Chapter 81: Communication
Another Crowning Moment Of Funny to start things off, as Arakawa tackles Kouta to the floor, not realizing that due to quickly throwing on a lab coat when he knocked, her bare ass is right in his face. Great to see that even with as dark as the series has gotten, Okamoto still hasn't lost his touch with bits of comic relief that come naturally from the situation.
Nousou tells Kakuzawa that Diana's out of the operation now, so apparently he really does have his own secret plan. Though Kakuzawa still surprises him first, as due to the clones only listening to him, he'll have to go out into battle with them in case something unexpected happens. And he'll have help, in yet another new villain who'd also be a Viewer Gender Confusion if he hadn't already been referred to as male, though at least he gets a better introduction than most with a *Click* Hello after being in the office the whole time without Nousou noticing. Nousou takes the opportunity to hit on him a bit; why'd they have to go the Depraved Homosexual route?
First line of the next scene: "I just kinda forget to wear panties! Don't jump to any strange conclusions!" Yeah, we're back with Arakawa and Kouta, and she makes a deal to help him with whatever he wants if he'll give Lucy to her. But Kouta's there to ask if she knew anything about where Nyu might have gone after they were attacked by Complete Monster. Arakawa's naturally not too happy to hear about that, but then she gets a call that he's dead. Uh, who from? Kakuzawa's the best possibility, but how would he know about it? With that she doesn't need Kouta anymore, and even tells him they're pretty much enemies, advising him to leave the whole situation. But having confronted his own uselessness in the last fight, Kouta's committed now. About damn time, and let's get to the action!
Nyu's still wandering around, and goes to the beach as she remembers Mayu telling her not to. Uh, okay. Her instincts kick back in, just as Kurama spots her from inside the shanty. Things are starting to look up for the approaching climax.
Kouta comes back home, but only Yuka and Nozomi are there. And Arakawa's followed him, quite justifiably outraged at how easy it was.
After all our heroes seperated last time, now the pieces are starting to be put back together again for the final showdown where all these plots and counterplots will hopefully slam together and leave the good guys standing. There's also a welcome return to the occasional comedy bit, which is nice to see as it's the first thing that impressed me about the series.
Chapter 82: Outcome
Nana kinds of...has a meltdown over the snow coming down, and another when Mayu tells her what Yuka's making for dinner tonight. Weird. Suddenly she shifts to asking Nana why she wants to kill Nyu, who's just another victim in all this. She prefers telling Nyu everything and trying to come to some agreement, plus Nana would be a murderer too if she did it. Nyu reveals herself to them, and when Nana attacks it turns out she's been slicing her wrists, until finally she decided to have Nana do the job for her. Just how dark is this series going to get before it's over?
Wanta has run away, and gets Kouta to follow him Lassie style. Kind of an odd thing to introduce all of a sudden. He finds everyone at the gazebo, but Nana declines to come back with them. Kouta manages to get through to her, in a Tearjerker slash Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming by saying he has to hear the whole story about what's happening somehow.
Everyone has dinner, and we find that Nozomi's exam results are supposed to arrive today, but have been delayed by the snow. After a Hope Spot that turns out to be a tofu delivery, Nozomi goes a little Tearjerker herself as she seems to have already given up on her dream. Kouta's very supportive of her in another Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming, and Yuka eagerly agrees to let her stay longer if she gets in. This gets everyone happy again, quite the rarity at this stage of the series.
After dinner, Nozomi admits to Kouta that she's actually very scared that she didn't make it, as she hasn't had any formal training. Kouta's again very supportive, and I continue shipping them. And in fact, Nozomi's starting to fall for him, but is so nervous about moving in on Yuka's turf that she pretends to wet herself.
The results arrive for real, the perfect time for Nousou and his little helper to arrive with some soldiers and the Lucy clones. A pretty nice metaphor for the way this series uses both its main action plot and the character scenes in tandem, actually.
What do you know, I'm actually disappointed when a personal character scene was interrupted by the main plot, even as I eagerly await where this is going. Very nice job there. Nana's writing is a little off early on, but other than that the chapter does a fine job getting everyone back together just in time for them to get involved with the big climactic showdown.
