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This month's Soul Eater: Chapter 55
There's no Tsubasa this week. So here, enjoy the lastest chapter of an actual GOOD manga instead.
Obvious warning! SPOILERS AHOY.
Before I start with the synposifizing, though, I just gotta say: One of the things that I love about Ohkubo is that he can turn on a dime from warm-and-fuzzy fluff one moment to holy-shit-I-will-be-having-nightmares-for-WEEKS material the next. And he does so several times in the course of this chapter. That, combined with the offbeat humor and snarky, slang-ridden dialogue that he gives his characters (which most unfortunately is almost totally lost in translation), is making me view Soul Eater more and more as some sort of long-awaited love child of Tim Burton and Joss Whedon. Or the Japanese equivalent thereof. And that really comes across in spades in this chapter.
Also, holy shit, I will be having nightmares for WEEKS.
So we start this chapter exactly where we left off last time: With Soul, Maka, and Medusa suddenly turned into wooden puppets. Or so it seems. Dun dun dunnnnn.
Soul falls over on his face, of course, because he's a freakin' puppet now. His rolls up one eye, and sees the Imp standing in front of him. "How unseemly," the Imp sneers. "This is you. Try to stand up. See? You can't. This is you." The Imp is looming over Soul, his legs blending into the shadow cast by Soul's arm. The Imp taunts Soul some more, then says, "Go ahead, try to cut the darkness." Soul tries to move his (wooden) hand across the shadow, making little cut cut cut sound effects. It doesn't work, of course. Soul's arm collapses. The Imp repeats, "This is you. Always playing like you're so cool and collected. Who the hell do you think you are? Look at your real self. This is all you are."
OH HELL YEAH IT'S FLASHBACK TIME
FLASHBACK TIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMEEEEE!
Soul is dressed in a black suit at a fancy party. He approaches a person who looks like an incredibly hot version of himself aged ten years or so. "Wes," Soul addresses this new hottie. Kanji characters reveal that Wes is Soul's older brother.
Other people at the party are talking. Wes Evans is a violin phenomenon, apparently, and this party is the aftermath of one of his more spectacular performances. But Wes, a wine glass in his hand, ignores everyone around him and focuses on his brother. "What is it, Soul? Come over here."
Soul hangs back, though. More word balloons from other party-goers swirl around him. "So that's the younger brother, Soul?" "He's a little prodigy at the piano." "Wow, I'd really like to hear him play..."
Soul thinks to himself, Anybody with decent ears can tell that I'll never play at Wes's level... He looks down at his hand. There's gotta be something else that I can do...
Scene change. Soul and Wes are outdoors somewhere, lounging. Probably a garden. Soul has transformed his arm into a scythe blade and is studying it non-chalantly. "Wow, that's amazing," Wes comments. "So now what? I gotta admit, I'm surprised. I never thought that there would turn out to be 'weapon' genes running around in this boring old musical family. Grandma was surprised, too."
Soul (in the present) reflects on Soul in the past staring at his transformed arm. And with that, I found my excuse to escape.
Back to the Imp. The Imp is still looming over Soul, breaking out the Freudian psychobabble. It's not very menacing. I'm going to skip a couple painful word bubbles here. Finally the Imp says, "What do you want to do? What do you believe in? Where do you want to go? Say it."
Ohkubo really starts breaking out the nightmare panel layouts around this point. I obviously can't convey the creepiness with just words, but yeah, for the next several pages Ohkubo just goes crazy with the most horror-inducing combinations of text, blank space, and scary-as-hell visual imagery. It (deliberately, I suspect) is extremely reminiscent of the Clown sequence.
Anyway, the Imp repeats, "Hey. Say it."
Soul tries to speak, but his mouth is just a wooden flap moving back and forth.
"A life is a gift, you creepy fuck," the Imp says. "Just continuing along until you die is cowardice. Until you find something to fight against, you can just keep lying on the ground like that."
