Manga/Gakkou Gurashi

^It wouldn't be so bad IMO if Takahito and Ayaka were at least interesting assholes {Not Sympathetic, but at least giving them interesting personalities and/or making them the kind of villains that you Love to Hate, instead of them both being bland Hate Sink's}. But as it stands I've seen pieces of cardboard with more personality then either of those two. And then we probably have to wait another 10 months {IE the next 4 chapters, then the month-long break after Volume 9 concludes, then the next 6 chapters for Volume 10} just to see both of them wind up dead, which makes them even more insufferable and annoying. And I really thought Takahito was going to die in this chapter too, but nope we still have to put up with him.

Also, I noticed that neither Yuki nor Kurumi made an appearance in the chapter, even when we saw all the other characters reacting to the sirens blaring. Makes me wonder what's going on with those two.

edited 27th Oct '16 1:49:54 PM by marston

What makes you think they're gonna survive another 10 chapters? I don't know about Ayaka, but Takahito is as good as dead now.

Also, he did show a bit of personality in the last 3 chaps. A mix of remorse and frustration at doing all those horrible things for nothing in the end.

Well, that happened. If nothing else, this proves that the author can write a good Hate Sink. I really don't know what to make of it. It feels like things have deteriorated so badly that I really have no idea how the heck they're going to resolve this without some sort of Ass Pull. In general, it feels like this arc just wasn't planned out as well. It doesn't help that it really reduced the emphasis on the psychological side of things. I mean, it's still there, but it's like a side plot compared to everything else.

That said, I do like that we're getting a bit more information about the nature of the virus and how it might have originally spread. If it was airborne it would explain how the plague got going so quickly if a large number of people were infected right off the bat. Of course, that raises the question of how that much stuff got released.

He does have a personality, but so far it seems that about 95% of it is Asshat. Even what little remorse he shows is a bit ambiguous; he might very well just be feeling bad that he screwed up his best chance of finding a cure. Ayaka isn't much better, given that her motivation seems to be mainly For the Evulz.

edited 27th Oct '16 5:52:25 PM by JapaneseTeeth

I was in a bad mood when I wrote that. I don't really think they'll drag out Takahito's death for 10 chapters, though it still might not happen till the end of Volume 9 {The next 3 chapters will be the last 3 for that Volume} or the first chapter of Volume 10. But I am quite annoyed because it really seemed like he was going to bite the dust in this chapter, but instead he survives longer and continues to be a boring douchebag. You might say that Takahito is showing some remorse for his actions, but to me it seems more like he's just being a self-pitying coward and hypocrite who won't accept his own fate despite being perfectly okay with sending other people out to die. And I'm not a fan of Ayaka either, for the same reason JT mentioned. Which could have still been fine if there was something interesting about her, but there isn't.

edited 30th Nov '16 10:39:38 AM by marston

So the new chapter was like really, really good. The first recent chapter in the series that I've really enjoyed in a long time now. It even reminds me a bit of the earlier chapters of the series too.

For one thing, Best Girl Kurumi finally came back, and it was great seeing her use her zombie symptoms to save Yuki from the horde of zombies. And the conversation between her and Yuki was both sad and heartwarming, serving as a good motivator for Kurumi to not give up yet. And to top it all off, it's the first chapter in forever to finally have some humor in it too! Yuki and Kurumi's various interactions were always one of my favorite parts of the manga, so that's another reason why I love the new chapter. The only way the next chapter can be even better is if it has Kurumi kicking Ayaka's ass and then having a tearful reunion with the other girls, Miki especially {Kurumiki OTP!}.

I also noticed that this is the first chapter in a long time to not feature Takahito/Blond Douche, even though the majority of it takes place in the area were we last saw him. Hopefully this means that he became a zombie off-panel and we'll never have to put up with his annoying and bland characterization ever again.

I was really afraid Kurumi had gone over the edge for good, but thankfully not.

T'was a heartwarming chapter, yeah. And since I forgot to turn my yuri goggles off, some Les Yay too on Miki's side.

That last panel was kinda scary and kinda funny at the same time. Kurumi having become a living zombie repellent might prove useful…

I wonder if Yuki will be the one to off Kurumi eventually, given the direction of story development for the two.

And I just noticed at the very end of the chapter: as they're walking together, the zombies are following them...

edited 30th Nov '16 9:21:40 PM by Trivialis

^If that happens....... Shit, that's going to be really deppressing. As I said before, the interactions between Yuki and Kurumi have always been one of my favorite things about the manga {Since not only do they sometimes have very cute and sweet interactions together, but they also have funny interactions throughout the series too}, so Yuki being the one to put down Kurumi would be especially sad for me.

Yeah, if that happened it would be one heck of a Tear Jerker. Though in general I'm hoping that scene isn't foreshadowing what I think it's foreshadowing, namely that Kurumi's infection is terminal and it's only a matter of time.

That said, it's good to finally get the focus back on the core cast. The conversation between Kurumi and Yuki is my favorite scene in quite a while.

