#fuuko has no clue how she comes off

[dopplerdora]

FFS Fuuko please think about how you sound before talking.

[cantsomeoneelsedoit]

Ch 58: Eyes of the Dragon

This chapter starts with three lead pages before the title page, which I think is a new record for UU. Tozuka's like HERE TAKE THIS FLASHBACK, TOO! WE CAN MAKE IT FIT!

He really makes the best appetizers, too, bc Shen's origin story is guaranteed to be interesting. Unlike some of the other Negators, his life was already rough even before his ability awakened; maybe that's why he relies on his physical strength more than his ability since it's just second nature to him.

It turns out that Shen was once a fighting street urchin with a heart of gold! Notice how Mei is telling him in this scene and the scene from the previous chapter that she already has enough and Shen doesn't have to fight. But Shen isn't easily satisfied!

Little Shen was a streetwise orphan who wasn't content to just exist. Something was always driving him to try to create a better version of himself and the lives of those around him.

Unfortunately, Shen wasn't able to win the tournament. Still, his showing as the untrained-but-incredibly-gifted-kid was enough to gather the attention of someone.

Shen has a Xianxia origin story: A plucky orphan who has some kind of unquenchable drive for strength, plus a dependent sibling and "eyes of the dragon," is recruited by an old master whose current #1 student is poised to become an unwilling rival, and so he joins his mysterious martial arts school to train to become the very best. We're still missing some Chinese magicians, alchemy, and immortal hermits to complete the genre lmao. Tozuka may yet surprise us!

His teacher's ability to sense strong chi/ki/talent will be important to the story later.

But first, the title page:

Poor Shen! He really would've enjoyed training that way! He just can't sleep at night knowing that there might be strong opponents out there.

"Hey, Shen, I heard you're pretty strong!"

Shen's like a little brother trying to get all the JUICY DETAILS about Andy's EXCITING ADVENTURES and TALES OF COMBAT while Andy's like "Actually it was extremely traumatizing. So anyway, about the firework monsters..."

A mysterious staff appears! And is that Summer's core?

The Summer arc has so many gorgeous panels. I really like the white space in the next one.

It's Feng! And he's put the core into one of the Juniors before setting them loose to cause destruction.

The UMAs take off and shoot vertically up the skyscraper. Andy tells Shen to stay back and fight Feng, but Shen's already gone!

Fuuko and Mui both get caught in the crossfire of the guys yelling at each other.

Feng scoffs at Shen because he eagerly chased after the Juniors instead of recognizing that Feng was the greater threat. It seems that Shen hasn't yet mastered the ability to sense a person's strength.

Another zombie fight! Feng's prayer beads produce four jiangshi who take fighting stances. Shen hits that subscribe button right away.

This is finally Shen's chance to fight the great fighters of the past, just like he wanted!! Just look how happy he is!

The jiangshi attack at the same time with a variety of styles, kind of like the enemies Bruce Lee faces as he fights his way up the tower in the movie Game of Death. He also fights Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, which is totally worth watching.

Interestingly, Game of Death is an unfinished movie. I believe that fact gives us a clue about the Artifact of the same name in UU, but I'll have to come back to that later.

Shen uses his ability in a fabulous double spread. He's literally punching their faces in! That's our boy!

But something interrupts his smile...

Even though he beat all four easily, both Shen and Mui are unsettled. He has a dark shadow on his face instead of his usual grin, and she's worried what this means for Shen's future.

Holy shit! It's that guy who beat Shen at the tournament in the flashback! And Feng killed him at some point?! If Feng has already killed off Shen's old rivals, then Mui is right to be worried.

This spread is so cool. Feng was testing the waters with Shen, asking if his emotions would affect his fighting. Shen reassured Feng that he was just here to test his own strength and find satisfaction in the battle itself, and Feng grinned right back at him. These two seem like a perfect match!

