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Soul Eater Chapter 100: If It Weren't For Those Meddling Kids
35 pages, 166 dialogue bubbles, and 143 exclamation points. Yes, I counted.
In short, there is A LOT OF YELLING and virtually no plot progression in this chapter. But anyway, here we go.
And we open with a mysterious light in the sky!
"What's that? Maybe it's a shooting star..."
It's not a shooting star.
Also, Kid won the Character Popularity Poll for the second time. Much to exactly nobody's surprise.
Meanwhile, on the moon! Stein is standing in front of an army of Clowns and breathing heavily.
"Are you all right, Stein...?" Spirit asks.
Three pages later: Well, at least he's still kicking ass. But Stein can't hide the fact that he's visibly tiring anymore.
"What's the matter?" Kaguya gloats. "Looks like you barely managed to avoid that one. With those slow moves, you're never going to be able to see my breasts!"
Yup.
Suddenly, Deng's meister! Who still doesn't have a name. Goddammit, Ohkubo.
And Zubaydah and Djinn! "Are you all right, Zubaydah?" Djinn asks.
"Yes..."
I've started breathing heavily... Stein think-bubbles. Alexandre and Zubaydah are too... We're approaching our limits...
Well, flip me over and call me a pancake, Alexandre finally has a name! Note: Alexandre's name is written out with French pronunciation ("ah-le-shan-do-re"). I don't know what that says about his ethnicity other than that he must be from one of the Francophone areas of Africa. If anybody has any clue as to what Alexandre's specific ethnicity is supposed to be, it would be greatly appreciated if you could help me out with this. I mean, his partner Deng is supposed to specifically be of the Dinka clan - you can tell because Ohkubo actually named him "Deng Dinka" which is incredibly stupid but hey given Ohkubo's record with race whataryagonnado - so I'm kind of assuming that Alexandre is supposed to be a specific ethnicity too. But maybe Ohkubo just threw a bunch of African stereotypes in a blender to come up with Alexandre, I dunno. It would be nice if Ohkubo had had a specific culture in mind when he designed Alexandre, though.
Anywhoo, back to Stein. "Zubaydah! Alexandre! Don't give up!! Kid will bring the witches to us any moment now!"
"Whether they make it in time or not doesn't matter to me," Alexandre says. "I was prepared to give up my life the moment that I agreed to stay behind on the moon."
"Whether they come or they don't come..." Zubaydah says, "Soon we won't have to worry about that anymore."
"YOU MORONS!!" Spirit shouts. Fully clothed in his scythe form. So Ohkubo, are you ever going to give Tsugumi, Tsubaki, Liz, Patti, Marie, or Azusa wearing clothes while in their weapon forms? I mean it's not like you haven't already shown all of the male weapons (Soul, Clay, and Spirit) fully clothed already. And yet all of your female weapons are still naked. Do I really need to point out what's wrong with this.
Anyway, back to Spirit. "Don't glorify hastening your own deaths as if you were stupid teenagers!! Being prepared to give up your own lives doesn't give you as much strength as you think it does!! Don't throw away your hope!! You have to want to live until the very moment that you die!!"
"Okay!!!" Zubaydah and Alexandre agree.
Stein, Zubaydah, and Alexandre arrange themselves back-to-back. "Protect each other's backs!"
Meanwile, not on the moon! Maka and Soul are having a helluva hard time flying.
Oh. Because of Black Star. That's why.
"Hurry up, hurry up!" Black Star says.
Maka just screams at him in response.
"You can do it, Maka!!" Black Star says. "Breathe in and out like 'huh-huh-huuuuuuh'!! 'Huh-huh-huuuuuh'" (Note: Black Star is telling Maka to breathe like ヒッヒッフー which is the same way that Japanese women are told to breathe when they're giving birth.)
"SHUT UP, IDIOT!! YOU'RE DRAGGING ME DOWN!!"
"Not my fault. As long as there's ocean beneath us there's nowhere for me to plant Tsubaki."
"I KNEW we were going to end up like this!!" Maka says.
You know, it seems to me like it would make a lot more sense for Black Star to just be riding on top of Soul rather than dangling from him. It wouldn't solve the weight problem but it would be a helluva lot more aerodynamic.
"'Huh-huh-huuuuuh' 'Huh-huh-huuuuuh'" Black Star instructs Maka again.
