This question comes from "Digital Hanako" in Shizuoka --"Are there things you have small but habitual questions towards?"
Amano Megumi ha Suki darake (Nekoguchi): Why does time pass so fast? Seriously just give me a break already.
Detective Conan (Gosho Aoyama): Why does a magazine called "Sunday" come out on Wednesday? (Lol)
Undine ha Kyo mo Koi wo suru ka (Shinya Misu): Do Ghosts exist?
switch (Atsushi Namikri): Did Super Optical Warrior Changerion ever come out on DVD?
Fire Rabbit!! (Aya Hirakawa): This world is too good to be true.
Maiko-san chi no Makanai-san (Aiko Koyama): The socks I have to put on at night or I won't be able to sleep always seem to disappear by morning, and I'm not sure why.
Gofun Go no Sekai (Hiroshi Fukuda): Why is it even though I always make sure I get the proper amount of sleep yet I get really sleepy anyway..
RYOKO (Kaito Mitsuhashi): I have a habit of closing my wallet just before I get my change for purchase. When will I remember not to do that?
Maoujo de Oyasumi (Kagiji Kumanomata): Why was I born as a human and not a costumed mascot?
Kimi wa 008 (Syun Matsuena): Why is that water in a glass can't be cut in half with a scissors?
Imouto Rireki (Kei Nishimura): Why is it the smaller the dog the louder the bark?
Anonatsu 1959 (Ashibi Fukui): Why is it whenever I eat I get tired?
Sokyuu no Ariadne (Norihiro Yagi): Why are cats so adorable? I spent an entire hour pontificating on this.
Chrono Magia: Infinity Gear (Takesehi Azuma): Does a world after death exist?
Komi-san ha Komyusho Desu (Tomohito Oda): Why is everyone so awesome at Smash Brothers?
Daiku no Hatou (Michiteru Kusaba): What's "Piccata"? (TN- I don't know either. Like, it could be the Italian word for "pounding flat" but really I have absolutely no idea.)
Tonikaku Cawaii (Kenjiro Hata): Why is it that the fur behind the cats ears is so fluffy?
Aba yo Yuusha (Yuuichi Takahashi): It's my first time in the main magazine. I'm actually kind of nervous, but it's great to meet you all.
Souboutei kowasubeshi (Kazuhiro Fujita): Where did the crew of the SS. Mary Celeste go? Sorry, I just have to research this!
Hoankan Evans no Uso ~Dead or Love~ (Mizuki Kuriyama): It's too difficult to control how much sleep I need so should I just stop trying?
Birdmen (Yellow Tanabe): Why is it I don't want to get up in the morning?
Aozakura Bouei Daigakkou Monogatari (Hikaru Nikaido): Is there a world with a map that's in a Donut shape like an RPG game (North, South, east, and West are all connected.)
Zettai Karen Children (Takashi Shiina): I'd like to be a better consumer, yet it's a mystery how all of my consuming is eaten up by taxes.
Tantei Xeno to Nanatsu no Satsujin Misshitsu (Teppei Sugiyama): I wonder what's on the other side of the universe?
Youkai Giga (Satsuki Satou): The mark of a snake user decides my path.
Tokaichi Hitoribochi Nouen (Yuuji Yokoyama): I wonder where all the stray cats I see in my neighborhood (Obihiro) go during the winter time??
Mitsuhashi and and Fukuda are both huge moods for me this week, with Kuriyama actually being me, haha. Also Aoyama, you're not allowed to ask that! Stop trying to wreck the already malleable fabric of this magazine! Also everyone knows it was the first editor of Shounen Sunday who wanted the magazine to have the image of something you'd read on a Sunday afternoon you fool! Yellow Tanabe also had a great answer --one that is a universal "mood". I know I translated the name of the person who made the inquiry as well as the place they're from when I don't usually do that --honestly between the text being super hard to read, and sometimes the pen names being gibberish I can't make out, rather than spend more time tangling with something that I'm not sure anyone cares about I just sort of ignore it. This week it was easy so I translated it. It's a case-by-case thing y'see..
