Chapter 17: Father of a New Race
Kouta awkwardly apologizes to Yuka for the slap in the face thing, even though she was definitely the one acting irrationally. She's already asleep, which just makes things more uncomfortable for him as he has to cover her rear, which naturally is when she wakes up. Okay, it was funny for a while, but I think the joke's officially played out. At least the payoff is another Crowning Moment Of Funny; Kouta asks if she's going to hit him, Yuka says no and kicks him in the face. Luckily Nyu enters, though I don't know how she found her way back, so Yuka takes her away to fix her up while Kouta takes a call from the hospital.
Mayu has reappeared, having fainted during the fight. She gave the hospital staff the inn as her residence, so Kouta says she's a visiting relative. On the way back, Kouta asks why she didn't tell them about her own family, causing Mayu to flip out and apologize again. I think there may be something more than homelessness that she's hiding.
Kurama reports to his own boss, who says there's more important things than capturing Lucy right now. So this guy is now probably the true Big Bad, though we don't see his face yet. Elsewhere, the other scientists discuss how the SAT members are dropping morale fast, a big part of which is that they have no real idea why they're even doing this job. There's also a bit about how the president is supposedly the only one who can command SAT despite Kurama ordering them around, but it doesn't make much sense for now. Besides, it's time for the Big Bad's true introduction; he has "Uh-Oh" Eyes and wants to have a child with Lucy so their descendants will consider him a god. Yeah, good luck with that.
An interesting move to have the main villain start out as utterly insane and just build from there. We now have basically every bad guy achetype in here, which should make for some fun moments when they all get together. Also nice to see that Mayu isn't just going to be forgotten, which I was kind of worried about.
edited 26th Jan '10 7:08:27 PM by Eegah
Chapter 18: The Girl's Past
Kouta invites Mayu in for dinner, and things naturally go a bit off when she sees Nyu. Eventually Sunnydale Syndrome hits and she convinces herself she must have imagined the whole thing, which I'll give them this once but I hope they don't make a habit of it. Mayu also screams again during dinner, so Kouta just outright asks what the deal is. Mayu flashes back to a shadowy figure telling her they'd be fine if she died, and still refuses to talk about it.
After an adorable panel of a very full Wanta sprawled on the ground, Mayu takes him and goes, noting that they'll be eating from the garbage again tomorrow. The Woobie continues on. Inside, Kouta and Yuka wonder if they should have let her go, but figure it's not their place to pry.
Things get worse for Mayu as that friendly shopkeeper is closing up for good tomorrow, and she has another flashback: her stepfather repeatedly raped her, and when she finally told her mother about it she got a slap and the previous flashback line. Right after that she ran away, and picked up Wanta as a stray because he was like her. This girl really is just a Tearjerker incarnate. And there's still room to pound her down one more inch, as Wanta's real owner appears and accuses her of stealing him. Damn, maybe she would be better off if the story just forgot about her.
Not really much to add to that; it's just life kicking Mayu around again and again past and present. And given some of the other stuff that's happened in this series, there's no real guarantee that things are going to get better. My guess right now is she'll wind up doing a Heroic Sacrifice just to make it end.
edited 26th Jan '10 9:00:02 PM by Eegah
Chapter 19: Living Together
Because that last ending wasn't enough, we get to see even more of Wanta's owner yelling at Mayu and telling her to stay away from him. She just sits for a while, having already decided she wouldn't cry if this happened. Well, I didn't.
Kouta's found the woman Mayu got her food from, so now they've got to decide again what to do about it. Quite surprisingly, I'm completely caught up in this rather than wanting to go back to Lucy kicking ass. These two have emerged as really symathetic characters rather than the vehicles to get from one bit of violence to another they could have been, and seeing this responsibility thrust on them is equally compelling.
Mayu considers how this is her birthday, the day she hates most of all. She decided not to cry because it would make her too weak to survive on her own, but with Wanta gone she's reaching the breaking point. She suddenly remembers she should say goodbye to the bakery woman, who tells her about Kouta wanting to see her. This just makes her worried that they know about her.
Back at the firewood shelter, Mayu busies herself thinking of all the best food she can, but then a man sees her and tells her about a tsunami warning. She runs off again, now with absolutely nothing, and ends up going to the inn. Justifying to herself that they asked for this so she's not begging off them, she goes inside and straight into a Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming as Kouta and Yuka have set up a surprise party for her complete with a cake from the bakery woman. They ask her to stay as long as she needs, and after a perfectly timed bit of comic relief when Kouta asks her to help clean and Yuka shushes him, Mayu finally cries. Already plenty for a Tearjerker, but again they go the extra mile as Wanta has followed her and is sitting outside unknown to anyone. Hachiko
, anyone?
