13 replies to this topic

[MrFeatherFang]

Looking at the abundent of comments and comments with spoilers, I thought it would be good to have a topic like this.
As of this posting, the latest chapter is Ch.44, so just a warning to those who haven't caught up yet.

This is quite an interesting series. Personally I think all the characters are likeable in some way.

I feel quite bad for Ei-ken, having to work with the men who killed his best friend. I don't think this is a series which you can predict things easily like your average shounen. You just want to know what happens next and that's what I really like (the art is great too).
Also I wonder when Shiki's gonna get laid lol.

[Alicepheeze]

I don't think this is a series which you can predict things easily like your average shounen. You just want to know what happens next and that's what I really like (the art is great too).

Well, it´s a Seinen manga, after all: while not necessarily the rule (have a look at Death Note or Mirai Nikki mangas, if you want some examples), it grants the authors the possibility of comming up with "questionable" or "mature" content with more freedom. Plus, Kotegawa is already used to write morally ambiguous stories, it´s a frequent style of hers.
The plot twist at the end of the 44th chapter sure was unexpected. It makes me wonder if that lady who hire the hitmen is hiding something regarding the latest objectives (just like the Knife guy, which turned to be more than what was originally assumed)...

Edited by Feena, 28 June 2012 - 02:11 AM.

[MrFeatherFang]

I have to admit, I haven't read any of her other manga. Agreed with the ending of Ch. 44, it surprised me as well.
Also does anyone remember what happened with Hosaka-san and his wife and baby situation? I can't seem to find out what happened (though I was skimming through the manga again). Also Ei-kun slipped up a bit with the hitman part lol

[Alicepheeze]

Hosaka´s backstory has yet to be fully detailed, nonetheless we have been receiving important hints about what might happened to his family, so it´s not hard to guess the truth...

Edited by Feena, 28 June 2012 - 02:12 AM.

[Tsss]

His grudge against the Shuueikai his explained in volume 01 - 04 (can't remember the chapter) and in ch 35.

If I remember correctly, they used drugs on her and made her "work" for a week. She managed to survive, but her mind was greatly affected and she lost her baby. After that, he made an oath to himself to arrest them to avenge her. But they were killed before he could arrest them (He had a lead and they were under surveillance for the rape / suicide case of a woman in vol ~04) and now he want to get the killers instead.

[syockit]

The teacher did it again. Every time Itsuki asks for pepperoni, he dishes out aglio olio e peperoncino. Come on, those two things are different! Has he never eaten pepperoni before? And that girl never complains about it either…

[Purple Library Guy]

Um . . . right. Because her ideas of Italian cuisine are certainly very sophisticated, as a Japanese girl who's spent most of her life shut in a room.

So, anyone got any ideas why she suddenly can't read people much and whether her ability will come back or not?

[fal]

I thought it had something to do with the woman (the target), but (if it was conscious) she would have told her husband when we saw her come back home after meeting Itsuki.
Maybe some kind of shock because of what happened to the mysterious baby she saw in the woman's mind (like she blocked it unconsciously)... but on the other hand, she already saw pretty violent things (her father's death, or the murderer who kept the vagina in a jar).
Maybe something to do with spending time with people (but I guess she wasn't all alone before ten, so the ability shouldn't have developed), or growing up (then it wouldn't come back; and it's a bit of a cliché, I hope it's not that).
It might be the interference of somebody else with the same kind of power, but except the woman, I don't see anybody it could be.

I think it will come back (it would be strange to cut off this plot line like that, even though it has almost not been used).

Your guess?

[Purple Library Guy]

Not sure.
I'd like to rant now about the role of co-incidence in this manga. The basic thing is that, while the main characters are not amazingly good at protecting their identities, the fact that they have no relationship to the victims and yet at the same time are unlikely to present the geographical killing profile of most serial murderers makes them simply very hard for police to find, especially in a huge city like Tokyo. There is software that is surprisingly accurate at finding the likely area a serial killer lives based on the pattern of locations the victims were taken from, but that wouldn't apply to them because they kill based on assignments, which are in turn based on someone's beliefs about who might be a criminal deserving death--buggers up all the assumptions such software uses. Even if they got fingerprints or such off the murder scenes they'd normally still be in the dark because the killers don't have a record, so their fingerprints aren't on file, and there's no reason to consider them suspects and take their fingerprints because, again, no relationship to the targets. Really, murders with this little to go on very often go unsolved.

But it seems like every few chapters the cops or somebody gets a huge gimme based purely on just happening to be at the exact place at the exact time. In ch. 46,

Spoiler

We not only have the detective just happening to be in the same church as the main character, but the pastor comes along and mentions an anonymous charitable donation right in front of him. So bingo, when an anonymous donation pays main character's sister's hospital fees, the cops will be paying attention and immediately suspect it comes from him, which in turn makes them wonder where he's getting his funds and why he needs to hide them by staying anonymous, so now the heat will never die down--they'll keep watching him until he makes a mistake.

But this kind of thing has happened at least twice before. And it's totally unfair--what does it matter whether the characters make mistakes if the cops can just rely on dumb luck? The whole exercise becomes pointless.
And for me at least, it totally breaks immersion. It's supposed to ratchet up the tension, but it drains it, because all I see is the mangaka playing with the plot, arbitrarily keeping the pot boiling, instead of any kind of natural movement of events.

Finally, for me what I really liked about this manga was less the action and more the characters, how they dealt with the whole situation. I don't even really like it turning into the whole "cops are closing in gradually" exercise in paranoia because it leaves less room for characterization.

Edited by Purple Library Guy, 22 May 2012 - 09:28 PM.

[Miyama]

these chapters title seems so fitting... Shiki seems to start realising the essence of his "job"...

@Purple Library Guy: you are right the coincidences are too many... I would prefer it if the police came to conclusions after thorough investigations n' not just by "happening" to be at the right place at the right time^^
well I hope the ending of the manga (when it comes) won't be based on consequences

[Purple Library Guy]

I must say I find this latest assignment interesting. Lots of ambiguity, and once again the problem of knowing the truth. Did they really do the murders the main characters have been primed with? Or is it a setup of some kind? Are our antiheroes being gradually turned into simple hit men? Or are their employers also deceived?
And, OK sexist but it's still a problem guys are gonna have--can they kill a woman, particularly one who isn't obviously any kind of ganger or yakuza or anything?

[moist_gorilla]

This latest chapter. Holy shit. Shiki is a natural born killer.

[syockit]

So everyone gets turned into doughnuts in the end.

 

From now on I would remember this story everytime I see people eating doughnuts.

 

"Stop eating them! Doughnut is people!"

[messageboy]

I think the church and hosaka had a connection to the hitmen hiring for the below reasons.

 

Spoiler

At the end where it has hosaka in the church with his wife, the priest words to him with the plate of donuts, could suggest that hosaka was the one that hired the killings due to his wife.

It would explain why he let the killer lady go after seeing her arsoning the place, thinking that she was one of the hired crew.

If you really think about it, he didn't try anything serious against the hitmen until after the police woman died, otherwise it was more like he was just trying to keep up to date with perhaps either helping them at some point or supervising.

The church being one place for hiring hitmen. I saw looking at what the priest says each time he pops up could reveal some interesting views.