Chapter 83: Reminiscence
Nousou spots Nyu and has one of the clones, Cynthia, pin her to the ceiling. Kouta again shows his not too bright Determinator side and tries to fight the other effeminate guy, only to get bitch slapped to the floor. Nana then shows herself, and we learn the other two clones' names, Barbara and Arishia. I'm sure that'll come in handy when they're all exactly the same. Nana quickly gets her ass kicked, but snaps back into her defense of not being hurt that got her limbs ripped off the first time around. Not that it does any good, as Barbara and Arishia are able to snap her nerves with their vectors so her fake limbs fall off and she's in too much pain to use her vectors. Next Yuka gets pistol-whipped just to give one more Kick the Dog, and then one more when Nozomi's grabbed by the throat, possibly ending any singing ability. So, how am I supposed to feel about these guys again? This is when Wanta comes in and attacks, and Kouta uses the distraction to grab a gun and pin Nousou to the floor. He then gets his first present day Crowning Moment Of Awesome as he agrees with Nousou that he's not the killing type, but he has no problem blowing jaws off. Unfortunately, Nousou's teammate shoots Kouta through the back, an event that quite appropriately is very drawn out with a reaction shot from absolutely everyone. Nyu retaliates by cutting Cynthia in half, getting her first non-Lucy Crowning Moment Of Awesome as she gets her own vector abilities. But there is some good news: this near-death experience at long last brings Kouta's memory back for good. Nyu continues the CMOA by slaughtering the rest of the soldiers, expanding her arms further than ever before and even growing a pair of extra-large horns. Why? Who cares, it's freaking awesome. The few survivors retreat, leaving our heroes to deal with Kouta's wound.
Nousou and this other guy certainly make the most of their late entrance here, establishing themselves as completely overpowering our heroes until a quasi-Deus ex Machina kicks them out. And whatever the hell's going on with Nyu/Lucy/whoever's in charge now adds one more nice twist to bring to the final battle. And of course seeing Kouta permanently regain his memories has been a long time coming and definitely better late than never.
edited 8th Feb '10 11:10:02 AM by Eegah
Chapter 84: Broken Angel
Kouta lasts just long enough to tell Nyu he remembers everything before passing out, which she takes as her cue to leave. Just outside, Nousou still hasn't taken the hint and stuggles to come up with some way to take her down using only the two remaining clones. When Nyu exits he tells them to attack, but Nyu gets a whole new level of Crowning Moment Of Awesome when she Offhand Backhands his helicopter. After Nousou's beautiful Oh, Crap! at that, he has just enough time to see that half of the helicopter is headed right for him. But this just gives Barbara and Arishia their own Crowning Moment Of Awesome as they're able to catch the helicopter, though Nousou is still pinned under it. And that's when Nyu comes back and shoots Arishia, though Nousou exposits that the clones can keep using their vectors no matter how much pain they're in. There's a time and a place, mister. That's when it becomes clear that Lucy's the one in charge now, as she gets incredibly sadistic in shooting up their arms and legs. And seeing this actually puts Nousou through a What Have I Done, as he sees them giving everything to stop him from being crushed even though they could easily stop and kill Lucy. With that he commands them to let him die and defend themselves; man, this guy getting a Tearjerker death was even less likely than Bandou's and yet here it is. Kudos once again, Mr. Okamoto. Then it gets even worse as they refuse to listen, and Lucy finally kills Arishia by knocking her head off with a garden decoration. Then Barbara dives under the helicopter so she and Nousou can die together, which Lucy actually seems touched by. And that's when one of her new huge horns breaks off, the culprit being the dying Cynthia who Nousou's bodyguard grabbed on his way out. And that's when Kurama appears and mistakes Cynthia for Mariko. This fight's getting very complicated, and I love it.
Despite the abundance of unexpected Tearjerker scenes in the series thus far, I was still caught completely off guard by this one. Barbara and Arishia's Determinator prolonging of the clearly doomed Nousou's life even as they're being torn to shreds is incredibly moving in the same way as Nana's very first scenes; they had no idea how many good things they were missing out on, and unlike Nana they never will, only knowing a life of pain and misery thanks to the very person they were saving, and the fact that he recognizes that actually lets him go out with a good deal more dignity than he probably deserved.
edited 8th Feb '10 12:06:10 PM by Eegah
Finally, the horns!
Chapter 85: Family
98 pages? You're kidding, right? Okay, let's get to it. Kurama snatches Cynthia from Nousou’s bodyguard, then happens to notice the whole no legs thing. Cynthia dies for real right afterwards, and Lucy just asks him how it feels. Yeah, I dropped the ball a bit in not noticing that we still haven’t gotten the story of how Lucy came to be at the lab, but it seems that will finally be rectified.
We see a bit more of teenage Lucy on the street, killing a woman for her ice cream. Yeah, that’s pretty low. At the lab, Kakuzawa Jr. has crunched the numbers and concluded there must be an intelligent diclonius in the area. He also theorizes she’s the same one behind the festival massacre, and has gotten smarter about disguising her murders as heart attacks and strokes.
Lucy sits forlornly on a swing, watching happy people she can’t be a part of anymore. Yeah, if only there was something you could stop doing to make people accept you. She’s smashed in the face with a soccer ball, which gets her back into killing mode until another nice girl helps her and invites her to her house. Oh boy, this will not end well.