Masterpost

[tokiro07]

I’ll admit, I got scared for a second when Andy took the card out of his head and revealed he had a hidden personality, Victor, that had vastly superior control of his rules

It immediately flashed me back to when OumaZoo was canceled, how Shiina learned the ability to absorb the traits of his animal companions like in the original one-shot at the last minute because Horikoshi didn’t want that plot point to be left out when the series ended. I thought perhaps that Undead Unluck was doing more poorly than I realized and Tozuka was showing off all of their ideas while they had the chance since this is closing in on chapter 20, when most failed manga tend to get canceled

But then I realized a few things

For one, this round of new series is over, so there shouldn’t be any more cancellations for another few months

Two, this isn’t like OumaZoo, this is like Medaka Box. This is the first major story arc after the introduction, which has an enemy that’s a much higher level than what’s been portrayed so far, and it didn’t reveal something that had never been mentioned, but rather expanded on something that had only been vaguely alluded to before. Medaka was stated to have four trump cards, but when the third was revealed, Hitoyoshi explicitly said he’d save talking about the fourth for later, implying that it wasn’t on the same level as the previous three. Andy, similarly, has shown that the card in his head is sealing away his abilities. Moreover, Gina implied that the rules that a Negator has can change over time, altering the parameters of their abilities, but she in particular was never able to do so because of the nature of her ability, Unchange, so it’s not too surprising that Andy would have different rules locked away over the course of 200 years. Thirdly, Shen explicitly told us that Andy isn’t the person he used to be, and that the Union had at least some knowledge of his original personality, Victor. The clues for this reveal have been set up pretty much every step of the way

The final realization I came to was that this turn of events is a narrative necessity, or at least has significant narrative value for the remainder of the story. This isn’t a rushed reveal, this is a major puzzle piece for the set up, just one that was held off long enough (four or five major battles across less than 20 chapters) to feel like a significant reveal despite being relatively early. This is the reveal that Naruto can use the Nine-Tailed Fox’s chakra, or that Ichigo has a Hollow in his soul, just a bit earlier

It establishes not only Andy’s potential in using his rules, but also demonstrates an early power ceiling for the series with Victor as one of the strongest Negators who is nigh unbeatable without a rule that explicitly counters his own, even against the entirety of the current Union. It also provides Fuuko with the opportunity to demonstrate how she can fight on her own, as up to this point she’s more or less been a weapon for Andy to use to his advantage in combat. Since Andy, or rather Victor, is the enemy in this scenario, Fuuko is the only one who can potentially fight against him, and she doesn’t have an immortal to use as living ammunition this time, forcing her to take a stand on her own

So, this not only shows off Fuuko’s ability to function on her own, but also provides a deeper emotionally conflict for both Fuuko and Andy while also providing a trump card that can be used in dire situations until such time that Andy learns to master it, a shorter term goal than Andy’s desire to die

This turn of events also provided a quick way to showcase the remaining members of the Union, as a powerful enemy like Victor would require each of them to work together. Not only have we learned all but one of their names now, we’ve gotten hints to most of their abilities

Top seems to be unable to stop moving once he’s started (though that undoubtedly has a limitation), and he can move extremely quickly, implying his rule may be Unstoppable

Isshin was able to tank number 4′s laser attack, prompting Victor to conjecture he has some kind of hardening ability, so perhaps he’s Unbreakable?

We don’t know anything about number 4 except that their body is made up of Artifacts, another aspect of the series we haven’t really delved into yet, but one we surely will soon

Juiz has apparently enchanted her sword with UMA Burn’s ability, implying that while Andy and co. were fighting Spoil, Juiz captured Burn, which if I recall means that an 11th seat is now open? I’m not sure, the chapter that lists the rewards isn’t on MangaPlus anymore

Billy’s rule seems to require he be looking away from his target, since he’s shown with his back to both Andy and Victor when firing at them in his two appearances

In other words, we’re only given a taste of what each of the members of the Union can do, so we still clearly have ground to cover, but now we know the sort of things to expect going forward. At the very least, I imagine that if the series had been canceled, Tozuka would have just used this time to show off all of the abilities in full as quickly as possible

Instead, all of this is just prologue. We have a much clearer idea of what’s to come, but not so clear that we can just piece everything together now. It’s not a rush to fill in all of the blanks, it’s a teaser to get you excited to see them filled in

And I’m super jazzed about it

[dopplerdora]

Fuuko is fucking insane.