I thought for quite a while that Naoki Urasawa was the only mangaka who could make me cry, but that's broken now. I'm actually writing this paragraph a few minutes after the rest because I couldn't see the screen anymore. And like I said before, this series could easily have just been a mindless fun gornfest on the level of Jojos Bizarre Adventure (which I do like in its own way, at least the one arc I've read), but Okamoto really went the extra mile to make it something special, which I really appreciate.
Chapter 20: Meet Again
Time Skip to a very happy Mayu, which as far as I'm concerned is a Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming all by itself. She's been going to school for a while, which kind of makes me wonder what Kurama and the others at the lab have been doing all this time. After seeing her off, Yuka kicks Kouta awake; isn't he going to school too? Kouta takes the opportunity for more exposition that they got in touch with Mayu's mother and legally changed her address, though he and Yuka are wondering what went on there given how easy it was. They're still determined not to force Mayu to tell them, so instead they talk about how Kouta needs to get a job to keep their little household supported. Great to see this series actually remembers things like that. Yuka: "You should keep increasing the girl count." Does that mean what I think it does? Only in Japan, folks.
Thankfully, we also get confirmation that Kouta and Yuka are going to college. They've also been taking Nyu along with a ribbon hiding her horns, and she's started to pick up more words. Appropos of nothing much, Kouta points out how neither he or Yuka must be very smart, judging from the other students that got in this school. Kind of reaching with that joke.
At the lab, I Knew It! as Nana survived, and is now wearing prosthetic limbs that she moves with her vectors. She still has problems with fine motor controls, and we also see her slip out of one leg when she rushes to see Kurama. This should be a neat little twist; I really haven't seen anything like it before. She's a bit depressed over not being able to help anymore, but Kurama assures her she'll get the hang of it.
Kouta and Yuka discuss what clubs they'll be joining; Kouta's only real interest is going to the zoo, so Yuka declares if he won't join a club, she's not going to either. The Yandere's coming up again; run now. Behind them, Nyu gets scared of a monster stage prop and runs away; I'm sure hilarity will ensue.
Nyu comes across two sketchy looking guys who invite her to join their club; when one of them touches her ribbon she runs away, and bumps into...Bandou, now with Sinister Shades. Oh, Crap!, especially since she just said her favorite word. Okay, I was wrong.
After the incredibly emotional Mayu material, the series takes a step back from the emotion here. Though it's thankfully not too big a step with wacky college antics, as that would be too much of a leap even with how skillfully it's straddled the line between funny and emotional material before. Nana's situation also makes her an even more promising character than before, having to get used to a whole new way of making the slightest movement on top of her other issues. Though she may yet find a way to turn it into a Disability Superpower, given how badass she was before.
Chapter 21: Offspring
Bandou picks up Nyu one-handed by her hair and starts to feel for horns when he hears a bunch of other people also using the word. This gives us a Crowning Moment Of Funny even through translation difficulties; apparently in Japanese "nyu" can mean either freshman or large breasts, the latter being a guy who just goes up to a girl and says "You have nyu." He loses his grip and Nyu runs off, so he yells at everyone and slips, giving us a full body shot for the first time where we see he's still missing his right arm. There goes my idea that a superstrong mechanical arm was that experimental surgery Kurama was talking about. He continues to flip out, which we spend a bit too long on in another filler piece. Elsewhere, Kouta finds Nyu and can't understand her emotional reaction to seeing him, another nice bit of comic relief to take us out of the scene.
Bandou and another guy have a gratuitously expository conversation that they're here to see a group of mad scientists who operate out of this school. Apparently these guys are well known, so I don't know how they're still there. They meet one of them named Kakuzawa, an Affably Evil type who gleefully admits his work is "below human standards." This should be fun.
Yuka waits for Kouta at the track for something she's waited eight years for. Kind of an oddly placed scene.
Kakuzawa finally gives us the reason Bandou was so upset about this surgery: he's been infected by a "retro virus" and now needs to have his testicles removed. But his reaction wasn't for the obvious reason (at least, not entirely): he wants to have children someday, which Kakuzawa tells him will still be possible. Very unexpected piece of Hidden Depths there; I'm definitely interested in where this goes. The catch is that they'll be mutants, which he also has the obvious reaction to.
Surprise, surprise, Bandou may not be such a Complete Monster after all. This little reveal is so at odds with his previous characterization that I kind of doubt it can be developed in a way that makes sense, but this series has been so good so far that I'll see where it goes. The one area it continues to really lack in is expository dialog; I half expect the characters to turn and wink at me whenever it starts up.