"SHUT UP!!"
Suddenly, wavelength! "Such a thick concentration of insanity... The moon is right in front of us! It's right through these clouds!!"
Yup, it certainly is.
"Seeing it up close like this, it looks incredible..."
"Sorry that MY BIGNESS is still overshadowing it," Black Star says.
Suddenly, Moonbeam! "It appears as though some new intruders have arrived. I shall intercept them."
"Sheesh!" Kaguya whines. "It's tough being so beautiful and so popular!"
"Let's hurry up and get down there," Black Star says.
"No, we should do a flyover first and check out the situation on the surface," Maka says.
Unfortunately, Moonbeam has other ideas.
"Hey! Something's coming!" Black Star says.
They barely manage to dodge.
"Come on Soul, dodge!!" Maka shouts.
"I'm trying! My ass is weighed down and it's all this giant charm's fault!!" Note: Soul calls Black Star a ソトラップ which is the word for those dangly charms that you stick on your cell phone or bag.
"Hey--! Look out!" Black Star shouts again.
".... A sycthe charm..." Maka says.
"Heeey Maka!! More's coming right at us!!"
"Then until we reach the surface of the moon we're just gonna have to give them some mutually assured destruction !!"
"Huuuuuuh?" Black Star says.
Oh, so that's what she means by that.
"GIVE 'EM HELL!!" Maka shouts.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAA?"
Black Star sees a moonbeam headed right for his face.
"UHYAAAAAA!!"
"Black Star!" Tsubaki says.
"DON'T!! UNDERESTIMATE!! ME!!"
And then he's punching moonbeams into oblivion.
"He repelled my beam with his bare fist!!" Moonbeam exclaims. "Ay yay yay!! That should be impossible!!"
Oh man, you want impossible? Check out what Black Star does on the next page.
Black Star grabs a beam with his left hand. "And now one more!!" He grabs a beam in his right hand.
"He's holding on to my beams...!!"
"ORAAAAAAAA!!" Black Star throws the beams back down toward the moon. "HOW 'BOUT I THROW 'EM BACK AT YA---!!?"
In answer to that question, no, Moonbeam doesn't like that.
Maka watches all of this with the usual Black-Star-antics-induced expression on her face. "Is he really human like the rest of us...?" Maka ponders. "I don't understand how it's even possible for him to be grabbing those beams."
"The reason why it's possible is super-simple!!" Black Star shouts as he falls. "Tsubaki!!"
"Yes!!"
Black Star draws his sword. "It's because I'm TRANSCENDENTLY SUPER AWESOME!!"
Stein is like, what the hell just happened.
Then, lightbulb! "This wavelength!! It's Black Star!!"
Black Star manages to land right in the middle of the Clown army. "Anybody wanna try and stop me? You're gonna get killed."
Meanwhile, in the sky! "Wow, there's so many of them..." Maka says. "I don't want to land down there..."
But suddenly, moonbeams!
"I'll intercept the other one!" Moonbeam says.
This time, however, Maka easily dodges. Or rather, Soul does.
"Maka!" Soul says. "Find the wavelength that's controlling those crescent-shaped things for me!"
"Roger!"
A moment later: "I thought so," Soul says. "They do have a clear rhythm. I've got you now."
SOUL HACK!
Oh look Soul's death scythe powers are still appropriately spider-themed.
"The beat of these attacks... is under my control now."
"They've commandeered my moonbeams!!" Moonbeam exclaims.
And Soul immediately sends a barrage of moonbeams down upon the Clown army.
Meanwhile, Stein is surrounded. "Your new friends may have arrived, but it's already too late for you!!" the Clowns gloat. "Die!!"
"WITCH HUNTER!"
Maka slices right through the Clowns attacking Stein.
"I heard about what happened," Maka says. "For the sake of Shibusen, for the sake of the world, you stayed behind on the moon to fight... Thank you!!"
"Maka!!" Spirit says.
"I never thought the day would come when I would have to be saved by my own students..." Stein says. Uh, except for how that already happened during the BREW arc? You know, back when Ohkubo could write a three-way epic multi-character battle that was well-paced and only lasted for four chapters instead of lasting for ELEVEN CHAPTERS AND COUNTING?! Oh and let's not forget how the kids had to save Stein and Sid at the end of the Salvage arc, while we're at it.
"I'll fight too," Maka says.