She has no idea how she looks here.

That's a horrible source.

Ha!

Fuuko normal kids can't access building blueprints.

The martial arts monsters have no frame of refrance.

Fuuko please you're killing Gina...

Fuuko stop blaming Shen, you're worse than he is.

Fuuko wants the protag lunch.

Are we sure Unluck doesn't affect Fuuko? It's just her being dumb you say?

Oi! It's not about being young Fuuko is like 200. She's both Old and useless.

Jokes aside Fuuko has lost all ability to know what normal is. Baby pre-Andy Fuuko would be horrified.

Her future self finally gets to go to school and she comes off as a super human, super genius, with no social skills, also she may be yakuza because she keeps having shit she shouldn't have.

[dopplerdora]

I love that we have confirmation that Fuuko just.... didn't hide for 200 years. She's a legit cryptid, an urban legend.

A 200 year old Ramen monster.

[dopplerdora]

I love how loop 101 Fuuko is just recognized as this 200 year old super monster by everybody. The only one who has even seen baby Fuuko is Gina using Soul Calibure.

[dopplerdora]

All members of Union recognize that Fuuko is a feral woman who is barely safe for human interaction.

[dopplerdora]

...there are so many problems with this...

First off Fuuko even if you don't look 200 you still look 20, isn't that embarrassing?

Also Chikara how does a 20ish woman with long hair tucked into her shirt, scrapes all over, and like 4 clothing layers look normal!?!?!

101 Fuuko really is crazy!

[cantsomeoneelsedoit]

Ch 46: See You in the Here and Now

"AND THEY WERE LOOPMATES!"

Captain Andy suggests that Fuuko try to go check out what happened in 1865, but Fuuko thinks it might be better to talk to Victor directly, so they tell him to come out of the time-out ball they'd finally restrained him with. And so he does!

And that's how Fuuko discovered a way to defeat Victor.

He has an easy solution to the problem, though-- Just imagine whatever clothes you want!

Does Victor prefer the Union uniform, or is it just the most comfortable and most familiar to him?

They're characters in a book, in a book. Of course they can just imagine whatever they want! I'm not sure if it's considered "reality bending" since they're not technically in reality right now, but manifesting desires and breaking down assumptions about what's possible is becoming a theme in many areas of the story.

Fuuko always tries to find the good in people. She doesn't write people off as "bad."

Please note that past!Victor used to wear shirts that actually fit.

Victor knows that the only way Fuuko could've seen something like that is if Apocalypse showed it to her, since it's the oldest Artifact. Victor and Juiz must've formed the Union so many times, but the only other witness would've been the book. Why does Victor consider that to be something Apocalypse shouldn't show? Why is he so damn secretive?!

The way he looks down at his Emblem like, "Ah, my foolish past in which I dared to believe in love and hope..." Beyond being Andy's shonen rival, he also fills the role of Disillusioned Former Hero Currently in Despair or a kind of antivillain that used to believe in the protagonist's cause.

He's a realist; Juiz is an idealist. But every now and then, we get these clues that he wasn't always a cynic.

Victor so rude! But imagine all of those things reversed and directed with heart bubbles toward Juiz, because that's what he's implying...

Fuuko and Victor, both members of the jacket-tied-around-the-waist club.

In the Round Table flashback, we can see Victor, Apocalypse, Juiz, Nico, Gina, and Void. We don't know much about Void yet, but Nico and Gina have both been said to be older than the other Union members. Andy mentioned the Union's "anti-aging" technology kind of jokingly in the fight with Gina, but it's probably an actual necessity.