Lucy goes to leave as soon as her nose stops bleeding, but the girl asks her to be a model, as she’s already drawn Lucy sitting on the playground bench from the rear and has wanted to talk to her for a while. Then her abusive father gets home (that happens a lot in this series, like it’s by the Lost guys or something) and it turns out he blames her for his wife leaving. Lucy says she won’t kill him for his daughter’s sake but has another Crowning Moment Of Awesome when she slams him into the ceiling and carries the girl out with “You are an adult already, act like one.” This even gets the guy’s new girlfriend to insult him, kickass.
Back in the playground, the girl reveals that her mother left and became a renowned artist, so now her father hates her taking up drawing. She endures the abuse in the hope that her mother will come back, and she’s actually doing a local exhibition now but the girl is scared to talk to her. Lucy gets a Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming as she draws on her failure to tell Kouta she loved him, saying the girl will always regret not taking this chance. The girl also turns out to have hidden something she made to show her mother, and she’s so happy right now I just know it’s all going to come crashing down.
At the exhibition, the girl’s mother is also hopeful to see her, but doesn’t know if she can face her. That was exciting.
Lucy gets nervous when she considers how small the apartment was, and rushes over to find…the girl has killed her father. Damn, I did not see that one coming. When Lucy threw him into the ceiling, the painting she’d done of her mother fell out of its hiding place in the attic. He tried to cut it up, and when she pushed his arm the knife went through his throat. Yeah, just stick with that story. Lucy offers to turn herself in as the killer, and also says they should wait until after the girl sees her mother. Which is when her father’s girlfriend comes in and yells to the neighbors, so they have to run. Yeah, that didn’t take long.
Kurama and Kakuzawa Jr. go through town, while Kurama shares that he’s tracked their target’s actions back to the bullies’ murders at the institution, and has gotten a picture of Lucy. They get a call about the murder and head over.
Lucy and the girl go to the exhibition building hoping to find her mother, and Lucy rips off a doorknob with her vectors. The girl isn’t inclined to question it just now, but it triggers an alarm. There’s no one in the building, but the girl finds her mother has made a picture of herself holding the girl as a baby. That’s one for the Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming.
Kurama and Kakuzawa Jr. arrive, as Lucy and the girl finally have time to talk a bit about her powers. The girl’s completely taken by them and wants them to stay together, which clearly brings up memories of Kouta. The soldiers arrive, but Lucy rips up the whole floor as a shield, killing one of them along the way. Kurama sneaks around the side and fires, but the girl pushes Lucy out of the way and takes the bullet herself. I figured this whole time that something like this would happen, but it’s still a major Tearjerker.
Lucy’s Berserk Button is pushed once again, and the building explodes. The girl’s mother sees it from her car, while Lucy uses the distraction to get the girl to another room. Kurama finds them again, and offers to save the girl if Lucy comes with them. She’s taken by the soldiers without resistance, Kouta’s horn-hiding hat poignantly left behind.
Lucy’s now inside the restraints we first saw her in, and Kurama informs her the girl has died. Lucy silently swears to kill everyone he cares about too, which definitely explains some of her more violent actions.
And that’s it for the flashback, as Kurama grabs Cynthia and makes a run for it, with Lucy distracting the bodyguard from firing. With his attention finally focused on one thing, the bodyguard shoots Lucy’s other horn off and calls the lab to pick him up, given the whole no helicopter thing.
The next day, Kouta’s in the hospital with a hole in his lung, but the doctors are optimistic. Yuka’s mother is there too in what I think is actually the first time we’ve seen her, and agrees to take them both into her own house since the inn’s a real fixer upper now. Mayu comes in with news that Nozomi can’t talk, but Nana’s okay thanks to her super duper mutant healing. She walks out, but in a bit of a Contrived Coincidence goes right back to ask where the bathroom is, and overhears Yuka’s mother saying she won’t risk putting up another possible murderer. She has a Tearjerker breakdown in the bathroom, then comes back completely Genki Girl about wanting to help somehow. That’s one way to actually subvert Mood Whiplash, as she really doesn’t make the scene any more lighthearted. Mayu asks her to get some food to Kurama at the beach.
Elsewhere in the hospital, it turns out Nousou and Barbara are both still alive! Turns out Barbara had enough strength left to make a pocket in the helicopter for them to survive, then dig her way out. That definitely gets another Crowning Moment Of Awesome just for finding a way for them to survive that situation without cheating at all with what we saw. And it actually does make perfect sense for him to still be alive, since if he’d died that would mean no payoff for whatever we saw him planning. For now, Nousou has a broken leg that’ll have him laid up for three months, and he quite amusingly explodes at his bodyguard for being completely useless. Yeah, he’s got you there.