I really don't want Kurumi to die either. She's by far my favorite character in the series, and I really can't imagine the manga without her. It would feel...... Odd.

Who here likes to ship certain characters in the series? I for one am a major Kurumiki shipper. I mean seriously, the interactions between those two sometimes border on Ship Tease ever since Miki saved Kurumi's life, and it's a really cute pairing. It's my OTP. But I also have a soft spot for Yuki/Kurumi, especially ever since the recent chapter came out. I use to ship Yuuri/Kurumi back when I had only seen the anime, but the combination of my Kurumiki OTP and then Yuuri, uh, becoming less and less likeable as the series goes on, kind of killed that pairing for me.

Also, for all my complaining about the MFC, I will say that I happen to like Shino a lot. She has a lot of potential to be an interesting character, and I hope she survives the current arc so that we can get more development from her and find out more about her.

edited 2nd Dec '16 7:07:12 AM by marston

Yeah, I hope too. Plus, if she ends up joining the group, that might bring… interesting developments. In, you know, 8 or 9 months. I honestly wouldn't mind a male character joining the group, but considering the male track record in this series…

If we talk about shipping, I'd be more on the YukiKuru side (just because), but Miki and Aki might have something going on too.

For a second I thought that was a jab at how long it takes for chapters to come out, before I realized you were talking about her being pregnant. I actually kind of wonder if the guys track record of survival might be some kind of plot point, like maybe males are more vulnerable to the virus for some reason.

Also, I hope that the Airborne Virus thing is a Red Herring. If not, if runs the risk of Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy occurring, since potentially any character could get sick and die just like that at random.

Speaking of Akai, one thing I hope to see in general is the Fallen Crew members getting more development. Given that the current arc is more mystery-based, we barely know anything about most of the characters it's introduced so far. I'd argue that the ones with the most known characterizations are Rise and Touko. So far Akai and the shy girl have mostly just kind of been around and that's about it aside from occasional character tidbets, though Akai's scene in the new chapter was interesting.

edited 2nd Dec '16 7:17:17 AM by marston

The pregnancy thing does raise some interesting potential plots. In particular, I could see it tying into Yuuri's need to always be helping everybody and being the thing that helps her get over the whole "Ruu" thing. Looking after the other girls is a big part of what helped keep her sane, and when that failed (first when they lost the school and second when Yuki's condition improved to the point that she didn't need to be constantly babysat), Yuuri kinda lost it and invented a new person to take care of. If Shino does join the group, and is pregnant, it could help ease Yuuri away from that, since as Shino gets further and further along, she'll probably need more and more assistance.

On a note unrelated to the current arc, since I might be the only one here who's bought any of the Manga Volumes in English, I might as well talk about the translation in those compared to the fan translations/scanlations. For the most part the translated volumes so far {Which are the first 5 at the time of this post} are accurate and well done, but there's a couple moments where the official translators make....... Odd choices.

Remember the "Delinquent" scene from Chapter 5? Well for most of that scene in the official translation they instead use the words "Bad Kid" except for once or twice when "Delinquent" is used. And then later on in Chapter 30 during the scene when Miki throws away the gun, for some reason in the official translation she yells "Take that!", as opposed to the scanlations where she casually says "Bye" {Which I thought was a lot funnier}, and her reasoning for doing so is because "It could explode", instead of actually explaining that none of them know how to use guns properly and thus the gun could end up being more dangerous to them then the zombies.

edited 3rd Dec '16 12:04:41 PM by marston

I'm actually not sure why Miki threw away the gun. It might have been handy to at least hold onto it.

The official volumes also have extra informational content that I don't think I've seen in English scans, so that's nice to have. I'm actually wondering if the English-speaking community is really aware of such content.

^Well the reason Miki gave was because none of the girls have proper gun safety training, and so using the gun could be dangerous. But it's also implied that she threw away the gun because she was worried Kurumi might use it to kill herself. As for the translations, I agree that the volumes are worth buying, both for the trivia stuff at the end of each one {For example at the end of Volume 1 the guy who made and writes the series talks about how he came up with the idea} and because it's nice to have physical copies of stuff like that.

Speaking of which, once the series is finished someday, I wonder if they'll start releasing each main arc in omibus collections or something. Like say Omnibus 1 would have Chapters 1-30, then the 2nd one would have Chapters 31-60, and the last volume would have the last 30 chapters {So far each section of the series is split into 30 chapters and 5 volumes per main arc, with the first arc being Volumes 1-5 and the current one being Volumes 6-10}.

It's also worth noting that Japan has really strict gun-control laws, and in general there's much more of a cultural taboo against using them. Yeah, in terms of pure practicality one could make a case for hanging onto it, but most of the girls probably really wouldn't want to use it unless they had no other choice. That said, there are some rational arguments to be made against it from Miki's perspective.