I'm not at all sure what to make of the events this chapter --Kogarashi dead after getting shot by Rere? Zen saved by Ryousuke? The whole gang falling into Ryoko's hands? It's like...everything happened all at once and is this part of Mitsuhashi's master plan or is it a sign of the end? I dunno really, but an interesting note we can take away from this is how Rere reacts to actually shooting someone even if they are as detestable as Kogarashi is. I would have thought our hardened Onee-san would have plugged a guy or two in her lifetime, but apparently not as she quasi laments the feelings left to her after shooting Kogarashi and leaving him for dead. Nah, it's not exactly a new and thrilling plot point in the scheme of things, but it does lend an air of finality to this character arc even if it simultaneously leaves the door open for more. Is it simply a deus ex machina that Kogarashi was injured by Ryoko earlier and thus didn't have the strength to avoid and or take Rere's bullets? Or is there more to the story that we'll get in future chapters? Obviously the latter, but just what's more and how much more is left up in the air. I find it hard to believe of course that Kogarashi who was set up to be this wall that Ryoko has to overcome would be flattened this easily, however.
Meanwhile Zen is just bleeding all over Ubume's garden in an attempt to protect Ryousuke from danger. I gotta say, I like how Zen's really been fleshed out as a character over these last few weeks. I would have been fine if he were his normal flippant self, but this rise to the occasion has been fun to watch (if not a bit gory.) He was the "general" of his men back when they were together. (I wonder where they are now, and if we'll ever see them again.) And now it's easy to see why --when this guy gets revved up, he's a hell of an opponent. The chapter ends with Zen and Ryousuke falling into the battle field where Parsley and Ryoko are about to start their battle. What kind of monkey wrench does this throw into the battle? Looking forward to it.
Should have figured it wasn't going to be easy to get the eyes that are the prize from the third of the sisters in souboutei. (Also Fujita's two page spread power is so awesome that it broke the page, hah.) While the others are still making their way to the main house of the Souboutei, Takoha, Rokurou, Seiichi and Makoto have already arrived and the third oldest sister Kikuyo is ready to collect their corpses. One little detail that Fujita throws in that was interesting is that he names some of these thralls of the killer house which gives them a bit more identity than "Zombie #2035. It might just be to suppliment just how no one is really safe from the Souboutei but I thought it was a nice touch. Though even with the powers of the siblings Makoto and Seiichi on their side, Rokuro and Takoha realize that these thralls are different than the ones they've met before --they take a lickin' and keep on ticking. Not only that but they get bigger with each hit they take!
Rokuro wordlessly takes off with a plan of his own just as something (I'm not just being vaugue out of laziness for once, I can't describe what this something is.) comes out of the top of the house and attacks Takoha! This week really was about what could go wrong going wrong, but surely the boy wonder has a plan right? Probably, but Kikuyo isn't just going to let him go and execute it without a fight. Yes, as soon as he dashes off she has a sniper at the ready to shoot him down. Since the escapees from the hospital are on their way it's undoubted that the "main" group will have backup soon enough, but will it be in time to save Rokuro?
Evans is moseying his way towards chapter 100 doing what he does best --yearning to be popular. I'm really excited to see the series hit this landmark as it'll be the first series I've covered in the blog to hit the two year mark --and I've had the pleasure of reading for you each week. Other series got cut down on the way, but Evans has been able to maintain it's place in the magazine despite Kuriyama admitting that they really had no idea what they had going when the serialization for the manga began. Perhaps that's just what makes Evans work --that there's nothing major going on and so you can jump in on a chapter just like this one and begin reading without really having to know everyone and everything. (Though you really should try to read all of Evans if possible!) This week has the lawman training himself (actually training himself and not just trying to look cool) until he realizes a lady has her eyes on him and all of what little common sense he has flies out the window. Y'know, like every other week, haha.