Lucy is back in the lab and chained to the wall, and Kakuzawa tells her she’s ready to have his children. Please let him die horribly.
Nana arrives at the shanty, but finds the quite disturbing Nightmare Fuel sight of a crazy Kurama holding the half-corpse of Cynthia. He then attacks Nana and says she’s just a test subject, a Tearjerker both on its own and for any future scenes with the two of them.
Well, it may have taken 98 pages (I still don’t quite believe it, and you’d better believe this post was written in stages) but we get another piece of backstory that fills in the one remaining hole and perfectly illustrates why Lucy has such hatred for Kurama without excessively villainizing him. The scenes in the present also nicely set the stage for the final battle, though there’s clearly still a bit more development to go through before we get there. But I’m sure it’s going to be epic.
edited 8th Feb '10 9:14:41 PM by Eegah
Hah. I remember that chapter. I'd only noticed how long it was once I got to around page 50 or so.
Well, after that monster of a chapter I decided to check out some of Lynn Okamoto's other work, and also up on Onemanga is an excellent one-shot of his called Allumage. It starts out looking like a stereotypical "I'm gonna be a star" manga story, but soon takes a quite unexpected and very suspenseful turn. Seriously, check it out; it won't take long to read and it's just as good as I expect from Okamoto now.
Chapter 86: The Insincere Night Sky
Nana keeps the Tearjerker going flashing back to each rejection she's faced, until her killer instincts bubble up. Once again we get a sound effect in a long shot, which I know the drill for by now; Nana did not just kill Kurama, whatever it looks like.
Mayu comes down the beach with Wanta, wondering what's taking Nana so long, and finds the shanty empty. Yeah, I've got that trick down cold, sorry Mr. Okamoto. We catch up with them in the woods, Nana swearing to never give up on Kurama. So, no explanation for what that sound was, then?
Kakuzawa reveals his horns to Lucy, telling her the whole past of his family. We've heard it all before, so I'll skip to when he tells Lucy they're going to create a new race of mutants together. Nice old time artwork depicting the family's far less human-looking ancestors, though.
In his hospital bed, Nousou continues a Heel–Face Turn, showing remorse for all the girls he killed after seeing how loyal his creations are. He grabs a knife to remove some gizmo from Barbara's head that causes her to obey him, as he now has to see how much of that loyalty was real. She doesn't kill him, but wanders outside where a nurse ominously comes across her. Nousou muses about his plan, which apparently involves bringing the clones to an amusement park. Okay, I'll wait and see where this is going. But then Barbara comes back in and throws the nurse's head in his lap, declaring that she can't forgive him. What that means for Nousou we'll have to wait and see, but I'm very surprised how invested I am in it, considering how recently we met him and how nasty he's been for most of that time.
We're now firmly into the stage of positioning everyone in their proper places for the climax, and for now it seems that means seperating the heroes again while the villains just get closer to their goals. Still, Nousou is now a real wild card that could impact the coming fight either way. I'm ridiculously excited to find out how.
edited 9th Feb '10 4:52:23 PM by Eegah
Chapter 87: The Palm
Yuka's mother heads back home, which should nicely get her out of the way before the action starts. Kouta's still considering everything he now remembers in his sleep, while Yuka gives him a peck on the lips. God, aren't we past this by now?
Nousou's bodyguard finds the good doctor's head torn off, while Barbara is hovering above the hospital roof looking for something. So, I guess whatever he had planned is a Shoot the Shaggy Dog after all. Well, there's still plenty more plot to make the ending worthwhile so I don't really mind. She gets a new Crowning Moment Of Awesome as she uses her vectors to essentially fly, leaving a sonic boom in her wake. Seems she's heading back to the lab to deal with Lucy, who she considers a traitor for living with humans. Man, kill off half these clones and suddenly they become quite a compelling piece of the puzzle.
Kakuzawa continues his Hannibal Lecture to who I now realize is Nyu, about how humans caused the Neanderthals to die out and now it's their turn. But Nyu still has her happy memories of Kouta and the others, and finally snaps in a Shut Up, Hannibal! Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming about how there are good humans and peaceful co-existence is possible. It transitions right to a Crowning Moment Of Awesome as she rips her restraints out of the wall and declares that she's going back. But that's when Anna steps in and smashes Nyu with her fist. Uh, that's going to make it kind of hard to have children with her.
Arakawa's still at work on her own plan, running tests under a microscope. Whatever she's doing with the liquid from that vial is successful, and she does an adorkable celebration for a bit before finally heading off to have that bath. Man, she must be really ripe by now. Except at that moment, a huge wall of sound rushes through the room, followed by a crapload of vectors coming through the floor. They continue reaching into the sky, quite the piece of Nightmare Fuel in its implications.