The Imp leaves. But Soul is still stuck on the ground. I have to stand up, he thinks. But once I get up, what should I do? What should I do? He think-bubbles for a whole page about how badly he wants to stand up. But he can't move. His brain gets stuck in a loop: Sinking. Loosened*. Grovel. Loose. Loose. Sink. Grovel. NO!
* "Loose" as in the sense of "a loose tooth." Hell this is hard to translate.
Suddenly, little strands of spider web descend from above.
Help me, Soul thinks. Help me. HELP ME!! The spider-threads glom onto him and start pulling him up. No more ground. No more. I want to stand up. Help me!
He looks up, and sees Arachne looming over him, having strung him up like a marionette. Please make me stand. Help me! Arachne, like the Imp before her, is growing out of the shadow that Soul casts on the ground.
"I will gladly guide you," Arachne says. "Soul, you don't have to worry about the path in front of you anymore. Don't worry. Don't worry. This shadow is connecting you and I now. So you mustn't try to cut it."
Help me! Soul thinks again.
Arachne laughs. She flicks her fingers, raising Soul's arms above his head.
Thank you! Soul thinks, as his eyes roll back into his creepy wooden head. You saved me!
Then from off-panel we hear, "MakaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--"
Arachne makes this great Oh, shit face.
"CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!"
Maka comes out of nowhere like a freakin' bat out of Hell and slices both Arachne and her web-string-thingies apart... with a book.
I guess it was a really, really sharp book.
Suddenly the background artwork reveals that we're back in front of the door to Arachne's inner sanctum. Soul, very much NOT a puppet, is lying on the ground with a book impacted halfway into his skull and stars floating around his eyes. "Ow... Owwwwwwww..."
Maka picks her book back up (um, where did she get a book in the first place?) and holds out her hand to Soul, impatiently. "Come on," she says. "What were you doing down there on the ground, anyway?"
Soul looks up at her and is all like, "Ummmmmm...." But he takes her hand, and she pulls him back up. D'awwwwwww. Cue adorable Maka/Soul moment.
Wait a minute, it's time for a little bit more flashback, for some reason. Cut to Wes again. "Soul... You're really quitting the piano?"
"I dunno," Soul says. "We'll see."
"But I love your sound," Wes says.
At first, Soul is silent. Then he says, "Thank you."
Back in the present, it is time for Soul to think-bubble some more. Like we didn't already get twenty pages of that, but whatever. What should I do? Right now, it's not like it was back then. All right. It looks like I don't have a choice anymore. Maka's sound cut through the darkness and saved me. For her sake, I've gotta become stronger.
While Soul is emo-think-bubbling all of this, by the way, Maka is staring at him with this great buh-what? face.
Maka turns to Medusa. "So what was that spell just now?"
"It's a spell that ensares souls, trapping them in their own weaknesses," Medusa explains.
Maka makes a great aw, crap face. "So that's Arachne's magic, huh?"
"Arachne's different from me," Medusa explains. "She's no good with direct, offensive magic." So apparently Arachne's speciality is mind-raping her enemies instead. GREAT.
Then the three of them finally open the big freakin' Door of Doom. Creepy icky tentacles of darkness immediately come pouring out, of course. Maka grasps Soul in his scythe form and says, "I can feel Arachne's soul wavelength. It's revolting."
The walk in. At first, everything is dark. And then...
Oh shit. Oh no. Oh no no no no no Ohkubo you are NOT going there--
I think both the readers and Our Heroes were expecting to find a grand, elegant spider web, the likes of which we were shown earlier in the manga (and currently in the anime). Instead, we get mind-blowing horror. The inside of Arachne's chamber is covered in... well...
Hey, when you guys were in elementary school, did any of you ever get to dissect the inside of a spider's egg sack? Yes? No? If you answered yes, then congratulations, you have successfully identified the decor of Arachne's inner chamber.
They are walking into a giant egg sack.
Maka and Medusa try to push through the layers and layers of thick spider-excrement, but it's like trying to walk through the Amazon bush without a machete. Fortunately, they have a machete - or the equivalent, in the form of Medusa's vector arrows - which she promptly uses to cut a path directly through to the direction where Maka says that Arachne's soul wavelength is coming from.
