But I also love getting comments. Who doesn’t like comments and proof that someone else either feels the same way you do or find your writing funny/interesting? But the comments I enjoy the most are the ones who link me to new animes and mangas. I love it when people share with me animes/mangas that they think I might like. The anime/manga world is too big to be in the know about everything so I love it when fellow fans suggest different titles to people not in the know. I especially love it when people suggest titles to me. Makes me feel special.
I wonder why Anon thought this manga would be perfect for me....XD
So thank you mysterious anon. You suggested to me that the manga Number might be up my alley. Without your point in the right direction I would be blissfully ignorant about this manga. Although I am a bit :( about how far behind we are in terms of the scanlations verses the stuff in Japan. Curse you people for making me wait! But it’s a good kind of RARW so thank you anon.
Ten chapters is a lot to blog about so I will try to give the briefest of synopsis (ME?! BRIEF?!) while covering important plot points and characters. I will also try to be a good girl and not post 6874 screenies even if Toneriko is the cutest thing ever since Kamui Shiro. I guess I have a thing for boys getting beaten on by the men they should be paired up with. X_X
In any event. Spoilers. Spoilers for all. Also probably fangirling over tiny hints of yaoi and totally going crazy on theories. You have been warned.
It is a good thing that Anon referred me to this manga because Wikipedia does a really suck ass job of describing Number.
“In an organization of professional killers called Thanatos, there exists an elite assassin. Fighting for the ranking of No. 1, the curtain rises on a battle fought with blood over blood.”
Is everyone blown away by the amount of details? I know I sure was. Granted the information was correct but that is like saying the SAW movies are about a bunch of people who die. Yeah but we need details here!
How proper, introducing yourself before you blow their brains out.
The manga starts us off in the midst of an assassination and slowly gives us pieces of information and explains characters over time. Some issues are still confusing (as I still do not know why humans are referred to as Echos) but if you try to go with the flow things will gradually start making sense. Or at least as much sense as a manga can make that has a giant tree floating in space and random gardeners who can heal injuries with magic.
The first couple of chapters focus on painting Toneriko as a badass out for revenge. He seems to take pleasure in killing people which is slightly disturbing. But I pretend it’s like Weiss Kretz with the guys taking out evil people who need to die anyway. I also pretend that Toneriko doesn’t take out innocent people all the time and is a bit sadistic while doing so. Toneriko is damaged so that is how I will explain away these not so positive traits.
But Toneriko has other sides to him. It’s just that his angry side that wants revenge is slightly more dominate. Even if it is scary it is a side that must be explored. The reason he is a part of Thanatos is because of this revenge. Had his family not been murdered by Tekirai he probably would be off at school being a happy and blissful high school student. But they were and he’s not. Revenge is a very powerful thing and we have seen it drive characters to crazy lengths. Like Toneriko thinking he would win in a fight against Tekirai. Even though we don’t much about Tekirai it is safe to assume that there is a difference in power between Number 1 and Number 5.
Such a cute and innocent friendship XO
So in between Toneriko screaming at Tekirai and killing random baddies we see a softer side to him. For some reason Toneriko is friends with a very innocent boy named Mizuto. Because all assassin guilds need a well maintained gardens. In any event Toneriko and Mizuto are friends and represent darkness and light. Both lost their families in tragic ways but both boys have chosen to handle their pain in different ways. Toneriko went the I NEED REVENGE route and Mizuto went the I will be gentle and sweet and love bunnies route. Two very severe extremes. Personally I would wallow in self pity for a while and probably have some issues to work through but then again I am a real human XD.
That was surprisingly honest X_X
Despite the fact that Toneriko shoots people for a living and Mizuto plants flowers they are friends. Toneriko feels connected over their shared tragedies and probably wishes he could be more like Mizuto. Mizuto sees a hurt soul and wants to heal him even though he knows it is probably futile. But for the short while they spend together in the trees and grass Toneriko’s face becomes softer and Mizuto can feel important knowing he can briefly heal his friend.
So are you a good tree or a bad tree?
While riding the roller coaster that is Toneriko’s emotions we make a few pit stops to explain the world Toneriko lives in. All life comes from Yggdrasil (which is not an anagram but an actually tree that might not be full of hugs and kittens) and that the highest ranked person in Thanatos (which means God of Death) will one day ascend to this special tree and become God. The person in charge of the Thanatos seems to be Ageha. Or at least Ageha is in charge of recruiting new people/training them and maintaining the logs.
There are other terms involved but since I am only halfway understand them I will leave them out of discussions. Because I care. Also because I don’t want to look stupid.
Surly there is a reasonable explanation for this.
We the readers are supposed to hate Tekirai with a burning passion. After all he is a mommy murderer. But issues like this are never cut and dry in mangas. They must be dramatic and full of miscommunication. Tekirai is slowly letting Toneriko in on what it truly means to be ranked number 1. Toneriko thought it would be a way to have his wish granted but Tekirai has informed him that the entire world will be destroyed and number 1 will be the ruler of the new world. That slightly puts a damper on Toneriko’s plan to either get revenge/bring his mom back since he has connections to this world now (Mizuto).
That is an interesting way to express your love....
Now me and my yaoi girl mind would like to think that Tekirai is doing all this crap so he can create a new world that includes Toneriko (although it might be more practical to think that Tekirai is protecting the entire world…). Of course how would Tekirai fall in love with a kid who is constantly trying to kill him over a misunderstand. The misunderstanding being that Toneriko’s family might have been baddies and Tekirai was really protecting him. But in manga land it is better not to explain yourself so your love interest can be pissed at you and try to kill you daily. Because flesh wounds are better than kisses.
Is he thinking about his next move or does he really not want to hurt his precious Toneriko?
Or I could be wrong about Tekirai. I don’t want to be but I see him as more than the baddie. He is full of mystery which is a sure sign that he is not as evil as we think he is. No doubt he must be SOMETHING as he is a number 1 killer. But he is putting on an uncaring personality to keep Tekirai safe. That and I am so far gone into YaoiVille all I see are good intentions and sexual tension.
People love touching Toneriko....
Ageha seems like an interesting character. He has a happy smile on his face and is nice to Toneriko. Clearly he must be evil.
Congratulations! You crea....you made Sakura even more insane!
Okay maybe no EVIL but he isn’t as nice as he pretends to be. At the very least he is the reason why Sakura died. Ageha took Sakura under his wing, named him, and made him feel special. Then Ageha throws Sakura aside and focuses on some little kid.
Sakura was always crazy, don’t get me wrong. But it seems that Ageha created tension on purpose. If he really was a smart man he would have handled the situation better. I mean….Sakura knocked Toneriko around. Okay. Toneriko is a killer. Hopefully he can handled be punched and kicked. But Ageha chose Toneriko over Sakura in that important moment thus we have a crazy Sakura.
Not exactly the thing of dreams there....
Not that I want Ageha to be a baddie. But since he has not told Toneriko the true purpose of being Number 1 we can only trust him so much. After all, do you really trust a man who works for an organization who sent people to KILL YOUR MOM. Be mad at Tekirai all you want but someone gave him those orders. But Ageha is nice to look at so I want him to live.
Besides the nameless scum there have been a few deaths already. Usually I go with much happier mangas/animes because I can’t bear to see my favorites dying on me. Of course I say that and I love X/1999. But now that I am trying to branch out of my comfort zone. It will take a little work but since they started off by killing Sakura and some unseen Number I am doing okay. I do think that Sakura had more story left in him and he died before his time but I am not crying tears for that psycho.
There are some issues that I am not really not understanding yet. The criteria for being a Number being one of them. Only CERTAIN serial killers are allowed to compete to be number 1. Because we can’t have just anyone destroying the world. Also the rules regarding to how the true Number 1 will be chosen seem overly complicated (X many deaths and X number of cycles). I would like to know how one stops being a Number or how one can move up in ranks. Is it only a kill and move up kind a thing or can you just get your ass kicked and lose your spot? Inquiring minds want to know!
Apparently guns are magical.
The art was pretty…pretty. I am a sucker for cute boys what can I say? Even though Sakura was pretty scary looking at times I could see where he might be attractive. The action scenes are a bit rough for me. Not because I am X_X at the violence but because it is full of WHOOSHES and lines and it is hard to follow what is going on. But then someone touches Toneriko and it looks sexy and all is well.
Hello. I am a potential baddie. Please to meet you.
So in conclusion thank you anon. This indeed was an interesting manga. While I am bit sad I have to wait to see of this story I am glad to know it exists. I do love a good story with boy love under(over?)tones. But besides pretty boys and the possibility of some boy on boy action the plot is interesting too. I am still a bit confused on some parts but sometimes that is half the fun. I look forward to more chapters being translated. However I will be praying the whole time that my cuties Toneriko and Mizuto pull through and that Toneriko will become number 1 and make it so the world doesn’t end. I might be willing to try new things but I still demand a happy ending. XD
4 comments:
Yay! I'm happy you liked it! I have recommendations for a future date which range from amazingly sweet, to well, rather bloody. It's fun to share your favorites.
The mangaka must draw yaoi doujinshi under a pen name, because some of the positions she puts Toneriko in, especially in the later chapters with Tekirai, are so sexual XD. Every single chapter has a bunch of fanservice; it's awesome.
I've read ahead in the Japanese raws, with my unremarkable intermediate Japanese reading skills: http://mangahelpers.com/m/number and I think I can provide a tiny bit of clarity.
Yggdrasil is the tree that spawned all life on the planet. Its power is manifested in different ways in human beings. Some, like Mizuto are able to channel the powers of creation (which shows up in his healing abilities, though he has other attributes that haven't been displayed yet).
Some tap into the transformative powers of destruction, like Toneriko and Tekirai, and become super-naturally powerful fighters that can channel this power through a weapon of choice.
The story goes that every cycle (not sure if a cycle is a year or what), there is a choosing ceremony for the most powerful wielders of the destructive forces, which in their world is really the power of "change." Yggdrasil uses, I dunno, mysterious TREE POWERS and ranks the candidates according to their skill level... which is demonstrated through things like skill at killing.
The manga opens with Tekirai being chosen for the 9th time in a row. If he is chosen for a 10th time, he will earn the right to ascend to Yggdrasil and become a god-like entity. The world as they know it will completely change according to his will.
This has only happened a handful times in the history of their world. Ageha, the long haired blonde who's always hitting on everyone, is kind of like a coach. He recruits powerful people who have the potential to become the next #1 into a guild. His public business is for-contract assassinations, but behind the scenes he is trying to mold the next candidate to change the world.
This part is spoilery so don't read it if you want to wait and see how the character's relationships develop:
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I read a translation of Chap.17 which reveals that Ageha is in love with Toneriko (and he sure shows it). The feeling is not mutual. Toneriko is so obsessed with killing Tekirai and protecting Mizuto, that there's really no room in his heart for anyone else. Ageha loved Toneriko ever since he recruited him as a child. It's hinted that he previously had that kind of bond with Sakura, and then coldly dropped him when it was clear Sakura had no shot at being #1.
Tekirai's feelings for Toneriko are less straight forward. He kills when he must, or when he's attacked, but for some reason he refuses to kill Toneriko. He has opportunities to do so and is provoked many times, but he won't do it. He's the Jaded Anti-Hero (tm), guided by a personal sense of what is right and wrong. He's grown weary of his role in many ways, and is often depicted looking bored and worn out. He saw Toneriko's wild eyes as a child, and felt something for him then... something that he resents because he doesn't want to feel any attachments to this world. Thus far he has acknowledged feeling a kinship with Toneriko which he chalks up to them both being high stakes candidates in the same game. (Though we all know he fell in love!)
http://mangahelpers.com/downloads/read-online/38881/13
That scene is a great example of the whole "I can't decide if I want to kill you or do you," theme.
Toneriko is panting heavily and tells Tekirai, while mounting him, "Just a little bit more and I will certainly pull the trigger... a smart man would do it."
No, a smart man would just get it on already!
Anonymous 1- Thank you for suggesting the series to me and for your helpful breakdown of what is going on in that crazy world. i do hope there is more to that tree business as I don't want the entire world to die.
I passed on your spoilers even though it is very tempting. I do wish the rest of the chapters would get translated soon...but then I would whine about the wait period for the new, new chapters XD
Anonymous 2- I have no idea what you are talking about. That is CLEARLY a I hate you and I want to shoot you pose. That is how I threaten all my enemies, by draping my body over them in a suggestive manner. XD
You wanna see some tension on Tekirai's side, read ch. 37. It seems Riko isn't the only one gunning (literally and figuratively) for Tekirai, but Tekirai seems pretty decided on who he keeps in his mind- and heart. >:3
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