The five Negators at this table may have been the five that Juiz and Victor could count on finding every Loop-- the core members of the Union who existed within a timespan where they were all recruitable. Keeping them alive while continuing to build the team would've been really important, and I assume Nico came up with the technology to do it.

Victor: "Reject Looping, Embrace Nihilism"

Giving up on trying to fight God is just like opting out of what you were assigned to do, Victor! Of all the souls in the world, he has Undead, plus Juiz, plus all of the knowledge from past Loops, and he's just going to give up?!

The line about dancing in the palm of God's hand reminds me of characters who won't do what the author asks of them. He's like a performer who refuses to perform! What broke Victor? What made the strongest character we've met just say, "I can't?"

YIKES, Victor! He wants to put her down like an animal?! Give her a euthanasia? That's not really up to you, Victor. She's pretty capable of deciding for herself if she wants to keep fighting or not, and your discomfort with it isn't her problem. Sorry, but Victor's line of thought really grates on my nerves. Who put him in charge of deciding when people have to be put out of their misery?

ANYWAY, the fact that Victor would even consider such a thing shows up just how disillusioned and cynical he's become. He's lived countless lifetimes and seen the entire planet destroyed and rebuilt over and over. He's lost more people than Andy and even Juiz have, and he's probably lived through the dinosaur days, the Black Plague, and a lot of other things that have made him the way he is.

What took Victor out of the game was his despair. Watching the person he loved suffer broke his heart. It's also what he thought would take Andy out of the game. In Ch 16, he asks:

In Victor's opinion, the worst thing he can imagine happening to Andy--the event that might break him forever and allow Victor to take over--would be Fuuko's death. That says a lot about how strongly he feels for Juiz.

And luckily, he's starting to feel a change of heart about his plan to kill her.

Fuuko can make customized Unluck now! It's not just meteors and lava over and over; it's specific to the target. And that means that she might be the key to defeating God.

OK, but how does one "research and figure out God?" You'd have to study the world they created to try to find what they fear, what they hate, what they ignore, etc. But what do you do with that information?

"I'll interfere no longer" FINALLY! He sees the light!

Fuuko better ask Juiz about 1865, because all of us need to know at this point. The way he says it doesn't matter anymore makes me think it was about his love for Juiz, and it doesn't matter anymore because he's already told them about it. But how does that tie into Abraham Lincoln??

Knowing that she can now customize her Unluck, he tells her to kiss Andy while thinking about what death would be to him.

And wow what a panel! Suitable for framing. Print it out and paste it all over town. Buy billboards for it. Send it to your mom. It's so good. I've been looking at it for like 10 minutes.

The blue, cloudy sky and the wasteland beneath. His finger on her chin. The way her hair moves. The way their shoulders look together. Victor all alone, going his own way. The way the "dead" part of Andy's tattoo kind of looks like a heart.

She had to kiss him to leave the book, because her leaving was the worst thing that could happen to him. If she were to die, he'd fall into despair. T.T

Andy tells us all not to cry:

I love how the world in the book is still a fiery wasteland and he's just like, "I'll be fine! Bye!"

Fuuko and Andy's powerups are going to bring them even closer to finding out how to kill God. But what's been going on in the real world while she had a sidequest? Under doesn't even know what they're going up against!

Masterpost

[cantsomeoneelsedoit]

Ch 48: A Story I Won't See Coming

Sean makes his move

And Sean is bad, even for a bad guy! He won't take orders from Rip, and he's trying to move up the ranks at Under by killing the harmless and endangered Fuuko.

It seems like Under, (a collection of Negators with different goals that blossomed from a mutiny, lacks a clear endgame, is picking up clues piecemeal by following the good guys around, and doesn't seem to have any overarching philosophy other than anger and resentment) is having trouble with group cohesion and loyalties. Chaos is guaranteed!