They emerge from the... whatever... to see Arachne sitting on the edge of some stone steps. Her head is kind of resting at a weird angle. Hmm.
Maka gets a good look at Arachne, then freezes with horror. "Wh... What happened to her?"
Maka turns and looks at Medusa. I can see Medusa's soul perfectly clearly. So there's nothing wrong with my soul perception ability. But...
Arachne slumps over, then falls completely to the ground.
She's dead, Jim.
"What is going ON here?!" Maka asks.
I think I know the answer. Geez, Maka, did you never read or watch Charlotte's Web?
Anyway, scene change! Now we're in the security headquarters, as a useful caption helpfully informs us! Mosquito, still in his Hottie McHot Hot form (and leaking bats all over the place), is looking PISSED. Arachnaphobia lackies immediately surround him. "Mosquito-sama! You're injured! How did that happen?!"
Eibon is watching Mosquito warily, out of the corner of his eye. Sorry, ladies, but Eibon has apparently decided to cover up the wifebeater with a rather unattractive jacket in this chapter. Oh, disappointment.
Mosquito looks over and sees the dudes who were supposed to be guarding Arachne standing in the middle of the security center. "What are you doing here? You should not have left Arachne-sama's side!"
"Eibon-sama told us to leave, so we reported back here."
"WHAT?!" Mosquito turns to Eibon.
Eibon gives Mosquito a tiny, knowing little smile.
"Who gave you the right to act independently of orders?!" Mosquito asks, advancing threateningly toward Eibon.
"I didn't," Eibon says, cool as a cucumber. "I've just done exactly what Arachne-sama told me to do."
"Do not lie to me," Mosquito says. Boy he looks ready to get with the ripping-main-characters-in-half bit again. "What exactly is your goal here, you unearthly magician...?"
Scene change again. One of Arachnaphobia's lackeys is pounding frantically on a door. "GIRIKO-SAMA!! GIRIKO-SAMA!!"
Cut to Giriko, inside, sound asleep on his couch, complete with awesome chainsaw-like snoring effects.
Scene change again! Now we're back with Kid and Company. He's still running around looking for Mosquito. Unfortunately, he's reached a split in the tunnels. "Which way did Mosquito go?!" he asks. "His soul wavelength is... This way..."
Okay wait wait wait wait back up a minute. He's still pursuing Mosquito alone?! Seriously?! I had hoped that Kid would have come to his senses by now. Hey, remember back during the Brew battle, when Kid had the chance to take on Mosquito alone and decided that, NO, that would be a really super bad idea, and not just because Mosquito could still devolve further, either? Yeah. Back then. Back when Kid apparently still had a few functioning brain cells left to rub together.
Whereas now, he's not only badly injured, but he's seen that Mosquito can devolve to a form that can kill him instantly - and knows that Mosquito still has more forms to devolve to. And yet for some reason NOW he thinks that it's a good idea to go after this guy and confront him alone.
Except not so much with the "alone" part because we readers have been informed that Mosquito retreated to the security room, which is the heart of Arachne's operation, and which is still crawling with her minions. And if Kid had stopped to think about this for about three seconds, he probably would have figured out that part, too. So he's not just alone and injured and stupidly running after a guy that can kill him in an eyeblink, but he's alone, injured, stupidly running after a guy that can kill him in an eyeblink, and about to throw himself straight into the heart of Arachne's army at the same time.
JESUS WEPT. I mean, there are dumb action heroes, and then there are dumb action heroes. I don't think even Black Star has quite reached this point on the stupid-o-meter yet. And that's really saying something.
Anyway, back to Kid, who is determined to... I dunno. Die heroically, or something. Thank the Reaper that he has Liz and Patti with him, because they are about to reveal that they are the smartest two characters in this series.
No, seriously.
It starts when Patti comments, "Geez, Kid-kun, you seem to be having a pretty hard time finishing off just one guy ..."
Liz gives a killer smile and says, "You know, we already took down one of the big bosses. Quick 'n easy."
Kid is like, "What? What are you talking about?"