Chapter 22: Prosperity or Death
Kakuzawa further explains that anyone touched by a vector will have mutant children, so they have to stop any potential kids of Bandou's right now. Somehow, he figures that this is a "prosperous" event, and Bandou naturally isn't too happy about that wording and grabs him. But Kakuzawa gets a Crowning Moment Of Awesome of his own when he simply looks at Bandou for a second, then punches him in the face before lecturing him not to do things like that anymore now that he can't see. I know, hitting a blind guy and all, but it's Bandou! Bandou says he'll just not have kids, but Kakuzawa also wants the genetic information on diclonius that's now inside his testicles. However, he says he can "do something" about it, which is Nightmare Fuel already.
When Kouta and Yuka get home, Mayu has already made dinner and prepared a bath, insisting she wants to do it after they've put a roof over her head. Kouta goes in the bath first, where his reflections on the situation are interrupted by another Crowning Moment Of Funny: a nude Nyu leaping into the tub with a look of pure glee on her face. She proceeds to hug him and makes him grab her breast again; I really hope this is going somewhere. Kouta tries squeezing again, apparently having forgotten that didn't work last time, and then Mayu comes in. But this isn't just a rehash of the earlier gag with Yuka, as the scene reminds Mayu of her stepfather and she leaves with new contempt for Kouta. Truly moving and awesome twist on a would-be gag scene.
Kakuzawa says he's been working on an antidote to the retro virus, but it isn't ready for testing yet. So he offers to tell the lab that Bandou's fine...if he has some mutant children. I can think of a few ways this could go, none of them good.
Having built up a few defining character moments, the series is now starting to put new twists on them to produce a new emotion, a very neat trick that I hope continues to be as successful as it is here. And whatever Kakuzawa's up to with breeding mutants keeps the dark undercurrent going and hints at a possible Even Evil Has Standards from some of our already established villains.
edited 28th Jan '10 8:34:43 PM by Eegah
Chapter 23: Teacher of Horns
Kakuzawa says they can't really do anything to stop human evolution, so instead he just wants to study the emerging new species as closely as he can. Bandou is outraged and declares he'll kill Lucy before the species can spread, but Kakuzawa points out that if that's the case, he'll do it as a eunuch. Bandou leaves with his little helper, only saying "There's no choice."
Yuka picks up on the tension between Kouta and Mayu during dinner, and asks her about it afterward. Mayu flashes back to her new suspicion of why Kouta invited her to stay, and declines to talk about it. We also see Wanta is still outside; damn, he really is Hachiko!
Kouta, Yuka, and Nyu all take a class together, though Kouta's mostly sleeping through it while Yuka worries about what will happen if Nyu gets called by the teacher. That teacher being Kakuzawa, so there's a very tense bit as he walks near them while building up to a question. The moment passes...but then Nyu shouts "Yes!" as he leaves. Equally funny and tense moment; nice job. Kakuzawa turns to look at her, and recognizes her.
The developing morality levels of the various villains continue to provide some fun material with them fighting among each other, but Nyu/Lucy's tenuous existence still remains the forefront and leads to a very suspenseful ending here, even though Kakuzawa can't do anything about his discovery at the moment with all those students around. And I continue to be very wrapped up in Wanta's fate; I hope that gets resolved soon.
edited 28th Jan '10 7:25:05 PM by Eegah
Chapter 24: Nyu Caught
Kouta and Yuka notice how weird Kakuzawa's acting, so they announce Nyu can't really understand him and start to take her outside. Kakuzawa's pretty much paralyzed as he tries to figure out what's going on, but gets over it and asks her if she remembers him. He realizes her enlarged pineal gland is cracking, and announces that class is cancelled and tells our heroes to stay behind. I think they're finally going to get involved for real.
After hearing the story, Kakuzawa threatens Kouta and Yuka with kidnapping charges unless they leave Nyu with him. Doesn't quite hold up to logical thinking, but I can definitely buy it as something that could momentarily seem plausible. But upon realizing they don't know anything about Lucy, he improves on it by saying she's his niece who disappeared. As they leave, Nyu keeps shouting Kouta's name, which is such an effective Tearjerker I don't even care that it goes on a bit long and becomes more filler.
And that feeling continues into the next scene, where Kouta talks about how leaving Nyu behind was clearly the right thing to do, but then starts crying, so Yuka yells at him for making her cry too. Finally they just hold each other. All from just a gorn series.
And now it's time for Kakuzawa to cross the Moral Event Horizon himself, as he's strung Nyu up naked and starts interrogating her. Though given the circumstances under which Lucy has emerged before, I think it won't be long before he comes to regret that.