With twenty chapters to go, the pieces continue to be put into place. Now Barbara adds a new wild card to the situation in place of the dead Nousou, and Diana could add yet another one if she recovers in time. The Thirty Xanatos Pileup is about to reach its fruition, whatever that may be.
Chapter 88: Memories and Gunshots
So Barbara was after Nana, which still makes perfect sense so nice one there. But as soon as she arrives, Kurama starts thinking she's Mariko and hugs her. This may have been a step backwards. Barbara pushes him off her, which pushes Nana's Berserk Button once again so she jumps behind Barbara and then punches her in the back of the head with three vectors at once. Another Crowning Moment Of Awesome for that one. She's also able to reach up to a branch and flip over the next attack, but by the time she comes down Barbara has gotten a vector inside Kurama's head and holds him hostage. All Nana can think of is playing on Kurama's delusion, but Barbara doesn't fall for it and kicks her ass for a bit. Finally we get to the Tearjerker again as Nana agrees to let Barbara kill her, hoping to be reborn as Kurama's real daughter. But that just lets Kurama get another Crowning Moment Of Awesome for himself as he regains his senses and shoots Barbara in the back of the head. And then right to the Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming as he apologizes to Nana and they hug.
After burying Barbara, Kurama curses Kakuzawa for making him do this, and explains that all the deaths on his conscience got to him for a while, but Nana woke him up from his self-pity. Now he understands that the only way to atone is to stop making those same mistakes, doing a full Heel–Face Turn that was halfway done from when we first met him anyway. Still, it's much appreciated and quite a rewarding moment after the journey he's gone through. Kurama still feels that he has to kill Lucy before they can be together, but invites Nana to come with him on this last mission. And a couple more pieces slide into place.
And so we finally get the climax of Kurama's arc, where he completely joins the side of good even though his past will always haunt him. And now we know what he and Nana will be doing during the climax, though it's unfortunate that we had to lose Barbara to get there. Well, there's still Diana, who I'm sure would have been killed for real if she didn't still have her own part to play.
edited 9th Feb '10 8:46:43 PM by Eegah
Chapter 89: Death Maze
Arakawa somehow gets the idea from all those vectors popping up that their purpose isn't to spread the virus. But no time to ponder that as there's suddenly a huge explosion. O-kay. The bodyguard sees it from a helicopter on his way in, and we cut back to see that Arakawa has rather unbelievably survived the total destruction of her laboratory. There's now a huge hole through the building right down to the lake, and she actually says "I have a bad feeling about this.". Oh no you didn't!
The other scientists are all busy panicking, and barely manage to get into an elevator before all the captive diclonius storm the floor. But it doesn't do any good, as after a quite creepy shot where every diclonius notices them simultaneously, the walls are soon covered with blood again. Lots more of their rampage follows, the highlight being when two of them throw a steel beam through an escaping helicopter.
Back to Arakawa, who nicely exposits that she's actually created a vaccine for all the people infected by Kakuzawa. Not sure why Kakuzawa's son would have the material for that, but no time to think as she's suddenly spotted through the big-ass hole in the floor. She's soon cornered and laments that she'll die before redeeming herself, but the shot of the spraying blood is in a long shot and you know what that means. Yep, all the escaped diclonius were just killed instead, by Diana. Not sure what I was expecting from her, but it wasn't that. Diana seems to imprint on Arakawa as her mother, then passes out after revealing that she can instinctively sense the vaccine is dangerous to her species. Slight problem. Arakawa takes it upon herself to remove the thing from Diana's forehead, which probably won't lead to anything good.
Arakawa's Heel–Face Turn is quite a nice surprise, evening the odds a little more though it means the expected Thirty Xanatos Pileup is more of a traditional good vs. evil fight. Still, I'm sure whatever we get will still be epic, and the vaccine had to come from somewhere to avoid a complete Downer Ending and this was the most logical way to do it.
Chapter 90: Unforeseen
Diana grins after waking up, and gives Arakawa a well-deserved What An Idiot speech. Though she monologues a bit too much, so the bodyguard arrives and slaps the thing back in her forehead. So it's that simple, huh? They don't have much time to talk before the hole starts getting bigger, though it's still enough for him to again point out how stupid she was.