Patti: "Nn He he he he he he he." Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Liz explains, "When we were running around as maids. We brought that boss-guy his drinks."
Panel flashback! Liz and Patti are in Giriko's room, in their maid disguises. Liz is distracting Giriko by flirting, while Patti dumps a packet ofdate-rape drug something into Giriko's glass. "I brought one packet along with me!" Patti explains. A packet of what?! Do we really want to know?!
"It was a super-powerful sleeping drug," Liz clarifies a moment later.
Kid's got a sweatdrop going when he hears this. "Well... Um... Good thing you brought something like that with you..."
"Aw yeah," says Liz. "We used to use that stuff all the time. One of the tricks of the trade, you know?"
Kid is making this great holy shit no I DON'T know face. But either way, let me just be the first to say:
OH SNAP, Liz and Patti just won the chapter. THEY WIN THE CHAPTER.
But, anyway. Back to Stupid-n-Doomed Action Hero mode. Kid is running around like he's had a lobotomy, and suddenly, he sees an entryway approaching. "Mosquito's wavelength is close! It's right through there!!"
So naturally he runs headfirst blindly through the doorway (JESUS WEPT AGAIN) and for fuck's sake, oh my god, he's holding his guns behind his hips instead of out in front of him and ready to shoot. HOW IS HE NOT KILLED INSTANTLY?!
Here's why. Because everybody in the security room is extremely distracted by the fact that Eibon and Mosquito are circling each other in the center of the room, and clearly about to duel to the death.
Kid freezes when he realizes what he's just run straight into.
And then the chapter ends.
Next month: A color illustration! Oh, and Mr. Ohkubo, would it please you to so kindly remember that Black Star, Tsubaki, and Crona are also in this manga? Please? I'm starting to miss them. A lot.
Edited to add: As requested, some spoilery manga scans are now posted here.
Obvious warning! SPOILERS AHOY.
Before I start with the synposifizing, though, I just gotta say: One of the things that I love about Ohkubo is that he can turn on a dime from warm-and-fuzzy fluff one moment to holy-shit-I-will-be-having-nightmares-for-WEEKS material the next. And he does so several times in the course of this chapter. That, combined with the offbeat humor and snarky, slang-ridden dialogue that he gives his characters (which most unfortunately is almost totally lost in translation), is making me view Soul Eater more and more as some sort of long-awaited love child of Tim Burton and Joss Whedon. Or the Japanese equivalent thereof. And that really comes across in spades in this chapter.
Also, holy shit, I will be having nightmares for WEEKS.
So we start this chapter exactly where we left off last time: With Soul, Maka, and Medusa suddenly turned into wooden puppets. Or so it seems. Dun dun dunnnnn.
Soul falls over on his face, of course, because he's a freakin' puppet now. His rolls up one eye, and sees the Imp standing in front of him. "How unseemly," the Imp sneers. "This is you. Try to stand up. See? You can't. This is you." The Imp is looming over Soul, his legs blending into the shadow cast by Soul's arm. The Imp taunts Soul some more, then says, "Go ahead, try to cut the darkness." Soul tries to move his (wooden) hand across the shadow, making little cut cut cut sound effects. It doesn't work, of course. Soul's arm collapses. The Imp repeats, "This is you. Always playing like you're so cool and collected. Who the hell do you think you are? Look at your real self. This is all you are."
OH HELL YEAH IT'S FLASHBACK TIME
FLASHBACK TIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMEEEEE!
Soul is dressed in a black suit at a fancy party. He approaches a person who looks like an incredibly hot version of himself aged ten years or so. "Wes," Soul addresses this new hottie. Kanji characters reveal that Wes is Soul's older brother.
Other people at the party are talking. Wes Evans is a violin phenomenon, apparently, and this party is the aftermath of one of his more spectacular performances. But Wes, a wine glass in his hand, ignores everyone around him and focuses on his brother. "What is it, Soul? Come over here."
Soul hangs back, though. More word balloons from other party-goers swirl around him. "So that's the younger brother, Soul?" "He's a little prodigy at the piano." "Wow, I'd really like to hear him play..."
