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Soul Eater Chapter 85: Sherlock Clown and the Mysterious Incident of the Bloody Balls
Yes, it is a short chapter this month.
And given the circumstances strangling supply lines for everything from food to gas to ink to paper all over Japan right now, anybody who thinks it might be a good idea to whiiiiiiiiiiiine about the length of this month's chapter in the comments on this post is officially a shit-eating over-entitled dogfood-brained self-centered small-minded Lord of Asshats.
Just getting that out of the way before we start. (Oh, and for the sake of nipping any further asshattery in the bud: YES, Not! was ten page shorter than usual this month, too.)
Okay, so, on to the fun stuff! And by "fun stuff" I mean Tezca getting repeatedly dismembered by Justin over and over again! HEY KIDS, COMICS!
We open exactly where we left off last time, in Ukraine, with a giant black blood bubble. In a forest somewhere a short distance away, Justin is staring at the blood-bubble looming over the horizon and muttering to himself, "So the wavelength that Kishin-sama felt came from this black sphere."
Oh my god, the title page. "It's so black and roooooouuuuuund."
And hey, a Clown is there, too! This is not the same Clown that was hanging out with Justin earlier, however, as this one has a different design and - as we are about to find out - a different voice, too. "So, what to you think?" Justin asks the Clown.
"That sphere is composed of black blood, isn't it," the Clown says. So I guess this Clown can talk, just like the original Clown that Maka fought. I mean, other than whistling at Giricco and Justin that one time, Justin's first Clown was pretty much silent throughout the entire Noah arc.
And now to make up for all of that silence, I guess the new Clown figures that it's his turn to wear the Captain Exposition Hat. "When Kishin-sama was sealed away, all of his blood was stolen from him as well. But when the witch Medusa injected him with the black blood that she had created, the seal was broken. Because Kishin-sama has the same black blood flowing in his veins, he was able to sense the presence of this black sphere."
"And I know of exactly two other people who are infected with the black blood..." Justin comments.
"Yes, yes," the Clown comments, very erudite and Sherlock-ish. "This is quite obviously the work of the Wielder of the Demon Sword." Duh. I mean, what, did they think that Soul did it?
I don't know if this is coming across in the translation but I am really, really amused by the Clown's new speech style. It's so delightfully pretentious and stuffy. All that he needs now is a deerstalker hat and a tobacco pipe, and the transformation will be complete.
"I read the documents about them when I was at Shibusen," Justin says. "The Demon Sword Ragnarok was melted down into the black blood and then injected into the body of a child... Now the weapon and the meister share one body." Justin stares at the sphere. "But compared to what I read in those documents, this is unbelievable. Their power must have increased exponentially." Crazy eyes! "I want to execute them." Karate-chop!
"Medusa's goal is to capture Kishin-sama..." the Clown reminds Justin. "If we leave this sphere and that child be, then surely they will become a threat to Kishin-sama."
"Shall we go after them?" Justin asks.
"Go after who?" a voice belonging to a dapperly-dressed torso says. "Didja forget that somebody else is already chasin' after you?"
The Clown, startled, turns around and sees Tezca standing right behind them.
Justin is still staring at the black sphere and listening to his music.
Clown is like, um, and taps Justin on the shoulder. Oh man, poor Tezca. Dramatic entrance officially ruined by Justin not even hearing him.
Justin finally turns around. "You are... Tezca Tlipoca..."
"How didja know it was me?!" Tezca gasps. "You cunning bastard... I changed my disguise over and over again, and yet ya still saw right through it..."
Somewhere off-panel, the Clown must be facepalming so hard at both of them right now. Or he would if he had palms.
"I have come to stop you, Justin!" Tezca declares.
"He says he came to stop you," the Clown translates for Justin.
"Strange," Tezca says. "Ya always fought alone. Even when we were students ya always studied alone. I never woulda thought that I'd see ya hangin' out with a weird guy like this. So what happened to ya, huh? Why the change?"