Kakuzawa emerges into a larger role than it initially appeared he would have, with his being hinted to have Mengele-esque views on the mutants. Though I do hope Kouta and Yuka get drawn more directly into the story sometime soon; their constant glancing against the larger plot around them was fun for a while but I think it's about time to move on.
edited 28th Jan '10 7:30:56 PM by Eegah
Chapter 25: Ditched
Kakuzawa tells Nyu that she's going to have his children. Oh god, can't one villain who wants to do that be enough? He also says that would be too bad for his father, so does that mean he's the son of Kurama's boss? This family's Nightmare Fuel on their own. She keeps calling for Kouta so Kakuzawa gives her an injection in an unspecified place, though the needle's uncomfortably close to her face the last time we see it. It's a sedative, and afterwards Kakuzawa starts taking his shirt off.
Oh, thank god for the jump cut! Kouta and Yuka return home, not exactly in the mood to explain Nyu's absence to Mayu. They reveal it over dinner, and after another nicely timed comic bit where Mayu spills the beans about the bath she saw, she questions if what Kakuzawa said was true. Suddenly, everyone's completely suspicious of him, which seems a bit quick but anything to get this Nausea Fuel development over with.
Mayu goes to bed, and we get a moving scene where Yuka asks Kouta if he'd cry over her disappearance. He's kind of a jerk about it and heads to bed himself, leaving Yuka weeping alone. Nice how neither of them really has the high ground in this relationship; Yuka's irrationality and Kouta's ignorance simply can't help but conflict. Though once in his room Kouta finds himself tearing up, which he doesn't understand and berates himself over. Yay character development!
Nyu's been untied as Kakuzawa continues preparing, but then of course it's Lucy who gets back up. Kakuzawa gets a beautiful Oh, Crap! face in a full page spread, and she explains all the sedative did was knock out her other self. Let the fun begin.
The series seems to have settled into a comfortable rhythm: a bit of domestic comedy at the inn, plot development with Kurama and the other scientists, then we build to an emotional peak which is defused by Lucy showing up and kicking ass. Our understanding of her is also increased here, as the sedative's effects indicate that Nyu is not just the result of brain damage but a full-fledged second personality. The series also manages a nice little trick with her, as she should be a Complete Monster but with the occasional exception keeps going up against the most despicable characters the series can throw at her, making her into a Heroic Sociopath entirely by default, rather like a sci-fi Vic Mackey.
Chapter 26: Lebensborn
As Kakuzawa keeps freaking out, Lucy breaks one of his containers to confirm she has her vectors back. Kakuzawa introduces a nice little twist: it was him who arranged that impossible phone call that let her escape, and he'd even set up other ways to help though she didn't need any of them. He wants to create The End of the World as We Know It and destroy humanity, and takes off a wig to reveal he's a mutant too. I really didn't see this one coming, but suddenly those past scenes make a lot more sense.
Nana has gotten better at using her prosthetic limbs, and demonstrates with a gratuitous underwear flashing dance. She can also peel an apple, so Kurama agrees she's ready to go up against Lucy again. Kurama tells her to be careful, as Lucy's vectors have grown. Um, and he knows this how?
Kakuzawa reveals his family have been mutants for generations, but crossbreeding with normal humans have diluted their genes so they don't have vectors anymore, just horns. Now that another stable purebreed has appeared, he wants to work together to get revenge on the humans who persecuted his family for centuries. They really are putting every kind of villain into this thing, and it's still working. Except Wait What Whoa, Lucy silently rips his head off. Maybe that nude torture was a bad idea after all.
Well, that was definitely a great twist. I didn't predict it, yet it fits perfectly into what we've seen before and even makes some of it like Pa Kakuzawa's desire to be seen as a god make more sense. And just like that we lose the character, which works doubly well as it's a shock on its own, yet his father is still around so the reveal is still relevant.
edited 29th Jan '10 8:29:59 AM by Eegah
Chapter 27: The Liberated
Kouta goes back to the college to check on Nyu, rather callously telling Yuka she can wait for him. After she gets nice and pissed over it, Kouta hears a sound inside the house, but that'll have to wait.
Kakuzawa's assistant comes back from a snack run, and decides she'll have to go check in with him. Then she opens a door into Kouta, who says Kakuzawa wanted to see him. It just gets better and better. They discuss Nyu on the way to the lab, and the assistant says Kakuzawa doesn't have a brother, and also talks about the people with horns he's been "treating." Kouta goes Oh, Crap! more and more as she goes on, and she ends that the ones too far gone to cure get killed.
Gilligan Cut to Kakuzawa's head hitting the floor. Lucy actually seems regretful over it, even as she says she didn't need him. Kouta and the assistant walk in, but Lucy's gone. We get a pretty cleverly constructed sequence as they slowly catch on to what's happened, first not noticing anything before looking straight down at the head, and thinking the head is fake before they find the body. Kouta's attempts to figure out what's going on are intercut with Lucy walking out of the building, delivering an Offhand Backhand vector to a random woman as she goes.