Soul thinks to himself, Anybody with decent ears can tell that I'll never play at Wes's level... He looks down at his hand. There's gotta be something else that I can do...
Scene change. Soul and Wes are outdoors somewhere, lounging. Probably a garden. Soul has transformed his arm into a scythe blade and is studying it non-chalantly. "Wow, that's amazing," Wes comments. "So now what? I gotta admit, I'm surprised. I never thought that there would turn out to be 'weapon' genes running around in this boring old musical family. Grandma was surprised, too."
Soul (in the present) reflects on Soul in the past staring at his transformed arm. And with that, I found my excuse to escape.
Back to the Imp. The Imp is still looming over Soul, breaking out the Freudian psychobabble. It's not very menacing. I'm going to skip a couple painful word bubbles here. Finally the Imp says, "What do you want to do? What do you believe in? Where do you want to go? Say it."
Ohkubo really starts breaking out the nightmare panel layouts around this point. I obviously can't convey the creepiness with just words, but yeah, for the next several pages Ohkubo just goes crazy with the most horror-inducing combinations of text, blank space, and scary-as-hell visual imagery. It (deliberately, I suspect) is extremely reminiscent of the Clown sequence.
Anyway, the Imp repeats, "Hey. Say it."
Soul tries to speak, but his mouth is just a wooden flap moving back and forth.
"A life is a gift, you creepy fuck," the Imp says. "Just continuing along until you die is cowardice. Until you find something to fight against, you can just keep lying on the ground like that."
The Imp leaves. But Soul is still stuck on the ground. I have to stand up, he thinks. But once I get up, what should I do? What should I do? He think-bubbles for a whole page about how badly he wants to stand up. But he can't move. His brain gets stuck in a loop: Sinking. Loosened*. Grovel. Loose. Loose. Sink. Grovel. NO!
* "Loose" as in the sense of "a loose tooth." Hell this is hard to translate.
Suddenly, little strands of spider web descend from above.
Help me, Soul thinks. Help me. HELP ME!! The spider-threads glom onto him and start pulling him up. No more ground. No more. I want to stand up. Help me!
He looks up, and sees Arachne looming over him, having strung him up like a marionette. Please make me stand. Help me! Arachne, like the Imp before her, is growing out of the shadow that Soul casts on the ground.
"I will gladly guide you," Arachne says. "Soul, you don't have to worry about the path in front of you anymore. Don't worry. Don't worry. This shadow is connecting you and I now. So you mustn't try to cut it."
Help me! Soul thinks again.
Arachne laughs. She flicks her fingers, raising Soul's arms above his head.
Thank you! Soul thinks, as his eyes roll back into his creepy wooden head. You saved me!
Then from off-panel we hear, "MakaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--"
Arachne makes this great Oh, shit face.
"CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!"
Maka comes out of nowhere like a freakin' bat out of Hell and slices both Arachne and her web-string-thingies apart... with a book.
I guess it was a really, really sharp book.
Suddenly the background artwork reveals that we're back in front of the door to Arachne's inner sanctum. Soul, very much NOT a puppet, is lying on the ground with a book impacted halfway into his skull and stars floating around his eyes. "Ow... Owwwwwwww..."
Maka picks her book back up (um, where did she get a book in the first place?) and holds out her hand to Soul, impatiently. "Come on," she says. "What were you doing down there on the ground, anyway?"
Soul looks up at her and is all like, "Ummmmmm...." But he takes her hand, and she pulls him back up. D'awwwwwww. Cue adorable Maka/Soul moment.
Wait a minute, it's time for a little bit more flashback, for some reason. Cut to Wes again. "Soul... You're really quitting the piano?"
"I dunno," Soul says. "We'll see."
"But I love your sound," Wes says.
At first, Soul is silent. Then he says, "Thank you."
Back in the present, it is time for Soul to think-bubble some more. Like we didn't already get twenty pages of that, but whatever. What should I do? Right now, it's not like it was back then. All right. It looks like I don't have a choice anymore. Maka's sound cut through the darkness and saved me. For her sake, I've gotta become stronger.