Great. Wonderful. Awesome. More pointless stalling for the next couple months why Maka and Black Star waste time fighting Clowns instead of going after Crona like they're supposed to. Because I'm sure that if there's one thing we totally want to see more of in this manga, it's more repetitive battles against annoying Clown characters! I don't even care if we get to see any cool new attacks from Maka or Black Star or whatever, I am SO FREAKING SICK of these Clown battles and the plot should have moved past this stupid battle months ago.
"Even if you steal one or two of my moonbeams," Moonbeam says, "it is of no concern to me. I have infinitely more of them at my disposal. Enough to make all of you continue to taste fear for an eternity. To make you taste insanity." Goddamn this is some awkward-ass dialogue.
Meanwhile, in the Death Room! "To be unable to leave Shibusen... So frustrating..." Big Daddy says.
"And for our enemy the witches to be holdin' the key to our victory on the moon must make it even more frustratin' for ya~~" Tezca says. "It'll be nice if they really do come an' bail us out, but..."
"Tezca-kun! You're still saying that?" My thoughts exactly, Big Daddy. Is Ohkubo really going to waste more time having characters rehash arguments that have already been well and thoroughly covered in previous chapters? "If we at Shibusen don't believe in the witches, then even if they were gonna help us they won't anymore. We aren't the ones who will decide this matter. All that we can do is believe in them." So apparently yes. The answer is yes. We ARE going to waste more time rehashing dialogue and conversations from previous chapters.
Suddenly, shooting star!
Shooting star crashing right into the Death Room!!
"Wha... What the!!"
"An enemy raid?!"
"WITCH!! YOU FOUL BITCH!!" Shinigami-sama shouts. First, no, that doesn't rhyme in Japanese (so it sounds a LOT more threatening than it does silly) and secondly, wow, Big Daddy is the LAST character I would have ever expected to use such misogynistic language - or to swear at all, really - yet here we are. "I KNEW YOU WOULD TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO ATTACK US!!!"
"Bonjour."
It's not a witch. It's Excalibur.
"I sensed that you were spreading rumors about me. Ikachoo! For I cannot cease my sneezing. Ikachoo!"
Meanwhile, Tezca is still taken aback by Big Daddy's outburst. "Sh... Shinigami-sama, you really said something incredible just now, didn't you?"
"Golly, whatever are you talking about, Tezca-kun?" Then Big Daddy wisely changes the subject. "More importantly, why did you come here?" he asks Excalibur.
"The world is in turmoil. Therefore you shall allow me to be a spectator here alongside you."
"If the great Excalibur would help us in battle, though, it sure would make things a lot eaier for us," Big Daddy says.
"So you say, but is not the same true for you as well, former God of Order?"
Big Daddy orally molests some ellipses and says nothing. Such a foolish thing to say... If I use THAT then everything that we've worked so hard for will amount to nothing!
Meanwhile, on the airship! "We're going to attack the moon like this?! But the witches haven't arrived yet!!" Azusa shouts.
"The witches are testing us," Kid says. "They're waiting to confirm whether we truly have faith in them or not. Therefore we must attack the moon and demonstrate our good faith to them."
"You sound like a fool, Kid!!" Azusa says. "Then what was the purpose of you traveling to the Witch World in the first place?" She's right, you know. Wasn't the whole point of Kid going to the Witch World because the witches wanted a demonstration of good faith on Shibusen's part? And then they captured Kid and tried to sentence him to death because hey, apparently "good faith" only has to go one way? Wow I feel so sorry for these witches gosh it's no wonder NOBODY LIKES THEM.
"You of all people should understand that just one or two bowed heads isn't enough to repair our relationship with the witches," Azusa goes on. "The witches' greatest enemy has always been Shibusen. Of course they must think that we're just using them!! Can an enemy like that ever really cooperate with us?! They might just use this opportunity to attack Shibusen instead!"
"Azusa---..." Marie says. "Stop saying things like that..."
"A grudge is one of those feelings that can never change," Azusa goes on. "It's hard enough for humans to forget a grudge, but for non-humans like witches it's even more difficult---..."
Uh, citation needed?
"I'm not saying that it's bad to have ideals," Azusa continues. "But Kid, you're still just a child, so you don't understand."