First off, she probably hadn't even considered the notion of using it against other non-infected humans. Thing is, that's far and away where most of the gun's value would've been. As far as zombies go, it's not that great of a weapon. None of them have used one before, so they likely aren't going to be very accurate. And they don't have any additional ammunition, which means they can't really practice. The other thing is that individual zombies really aren't that much of a danger as long as you're paying attention. The shovel is a way better weapon for that. Zombies are only really dangerous in hordes, and gun isn't going to help you much in that scenario anyway. Even assuming that they managed to off a zombie with every shot, that's maybe a dozen zombies max, which is just a drop in the bucket if you've got a horde on your hands.

TL;DR The gun is really only that helpful if you're fighting other humans, something that Miki (and the other girls) probably weren't expecting to have to do and they really wouldn't want to in any case. In that context, it's easy to argue that the danger of using it improperly outweigh it's value as a weapon against the zombies.

And that's not even bringing in the potential suicide aspect of it.

edited 3rd Dec '16 7:46:15 PM by JapaneseTeeth

For some reason I'm starting to like Akai now ever since the new chapter, and I'm not entirely sure why. She does kind of remind me of what Yuuri use to be like before she went nuts, particularly her interactions with Miki lately. Also she looks really cute with her hair down like that instead of it being curled up.

I also feel like there might be a bit more to her then meets the eye. She was a member of the MFC at one point, and if the flashbacks are any indication she only left sometime after they killed off half of their own group {The flashback with her leaving only has her and the 5 MFC members we know, not any of the 7 or 8 nameless members shown only in flashbacks}, and considering how the MFC don't tolerate those in their group deemed "Useless", it makes me think that she might actually be a decent fighter who was useful enough for Blond Douche to decide to not kill.

Speaking of which, if that prick finally bites the dust in the next chapter, I will be immensely happy. In fact said chapter will more or less be coming out on or right before Christmas, so it would be like the best christmas present ever. I am wondering what he and Shino are doing right now though, since the majority of Chapter 52 takes place where we last saw them {The zombie infested front yard of the MFC's territory} and yet they're both nowhere to be seen {Not that I'm complaining about Boring Douche's absence or anything}.

edited 8th Dec '16 2:21:08 PM by marston

53 out… I kinda like the atmosphere of tiredness in this chap. Like everyone is near the breaking point but barely manages to hang in. For better or for worse. What's wrong with you Takahito? You already have a foot in the grave, what are you trying to accomplish? =.=

Shinou is really a good girl. I don't really know what direction the story will take after this arc is over though… They don't seem to have anywhere left to go, except Randall Corp.

edited 1st Jan '17 8:30:49 AM by Lyendith

Yuuri's delusions are getting even more worrying. I mean, "Ruu" went and told Yuuri to go jump out a high window, and had Shino not been there Yuuri would have been killed by zombies after already hurting herself from the fall. Even when Yuki was delusional, she didn't do stupid shit like that for the most part. It's not like "Megumi" was like "Hey Yuki, go play with those students outside in front of the school, and don't mind if they invade your personal space and start biting you!"

Also, the next chapter better have Takahito getting his head smashed by Kurumi. I'm also wondering how he's even still alive, since usually once someone actually starts showing signs of the Infection they're pretty much dead within a few minutes unless they get a cure soon, yet this asshole is still alive even though he should have been killed by the virus and zombified back in Chapter 51. Guess I was too optimistic in hoping that he became a zombie off-panel.

edited 1st Jan '17 10:22:11 AM by marston

I was really worried that Shinou was going to just suicide, which would've been depressing both in-universe and also on a meta level because she's easily the most interesting new character of this whole arc, and there's a lot of potential there.

And yeah, Takahito is kind of going off the deep end here. I mean, the situation is bleak enough already without having Takahito showing up and threatening to kill them when they're already in a dangerous situation. Although I do find it amusing that if he's so intent on killing someone it would've been way easier to just, you know, hit her with the car rather than crashing the car into a wall and then attempting to shoot her with a crossbow.

I'm hoping the first page of the next chapter involves Kurumi bonking him over the head.

If you've been wanting to see Takahito get his ass handed to him as much as I have, then I've got just the picture for you. The artist is Lupeylycan, and I paid them to make that picture. You can expect a possible Kuru Miki commission picture from us sometime next month too.

In the meantime, here's an adorable Shino picture that Lupeylycan drew a few months ago◊.

edited 17th Jan '17 2:11:07 PM by marston

Nice.

Also, this picture makes me realize that a crossbow that tiny probably wouldn't have that much draw power. Getting it by it would probably hurt, but unless you get hit right in the jugular there's a pretty good chance it wouldn't kill you.

I'm pretty sure the crossbow is much bigger in canon. It just looks that way in the picture due to the chibi artstyle.

Also, I'm hoping that in the next chapter Takahito will either get killed by Kurumi or ending up dying in a pathetic Epic Fail manner. Like if he tries to shoot Miki or Akai with the crossbow, but falls down due to the virus's effects and accidentally shoots himself in the gut instead.

I just realized something. You remember the fish raised in the fish tank on the roof? Were they destroyed in the apocalypse in episode 11? Or did they survive and were just left abandoned when the students graduated?

edited 18th Jan '17 6:06:46 PM by Trivialis