I've gone on and on about what makes Evans works for what seems to be every week in this blog. It's characters, characters, characters! In a series like this where the plot is whatever the characters are doing at the point and time they're depicted, it's important to make them endearing, entrapping, or just plain entertaining enough to sustain an entire episode/chapter. Evans tries his best to act as if the lady watching him will have no effect on his conduct, but we already know that isn't going to happen, nope. Rather than that the entertainment comes from just how amped he gets in trying to impress her without seeming too desperate which comes off as extremely desperate unless you're in the world of the manga where people buy into Evans "coolness". Ah, too bad this lady is actually the wife of a gang leader Evans put away. Talk about a really specific job related hazard, haha. Though really my favorite part would have to be where Ted tries to talk Evans upper body strength up, so the gangster comes and shows he's even more ripped. Evans in turn just shoots the bridge he's standing on and is like "Yeah, fists really have nothing to do with this situation". For once he puts aside his pride and takes the dirty way out --though hey at the very least he lets the wife and gangster go saying that he'll take them on in a proper fight some other time --so he keeps his coolness but doesn't get the girl. still for a (probably) contained story it was pretty funny which means this one was also a direct hit from the toughest and maybe least cool? sheriff in the west.
Ayla arc? Not sure yet, but with her Dad showing up (Though I still kind of wonder if he's really her father..) and her reappearance at the end, I can certainly get my hopes up. Whether the Teppei/Nanatsuki duo will get the time they need to make this story compelling is up in the air, but I'm hoping with what I heard from Nanatsuki a while back (where he had a conversation and competition with Fujita as to who's series will end first) signifies that Xeno does in fact have an exit plan and is prepared for an upcoming conclusion should that be coming down the wire. (That'd be so in character too, wouldn't you think?) Xeno's in a place where languages filter down like rain on a dirty street --(on the first page we're treated to German and Chinese.) And one wrong move almost gets the detective shot --luckily Kuze (finally a name for the wayward father of Ayla!) steps in to ward off the miscreants. Though, what could he possibly gain from helping Xeno out?
Turns out he's here to see a man about a criminal enterprise. Shigeaki Komoda -drugs, human trafficking, arms deals...you name it, he's sold it. Rust street is his kingdom, and a place where the criminals gather and snap and bite away hidden from the world of "light". Anything goes here in the street covered with the grime of crime, so it seems like a rather unlikely place for Xeno to be. Though it's just the kind of place where you'd expect an assassn and his daughter to hang out. Yup, you guessed it, Xeno is here looking for Ayla, and Kuze (Shiro is his first name, which is interesting if Ayla really is his daughter --why does she have such a strange name compared to his relatively normal one? ....if it's his real name, I suppose.) In any case, I suppose I was wrong about Ayla not killing someone --according to Kuze, she was "initiated" two years ago when she killed a traitor to the organization out of self defense. Xeno thinks back to her apology earlier and decides he has to meet her himself to figure out what's going on. Though it isn't long until Komoda is gunned down and Kuze despite his warnings to Xeno to get out of town has to call him in and ask him to do his sleuthing thing.
Xeno says no, and Kuze immediately informs him of what a poor decision that'd be. See, a refusal in Rust street is like taking a cigarette and puffing your life away --just faster. Especially when the guy who died employs your former assistant and her father. Xeno wanted to see Ayla again but probably not like this. Her eyes look as if she's resigned to the assassin life --probably the only one she feels she knows. Assuming Xeno can solve the case (a safe bet), will he be able to also save a wounded soul?
A simple Youkai Giga closes out this editorial --it really is just Osaki finally doing as she set out to and protecting her master from trouble. It was all worth it for that smile, huh Kuro? I get the idea that this change of direction for the story was mostly to set up for something less happy go lucky later, but for now let's just stay in the present (and notice that even Kuro is taken aback by Osaki's smile --Japanese onomatopoeia tells it all~) Though yeah because the chapter itself is really simple, I don't have a whole lot to say about it. Bullies come looking for Osaki's master Osamu, and she steps in to save him when Kuro is occupied with his own charge. Though it is the simple victories that can be the biggest!
That's it for issue #19's editorial. I've got a second interview of Legendary proportions to TL so the editorial for the next week might just be a little late again. It's all in effort to give you all a much more varied blog expierence! I hope to have a little something else coming soon for all of you who have been reading here. For now, just keep checking out the twitter at @wsstalkback for news and features, and head here each week for a bit more in depth Sunday fun. Until then, see ya!
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