"This might make me sound immature to you," Kid says, "But just having ideals alone is pointless. One has to take action to fulfill one's ideals. Having wordly experience and crushing ideals with your hopeless outlook is an adult's way of thinking--- So I guess you can keep calling me a 'kid' forever!!"
"But I'm worried about this ship's crew..." Azusa says.
"I know. Because Asuza-san is a good person. But don't worry!! This ship WON'T be shot down!! I believe in this ship's pilot!! I believe in the operators and the crew and everyone else too!! And I believe that there's NO WAY their ammunition can hit this ship that Gen-san and the maintenance crew built!!"
"No kidding--!!" Gen agrees. "Are ya sayin' that we're so full of holes from our last flight that now they've got nowhere left to hit?!"
For some reason the rest of the engineers find this really funny.
"Among the thirty-six elite soldiers who returned with this ship," Kid says, "if a single one among you objects to attacking the moon, we will call off the attack. So I'll ask you one more time. WILL YOU FOLLOW ME?!"
"We already got on this boat with you, as if we would chicken out now!!"
"Aye-aye!!"
"Aye-aye!!"
"Seriously?! You're asking us too?" Kirikou says.
"What a foolish question," Ox says.
"Kim would do anything for Shibusen, too!!" Jackie adds.
"AYE-AYE!!" Liz and Patti say.
"And what about you, Azusa?" Marie asks.
"But..."
"I know that it's difficult to trust the witches without any doubt," Kid says. "But if that's the case, then can't you put your faith in me?" When Kid says "me" it's written as shinigami.
"Honestly," Azusa says with a smile. "You're just as pushy as your father."
"Like this," Marie says, raising Azusa's arm. "AYE-AYE!!"
"ALL RIGHT!! FULL SPEED AHEAD!!!"
To be continued next month!
Now let's see if Youni89 or Tiesto or any of the other "translators" working for the scanslation teams copy huge chunks of this recap and claim that they did the translation all by themselves. (*side-eye*) We saw what you did there, dudes. We all saw it. ETA: And Bleachh, too. Come on, man.
**********UPDATES!**********
100th Anniversary Tribute Artwork!! High-res scans @ Livejournal | Crappy small scans @ Tumblr
HUGE batch of new color images!!
» GanGan 2012 August cover scan: Tumblr (resized) | Livejournal (high-res)
» GanGan 2012 August cover, textless digital rip: Tumblr | Livejournal
» Chapter 100 color intro page: Livejournal (high-res)
» Chapter 100 color spread scan: Livejournal (high-res)
» Chapter 100 color spread textless digital rip: Tumblr | Livejournal
» Not! Chapter 16 color illustration digital rip: Tumblr (resized) | Livejournal (high-res)
» Volume 22 cover preview: Tumblr | Livejournal
» Volume 22 cover scan: Tumblr (resized) | Livejournal (high-res)
» Volume 22 advertisements: Tumblr (resized) | Livejournal (high-res)
» Not! Volume 2 cover preview: Tumblr | Livejournal
» Not! Volume 2 cover scan: Tumblr (resized) | Livejournal (high-res)
» Not! Volume 2 advertisements: Tumblr (resized) | Livejournal (high-res)
» Phone Icons from GanGan Mail Magazine:Tumblr | Livejournal
» Phone Icons from GanGan Mobile: Tumblr | Livejournal
» 100th Anniversary Lottery Prize: Tumblr
Preliminary character popularity poll results! (Top 19 characters)
More detailed character popularity poll results! (Top 26 characters) Tumblr (resized) | Livejournal (high-res)
New Soul Eater screensaver @ GanGan official website!
Whew, I think that's everything!
ETA July 18th: Hey Bleachh and Tiesto, did you know that I deliberately translated page 28 incorrectly in this post? Apparently you didn't, or you wouldn't have copied my translation instead of reading the actual Japanese text!
Sorry for pulling a Soshul Experiment on you guys, but come on. This is getting ridiculous. Stop taking credit for translations that you didn't do.
ETA July 19th: I can't help but wonder why the scanslators in this fandom keep censoring the instances of misogynistic language when it's used in the manga. I mean, in 100 chapters we've only had misogynistic language show up exactly two times, and both times it was meant to be a repugnant and shockingly horrible thing that was said. And in both instances the scanslators in this fandom omitted or changed the misogynistic insults that were there in the Japanese dialogue. But hey y'all can keep complaining about the non-existent "censorship" in the official translations by Yen Press and Funi instead, I guess.