Kouta is finally drawn deeper into the main plot, and it's just a matter of time before Yuka and Mayu are also affected, so I'm very happy right now. It's pretty much up in the air whether Kakuzawa's assistant will stay on as a recurring character, though given what she's seen already I think she will, as that would be a pretty big loose end.
edited 29th Jan '10 10:31:43 AM by Eegah
Chapter 28: Remodeled
Kakuzawa's assistant tells Kouta to just go home, and not tell anyone what he just saw. Seems she may be more involved than it appeared. Always nice to get fresh blood for Lucy.
The girl from the end of last chapter walks home from work, talking to herself about how lousy her job is. That's when Lucy comes by and we get the same Offhand Backhand, pushing her vector fingers right through the girl's head; I like to think she doesn't even break stride during it. Lucy thinks to herself "It's too early for this;" is that a clue to some larger plan of hers?
Kouta wakes up the next morning at the dinner table, and tries to make sense of everything again. He figures Nyu had to be the one who killed Kakuzawa, but then just goes back to sleep. That was exciting.
Bandou has been given those mechanical upgrades I suspected, though the eyes aren't quite working right, with a neat little blurring effect representing his new vision. He's decided to go through with the castration, but then asks the doctor how much weight the arm can handle. It's 50 kg, or 110 pounds, to which Bandou promptly punches the doctor in the face and declares he's Taking a Third Option. And as much as it pains me, that gets a Crowning Moment Of Awesome too. And despite his new eyes he's keeping the Sinister Shades, a nice little touch. The guy he went to the school with talks a bit with him, but accepts that he'll be back after killing Lucy. What An Idiot. He keeps walking outside, still swearing revenge on Lucy. You may have to get in line.
A bunch of different setup here, though I'm willing to wait given how good the fight scenes have been so far. With Nana and Bandou both after Lucy, the next big blowout should be even better. Though it does seem like Kouta and Yuka are once again getting left behind by the other subplots; I hope that's remedied after what Kouta saw.
Chapter 29: Links
Kakuzawa's assistant (apparently she is going to have a larger role, so a name would be nice) figures out from his corpse that the condition isn't a disease like she was told. But before digging further into it, she calls the police. So more of those guys, huh?
Kakuzawa the Elder (though I think from now on I'll just use the name itself, since I don't really have to worry about differentiating the two) tells Kurama about his son's death, which was undoubtedly Lucy's work. This brings up the question of what she's been doing since the fight with Nana, given the lack of similar reports. Yes, they're being smart about this! He also asks Kurama to "dispose" of Nana, as children of virus carriers can't reproduce, so she has no more research value and the risk that she'd turn on them is too great. This should push Kurama further to Anti-Villain territory.
Kouta has told Yuka what happened, and decides to skip class today to look for Nyu. Yuka asks if she can go along, and this time he says yes. Yuka's adorably overjoyed, and Mayu also offers to come as her class ended early. She also mentions walking Wanta, so they reunited offscreen? Shame there isn't a page for Missed Moment Of Heartwarming.
Kurama's assistant and his new secretary discuss Kurama's "daughter," causing him to butt in with the long-awaited backstory. He strangled his real daughter right after she was born, causing his wife to kill herself. Damn. See, this is why I held off on the Anti Villain thing.
Mayu goes to the beach where she was assigned to look for Nyu, and Wanta comes up to her. But Bandou's also there, which could develop either way if he recognizes her voice. I eagerly await finding out.
While missing Mayu and Wanta's reunion has me a bit pissed, the developments between all the other characters are great to see. Kurama's is especially engaging, showing a perfect example of J. Michael Straczynski's maxim of keeping audience interest by regularly answering questions, but in a way that provides more questions. He was actually being literal when he told Lucy he killed his daughter, but now the question becomes why he did it, since that action really doesn't match up with the character as we've come to know him. My guess now is he was just starting to learn of the danger posed to mankind, and briefly crossed the Despair Event Horizon at precisely the wrong time.
edited 29th Jan '10 5:09:13 PM by Eegah
Chapter 30: Knot
Mayu tells Bandou how good it is to see he survived, for which she gets shoved to the ground. But she just keeps being grateful. She's starting to show signs of Too Good for This Sinful Earth, which I really hope I'm wrong about. But when she warns him about stepping into a stream his eyes apparently didn't pick up, he remembers the voice. Bandou continues being a jerk about it, feeling like he's indebted to her now, and insisting Mayu tell him a way to pay her back right now. Mayu's too much of an innocent soul to come up with anything, so Bandou gives her a ready-made Chekhov's Gun with an offer to save her life at any one time, along with his contact information. Then he remembers about Lucy, and Mayu tells him about Nyu. That's how you do a good Spanner in the Works; she only makes things more complicated for the heroes, but you really can't fault her as it's all with the best intentions.
