It's now time for the Editorial side of things! I had a great time with my usual reads, and so that means I have a lot to talk about! Oddly Souboutei isn't around this week despite not having an announced break as far as I know, but Fujita was posting quite frequently on twitter (and even had a conversation with Fukuchi who drew Karakuri Circus fanart) so I think he may just have been behind schedule and that he's otherwise fine. It's cool since the other series were a real treat this week, so let's go!
Memesis starts things off this week with a lot of what makes the series great in my eyes and a lot of what the series weaknesses are. I hate to say it but Yagyuu might be caught in a bit of a rut in regards to his storytelling and comedic timing which is all reduced to one breast joke but done several times, each time still not funny. It hurts me most because Rose is the trigger for these jokes, and while I still really like what she represents, I'm not a fan of the execution. Fanservice in entertainment is one thing, and I can even respect when it's played up for jokes, but Yagyuu --you gotta expand your horizons a bit. Your art is worth way more than one boob joke played up for several pages/chapters over and over again! It almost feels as if --and I truly hope that I'm wrong --that he feels because it's a female character he can use this card repeatedly without recompense, but what was a funny twist on things before has become played out. Though it isn't all doom and gloom with this chapter --or well it is, but that's what made it interesting. The Hedoro bros' grandpa showed up of all things and that was a great callback to their arc not so long ago, and a new Demon King officer known as Moridora Kenbridge (An interesting name) has entered the scene, different from his brethern as he treats the advent of these humans like a piece of entertainment as he strides off in cooly to deal with them. Of course the artwork in this chapter was great stuff, and Moridora from the little we've seen of him seems pretty awesome too. Don't get me wrong, I know that Memesis is more a comedy-action series than an action comedy so my expectations are tempered, but a blogger can dream can't he? Especially with potential like this. Let's see if hope or experience will win out in future installments.
Xeno trades mystery for action in this exemplary chapter! I've been yearning to see more Ayla since her brief tenure as a sniper in the clock tower case and this didn't disappoint! It was also some great pacing for this arc which has been mostly sleuthing and deductions up until now --it's nice to see Nanatsuki and Sugiyama can do a little good old fashioned action even if it's only for a brief bit. It's also great thematically because Ayla and Xeno both acknowledge their partnership in ways unique to their character. Like above, as Ayla is attacked by a mystery guy in the cave, she can judge from his gait and stance that he's in the same "business" as her. Meanwhile Xeno is asked by the cops if he should be worried about his assistant who is sight unseen....
But both of them come to the same conclusion --Xeno isn't worried because she's the person he chose, and she isn't an assassin but a detective's assistant. Going from the beginning of the chapter where she views her attacker as the same as her, to denying this by the end is some good character development. Not only that but she uses said skills not to embrace the lot she was given but to change herself and move forward to a path she embraces. Ayla remembers the lessons her father taught her up until this point as well, and it's definetly a thing where she's rejecting his influence as well.
I'd be remiss not to mention the beginning of the chapter before closing out this entry --where an elder Kuga thinks back on how many people he's had to sacrifice to keep living, and just as he's about to die several boats come and save him from his fate where he tells the messiah that he will accept his fate. Meanwhile back in the present, Ayla is able to see the face of her attacker --a maid of the Kuga family? Mai Tooyama wants her dead, but why? Between the enigmatic opening and this ending Xeno was firing on all cylinders this week and I can't wait for the next.
All good things have to come to an end. Though for Will, bad things do too. I'm a little shocked that Will met his end in the way he did this week. Well, no, not really --it really wouldn't have worked any other way without being thematically dissatisfying, but I'm much more surprised that it was Saike who denied him, well...everything. Including pity. I mean rightfully so considering what Will has done up until this point, but I would have thought Saike would have been a smidgen more if not remorseful then with some sense of pity, but when Will begs Saike to head back to the morning to save him from dying, Saike simply responds "You've lived long enough". I can't say many shounen protagonists would have taken this stance even if they are in the right, and especially with the expression Saike has above. It's a sign of his maturation, as well as the acceptance that these abilities given to oracle holders aren't always the blessings he thought they were. It's also a sign that Fukuchi has started to wind down his long (but not too long) time traveling hero story.
Yeah, that's right --if you read the features section you'd know that Saike is getting a color page next week (and for the first time continuing into a third volume consecutively), to commemorate a new arc --the final one. I'm sorta sad to see the series go, but in all fairness I do think it's done all it can do and answered all of the questions it's set up --though I am curious about what happened to Calim after his assist, hmm. Though yes Saike has done and seen all he can and to ask for more would be selfishness. Except there is one last thing --
I didn't think Fukuchi would get around to answering this question and that oracles would just be a thing that exist in the Saike universe. I mean we got a baby hint within the Johann arc, and I was resigned to thinking that's about it but behold, the God beyond the page and in the page has seen fit to answer my question in a way I hadn't expected! I had asked last week what the repercussion would be for destroying the Akashic Record thinking that would be what spearheads the move into another arc --and I was right, sort of. See, with everything that happened Hizu was able to retain a bit of the Akashic Record's data which kind of makes him a God of sorts. (It's great how he sorta casually brings this up to Saike like he got a new job or something.) Which is to say he's now got the knowledge of why Oracle holders exist in the first place, and since Saike is his good buddy, he doesn't mind talking about it! Isn't he lucky.
