collapsed" considering how Asuna woke up.

What matters in the story is what we have right now, and what we have right now is stable. Not good enough to not have big problems in need of fixing, not bad enough to call it any form of apocolyptic, and not chaotic enough to swing it in any particular direction. What we have is a status quo.

edited 18th Apr '15 10:22:23 PM by Watchtower

Not what Akamatsu says on the sticker with the "world in upheaval" line. Things will probably get worse because drama.

And I wouldn't say the world Akamatsu has shown us is "stable" when a first world country like Japan can get away with hiring mercs to flat out burn down towns with no political ramifications, even if they try to buy people's silence. Thats not a good sign of global health or stability.

Um, I can understand there being possible political influence in whoever hired Strong Hand, but you make it sound like Strong Hand was contracted by the government itself. I never got that impression.

edited 18th Apr '15 11:15:25 PM by Watchtower

What difference would it make? Hell, its even worse if a bunch of losers with a pile of money can actually get full blown muscle with military grade tech (Strong Hand or otherwise) and operate with full impunity in what was once a first world country. Name me the last time you ever heard of a company hiring out PMC's in a country like Japan or the states and actually commit atrocities like that out in the open.

Between that, the line between the haves and have nots being exasperated in regions that shouldn't have that problem, most of rural Japan outside the cities being described as ghost towns, and the newfound divide between mages and humans, I cant begin to see how the status-quo has been maintained when everything has gone down the pooper.

Japan has slums that stretch for miles outside the city. That ain't right.

edited 18th Apr '15 11:43:55 PM by SkormSnow-Strider

Status quos can change you know. I never implied that any old status quo had persisted. There is a current status quo based on the current landscape, and when I say the status quo is maintained I mean that nothing radical enough has happened to drastically shift the status quo within the context of this manga.

That said, I actually will retract my previous statement. I've been thinking too much in regards to active conflict and immediate changes. Slums are by their very nature unstable environments, and the sheer rampancy means that I cannot call Japan stable without coming across as short-sighted. That said, on a sheer immediate scale I can only see a chaotic shift happening when Akamatsu kicks up the drama.

edited 19th Apr '15 12:44:49 AM by Watchtower

Given that the status quo has shifted toward a inflated social-economic gap which was proceeded by a vague environmental catastrophe (which wasn't elaborated on), I'd say things have steadily gotten worse across the board. Its obviously changed for the worse by in large, so even this being the "norm" doesn't scream that its nearing crapsack territory.

And thats assuming the upheaval thing doesn't rear its head anyway. Twenty bucks the finale of thr tournament will cause a inter-world incident, given what its trying to represent.

Actually I think the point is you don't hear about stuff like that going down. Because well, the slums are also kinda meant to represent 3rd world countries (I think) as well as slums where lots of crap happens and nobody notices.

It's a world that is far worse for the wear than the current one, and that's already saying something. I don't think that can be denied, since last time I checked we haven't gone through world scale disasters killing thousands to millions in recent history yet. And for all the talk on the future and tech, with most of the advances so far only having to do with some application of fighting or another, what relatively little progress there has been seems to have done little for public wellbeing. Even the cybernization thing, which would be a huget asset for terminal cases, so far we only have seen it applied on two people who are part of one elite or another. It's unlikely it's widespread for common usage.

Because well, the slums are also kinda meant to represent 3rd world countries (I think) as well as slums where lots of crap happens and nobody notices.

I live in the Third World, in the seventh most dangerous city in the world according to recent studies, and let me tell you, were armed mercenaries coming to our neighborhood to burn a church down, the police would at least bother to show up after a while. In the UQ-verse, security enforcers don't even show up when superhumans are having large scale fights in one of the most important places in the world, the ultra-expensive Space Elevator.

edited 19th Apr '15 7:21:39 AM by NapoleonDeCheese

Spoilers for Chapter 77.

Fate apparently is a chubby chaser, which apparently is the most hilarious thing this manga has ever come up with. Really, I can't get mad at that, it's just great. Only thing I can say against is I'm fucking mad we never were shown his reaction to meeting Satsuki, then, although maybe she just wasn't fat enough.

That...that would actually a funny development. I approve.

Images out. If that wolf thing is some manifestation of ME, congrats Akamatsu, you managed to make ME even lamer then I thought possible.

edited 20th Apr '15 11:27:50 AM by SkormSnow-Strider

Either that or a certain Hanyō is back.

It looks more like some sort of mindscape thing going on. It more looks like either a bigger version of Al's resort or its Eva's. Watch as Eva weakened her powers because Touta is super important, or its a manifestation of Touta's vampirisim or some such nonsense.

edited 20th Apr '15 11:56:50 AM by SkormSnow-Strider

Once again, this series proves it can't go past five chapters trying to be on its own legs before running straight back to the Negima well.

Too bad Holder can't hold any water on its own.

All of them, if you have no standards.

What a weird question. Almost all series can hold water on their own, for better or worse, with no need to reference the events and characters of others, because most series aren't followups to previous series. UQ Holder is just an aberration in this (and others) regard.

Chapter out. Oh god, Fate referencing the explanation on the breast expansion spell in the back of a Negima volume.

"It's like everybody I meet just up and kills me these days." Either that and/or they want to train you.

edited 21st Apr '15 5:28:51 PM by Second_Banana

Well I already hate the fat vampire bitch so kudos to Akamatsu for making a completely unlikable character again.

So right off the back we get a stupid retcon for vampires. Also, she's really annoying.

edited 21st Apr '15 8:25:13 PM by Arha