It suddenly starts to rain, so Kouta and Yuka go into a rest shelter. Of course, Yuka's wearing a white shirt, so the rain gives her another excuse to slap Kouta. It's been long enough that it's funny again. When she starts shivering, Kouta uses the old shared body warmth trick, but he seems to truly have only noble intentions, and even more amazingly, Yuka accepts that. Still love the development of these two. But it slowly starts to get more awkward as Yuka makes a weird scream and Kouta's legs numb up, until Yuka finally just asks if he likes her. He more or less says he does, so she kisses him. Talk about mixed signals; I can't wait to see what Kouta makes of this.
Really great character development all around here. Bandou shows another hint of being less than a Complete Monster, as no matter how big a jerk he is about it, he does show some standard of honor by feeling indebted to someone who saved his life and his offer seems genuine. And the scene in the rest shelter is a wonderfully realistic mix of emotions, both horribly awkward and increasingly sexy at the same time. It's a clear turning point in the relationship between Kouta and Yuka, and once again I'm impressed that I'm just as interested in them as the stuff with Lucy.
edited 29th Jan '10 7:51:21 PM by Eegah
Chapter 31: Detection
The kiss continues, then Yuka breaks it off, laughs a bit, then goes right back to it. It finally ends for real, and Kouta's kind of in a Heroic BSoD. Yuka asks if he'll let her stay with him now, and he just says yeah. They stay hugging a while longer as Yuka wishes this moment could continue forever. I think I'll retroactively give a Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming to this entire sequence; it's just beautiful.
But eventually the rain ends, with an awesome Mood Whiplash as Yuka suddenly remembers she got a bit...wet during the hug session. Even with the sexual material we've seen before I wasn't expecting that, and yet it once again develops perfectly from the situation so the tender moment we just had doesn't feel compromised. She tells Kouta to turn around while she slips off her underwear, but he can't help taking a peek at the most awkward time, so she falls backward for another Crowning Moment Of Funny. Innocent as the day he was born, Kouta points out "There's something slimy on your panties," and when Yuka punches him he asks why. This series really does have some of the best Mood Whiplashes ever, in both directions.
Back to Mayu and Bandou, as Mayu tells him about Kakuzawa taking Nyu. Bandou throws her to the ground again, which finally clues her in that he might not be such a nice guy. She says her brother goes to the college but none of them know Nyu well, but Bandou remembers her referring to Nyu with a familiar form before, a Japanese subtlety that can't really translate. He threatens to kill her unless she tells him how they're connected, but Mayu gets her own Crowning Moment Of Awesome by calling in the favor he owes her. I was hoping it would be a little more long term, but this is still a great use of it. Bandou throws her around a bit more but finally agrees and stalks off. But he's given just the tiniest bit of Pet the Dog when he hides nearby to make sure he didn't badly injure her. I'm now surprisingly quite invested in this guy as well.
Bandou's good side continues to show nicely, even if it's being dragged out of him kicking and screaming. At this rate he might end up moderately sympathetic himself. And Kouta and Yuka continue to be both fun and moving in equal measure, with a variety of emotions very skilfully woven together.
edited 29th Jan '10 8:55:57 PM by Eegah
Ah yep, now you've definitely reach my favorite bits. I mean, later bits are still good, but I think this is about when I started really liking the manga.
Chapter 32: Nyu's Past
Kouta and Yuka are still out looking for Nyu, as Lucy silently watches from behind them. Cue flashback, which promises to be her Start of Darkness as we see she never knew her parents and spent her childhood in institutions, where she was bullied horribly because of her horns. In one incident she's rescued by another girl, and goes on that she was found naked in a forest, and it's taken her this long to stop having thoughts about tracking down her parents and killing them. The girl offers to talk with Lucy about anything she wants.
Lucy goes outside to visit a dog, which she's kept secret from everyone else so it doesn't get bullied too. At the same time, she starts wishing she was stronger so she could defend it against those kinds of people, but for now just tells the girl about it. The girl then promptly goes and tells the bullies about it, and they kill it with a rock in front of her. And suddenly her freeing Wanta becomes much more of a Tearjerker. But it does lead to her first ever Crowning Moment Of Awesome, as her vectors are instictively unleashed and slaughter everyone in the room. That's right up there with Rorschach and that cigarette.
Lucy buries the dog in the woods, when a nice boy comes by and innocently notices her horns. Lucy's about to kill him too, but then he starts gushing about how cool they are, a definite Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming though it could still go very wrong in the next chapter.
The chapter goes a bit far in how nasty the other kids are to drive Lucy over the edge, but given that they're all wards of the state it's not as unbelievable as it could have been. Lucy's backstory is pretty predictable so far, but it's still nice to get confirmation on it.