"I cannot read your lips so I have no idea what you just said, but..." Justin glares at Tezca. "So. You're still alive. And since you have the ability to follow any soul that is reflected in your mirror, then you must have been following me this entire time. You know where I have been." Justin leans forward creepily. "Do you know? Kishin-sama's location?"
"I was followin' your soul all this time, but there was one weird place where I lost ya for a little while," Tezca confesses. "I knew generally where ya were when I lost ya... It was just that one time... No way..."
"Tezca-san, you are a threat to the Kishin-sama's peaceful repose," Justin says, removing his headphones.
"Serious? Ya takin' those things off? So that means ya finally wanna listen to me now, right?"
"You are mistaken," Justin says. "I simply do not wish to miss the sound of your screams of agony when I kill you. For this reason alone, I am leaving my ears wide open." The Clown starts to merge with Justin. "Clown. Madness Fusion."
"Stop this!" Tezca shouts. "You can still fight this! Don't add another sin to your soul!!"
"Sin?" Justin asks. Then he launches into full-out screaming mode. "SO THEN WHAT IS A TRUE SIN?!" Justin sends his blade after Tezca. "GUILTY OR NOT GUILTY!"
And Tezca is
Tezca is
Tezca
is
S P A R K L E S
Justin grimaces angrily as Tezca sparkles at him. "Making mirror-reflection copies of yourself, are you?" Justin starts slicing apart as many Tezcas as he can. "Very well, then I'll just have to kill all of them!" He starts counting off. "1, 2, 3. And farewell."
Okay, so Justin can go nuclear now.
That leaves just one Tezca left standing. "Only one left," Justin says. And then Tezca just stands there as Justin slices him clean in half length-wise. "This is the end," Justin says, redunantly slicing Tezca's arms and legs off for good measure.
Justin looms over Tezca's dismembered corpse. "Best make sure that there truly is a corpse down there," Justin wisely comments to himself.
Aaaaand then Tezca's severed arm starts moving.
"!!" Justin exclaims. "His body parts are pulling themselves together again?!"
Well... in a sense.
Except that now Tezca has two heads, three arms, and four legs.
"What the...?" Justin looks somewhat pissed to discover that Tezca is actually A HYDRA. Kind of.
And so the chapter ends. Presumably we will see the continuation of this fight next month? Knowing Ohkubo, however, we may not.
Also, did Tezca just officially revoke his Only Competent Adult Left In The Series card, or what? I mean, I thought that the whole point of him faking his death and following Justin was to find out the location of the Kishin. And yet he blew his cover and confronted Justin before Justin could lead him to Asura (or rather, before Tezca realized that Justin already HAD been to the Kishin's location and he somehow missed it). So I guess Tezca's decision to follow Justin was never really about finding the Kishin and more about his personal business with Justin after all?
Way to blow Shibusen's best chance of locating the Kishin, dumbass.
Granted, we know now that Tezca's power doesn't actually work around Asura and therefore he wouldn't have been able to find the Kishin anyway, but still. Tezca blew his cover before he knew that, so yes, officially, it is now Tezca's turn to join his fellow Death Scythes in acting like an incompetent idiot, at least temporarily. Hopefully this won't have to last too long.
And given the circumstances strangling supply lines for everything from food to gas to ink to paper all over Japan right now, anybody who thinks it might be a good idea to whiiiiiiiiiiiine about the length of this month's chapter in the comments on this post is officially a shit-eating over-entitled dogfood-brained self-centered small-minded Lord of Asshats.
Just getting that out of the way before we start. (Oh, and for the sake of nipping any further asshattery in the bud: YES, Not! was ten page shorter than usual this month, too.)
Okay, so, on to the fun stuff! And by "fun stuff" I mean Tezca getting repeatedly dismembered by Justin over and over again! HEY KIDS, COMICS!
We open exactly where we left off last time, in Ukraine, with a giant black blood bubble. In a forest somewhere a short distance away, Justin is staring at the blood-bubble looming over the horizon and muttering to himself, "So the wavelength that Kishin-sama felt came from this black sphere."
Oh my god, the title page. "It's so black and roooooouuuuuund."