Well..."lucky" is a relative term. According to Hizu humanity will be annihilated in three years, and oracle holders were born to stop this from happening. That's a heck of a hook for the final arc, huh. Ironically Saike was thinking about giving up his abilities during the chapter, and after a week of tying up loose ends, was going to have Kuroda erase them. Guess that's not happening after all. I'd like to think that since Fukuchi is ending the series anyway (and Shougakukan announced it ahead of time), that he's not being rushed. From first glance I'd think the "final arc" would be just one more volume, but considering the pacing of things so far I'd wager that it really is a final "arc" and may be a bit longer than that. Of course this is only my wild guess, so take it with a grain of salt. Either way Saike matashitemo's final leg has kicked off (heh) to a strong start. I'm personally not happy to see the series go without an anime, but all things considered this ain't too bad.
Evans has been residing in the basement for a while despite the volume sales growing for it which is a prestige only things called "Conan" or "Komi" have enjoyed as of late. This chapter too doesn't seem to suggest that Kuriyama is in any rush to wrap up the series, though really with a narrative like Evans', Kuriyama could end it whenever they saw fit. Rather, this week's chapter seems to suggest a comfortability that says Evans will be here for some time --it's porn again. Yup, Evans is out on a nudie mag run, and while he's undercover has the displeasure to find Ed --one of the bounty hunters from the last arc looking for prey outside of the book store and scaring folks into showing their faces before he lets them go. So this is not only bad for Evans who doesn't want people to know what he's doing, but it's super bad because this is someone who will definitely recognize him. It's great that Evans would rather show his face than what he's buying which really says a lot about his priorities, hah. Though hey his heart is in the right place as he uses his authority to try and convince Ed to leave people alone. Though Ed is incredulous and asks why Evans is even here? Turns out this place is the site of a drug deal and Ed wants to make sure Evans isn't a party to this.
Cornered, all Evans can do is meekly hand over his goods and ask Ed not to kill anyone. Later Ed finds the real criminal and presents what he's looking for before turning him in and...yeah. Simple idea, pretty good execution.....that's Evans.
Marry Grave has at long last circled right back to where we met it and the flashback has come to a close. Since we knew all of this was going to occur, it's less about what happened than it is about how, to whom, and what happens now. Not surprisingly Rosalie is determined even against the advice of the others in Cape Side to revive Sawyer even if the Deadman's Recipe itself has a suspect origin. Rosalie proves determined to set out on a journey regardless of this, and as seen above travels far and wide to bring Sawyer back to life. As I said last week, I'm still wondering just what the demons get out of bringing someone back using the Deadman's Recipe. It must be huge if they'd let Rosalie live simply because it's likely she'll use it. For now at least, that question remains unanswered and we are taken back to the present with Jean and Sawyer.
It's great to see them again too. It goes without saying but I'll say it anyway --knowing what Sawyer has been through to get to where he is now really does endear one more to his character. A lovable goof who even after shouldering so many tragedies --including his own death for one still keeps an indomitable spirit as he travels to bring back his loved one. It's almost as if Yamaji has distilled the best parts of shounen manga into one character and given him corporeal form.
However that is not the true interest in this chapter. No, it's this young lass who looks exactly like Rosalie, and with only one phrase "I'll never forgive you" prepares to blow Sawyer to smithereens. From the looks of things she's been following Sawyer and Jean for some time, and as has been illustrated many times throughout the series, the world of Marry Grave is not forgiving to the weak. So she's got to be somewhat powerful at least....but who is she? An incarnation? A clone? Someone different entirely? And what can't she forgive? Considering the position of this series in the TOC I'm rather concerned we won't get as many answers to this as I'd like, but with a color page coming next week, and Yamaji clearly not being afraid to embark on a new plot, I assume this adventure isn't headed to the grave quite yet.
Kuro's never been the part of Youkai Giga known for the drama, or at least not for long, but for the first time we may have to be worried about the little youkai and it's master. This chapter is also one of the most text dense I've seen further illustrating how much of a departure it is --and I don't mean the train of which seems to derail at the end of it! Kuro follows it's master despite what it was told, feeling like his warning at the end of the last installment really did feel like they were seeing eye to eye for the first time. Surprisingly an old woman can see it and gives it a little bit of candy. (Makoto can see Kuro too, so I wonder if it's just women and children who can? Though no, then it wandering in public would have turned several heads....hm.) The old lady is pickpocketed, and Kuro can't have that happen to it's new friend so it goes after the thief, and it's when it has a mission aside from following it's master that the train falls into crisis. I really like that the old lady thinks Kuro is a guardian spirit for the train as that ties into the theme of Youkai Giga being about people and youkai living together, but yeah I'm not sure where this new development is heading. Master's got a death flag hanging over him, but would Satou really off him before he sees combat?
And that's it for the editorial this week! It was certainly fun for me to write as everything I typically read had something good happen --or the potential for something good to happen down the line, but how did you all feel? Let me know and tune in next week for issue #48's editorial!
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