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(Anonymous) 2012-07-11 10:45 pm (UTC)(link)I've never had so little to say about a chapter, I mean, sure there has been a lot of chapters with basically no plot forwarding, but this seems like the worst one to me.
I really do hope SOMETHING happens next chapter, I don't see how Ohkubo can possibly mess that up.
Oh well, at least NOT! should be good.
Thanks for the recap! :)
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And Not! was good this month. It was funny rather than plotty, but given the cliffhanger that last month's chapter ended on it really needed to bring the funny this month. And it did.
And yeah, I hear you on the lack of plot movement. I mean, neat-looking attacks from Black Star and Soul are great and all, but they're no substitute for actual plot movement. And sometimes dialogue-heavy scenes can provide important character development, but that definitely wasn't the case this month since Kid and Asuza wasted pages and pages rehashing stuff that they've both talked about in previous chapters.
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More pointless stalling for the next couple months why Maka and Black Star waste time fighting Clowns instead of going after Crona like they're supposed to.
In my more optimistic moments I wonder if Ohkubo
doesn't want to kill Cronais putting off Crona's arc for some reason. But, no, I think it's just lousy pacing.Also, yay for Kid winning the popularity poll again--even with Plot-Induced Incompetence Mono. (I'm not being sarcastic.)
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PS - I don't know if you read Not! but you should definitely check it out this month as it has ten solid pages of Stein trolling the Not! girls with gore and severed heads and stuff. And it is hilarious.
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I haven't read Not! but I totally should. Stein trolling people with gore is a TOTAL BONUS.
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lol that's okay I'm pretty sure that that's exactly what Ohkubo was going for with that picture anyway!
Stein trolling people with gore is a TOTAL BONUS.
This month's chapter also confirms that Stein doesn't have a medical license. NOT SURPRISED. But Big Daddy doesn't care and employed him as a doctor (during the years when he wasn't teaching students) anyway.
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ME, NEITHER. Although I thought he was a PhD doctor and not a medical doctor--he was just doing the
dissectionsemi-medical stuff on the side XDno subject
And he wrote his thesis on the Marquis de Sade.
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THESE ARE ALL TRUE FAX.
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(Anonymous) 2012-07-12 12:37 pm (UTC)(link)Since there is eleven chapters with Clowns battles it means that it's been going on for almost a year ?! Oh Ohkubo, please make it stop.
Oh and the fact that Medusa seems to be quite high on the poplarity poll makes me even more sad that she's not here anymore. Except for Crona and Ragnarok, the remainings villains don't thrill me.
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asdfghjkl;asdfghjkl; I didn't even realize that UNTIL YOU SAID IT. Goddammit, Ohkubo!
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(Anonymous) 2012-07-12 01:06 pm (UTC)(link)I love your explanations and notes and laugh a lot with your comments :p
I don't really mind if the plot isn't evolving much, I'm also tired of the clowns but what to do? The witches must like suspense :p
I wanted to see Blair fighting, with Kagura maybe (or kill her already because with Blair, we don’t need Kagura for fan service, and it’s less annoying)
I didn’t quite agree with the new trump card or something like that showing up at this point. I think it is too late for that or SE will still last a while...
I was expecting that Noah whould arrive at the moon and start to beat the hell out of everyone :D (he's the anger one after all), not to get like a 6 year old running inside the moon’s nose in a pirate’s treasure hunt party. I think they still have brew (?) and Index is also a bit quiet
Excalibur in the death room to watch the unfolding of the scene – funny but please, don't let it be like in the anime! Maybe they will repeat everything they’ve said again because Excalibur didn’t hear it XD
And about Spartoi faces. I know every author has ups and downs with his drawing, and that it constantly evolves... but I think something is strange. What I mean is the up volume 20 or so, Maka and the others were getting ‘older’: longer faces, Black star got taller, and a more serious appearance. But in this last 3 chapters (especially this one), they’ve got in regressive mode (only the ones of Spartoi) and they have more round and cute faces (being cute isn’t now not! job?) and it’s like they’ve got younger again (Ox is bald again).