Chapter 33: Promise
Okay, on further looks that boy from the end of last chapter was Kouta; just goes to show how unexpected it was. It's during that visit Kouta's family made to Yuka's house eight years ago, so we're going right to explaining more about Lucy's previous experience with him. He and Yuka cutely banter a bit before heading up a mountain so he can draw the landscape.
This brings us back to him meeting Lucy, who angrily denounces his compliment. Kouta offers to be friends until he leaves in a week, but Lucy refuses due to what happened last time, declaring she hates everyone. Yep, Start of Darkness all right. As she leaves, Kouta promises to wait in this same spot tomorrow, but when he returns, his father tells him there's a child murderer on the loose, so he has to stay in the house from now on. I definitely see where this is going.
Yep, the next day Kouta's father won't let him go out, and Lucy learns for good never to trust anyone. Except after a long time, where it starts to rain, Kouta has snuck out and gives her a hat to hide her horns. He takes her hand to lead her back to his house, in another Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming. Lucy has a very moving internal monologue about her growing attraction to Kouta and her reluctance to act on something that could get her hurt, which is even better as it's probably why she's coming on to him so aggressively as Nyu. She says Kouta can go on without her, but they'll play again.
Lucy breaks into a house and takes a shower, but finds everything in the fridge is expired. She says she needs to leave before the police come, with a sudden zoom out showing that she's killed the family who lives here. Back with the Nightmare Fuel once again, even worse coming from the more emotional child version of her.
Here Lucy's backstory takes a nicely unpredictable turn; even though it was revealed already that she and Kouta had met as children, seeing that he was the one person who was ever nice to her and didn't let her down fills in a lot of gaps and becomes quite moving in its own right. And it also just makes things even sadder, that his influence still barely put a dent in her descent toward hating all humans.
edited 30th Jan '10 2:12:28 PM by Eegah
Chapter 34: Scream
It's three days since Kouta told Lucy they'd play again, and she's starting to lose faith in him again. Who knew Lucy was such a Woobie as a kid? I guess that makes the present version an Iron Woobie.
There haven't been any more murders, so Kouta's father finally lets him go outside again. There's the expected fun stuff when Yuka hears he's going to meet another girl, and Kouta also remembers he doesn't know Lucy's name yet.
Lucy walks down the familiar stairs, as passersby comment on the new murders. She starts thinking that she'll need to take over a new house, and is shocked to find herself thinking about killing again. That's a neat little twist. There's a leprechaun who tells her to burn things, which is now saying she should kill someone she knows. She tries to shut it out, which happens to be when Kouta finally comes, just to tell her he's leaving. He offers to take her to the zoo, while Lucy just seethes that she thought she'd have more time with him. That can't be good.
Lucy's bored out of her skull at the zoo, but endures it for Kouta's sake. That's when she sees an elephant and completely geeks out over it before sheepishly trying to downplay her reaction. That's so cute. And then it happens again over a giraffe, and this has suddenly become a Fridge Brilliance Tearjerker knowing what she grows up to be like.
On the way home, Lucy remembers that Kouta's leaving and grabs him with both hands. He tells her the train is leaving in the late evening, then points out that it's hot as we cut to them wading in a stream. Kouta starts a water fight and Lucy joins in as awkwardly as expected; she forces herself to laugh, then completely overdoes her opening splash, escalating it until they're both soaked. This forces them to sit around nude waiting for their clothes to dry, and Kouta gives Lucy a jade stone from the stream. This gets Lucy gushes about how this is the best day of her life, which gets this another Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming.
Not much real development here, but it's still lots of fun to see young Kouta and Lucy simply having a good time together. It perfectly captures the feeling of being a kid and trying to have as much fun as you can with the time on your hands, which just makes me dread even more the part where it inevitably goes wrong. Plus, that voice in Lucy's head keeps the creepy factor in the back of your mind even while the fun stuff is going on, making sure we don't forget where this is going.
edited 30th Jan '10 2:29:57 PM by Eegah
Chapter 35: Lies
Kouta and Lucy ride the train back to town, and Lucy asks if she can go to the festival with him. Kouta says he's already promised to go with his cousin, which starts sending Lucy into a jealous tailspin that the voice in her head tries to turn into pure Yandere. She fights it off but realizes she's been strangling Kouta the whole time; well, that's awkward. She realizes she can't resist the voice, which is actually her own instincts, and asks Kouta to kill her if she ever does it again. I think that may become a Chekhov's Gun if Kouta ever remembers this, though a particularly Tearjerker one.
Lucy asks more about Yuka when they leave the train, and Kouta tries to spare her feelings by saying she's a boy. This immediately bites him in the ass when Lucy says she'll come by the station to see him off.
