The Last Saiyuuki

If we have a thread for Kamio Yui I suppose we might have as well have a thread for this one too.

It follows Ryuunosuke, a grade schooler fan of baseball. His mother is dead (because the concept of having two parents alive is just silly), but one day he gets introduced to his new little sister − a blind, disabled and almost mute girl named Koharu, whom Ryuu's father asks him to take care of… even at the expense of his social life. Ryuu is understandably quite upset at first but soon discovers that Koharu is no ordinary girl: her voice has the power to make monsters appear from the deep-rooted fears of people. And there are people who would like to get their hands on that power. The only way to rein it in is to make Koharu love humans… and that's what her big brother is here for.

So far this feels… refreshingly old-school, if that makes any sense. Both the art and story feel like something that came out in the early noughties, but so far it does well to establish its concept. I'm waiting for the characters to be more fleshed out, but it's off to a decently strong start.

Chapter 6: Creepy Child is already in the heroes' house and rips off Dad's arm.

Boy that escalated quickly. >.> I'm also quite fond of the "cure" used to reform the Mou, I must say. It's kinda scary and kinda cute at the same time.

Chapter 7! Dad can reattach his arm, but only cosmetically, the brat can directly feel Koharu's emotions and Koharu's words awaken a bit more of Ryuunosuke's powers.

One thing you can't blame this series for is dragging things out. We cut straight to the chase. And I must say we have a pretty compelling antagonist here. If only I didn't find Koharu slightly annoying, this would be perfect…

helllo... been following this manga cuz why naut.

Can I create a page for it at a later future

Damn, this manga really wastes no time. A whole bunch of new uses for the Nyōibō and two new characters introduced out of nowhere. Aaand of course the villain was a shadow clone. That would have been too easy.

Yeah... I really forgot to write some recaps on the chapter. Will do that soon after reading the latest chapter.

Also @Lyendith Any issues if I create the page for this?

Chapter 8:

I'm getting Yuuto Ijika vibes from Koharu's elder brother which is not a good sign and it was revealed that Koharu's elder brother is a doppelganger of the real one though? Okay. We are introduced to two new characters and I'm surprised that the MC's dad is actually a half of Son Goku wot...

I'm confused about the monsterized disease. You take the fear of "OMG I don't know why or how I got sick!" and turn that fear into a monster, wouldn't that just get rid of the fear, and not do anything about the Bordetella pertussis which of course would still be there you irresponsible— anyway.

Still loved the cosplays no matter how good a plot excuse they had. Especially the guy who looked like he was trying to fire a Kamehameha. It's like they're admitting "at least half the readers know the modern trademarked Son Goku better than the one we've been talking about."

Yeah, giving a semi-coherent excuse to the costumes was a neat touch. And Estelle might be my favorite character already.

I figure that curing a disease by killing the thing made of the fear of it isn't really more out there than the thing made of fear killing you. Either way you've got this imagination monster affecting the physical world.

As for the cosplay, I'm really digging it from a thematic standpoint. Imaginary heroes to fight imaginary monsters.

Since two chapters are out at the same time, Imma start with Chapter 9:

This chapter is a dream chapter. So Ryuunosuke met with the previous incarnation of Kohaku, Kei, and she seems friendly towards Ryuunosuke but also warns him that he will fight against the hundreth monster that Kohaku will summoned because of her abilities to open human's Mous

Chapter 10:

So after the fight with Sai, Both Ryuunosuke and Koharu were brought into a holy place where people are protected from getting their Mous opened and Ryuunosuke has a funny remark regarding the peeps cosplaying in there but also, it seems interesting about the explanation regarding Sai and Kei are actually a fragment of Son Goku... Huh

Ryuunosuke's got some brass ones, don't he. "I only met Koharu and learned about magic like two days ago, but I will fight every fucking one of you if you try to separate us."

Chapter 11:

A flashback of one of the side character that I forgot the name about (Eliza or someone else) whose Mou's got accidentally opened by his mom that ended up making her at the place where Ryuunosuke and Koharu stay right now. And up next will be the fight against the monster... Man I hope this manga survives

Chapter 12:

The heroes then went into the island that got infected by a plague monster named Korouri and its a pretty dangerous mission if you ask me

Chapter 13:

So it was revealed that the followers of chaos were in the Island huh? And he also summoned Korouri... Oh man this is going to be intense.

I think I have a theory on why Saiyuuki ranks lower and I'll post this too on To C Rankings forum

Just copypaste my thoughts in Shonen Jump To C rankings forum because why not?:

Come to think of it, now I have several assumptions on why Saiyuuki ranks horrifically low on the To C ranks:

• The first assumption is that I'm thinking that Japanese reader had already heard about the stories that was based on Saiyuuki/Journey to the West tale before. Dragon Ball and Saiyuuki manga (Not the Last Saiyuuki one) are the ones that comes to mind. Some Japanese readers feel tired about stories based on Journey to the West and as a a result, it ranks pretty lower. Keep in mind this assumption can be wrong because Japanese readers can also like repetitive contents like Isekai so yeah... But this assumption is a bit likely because Journey of the West story is pretty popular especially in Japan thanks to Dragon Ball
• The second assumption is that the premise almost mirrored a current popular manga by Shonen Jump, Kimetsu no Yaiba, considered the handicapped girl and the guy who tries at his best to take care of her which resulted on Saiyuuki scored a lower rank. I remember when Lyendith make a joke about ZIGA's niche was replaced by TPN and several people sees Noah's Notes as Dr. Stone but with History which leds me to make an assumption that Last Saiyuuki's story almost mirrored Kimetsu no Yaiba. (Notice when I say almost)

So yeah... I think these are my assumptions on why Saiyuuki ranks lower. Let me know what's your opinion on why Saiyuuki ranks lower and call me out if my assumption isn't valid.

Does manga's popularity anywhere but Japan matter to the magazine over there?

Right... I forgot. I can be wrong though.

Chapter 14:

Well I guess the girl who dressed as Ling Ling a.k.a. Estelle can be reluctant but it's rather understandable. In the meantime, yeesh that the Korouri's getting huge and Estelle had a hard time fighting against it. Fortunately, both Ryuunosuke and Koharu came to the rescue I guess?

We got another contender for the title of Best Mom Ever I think.

Estelle gets to shine in chapter 15. Our hero already uses suicidal tactics even though he's like 9, but I guess this goes with the theme of overcoming your fears.

Don't axe this, please. ;___;

Chapter 15:

Yea, the heroes are using suicide tactics and somehow, seems Estelle gains a confidence after relieving her past memories and sees how brave Koharu is

Me too

I keep forgetting how young Ryunosuke is. He's a shonen lead, ergo he's fifteen or so, right? That's how it works?

And hey, it's not suicidal if you know you'll bounce back. Masochistic, maybe, but not suicidal.

Chapter 16:

Yay! The heroes won against the Korouri fiend. That's all I have to say