My intention is not to complain, because if that not happens to Crona I’m happy :D and is not that I mind if they are like that again in the manga (Black star wont shrink). Is only that, I know the author was busy with all the colour images for the volume covers, the two chapters this month and Gangan’s cover and the rest and that we’re lucky to even have that much colouring but I’m just commenting my disappointment that this was chapter 100 and I that miss the times when the colour pages were like in chapters 62, 75 and between until 90, when the colour pages were cooler (or a cute kind of cool) or creepier (this is SE after all) and not cute only, with blue ribbons on the hair or everyone is round and small and fluffy <3
I’m sorry for writing this much :s
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Why thank you! ^_________^
I think they still have brew (?) and Index is also a bit quiet
Yup, Noah and Gopher still have the Brew. Neither the Brew nor Index has been mentioned for over a year, though.
I’m sorry for writing this much
You don't need to apologize for sharing your thoughts!
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Next, holy hell, that volume 22 cover is kind of gorgeous. And the Not! volume 2 cover is really nice as well!
As for the chapter……yeah………this was getting redundant like eight chapters ago. I wish something a little more exciting or plot-moving would've happened, considering it's the 100th chapter and all, but whatever. I'm sure Crona will come in at some point and quickly end people from both sides or something soon. Hopefully. Maybe. Please.
Wow, that seemed like a good deal to translate, not to mention the additional bunch of links. Thank you so much!!! :D
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And you definitely aren't the only one WTFing over how Hero managed to rank so high in the character poll.
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I thought Ohkubo was stalling this whole time cause he was planning to do the BIG REVEAL of Asura on chapter 99 or 100 cause of the 99 Kishin Souls + 1 Witch Soul deal. It's not a very good stalling but at least the chapter number matching up with Asura's reappearance would be kind of cool. But since Asura didn't appear at all in this or the previous chapter I can't think of any reason to justify why Ohkubo's plot writing skills have come to such a snail like crawl. Honestly this Clown battle wouldn't be so bad if Soul Eater was a weekly released manga but it's not and these many chapters of rehash and excessive battles is just... ragh. I wonder how the Japanese fanbase feels about the slow progression going on right now.
It disappoints me greatly that Asura still hasn't appeared yet. Considering that this entire moon arc is supposed to be about everyone and their mother trying to find the Kishin you would think he would have more screen time, but he has yet to show up even for one panel (hallucinations caused by him not counting). Well, at least we know that Asura is an awesome hide and seek player.
Thank you for the recap and translation!
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Pretty pissed, if the blogs that I read are any indication.
So for the past several chapters we've been building up to the following:
1. Crona confronting Asura.
2. Maka catching up to Crona.
3. The witches swooping in to save Shibusen.
4. Noah either doing something to progress the plot and/or dying in a hilariously spectacular way.
5. Asura appearing for realsies, like, AT ALL.
I think everybody was expecting at least ONE of the above things to happen in chapter 100, since, like you said, 100 being such a milestone and all... And yet, we got nothing. All that buildup for those specific things to happen, and instead we got another chapter of waiting and stalling.
And you know, there's really no reason why Ohkubo couldn't have made any of those things happen this chapter. We didn't need to introduce a new plot thread about Stein getting tired so that Maka and Black Star would have to save him, we didn't need Shinigami-sama and Tezca to rehash their debate about the witches again, and we definitely didn't need Kid to spend six pages arguing with Azusa. Any of that material could have been skipped with zero loss in terms of plot or character progression, and something like CRONA DOING SOMETHING or THE WITCHES FINALLY SAVING SHIBUSEN could have been the meat of this chapter instead. Heck, having already established that the adults are still more powerful than the kids, Ohkubo could have had them keep fighting without getting tired - so that Maka and Black Star wouldn't have to save them and get sucked into the Clown battle, they could just keep going straight to Crona - or if the adults did need to get tired, then this could have been the chapter in which the witches finally saved them.
It's just a big ball of argh! all around.
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(Anonymous) 2012-07-12 10:08 pm (UTC)(link)no subject
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(Anonymous) 2012-07-12 11:47 pm (UTC)(link)Anyway, your translations are always excellent at least. And NOT! was good this month too, so it's not all disappointing.
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And NOT! was good this month too, so it's not all disappointing.
Agreed completely. And hey, at least we got a whole bunch of awesome new color illustrations out of the 100th-chapter celebration, even if the chapter itself sucked. So hooray!