While Soul is emo-think-bubbling all of this, by the way, Maka is staring at him with this great buh-what? face.
Maka turns to Medusa. "So what was that spell just now?"
"It's a spell that ensares souls, trapping them in their own weaknesses," Medusa explains.
Maka makes a great aw, crap face. "So that's Arachne's magic, huh?"
"Arachne's different from me," Medusa explains. "She's no good with direct, offensive magic." So apparently Arachne's speciality is mind-raping her enemies instead. GREAT.
Then the three of them finally open the big freakin' Door of Doom. Creepy icky tentacles of darkness immediately come pouring out, of course. Maka grasps Soul in his scythe form and says, "I can feel Arachne's soul wavelength. It's revolting."
The walk in. At first, everything is dark. And then...
Oh shit. Oh no. Oh no no no no no Ohkubo you are NOT going there--
I think both the readers and Our Heroes were expecting to find a grand, elegant spider web, the likes of which we were shown earlier in the manga (and currently in the anime). Instead, we get mind-blowing horror. The inside of Arachne's chamber is covered in... well...
Hey, when you guys were in elementary school, did any of you ever get to dissect the inside of a spider's egg sack? Yes? No? If you answered yes, then congratulations, you have successfully identified the decor of Arachne's inner chamber.
They are walking into a giant egg sack.
Maka and Medusa try to push through the layers and layers of thick spider-excrement, but it's like trying to walk through the Amazon bush without a machete. Fortunately, they have a machete - or the equivalent, in the form of Medusa's vector arrows - which she promptly uses to cut a path directly through to the direction where Maka says that Arachne's soul wavelength is coming from.
They emerge from the... whatever... to see Arachne sitting on the edge of some stone steps. Her head is kind of resting at a weird angle. Hmm.
Maka gets a good look at Arachne, then freezes with horror. "Wh... What happened to her?"
Maka turns and looks at Medusa. I can see Medusa's soul perfectly clearly. So there's nothing wrong with my soul perception ability. But...
Arachne slumps over, then falls completely to the ground.
She's dead, Jim.
"What is going ON here?!" Maka asks.
I think I know the answer. Geez, Maka, did you never read or watch Charlotte's Web?
Anyway, scene change! Now we're in the security headquarters, as a useful caption helpfully informs us! Mosquito, still in his Hottie McHot Hot form (and leaking bats all over the place), is looking PISSED. Arachnaphobia lackies immediately surround him. "Mosquito-sama! You're injured! How did that happen?!"
Eibon is watching Mosquito warily, out of the corner of his eye. Sorry, ladies, but Eibon has apparently decided to cover up the wifebeater with a rather unattractive jacket in this chapter. Oh, disappointment.
Mosquito looks over and sees the dudes who were supposed to be guarding Arachne standing in the middle of the security center. "What are you doing here? You should not have left Arachne-sama's side!"
"Eibon-sama told us to leave, so we reported back here."
"WHAT?!" Mosquito turns to Eibon.
Eibon gives Mosquito a tiny, knowing little smile.
"Who gave you the right to act independently of orders?!" Mosquito asks, advancing threateningly toward Eibon.
"I didn't," Eibon says, cool as a cucumber. "I've just done exactly what Arachne-sama told me to do."
"Do not lie to me," Mosquito says. Boy he looks ready to get with the ripping-main-characters-in-half bit again. "What exactly is your goal here, you unearthly magician...?"
Scene change again. One of Arachnaphobia's lackeys is pounding frantically on a door. "GIRIKO-SAMA!! GIRIKO-SAMA!!"
Cut to Giriko, inside, sound asleep on his couch, complete with awesome chainsaw-like snoring effects.
Scene change again! Now we're back with Kid and Company. He's still running around looking for Mosquito. Unfortunately, he's reached a split in the tunnels. "Which way did Mosquito go?!" he asks. "His soul wavelength is... This way..."
