@Purple:
I suppose it's weird that the fish thing was dropped, but on the other hand, I think it's more hinted that, unless they have an actual cry, then the humans can't communicate with them. Snakes for example, no one can communicate with them except Tarouza due to his special skill. And I guess, when charging into the tower of babel, it's hard to bring aboard some fish with them.
Lol, I never meant to trigger a Fish debate. I am fine with it not being dwelt on; Tarouza stopped eating them, and its not like he wasn't aware of the hypocrisy of letting Jeek and Kurokagi eat them…he just couldn't do anything about it.
@Purple:
And after Monoko leaves the story, I guess at that point you really do have to have the story drive to Tarouza going to the Tower of Babel. To be honest, I really would have liked a story that was a bit longer that did more of the earlier expansion on animal families and stuff, but considering that we've been in the adult part of the story for literally half of the lifespan of this manga, I think it's fine.
Just to be clear: I don't mind the siege of the tower of Babel in concept. Taking on Giller and his chimera in order to reach the Gaia Spinal needed to happen. I just think its gone on a little too long, as most of "part II" has just been this siege. The fights have been executed well and have given some terrific heroic sacrifices, but almost everyone involved has been characters not seen or characterized prior to those fights. I just wish the heroes and villains had been set up a little more prior to their one-off final battles; especially with the chimera, it just became a long parade of the "next super-duper monster". Anyway, fights were good, drawings amazing, Catherine Kiritobi and Dougen all endearing…but I wish I'd gotten to know them outside of their sole shining moments.
@Purple:
Yes, it's a bit clumsy at the end, and it would have been nice to see Jyuu as an adult show up before the second to last volume, but it's neat. And honestly, the UFO discs and lasers might be really over the top after all we've been through, but he had to have found something beyond our reckoning considering there are still remnants of human civilization hanging around here and there for 10000 years. It was a nice callback to Konjiki no Gash!! too.
I've never read Gash, so I know theres a lot of references I'm missing. With Jyu, it just bothered me because vs. the first few chimera, it was all about the animals pushing through against superior creatures, using their intelligence, tenacity, and natural abilities. After cycling through gorillas, Enas team and then lions Robbin was defeated by other chimera, and the ultimate chimera was faced by just Awesome Cool Anti Hero and his Awesome Toys. I'd have liked to see a massive last animal team effort instead, as opposed to "No lion, stay here, you'll be in the way"
@Purple:
Elaine's case is the one that really perplexes me though. I think I'm fine with Kuou becoming really reclusive and depressed that he's the last of his species on the planet, but with only a few flashbacks, it really doesn't make much sense to empathize too much with his letting a maniacal guy like Giller into the tower of Babel. I can reconcile that probably, whatever human entered the tower first was probably made babelmaster in Kuou's absence, but I'm not sure how Elaine obtained an ego if Giller wasn't involved in her creation. It's a funny case, to be sure. Hinted in scenes of Kuou in volume 7 or so, where Kuou's crying in front of Elaine, but it was just a really random turnaround that it would've just been good to keep Kuou as basically a "Dr. Light in Megaman X" sorta figure.
Lol, I thought of Dr. Light too. Imagine if in MMX9 Light was revealed to have survived, and hung out in Sigmas basement because he needed Sigma to reinvent one of his old inventions, so he could resurrect Roll
@Purple:
All in all, I really do enjoy the package, and even if the second half of the story isn't as heartrending as the first half, it's just got so much weight from the beginning that there's a lot of payoff to be found in the second half with a cast of colorful animals coming together to change the world.
The best part about part 2 is whenever you feel how much Tarouzas gang wants to change the status quo. Which is why I don't want the animals and the core struggle to be sidelined.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
@Nekketsu:
I'm not one to always analyze everything thoroughly, and I don't give a damn how things turn out as long as the series remains consistent and keeps entertaining me. As long as it won't deviate from its roots everything else is fine.
You see, rather than breaking my head searching splitting hairs I prefer doing the opposite, enjoy until the last bit of this history and forget about everything else. Because who is right and who is wrong? No one, there's no universal truth.
What are you saying here.
That we, as readers, should accept everything uncritically, and objective criticism can't be done?
Or that you can't call people like Kuou total asshats because there is "no universal truth"?