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I was wondering if he had a name
But Spirit wins major points for that speech! He's starting to sound like Gintoki (from Gintama) actually, they're kinda similiar...but that;s ok, because Gintoki is awesome
Of course, Black Star does the "impossible" because he is so AWESOME but of course they all ignore the typical BS antics. Oh, and thanks again fro reminding us that you have an infinite number of clowns! I totally forgot, you know, because they only tell you EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER THEY'RE IN.
And it appears Shinigami is all ready to start his rap career!
well, just like you said, nothing really happened. But thanks for the recap!
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I'm glad that Alexandre finally has a name, too. I mean, he's been without a name for nine whole months. That's ridiculous.
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(Anonymous) 2012-07-14 07:25 am (UTC)(link)Any funny/interesting reactions from the characters in these popularity poll pages? I suppose Black Star is pissed he's only 4th?
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Kid: "Since I'm trying to change the rules... I have to change myself too... So... Even though I'm not #8 I still need to look happy..."
Tsubaki: "Since the fight against Mifune I haven't really had a chance to show off again... (And there was that time that I become the Number One Pervert, too...) So I'm very grateful that my ranking didn't fall any lower."
Medusa: "I suppose my shocking demise must have left quite a lasting impression..."
Kim: "So after it was revealed that I was a witch, my popularity shot straight up... Maybe I should have come out of the closet earlier?"
Marie: "I wonder if among those who voted for me there's a gentleman who would like to marry me...?"
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Now that I think about it, Alexandre even comes from the greek. So... ^^'
On another note, I can't help feeling a little bit annoyed by Soul's abilities/power progression. While Black Star is obviously the main "heroic fantasy" protagonist who will become the strongest meister by training more and more - and he's progressing VERY fast and VERY far; Soul has always filled that role for the weapons. Hell, the manga's called Soul Eater! However, we don't see him train or really progress that much. Only to a certain extend via different fights which occur one after another, after a certain amount of time. Where is the death scythe which will be strong enough on its own ? He's nowhere near that point. I had thought maybe, when he got possessed and showed that scythe/keyboard thingy but with that moon battle, back to square one. I get that the couple(own fantasy)/duo Soul-Maka is here to prove the point of partnership and friendship (love ? ><') overcoming every obstacle, but someone will have to defeat Asura !
Step up your game, Soul ! - Gosh, even Maka's power is skyrocketing.
Anyway, thanks a lot for the recap, always great to read you.
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Because that's not going to happen, that's why. Soul abandoned that idea a long time ago.
Thematically, that's always been one of the incredibly unsubtle threads running throughout the entire manga. Weapons and meisters need each other; trying to fight alone is the real weakness. Hence Justin's downfall was that he fought alone (and also never formed ANY real connections to anyone, even going so far as to never reciprocate friendship from the one person who tried to give it to him); Stein controls his madness only because he has Marie and Spirit to rely on; Black Star couldn't progress until he admitted that he was nothing without Tsubaki; Asura's madness derives from his fear of connecting with others; Crona's madness spiraled out of control with the severing of all of hir important connections (first Maka, then Medusa, then Maka again). And as for Soul and Maka, they've had to learn this lesson several times over again. Way back in the earliest chapters of the manga, after Soul got his scar, Maka freaked out about not being strong enough to protect Soul but then Soul told her to trust him rather than try to become stronger alone. During Baba Yaga's Castle, Arachne tried to manipulate Soul's fear that he was nothing special, but then he and Maka triumphed when they were able to use their respective special abilities together. During the Salvage arc, the Sloth and Envy chapters tried to play on Maka's fear that she was useless without Soul, but again, the lesson that she had to learn in order to be able to fight back against Giricco was that it was okay to rely on Soul and that her own unique abilities were a) awesome and b) even better being used with Soul. And then when Soul had his little Black Blood freakout last year, again, the conclusion was the same - he showed the Little Demon that he was completely confident in his abilities and his identity. He stopped angsting about having to fight alone or not being strong enough without Maka over a year ago. Maka confirmed as much too, when in the same chapter she told Stein that she KNOWS she and Soul boost each other's abilities, that's what they're awesome together.
So TL;DR version: Soul isn't going to angst about not being strong enough to fight on his own anymore because the lesson that he and Maka have repeatedly learned is that trying to fight without each other is a mistake. Thematically Soul Eater has always been consistent with "relying on your partner is good, trying to do things alone leads to madness." So. Here we are.
Er, sorry for the long-ass comment.