And hey, a Clown is there, too! This is not the same Clown that was hanging out with Justin earlier, however, as this one has a different design and - as we are about to find out - a different voice, too. "So, what to you think?" Justin asks the Clown.
"That sphere is composed of black blood, isn't it," the Clown says. So I guess this Clown can talk, just like the original Clown that Maka fought. I mean, other than whistling at Giricco and Justin that one time, Justin's first Clown was pretty much silent throughout the entire Noah arc.
And now to make up for all of that silence, I guess the new Clown figures that it's his turn to wear the Captain Exposition Hat. "When Kishin-sama was sealed away, all of his blood was stolen from him as well. But when the witch Medusa injected him with the black blood that she had created, the seal was broken. Because Kishin-sama has the same black blood flowing in his veins, he was able to sense the presence of this black sphere."
"And I know of exactly two other people who are infected with the black blood..." Justin comments.
"Yes, yes," the Clown comments, very erudite and Sherlock-ish. "This is quite obviously the work of the Wielder of the Demon Sword." Duh. I mean, what, did they think that Soul did it?
I don't know if this is coming across in the translation but I am really, really amused by the Clown's new speech style. It's so delightfully pretentious and stuffy. All that he needs now is a deerstalker hat and a tobacco pipe, and the transformation will be complete.
"I read the documents about them when I was at Shibusen," Justin says. "The Demon Sword Ragnarok was melted down into the black blood and then injected into the body of a child... Now the weapon and the meister share one body." Justin stares at the sphere. "But compared to what I read in those documents, this is unbelievable. Their power must have increased exponentially." Crazy eyes! "I want to execute them." Karate-chop!
"Medusa's goal is to capture Kishin-sama..." the Clown reminds Justin. "If we leave this sphere and that child be, then surely they will become a threat to Kishin-sama."
"Shall we go after them?" Justin asks.
"Go after who?" a voice belonging to a dapperly-dressed torso says. "Didja forget that somebody else is already chasin' after you?"
The Clown, startled, turns around and sees Tezca standing right behind them.
Justin is still staring at the black sphere and listening to his music.
Clown is like, um, and taps Justin on the shoulder. Oh man, poor Tezca. Dramatic entrance officially ruined by Justin not even hearing him.
Justin finally turns around. "You are... Tezca Tlipoca..."
"How didja know it was me?!" Tezca gasps. "You cunning bastard... I changed my disguise over and over again, and yet ya still saw right through it..."
Somewhere off-panel, the Clown must be facepalming so hard at both of them right now. Or he would if he had palms.
"I have come to stop you, Justin!" Tezca declares.
"He says he came to stop you," the Clown translates for Justin.
"Strange," Tezca says. "Ya always fought alone. Even when we were students ya always studied alone. I never woulda thought that I'd see ya hangin' out with a weird guy like this. So what happened to ya, huh? Why the change?"
"I cannot read your lips so I have no idea what you just said, but..." Justin glares at Tezca. "So. You're still alive. And since you have the ability to follow any soul that is reflected in your mirror, then you must have been following me this entire time. You know where I have been." Justin leans forward creepily. "Do you know? Kishin-sama's location?"
"I was followin' your soul all this time, but there was one weird place where I lost ya for a little while," Tezca confesses. "I knew generally where ya were when I lost ya... It was just that one time... No way..."
"Tezca-san, you are a threat to the Kishin-sama's peaceful repose," Justin says, removing his headphones.
"Serious? Ya takin' those things off? So that means ya finally wanna listen to me now, right?"
"You are mistaken," Justin says. "I simply do not wish to miss the sound of your screams of agony when I kill you. For this reason alone, I am leaving my ears wide open." The Clown starts to merge with Justin. "Clown. Madness Fusion."
"Stop this!" Tezca shouts. "You can still fight this! Don't add another sin to your soul!!"
"Sin?" Justin asks. Then he launches into full-out screaming mode. "SO THEN WHAT IS A TRUE SIN?!" Justin sends his blade after Tezca. "GUILTY OR NOT GUILTY!"