Lucy buries a letter in a glass jar by the tree where they first met; seems another Chekhov's Gun is in play.
We finally get to meet Kanae as she shows Kouta the shells she found, which he's pretty much a jerk about once again, so she kicks him. This whole flashback arc's really punishing with the in-universe Funny Aneurysm Moments. He also blows off Yuka's asking if he wants to tell her anything before he leaves, which is probably what started her own Yandere tendencies. She throws a shell at him and he pretends to be knocked out, but is surprised to see how affected Yuka is. That's plenty of Tearjerker just for this time period. Kanae returns with a very familiar looking shell; I guess her illness was just more of Kouta blocking out the truth of that train crash.
We get the same figurine cutting as before at the festival, but then Yuka hugs Kouta and begs him not to go. All he can think about is how screwed he'd be if Lucy saw this, and what do you know, she's gone to the festival stag. She goes over what she wants to tell him, clearly scared out of her mind at making herself this vulnerable, then comes across that tender scene of Kouta and Yuka. I'm starting to get a bad feeling about the cause of that train crash.
I really love how this Start of Darkness arc avoids gratuitously villainizing anyone. Kouta definitely could have handled things better, but everything fits into his character as it's been established, and he really had no way of knowing just how hurtful his actions would be. Lucy's battle with her murderous instincts after the dog's death woke them up also makes her more understandable while still not really letting her off the hook for her actions. Since I LB'd Paranoia Agent right before this, it really brings to mind what Harumi and Maria would be like if they were both awake at once.
edited 30th Jan '10 4:38:58 PM by Eegah
Chapter 36: Whisper
Lucy goes into Heroic BSoD at seeing Kouta and Yuka hugging, and some jerk promptly walks right into her, knocking her down and knocking her hat off. She imagines Kouta telling her he could never love someone with horns, and he just thought of her as a strange animal. It becomes clear her instincts are acting up again, as Kouta brings up the people she killed just to have a place to sleep.
Things now go completely Mushroom Samba as Lucy sees a headless body telling her she's not human, which melts into her dog being killed. Her mind then takes the form of what appears to be a young Nana as it pushes her further toward accepting that she's a homocidal maniac. She tearfully says goodbye to Kouta, and rips off the heads of everyone around her. Kouta and Yuka, having apparently walked away while Lucy had her little Despair Event Horizon, hear what's going on and meet with Kouta's father, though none of them know where Kanae is. But then she walks up covered in blood, and tells them about the horned girl killing people.
Love Lucy's whole crisis of faith that finally leads to her accepting herself as someone who kills humans. However, its placement here really smells of Retcon; even if Kouta blocked these memories out, why wouldn't Yuka bring up how there was a huge massacre at that festival, which Kanae claimed was done by a horned girl? You'd think some time while she was hanging around with Nyu, it would have come up.
Huh. I never thought about that. I can't think of any reason why Yuka would forget such a thing, either. :/
Chapter 37: Kanae
Kouta freezes up a bit at the mention of a horned girl, while at the site Lucy realizes no one's giving her a second look. And so she discovers she can use her vectors to kill people with impunity, just the kind of encouragement she needs right now.
At Yuka's house, Kanae insists she saw a bunch of arms come out of Lucy and kill everyone. Now that's quite an unexpected bit, though I don't see how much it can affect things since she's dead. They head out to the train, and Lucy watches nearby as we see the same scene of Yuka asking Kouta if he'll come back, and promises to wait for him. Kanae kicks Yuka for some reason, while Kouta realizes what he just said to her while he was thinking about Lucy.
On the train, Kanae gets a bit nasty again, and Kouta chastises her not to lightly use the word "kill." But he follows it up by telling her not to lie about horned girls, which doesn't really help. Kanae moves up a couple rows and shouts that she was telling the truth...and realizes Lucy's sitting right next to her. After an epic Oh, Crap! that takes up three panels, Lucy reveals herself to Kouta, then stands on her vectors. Kanae gets a quite unexpected Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu? and yells at Kouta to run, to which he slaps her and says he hates her. Okay, I really have no idea where that's coming from. Then he notices Lucy picking herself up again, which can't mean anything good.
I liked the interactions between everyone so far in this flashback, but here Kouta turns on Kanae way too harshly. And Kanae herself is a bit opaque with her random bits of nastiness for little reason, when we don't exactly have much time to develop her further. Hopefully things will pick up with the actual train crash, which is where this whole thing has been heading after all.
Nice work so far, after reading through this you've gotten me itching to read the manga again! =)
And to answer a question you posed a couple of times a while back: From my understanding, the Japanese don't have as much of an "incest" taboo when it comes to cousins. I don't think it's exceedingly uncommon for even first cousins to get married in Japan. This could be incorrect, as I can't remember what source I got that from.
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