Anyway, thanks a lot for the recap, always great to read you.
Eeee, thank you! :)
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100
Re: 100
Honestly I didn't even realize that. TY for pointing that out!
Re: 100
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(Anonymous) 2012-07-18 06:49 am (UTC)(link)And what's the correct translation? o_o
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And what's the correct translation? o_o
I reserve my right to be coy about this. But I did change two things about the page:
1. I deliberately left out a very distinctive extra line of dialogue for Soul that, if Tiesto and Bleachh had actually been reading the word bubbles in Japanese, there's NO WAY they could have possibly missed or omitted it. So basically I just snipped off part of Soul's dialogue. It wasn't something that would have changed the meaning of the scene or anything, but it was a very unique Ohkubo-ism that any other translator reading that page DEFINITELY wouldn't have skipped over.
2. I added an extra line in Soul's other dialogue bubble that absolutely wasn't there in the Japanese text. Mysteriously, that exact same line showed up in both Bleachh and Tiesto's translations, even though Tiesto tried to change the wording a bit. Gosh, I wonder how that could have happened!
Thanks
(Anonymous) 2012-07-18 07:34 am (UTC)(link)Judging from your recent posts, it seems like it must be kind of a thankless process sometimes, with people taking all the information you can give without even a word of thanks or credit.
It's kind of an interesting dynamic, the way fandoms that cross over countries and languages rely on translations...anyway, again, thank you so much. :)
Re: Thanks
Although for the record I don't, actually, feel like what I do is a thankless process, since (to be perfectly honest) I do get a lot of fandom love for these recap posts. I know that sounds like I'm tooting my own horn when I say that, but it's true. I'm frustrated that two (or possibly three) specific individuals have recently attempted multiple times to pass off my work as wholly their own, but other than that I don't have any reason to be complaining about not being appreciated or thanked. ^__^
And my complaint here is specific to my translations. For the record I don't care if people share scans or explanations or "information" from my posts with the rest of the internet. But translations take a lot of time and effort to do well, and yeah, I think it's fair to wag my finger at anybody who takes my translation of a Soul Eater chapter and claims that they did it themselves.
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(Anonymous) 2012-07-19 12:43 pm (UTC)(link)no subject
Because they claimed that they did the translation themselves, that's why.
Although in general: 1. It is an incredibly shitty thing to take and use somebody's translation without their permission for a purpose that they don't support, and I don't support manga pirates who post scanslations. 2. It is an incredibly shitty thing to take and use somebody's translation without their permission for any purpose, period. It's not that hard to just ask for permission. And technically translators do have the legal right to control when and how their work is used, including unpaid amateur translators like me.
But hey, this is Soul Eater fandom, in which basic concepts like copyright and manga piracy are apparently too complex for most fans to understand, and in which (as I'm fully aware) most of the fandom disagrees with me on the issues of manga piracy and the right to control my own translation work. They're stupid and they're wrong about those issues, but whatever. ;) Even if you disagree with me about points 1 and 2 above, I think we can ALL agree that it is pretty shitty to copy somebody else's translation and claim that you did it yourself.
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That's the date that the new chapter is available in Japan. It may not be available to you until later.
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around the 15 - 08 - 2012 . and their usually up the day before their release date and hes saying it'll be up after!?. when you said It may not be available to you until later were you referring to that? well can you tell if you've seen the new issue yet and if so was it good? I really hope its good.
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a man and a woman love each other very muchsomebody in the fandom buys an issue of GanGan, scans the pages, and posts them online. I hope you realize that this is illegal, and that in most countries raw scanners risk hefty fines and even jail time just so that y'all can get your free manga on the internet.I have no idea who "the guy who uploads the raws" is. But I'm guessing that he was probably living in Japan for the past few months - that would be why he could buy GanGan and scan the raws on the same day that GanGan was released in Japan. But if this guy told you that he was to wait until the 15th to post the raws this month, well, then you have to wait until the 15th. He may be on vacation, he may have already moved away from Japan, he may be at a wedding or a funeral, who knows? And more importantly, who cares? This dude is still going to give you your raw scans eventually, so whatever. Waiting a few more days isn't going to kill you.
I don't live in Japan. I don't get my issue of GanGan until the 14th or 15th of each month, because I have to wait to get it shipped from Japan. I haven't seen the new issue yet. Sorry.
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