And Tezca is
Tezca is
Tezca
is
Justin grimaces angrily as Tezca sparkles at him. "Making mirror-reflection copies of yourself, are you?" Justin starts slicing apart as many Tezcas as he can. "Very well, then I'll just have to kill all of them!" He starts counting off. "1, 2, 3. And farewell."
Okay, so Justin can go nuclear now.
That leaves just one Tezca left standing. "Only one left," Justin says. And then Tezca just stands there as Justin slices him clean in half length-wise. "This is the end," Justin says, redunantly slicing Tezca's arms and legs off for good measure.
Justin looms over Tezca's dismembered corpse. "Best make sure that there truly is a corpse down there," Justin wisely comments to himself.
Aaaaand then Tezca's severed arm starts moving.
"!!" Justin exclaims. "His body parts are pulling themselves together again?!"
Well... in a sense.
Except that now Tezca has two heads, three arms, and four legs.
"What the...?" Justin looks somewhat pissed to discover that Tezca is actually A HYDRA. Kind of.
And so the chapter ends. Presumably we will see the continuation of this fight next month? Knowing Ohkubo, however, we may not.
Also, did Tezca just officially revoke his Only Competent Adult Left In The Series card, or what? I mean, I thought that the whole point of him faking his death and following Justin was to find out the location of the Kishin. And yet he blew his cover and confronted Justin before Justin could lead him to Asura (or rather, before Tezca realized that Justin already HAD been to the Kishin's location and he somehow missed it). So I guess Tezca's decision to follow Justin was never really about finding the Kishin and more about his personal business with Justin after all?
Way to blow Shibusen's best chance of locating the Kishin, dumbass.
Granted, we know now that Tezca's power doesn't actually work around Asura and therefore he wouldn't have been able to find the Kishin anyway, but still. Tezca blew his cover before he knew that, so yes, officially, it is now Tezca's turn to join his fellow Death Scythes in acting like an incompetent idiot, at least temporarily. Hopefully this won't have to last too long.
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Tezca is one weird deathscythe.
And that's why we love him! :)
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I do hope Tezca thought of that...
... Argh. The supply line thing reminds me that I need to think of something to draw for the person who donated fifteen dollars to Japan for some halo fanart...
Awesome recap as always!
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I would certainly hope so! But then again, you know, it IS Tezca that we're talking about.
Awesome recap as always!
Why thank you!
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I do believe it's supposed to be four legs. Minimum.
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Tezca? Competent? I never considered him to be all too competent in the first place. He wears animals masks and has a monkey for a partner. The instant I saw him I knew his competency levels and craziness levels are at constant war with each other. This time, the craziness has an unfair advantage.
On the other hand, maybe the Tezca in this chapter is an illusion altogether too. While Justin is busy fighting all those illusions the real Tezca is lurking around and looking for Asura. Then again, it's still easier to just let Justin lead the way to Asura directly, but whatever. Maybe Tezca wants to stop Justin from meeting up with Asura to prevent some sort of catastrophe? Nothing says oh crap like the Kishin gaining a psychotic supporter on his side.
If it weren't for the spoiler pictures I saw earlier, I would have assumed that there wasn't going to be a chapter this month in order to conserve supplies or something. So I'm pleasantly surprised and grateful that a chapter was able to be produced this month. Although I'm still surprised that any manga is still being produced during this time of trouble.
"GUILTY OF NOT GUILTY!" *stares blankly at this exclamation* ... I assume this is some sort of reference to something? Or it's just Ohkubo being Ohkubo again. 'Cause that makes no sense.
I'm a little sad that Asura didn't appear in this chapter (after over 60 chapters of remaining in the shadows ;_;) but the frequent mentioning of him gives me hope that he might appear in the next chapter. Yay! I still totally think that Justin went to Asura's side just to attend the awesome clown rave party that Asura is most definitely throwing off screen.
Thank you for the most righteous recap! *goes back to lurking*
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lol THIS.
"GUILTY OF NOT GUILTY!" *stares blankly at this exclamation* ... I assume this is some sort of reference to something? Or it's just Ohkubo being Ohkubo again. 'Cause that makes no sense.
Pretty sure that's just Ohkubo being Ohkubo, although it does remind me a lot of the glorious final line in this song:
Thank you for the most righteous recap!
You're welcome, and thank you! ^__^
SE
(Anonymous) 2011-04-24 10:23 pm (UTC)(link)Re: SE
Re: SE
(Anonymous) - 2011-04-26 03:42 (UTC) - ExpandRe: SE
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(Anonymous) 2011-04-24 10:31 pm (UTC)(link)Also! "But compared to what I read in those documents..." I assume he is talking about those documents in Medusa's abandoned facilitly in Africa. So that's why she left.
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I would love to know this, but I'm not getting my hopes up.
I assume he is talking about those documents in Medusa's abandoned facilitly in Africa.
Probably not, actually. Justin left Shibusen waaaaaaay before Medusa moved to Africa, remember? But since Maka and Stein had their encounter with Crona/Ragnarok early in the series, and heck, Crona and Ragnarok were even staying at Shibusen the same time that Justin was there, I think it's safe to assume that Shibusen had plenty of documents on Crona/Rags that Justin could have looked up at any time. Or at least the basics.
For all we know, Justin might have gotten curious about Crona after meeting hir during their first encounter with Giricco and might have looked up some info about hir at any time during his stay at Shibusen. This could have been before or after the Clown got into his head. It kind of doesn't matter.
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(Anonymous) - 2011-04-26 11:52 (UTC) - Expand(no subject)
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I actually feel sorry for Sherlock-clown to have witnessed Justin and Tezca's mind-numbing reunion XD
Anyway, that aside, I think Tezca realized the Kishin's location somewhere along those ellipses he molested. I hope he can tell it to his comrades ~_~ the hunt for Kishin Asura has gone long enough.
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Oh, he defintely did. And Justin knows that he did. Which was why Justin then immediately declared him a threat to Kishin-sama and decided to kill him right there.
Thank you for the awesome recap! ^_^
You're welcome! :)
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Thanks again for the awesome recap!
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Oh, and you're welcome! ^_^
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This series is so strange. xD;
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. . .Well, damn. I spoke too soon. I didn't realize that Tezca would pointlessly reveal himself like that. There must be something in the water at Death City, because the fail is just as contagious as the insanity. I still love Tezca though, because he's hilarious.
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So much this.
Also, now that Giricco is gone, who else is going to be able to act as a comic foil for Justin? It's gotta be Tezca.
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I think I became stupider over the latest month, because the simultaneous sub-plots are starting to confuse me >_> DURRRR.
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Given that Ohkubo seems intent upon drawing a whole other story arc out of Index and Noah (*shudder*) I think it will be a while before we actually find out the location of the kishin, unfortunately.
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Also trying to imagine Tezca with multiple limbs and an extra head is... weird. Though trying to imagine any other character who doesn't resemble a stuffed animal as the same thing is weirder. Tezca's probably trolling Justin again after catching him in an illusion, if not... well, not as bad as some of the other things Ohkubo has coughed up I suppose. Oh well, so long as we're not focusing on the failplot that is Noah, I'm content.
Per usual, thankies for the supafantabulous recap.
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That's a really good question. Did Justin's first Clown ever appear again after the fight against Medusa? I honestly can't remember!
thankies for the supafantabulous recap.
You're welcome, and thank you! ^___^
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(Anonymous) 2011-04-25 11:34 pm (UTC)(link)no subject
*^*
Re: *^*
(*side-eyeing "sweety"*)
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As usual, thanks for the recap!
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And you're welcome!
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I'm actually really interested in seeing this..."ability" of Tezca getting explained in the next chapter, he really is one tough fighter o_O
Thank you!!!!
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Why thank you! ^____^
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Although I do find it slightly worrying that Tezca now appears to have a bear head where his penis should be.
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(Anonymous) 2011-05-08 05:15 am (UTC)(link)But I thought you WANTED WHIIIINING~!
I love your recaps! Keep up the good work!
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(Anonymous) 2011-05-08 05:43 pm (UTC)(link)no subject
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(Anonymous) 2011-05-12 04:11 pm (UTC)(link)no subject