Okay wait wait wait wait back up a minute. He's still pursuing Mosquito alone?! Seriously?! I had hoped that Kid would have come to his senses by now. Hey, remember back during the Brew battle, when Kid had the chance to take on Mosquito alone and decided that, NO, that would be a really super bad idea, and not just because Mosquito could still devolve further, either? Yeah. Back then. Back when Kid apparently still had a few functioning brain cells left to rub together.
Whereas now, he's not only badly injured, but he's seen that Mosquito can devolve to a form that can kill him instantly - and knows that Mosquito still has more forms to devolve to. And yet for some reason NOW he thinks that it's a good idea to go after this guy and confront him alone.
Except not so much with the "alone" part because we readers have been informed that Mosquito retreated to the security room, which is the heart of Arachne's operation, and which is still crawling with her minions. And if Kid had stopped to think about this for about three seconds, he probably would have figured out that part, too. So he's not just alone and injured and stupidly running after a guy that can kill him in an eyeblink, but he's alone, injured, stupidly running after a guy that can kill him in an eyeblink, and about to throw himself straight into the heart of Arachne's army at the same time.
JESUS WEPT. I mean, there are dumb action heroes, and then there are dumb action heroes. I don't think even Black Star has quite reached this point on the stupid-o-meter yet. And that's really saying something.
Anyway, back to Kid, who is determined to... I dunno. Die heroically, or something. Thank the Reaper that he has Liz and Patti with him, because they are about to reveal that they are the smartest two characters in this series.
No, seriously.
It starts when Patti comments, "Geez, Kid-kun, you seem to be having a pretty hard time finishing off just one guy ..."
Liz gives a killer smile and says, "You know, we already took down one of the big bosses. Quick 'n easy."
Kid is like, "What? What are you talking about?"
Patti: "Nn He he he he he he he." Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Liz explains, "When we were running around as maids. We brought that boss-guy his drinks."
Panel flashback! Liz and Patti are in Giriko's room, in their maid disguises. Liz is distracting Giriko by flirting, while Patti dumps a packet of
"It was a super-powerful sleeping drug," Liz clarifies a moment later.
Kid's got a sweatdrop going when he hears this. "Well... Um... Good thing you brought something like that with you..."
"Aw yeah," says Liz. "We used to use that stuff all the time. One of the tricks of the trade, you know?"
Kid is making this great holy shit no I DON'T know face. But either way, let me just be the first to say:
OH SNAP, Liz and Patti just won the chapter. THEY WIN THE CHAPTER.
But, anyway. Back to Stupid-n-Doomed Action Hero mode. Kid is running around like he's had a lobotomy, and suddenly, he sees an entryway approaching. "Mosquito's wavelength is close! It's right through there!!"
So naturally he runs headfirst blindly through the doorway (JESUS WEPT AGAIN) and for fuck's sake, oh my god, he's holding his guns behind his hips instead of out in front of him and ready to shoot. HOW IS HE NOT KILLED INSTANTLY?!
Here's why. Because everybody in the security room is extremely distracted by the fact that Eibon and Mosquito are circling each other in the center of the room, and clearly about to duel to the death.
Kid freezes when he realizes what he's just run straight into.
And then the chapter ends.
Next month: A color illustration! Oh, and Mr. Ohkubo, would it please you to so kindly remember that Black Star, Tsubaki, and Crona are also in this manga? Please? I'm starting to miss them. A lot.
Edited to add: As requested, some spoilery manga scans are now posted here.
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Arachne makes this great Oh, shit face.
"CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!"
Maka comes out of nowhere like a freakin' bat out of Hell and slices both Arachne and her web-string-thingies apart... with a book.
That made me punch my fists in the air and silently go "YAAAAAY!" today. Thank you. Also, I totally suspect she has her own personal stash of Maka Chop books in her own personal hammerspace.
EW. GOD. A GIANT EGGSACK?! EW (
and woah, cool that's freaky stuff but--) ACK. I never did dissection but I have seen what spiders' eggsacks (and other insects') look like. Blehhh...LOL. I'm beginning to suspect a) Kid traded brains/thought processes with Black Star or b) Kid lost a few braincells in that battle there (I mean, I know he can't really die-die or die easily I should say, but still.) Oh Liz and Patty.