Down in the lake, Lucy's back and gets a new Crowning Moment Of Awesome by ripping off Anna's entire arm Beowulf style, with a simple "You piss me off." Kakuzawa points out that using so much power will overwhelm her physical body and literally make her melt, and I suddenly have an idea of how Lucy's going to end up. Anna intervenes again but gets her other arm ripped off, then Lucy just splits her in half when she still won't give up. She was quite a Determinator herself, I'll give her that. As she dies she admits that she didn't want her prediction to happen, to which Lucy gives a hilarious Lamp Shading of how people tend to have family discussions in front of her. But now it's time to plug up one last hole, regarding how Lucy came to be lying alone in the woods. The lab's done research on her parents, and found that her mother never stopped looking for her. She was a human who somehow gave birth to full-blood diclonius, and Kakuzawa also has her brother, the world's only male diclonius. Oh, story time! Let me get me cocoa.
Always the perfect time for big reveals about a major character's backstory, isn't it? Though I'm definitely intrigued so far, and anxious to see where this development goes as well as how this whole thing will end. Our human heroes do have to be involved somehow, don't they?
Chapter 91: Stupidity
Nana tells Kurama she wants to bring someone with them to the final battle. Anything that gets more of these characters involved! Turns out she meant Kouta, and he's not at the hospital. Oh, you big tease.
Kakuzawa continues that Lucy's brother is also his son. Her mother killed herself after he was born, and an attempt to keep her womb alive failed. So why even bring it up, just for an extra piece of Squick? Somehow Anna is still alive, and tells Kakuzawa she lied to him. Kakuzawa assumes she's talking about his plan to father more mutants, for which his son will take over, but it's something else. This better be good. But that'll have to wait, as Lucy picks this moment to have another existential crisis inside her head. Finally it's over, and Wait What Whoa. Okay, what happens next is that before Anna can explain what she meant, Kakuzawa and his son's heads both go flying in their own full page spreads. The Crowning Moment Of Awesome continues as Lucy gleefully exposits that Kakuzawa and his whole family aren't diclonius at all; their horns are just a random mutation that they made up a legend around. Oh come on, you give an utterly crushing Shut Up, Hannibal! like that and the guy's not alive to hear it? This almost makes Kakuzawa border on Karma Houdini despite his death. Then a brief bit where Anna tries to avenge her father, but is quickly killed too. Can I pick up my jaw yet?
Wow. I did not see this coming at all, and I have no freaking idea what the almost 20 more chapters have in store for us after the death of the main villain. I guess Lucy kind of takes over that role by default now, which will lead to a much simpler climax that's actually a pretty big disappointment considering how complicated things were for a while. Doesn't make this moment any less awesome, though.
Chapter 92: Bewilderment and the Sea
A group of ships is carrying some pretty heavy cargo, and on board are a couple new characters who refuse to tell the crew about the mission. It involves shipping equipment to the island where the lab is, to try to create a vaccine themselves. That equipment being a huge submersible-looking thing described as a shield, which can't be jostled at all.
Back on the ship, the guy is charge is starting to get on the crew's nerves with how he talks to the captain, the only other one who knows what's going on. But before that can go anywhere, a tidal wave starts heading toward them. Oh, I've seen this movie! The cargo's too heavy to allow the fleet to survive, but the man in charge won't let them dump it. The crew start to go against his orders, so he shoots one of them. That's when the wave arrives, and most of the ships go under. While the others assess the damage, the captain pulls his own gun, saying he won't forgive this. But before that can go anywhere, the shield has becomes sufficiently jostled and cracks open.
Um, so that happened. Honestly, for the first time I'm really at a loss for words. The series was doing so well, so why throw this stuff at us when we just want to see the characters we've grown attached to kicking ass and taking names? I really hope this stuff is going somewhere good, otherwise the series just fell on its face at the last minute.
Chapter 93: Lack of Communication
Oh good, we're back to the people I care about. Arakawa and the bodyguard look to be screwed as the hole keeps getting bigger, but the bodyguard just grabs Diana and leaves, saying he's looking for something. So maybe Nousou's plan is still a go after all.
Flashback to the bodyguard taking this assignment from the government, his real goal to gather all the information he can before the attack from the guys last chapter. Okay, now it's a lot better integrated. After an utterly gratuitous panel showing off how Arakawa is only wearing underwear and a tank top, he pulls out a spiked ball crossbow to escape. Arakawa tags along as the bodyguard blasts through some diclonius, and shows that he also has some of those heavy bullets from earlier. Thank you, Crazy-Prepared. The floor collapses under Arakawa but the bodyguard catches her, then spots the box the vaccine is in. So winners all around. But that feeling is then brutally subverted, as she has to drop the case to be pulled up. She lets it go, and we end with kind of a fun Mood Whiplash when she informs the bodyguard what was in it.
So there goes that plan, though we saw more than one vial in that drawer so Arakawa will probably be able to make more if she survives this. Quite surprisingly, she's actually the person I'm most invested in at this point.
Chapter 94: The Researcher's Pride
We start with my theory about the other vials being Jossed; all of them were used in that first batch and it'll take years to make more. So we're pretty much screwed then. More diclonius show up and the bodyguard's almost out of bullets, so Arakawa wakes up Diana and she does her thing again, smiling about it this time. Not sure what that's about. But Diana still only has so many vectors, so eventually the girls catch on and one of them kills her. The bodyguard uses the rest of his bullets to clear a path, and they make it to the roof. He then pulls a Heroic Sacrifice, staying behind to operate a mantainance lift. He never got much characterization, so I'm not really feeling this one. He gives Arakawa some directions to a helicopter, then...oh crap, he actually did it. His death finally becomes a Tearjerker when he breaks down crying once he's alone.
Arakawa's also crying, considering for the first time how many people have died because of her desire to get into history books. And when she gets to the helicopter, it's surrounded by diclonius and in flames. Well, good luck with all that.
Man, the climax is really merciless all of a sudden, offering Hope Spots and snatching them away like popcorn. I still hold onto the hope that a happy ending can be salvaged from this, but it's starting to fade. My one last hope is that Kurama, Nana, and Kouta haven't arrived yet, and somehow they can make everything better.
edited 10th Feb '10 2:49:27 PM by Eegah
I also checked out Okamoto's current series Nononono that was just started on Onemanga this month, and am very impressed. Finally a gender bender manga that's more than an Excuse Plot for wacky crossdressing antics. I even made a page for it here, as you'll see above.
Chapter 95: Tears Shed for Others
Arakawa finds herself surrounded, and goes through another Tearjerker as she accepts this as her punishment for not doing one right thing in her whole life. But having had that epiphany is just the right time for the shield to arrive in a Big Damn Heroes, crawling ashore on giant vectors and casually swatting all the diclonius in half. The leader invites her onboard, and they have a pretty funny conversation about her clothing before both demand to know what the hell is going on. Heh. The leader blinks first, explaining that the shield is powered by vector-creating glands from dead diclonius, and so it can create its own. It seems Kakuzawa split his researching business a while back without telling anyone, and these guys researched the vectors while the others were looking for a cure. They're now here to kill Lucy, but Arakawa doubts it has enough power. That's when the leader reveals the vessel is also equipped with a signal that cancels out vectors to even the odds. The climax is here, let's enjoy.
Major exposition chapter to explain who the hell these guys are, but despite the backstory making some amount of sense they still come off a bit too much as a Deus ex Machina. I don't care about these people at all, and Arakawa's presence among them is the only thing keeping my interest up. Hopefully Kurama, Nana, and Kouta will arrive soon to improve things.
edited 10th Feb '10 7:15:28 PM by Eegah
Chapter 96: Everyone's Hell
The leader reveals that he was infected and castrated, so we get how determined he is to stop Lucy. Arakawa tells him what happened to the vaccine, leading to an amusing bit where one of the soldiers questions her motives, apparently just because she's in her underwear. He starts to head out to look for it, but then the vessel senses the diclonius are all gathering in one spot, which can't be good. Arakawa tells them to head there, nicely pointing out that they've already well proven how impervious their little toy is to vector attacks.
When they reach the spot, Arakawa gets a Crowning Moment Of Awesome as she spots the vaccine box and unhesitatingly seizes the chance to redeem herself, running right up to it as the vessel's vectors lay down covering fire. Then she notices the hole isn't so much a hole anymore: the whole island has split in half, and the part they're on is sinking. That means the vessel has to get back on the ship, but before they can move a giant diclonius signal appears: it's Lucy. Let the games begin.
What do you know, with just a bit of backstory I'm actually quite a bit more invested in this new guy, though I'm still hoping for more involvement by our heroes who actually have names before the climax ends. But until then Arakawa is still a great hero substitute, nicely stepping up to the plate to make up for her bad decisions.
edited 10th Feb '10 9:03:25 PM by Eegah
Ah, finally. You're past the point which destroyed your original thoughts for the climax. I found it very interesting what you thought would happen, when I knew it wouldn't. In some ways this still applies, but I won't tell you in which ways those are of course.
Chapter 97: Dawn of the Long Night
Lucy sends out some vectors, but the cancellation signal works. The leader insists on attacking her, but one of his men points out that the island is still sinking and they need to leave now. Arakawa gets in and they leave, which Lucy seems morose about for some reason. The island finally sinks completely, with lots of Scenery Porn of the remaining diclonius and all the dead bodies being submerged. I'd say that was pretty earned.
Arakawa watches from the ship, going all Contemplate Our Navels about the sequence of events that led to so many deaths. She also wonders if Lucy survived somehow, which I'd say is a given seeing as there's ten more chapters after this one.
And yes, a capsule like the one Nana was first sent away in washes up, and it's Lucy. She just wants to see Kouta for now, and conveniently enough, he's waiting right there. So, ten more whole chapters to go after that? I think we may be in for some Ending Fatigue.
I'm definitely surprised by how soon before the end the climax wrapped up, especially since Kurama and Nana never got there. But they should definitely be involved somehow in the final resolution, so I'm not too worried about getting proper closure.
edited 11th Feb '10 3:13:32 PM by Eegah
Chapter 98: The Ocean of the Past
Kouta's still bleeding from his bullet wound, but he coldly brushes off Lucy's attempt to help and throws her his jacket before passing out. She carries him up a lighthouse; I have no idea why but quite coincidentally it's where Kouta wanted to take her. Okay, this setup really could have used more effort. Kouta says Kanae loved the view from here, to further illustrate why he can't forgive her, but then Lucy drops a bit of a bombshell: her murderous impulses aren't actually her instincts, but a third personality in her head that dominated her main one as Lucy. Now she finally has it under control, and all she wants is to apologize for everything. Said apology gets its own two page spread, and for once I think it's earned.
The whole three personalities thing seems pretty out of left field, designed just to pander to the fans and absolve Lucy of her actions after she became a Draco in Leather Pants. I'm beginning to think Okamoto had trouble providing a satisfactory resolution time in the previous volume, so instead he stretched the climactic battle a bit and now has a whole other volume that he's scrambling to fill. Not the ending I was hoping for after such a good series.
Chapter 99: Memories That Can't Be Killed
Nana and Kurama are still looking for Kouta, when Nana senses Lucy at the lighthouse. So there's that to look forward to, at least. Kurama decides to go by himself, since Lucy would sense Nana and in such a narrow space he has a chance to beat her. Um, this isn't the Battle of Thermopylae, Kurama; I don't think that's going to help very much. Though he does still want her help for something; yay, no one's being left out.
Kouta completely rejects Lucy's apology, simultaneously a Crowning Moment Of Awesome for not giving in to the Draco in Leather Pants crowd, and a Tearjerker as Lucy accepts it as she only wanted to give the apology itself, to the one human who was ever nice to her. She also admits that the third personality has never actually taken over and she was just obeying it, a further slap in the face to the DILP crowd that goes a long way toward redeeming this resolution. Kouta further gives a What the Hell, Hero? that humans have baser instincts too, but the majority don't let those instincts control them. But he still offers to let her live with him if she promises to never kill anyone again, just so he can have Nyu back, and not lose another family member. That's sweet, sad, and kind of creepy all together. Lucy makes the promise, but it's just another Hope Spot as Kouta's wound starts affecting him again, and on her way down for help Lucy walks right in front of Kurama's gun.
Well, that's certainly a big improvement. Like I said before, Kouta's What the Hell, Hero? and refusal to forgive Lucy really seems like a deliberate Take That! to the fans who wanted them to end up together. Maybe not quite on the same level as the epic Ship Sinking scene from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but good enough. This ending may just turn out all right after all, and I'm definitely still invested in seeing how all these people end up.
Chapter 80: My Creations
We're introduced to one of those four diclonius named Diana, and it's revealed that they're all direct clones of Lucy. Now there's a nice setup for the climax. Nousou also goes on that they're been lobotomized and will follow any of Nousou's orders; I think Kakuzawa would actually be a bit worried about that as he's already found one traitor on his team. Then, completely unexpected Crowning Moment Of Funny as the clones all swarm and hug Nousou before swiping his candy. Though it leads right to a nasty Mood Whiplash as to prove his claim of total obediance, Nousou now has to make Diana stab her own arm with a hunting knife. Kakuzawa still isn't impressed, shooting himself in the hand to make his point and also bringing up Mariko turning against them. So Nousou makes Diana kill herself, not only a Tearjerker as she clearly has some self-preservation instincts as she puts the knife in, but also leaving me with three others who don't have names. Or not, as after Kakuzawa leaves Nousou exposits that the clones have replaceable hearts.
Another Crowning Moment Of Funny as Arakawa looks in a mirror wearing nothing but nipple tassels in preparation for losing the bet; it's not even that uncomfortable since we know full well it's not going to happen. That's when Kouta knocks on her door, which will definitely get him more involved in time for the climactic fight.
Diana and the others add a really great twist to the upcoming climax, forcing Lucy to take on herself times four, kind of like the setup for Superman II. I also definitely sense another twist coming up where Nousou turns out to have his own plans and uses them against Kakuzawa. And of course there's still that mysterious vial that Arakawa found as part of her own plan. Definite Thirty Xanatos Pileup time.
edited 7th Feb '10 8:04:13 AM by Eegah