The story cuts back to Akira Kuno, who is now a serialized author, and his decision to go look for Andy in Japan. And he finds him!

Andy is studying iaido in the mountains with a woman named Yusai. We learn that she's the one who taught him the Moonlight style!

Learning how to do quick-draw styles is how Andy is keeping Josh alive in his heart. So sweet!

Aaaaaaaaaand he's found another woman who wants him all to herself lol. He sure has a lot of...ardent female supporters.

DO NOT THREATEN AKIRA'S OTP! RED ALERT!

Yusai is an awesome samurai woman with tears in her eyes begging Andy to make dojo heirs with her, but it's unclear how Andy feels about her. At this time, he hadn't met Fuuko and didn't have the second set of "what-if" memories, either.

I wonder how much time they spent together! Was it just the two of them? And how did he find her? He agrees to marry her on one condition:

Yusai is like another possible ship for Andy. It's kind of hilarious how many shipping opportunities there are for him when the main story depends on him and Fuuko being a pair. I don't really get into shipping much myself but I think it's fun to imagine different pairings.

I also wonder if this is God/the Author's way of throwing a wrench into the story in an attempt to keep Andy and Fuuko from falling in love, because that's the only way to defeat God. Like, "what if I just throw a whole bunch of potential love interests at Andy and see if he goes for one of them instead of Fuuko?"

It's interesting that Yusai is in the panel where it says Negators have hard lives. Is she a Negator? We don't see much regarding her abilities.

There's another clue that she's a Negator in Chapter 29, where someone who looks a lot like her working with Under.

What happened to Yusai? And is she fighting with a fan instead of a sword? (Also I love the way Rip, Andy, and Fuuko are almost on a theater stage in front of a backdrop in that panel.)

As Akira watches Andy walk away, he thinks about the tragic fate of all Negators and how they're unfairly destined to suffer. We see the tragedies that befell four different Negators: Billy, Shen, Top, and Nico.

Billy is sitting at a grave in the rain, surrounded by bottles. Shen is reaching for someone who's fallen off a cliff, and someone else is standing behind him. Top is crying at the feet of someone in a wheelchair, and Nico looks like he just woke up from a nightmare.

All of the Negators in UU have traumatic power awakenings that set their lives on new courses. Is it the same event in every Loop? I'm curious to find out what Victor's and Juiz's tragedies were.

Speaking of which, Akira thinks about the future he knows in which the Union is defeated, and we see Victor crying next to a dead or severely hurt Juiz, all while the sun bears down to begin the world's destruction.

Akira knows they're going to lose?!

But Akira found a loophole! If he can use his pen-name to publish the story, he can leave clues for the Negators to help them grow in a way that changes the future. It's like he didn't want to spoil the ending!

He knows the characters have to evolve naturally, and simply telling the story as he knows it won't spur any growth from them. It's a lot like how an author has to put characters through challenges in order to develop them believably.

He focuses on the battle with UMA Autumn as the pivotal time to intervene. We see him visiting the Union library to do research and going into a swamp to find the Soul Caliber Artifact.

I love how we have two characters with such similar powers in this arc: Sean's invisibility and Akira's imperceptibility.

Back in the present, Sean takes his chance to kill Fuuko. At the same time, Anno Un calls out to Andy to use Dead-Line.

Insane! So if Anno Un hadn't rescued them from Autumn, Sean would've killed Fuuko! And if Andy hadn't learned Dead-Line from Victor, he wouldn't have been able to save her!

Sean was cut in half and we can finally see him a little. He has a third eye under his baseball cap! And a butterfly knife, like all cool juvenile delinquents. Rip is stunned!

It looks like Fuuko has finally awakened, too! Anno Un says that they don't know what will happen now that the story has been changed. What will become of Anno Un if they can no longer draw?

The Union still has to capture UMA Autumn and deal with Rip and the bunny suit person. It sure would be nice to have Anno Un to tell them how to do it!

Masterpost