Thanks for this, btw! :D
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Thankd for sharing this!
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thanks :3
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I'm about ready to forgive Ookubo for Team Black Star + Crona going all MIA on us for the past few chapters. Dang, he knows how to tell an effing good story.
'Bout time Maka started saving Soul's ass, too. Haha.
Perhaps Kid was just caught up in the moment, y'know, what with the lines of sanzu and brew and all. Anyway, Eibon vs. Mosquito? I can't wait to see THAT.
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ANYWHO! I LOL'd at Patti and Liz and your description on how they were the smartest hahaha I agree with ya on the whole review 100% OMG Ookubo is amazing! Thanks for the spoilers! I can't wait to actually read it! :>
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I want to get back to the Mifune/Black Star fight too; but I kind of also don't, because I'm worried Mifune will die T_T
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christ, I can't wait for scans
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Not at all. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy. Thank you!
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Where'd you find the raws?
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I'm sure that raws will be out soon, though.
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I thoroughly enjoyed reading every word of this, thanks for the summary! XD
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Try not to be so hard on Kid though, I'm sure he's probably gonnna turn things around with something cool...if not someone will eventually come to his aid.
Liz and Patty truly ruled this chapter with the drugging of the drink. XD
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dailysurprise fights with the enemies, Winry always has a wrench to whack Ed with, and every villain has the gift of shadowy, mysterious lighting that hides their faces but not their teeth.no subject
btw. where did you get/find the scans? I'd love to see Soul's oniisan.
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Actually, I'm going to try to post some scans tonight. Not the whole chapter, but probably just Wes, the egg sack, and maybe the final page of WTFery.
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I'm sure everybody will really appreciate that > < Thanks in advance! I ordered my own copy but it probably won't arrive for a few more days;_; I'm dying to see Wes....
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Thank you so much for this summary! It's making me anticipate the chapter even more than I already was! <3 Such a treat!
OMGLOLWUT @ Kid and his " Stupid-n-Doomed Action Hero mode " XDDD Oh god he must have some kind of plan or something...SOMETHING!
And HUZZAH for flashbacks! I can't wait to see Soul's brother! <3 Not to mention the Maka/Soul moment. Gotta love those. <3
Ya know, I'm kinda scared for them to go back to Black*Star and Tsubaki o.o; Mifune is such a good character...I don't want him to die! ;~;
Anywho, thanks again for the summary! It was really fun to read! XD
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I can not wait for these scans to come out. @_@
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And to think that I really disliked Liz and Patti before I read this.
ALSO, KID WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU. Remind me, did he get hit in the head during his fight with Mosquito? If he dies, I'll kill him. D
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And hmm... I haven't read Charlotte's web in a loooong time... What IS going on here?
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Oh Arachne, if you pulled dat shit...
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(Gets shoes thrown at her by Nenena's entire flist and some more) :D
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Then again, I haven't actually seen those pictures.
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Ahaha it seems like there is ALWAYS a cooler more talented older brother in these stories. I really want to see him though.
I want to see Eibon and Mosquito interact too.
I love your review, it got me really pumped up for this chapter.
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If it's weird, then I guess we're both weird, because I totally do that too.
I love your review
Thank you!
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*ahem*
But yeah. Thank you so much! And for the your translation of that 'loose' word, maybe you could try 'waver'? But seriously, you can just leave it like. I liked how you went about writing this~
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and it sets for a interesting sistersxkid dojin
though i am unsurprised with eibon though i really like to know more about him, a lot more
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Oh, thank God, I thought I was the only one whose imagination went there.
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Wes is effin' hot.
But why is it that the older brothers are the true prodigies?
As for Kid, I suspect that after massive bloodless from a chopped off arm, the blood seemingly rushed away from his brain. At least Liz and Patty's years of
date-rapeexperience in the streets came in handy!... Right.
MUST WAIT FOR SCANLATIONS D: