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iamahippocrite-blog · 4 months ago

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In my review for Ichi ch.22, there was one topic I wanted to cover that I couldn't think of a good way to work in, so I decided to make it a separate post

Ichi's comment about not being able to conceptualize the future is, as far as I know, very unusual for a shonen protagonist

Most of Jump's heroes are defined by their ambitions, their dreams, their vision of the future

Even in Undead Unluck, where Andy's original end goal is to die, it's still portrayed as a plan for the future. "Some day, I'll be able to die, and when I do, it will be the Greatest Death Ever"

Ichi, on the other hand, isn't trying to die, he's simply accepted that one day he will die

Under normal circumstances, the acceptance of death would be the end of a character arc, the lesson to be learned, and yet Ichi already has that mentality

This does not mean there isn't a lesson for him to learn though. The problem isn't that he's at peace with the idea of death, it's that he's complacent about it

He claims to be terrified of the thought of dying, but he knows he has no control over it. Something's going to be stronger than him, or he's going to be in a situation he can't get out of, and death is just going to take him suddenly one day. And if it's going to happen someday, what difference does it make if it's today?

This mentality causes him to play things fast and loose. Jumping into a shark's mouth, allowing himself to pass out in front of a malevolent god just for the chance to land one hit on a hunch, these are the kinds of reckless actions that are par for the course for a "brave" hero, but most heroes act like that because they have absolute faith in their abilities

Ichi, though? After he failed to kill the World Hater, he basically just said "whoops, guess that's it for me!" He just doesn't seem to care too much

However, that's still not totally unique to Ichi

One Piece's Luffy also had a moment very early on where he found himself in a situation he couldn't escape, captured by Buggy and shackled to the gallows out of reach of his friends, and once it became clear that he had no way out, he simply smiled and declared "sorry guys, guess I'm dead"

Both Ichi and Luffy made an effort to survive and to win, but when faced with a death they couldn't avoid, they accepted their fate with a smile

So why is Luffy's reaction to the same scenario treated by the narrative as a heroic trait while Ichi's is treated as a lack of self-preservation?

There are a ton of thematic reasons for this dichotomy, like their dynamics with the people around them who they'd hypothetically be leaving behind, but I think the most notable in this instance is the very premise of this analysis: because Ichi has no ambition

When Luffy is faced with certain death, it's because he was working to achieve his dream. He knew the risks of living his life that way, but it was his choice, and complaining about the outcome would be the same as admitting he regrets that choice

"If I die, then that's all I was worth anyway" is a recurring sentiment from both Luffy and Zoro, meaning that if they want to be the best, they have to prove that they're better than everyone else. Dying would just prove that they weren't, but it's better than living without trying

Ichi, on the other hand, is just...dying. He's not dying for anything, he's just fighting something outside of his wheelhouse because he's curious what his own ceiling is. He knows something is going to be strong enough to kill him, but it's just fun to push that boundary. He's not trying to prove anything or make anything of himself, he's just after the high, and like any illicit drug, he runs the risk of an overdose when chasing bigger and bigger dragons

Luffy has an end goal, accepts the possibility that he'll never reach it, but wholeheartedly believes that he will

Ichi has no end goal, finds considering anything past today stressful, and instead lives so fast that there's a real possibility he won't have to worry about tomorrow ever again

In video game terms, Luffy is living his life on Story Mode and going for the Best Ending, while Ichi is living his on Arcade Mode and is just seeing how high of a score he can get before he runs out of quarters

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iamahippocrite-blog · 4 months ago

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Robin's cute design ideas 👁️👄👁️

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iamahippocrite-blog · 4 months ago

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Ichi the Witch ch.21 thoughts

[Two Witches Walk Into a Bar]

(Topics: narrative analysis - prophecy, character analysis - Jikishirone/Monegold/Togeice/Ichi/Desscaras, artistic analysis - Libro, thematic analysis - the present vs. the future)

Good lord, there's a lot to unpack in this one. Not even just around Desscaras, either, but we got glimpses into Ichi, Togeice, and even a little bit into Monegold, too! Nishi's really putting me through my paces now that Undead Unluck's not around to eat up my review time

When a chapter is this dense, there really isn't a better way to approach it than chronologically, so let's start with Jikishirone's new prophecy

When You Eliminate the Impossible...

We already knew from last week that Jikishirone's original prophecy was that the Witch who acquired Uroro would become the one who could defeat the World Hater, and that this prophecy was updated to include that the Witch in question would die in the process. What we didn't know was the timing of this update, and that makes all the difference

The prophecy only changed after Ichi met the World Hater in the first place. What this implies is that the original prophecy didn't take into account the circumstances of their first meeting, and instead simply skipped to the end result. Presumably, then, the act of the two of them meeting in one specific scenario eliminated all other ways they could have met and all other dynamics they could have established, thus narrowing the infinite branch of possibilities down to only those that follow this one occurrence

For example, let's say there are...ten men in the world who could have become Witches. Each of them had the possibility of acquiring Uroro, and in turn acquiring the World Hater. That's already ten possible outcomes, ignoring any deviation based on their personalities or relationships. The act of Ichi acquiring Uroro instantly collapses all ten outcomes into just one, so all future branches can only come from that one

In other words, this is the real reason that Jikishirone's prophecies are so accurate: they actively prune impossible and unlikely scenarios

Note that the original prophecy never stated the aftermath of acquiring the World Hater at all. Anything could have happened as a consequence - the Witch who acquired them could have become revered as a savior, used their new power to become a tyrant, become some kind of host to the World Hater and continued their work, etc. The prophecy ended with World Hater's acquisition, and gave no specifics on how the acquisition took place, because there were simply too many possibilities for the prophecy to still be accurate

What this means is that the prophecy of Ichi's death is just as wrought with possibility as well. Consider these two questions that the prophecy refuses to pose: 1) How will Ichi die? and 2) Why will Ichi die?

Will he suffer wounds from the World Hater that he will succumb to after the acquisition? Will the World Hater still be a threat within Ichi's Magic Circle and kill him from within? Will Ichi be killed by cultists who seek to free the World Hater from Ichi's grasp?

Or does Ichi need to die specifically for the acquisition? Is it part of World Hater's trial? Or maybe the World Hater is unique and isn't released upon the death of their Witch and instead dies with them?

Will Ichi even actually die, or will he die symbolically? Will he lose his memories and become a different person? Will he be forgotten by the world and live as a nameless wanderer?

And this is all assuming that nothing expands the possibilities either. Remember, the original prophecy was that the World Hater would destroy the world, and that received an update in the form of an "if/then" statement! We could literally receive an updated prophecy that details how to have our cake and eat it too at any time just from Ichi meeting someone whose presence can save him

Maybe there'll be a spell to resurrect him after death. Maybe someone else will take the hit in his place. Maybe Uroro will have a change of heart and do something to protect Ichi

I chastised the prophecy for being too specific last week, but now I see that it's deceptively specific - by appearing cut-and-dry, it actually cleverly obscures the fact that it's basically telling you nothing of real value until it either actually comes true or is averted completely

Which is precisely why Monegold is so upset

Rage Against the Dying of the Light

Jiki's perspective on the prophecy is that it dictates a simple transaction - the death of Ichi for the salvation of the world. There are no other details about the sequence of events that will lead to that outcome or the aftermath of it, she just sees it as a one-for-infinity exchange that can just go ahead and happen whenever

Monegold, on the other hand, sees it as a flippant disregard for life, an Omelasian bargain for shouldering all peace and prosperity on the sacrifice and suffering of a child who has just as much right to reap those benefits as anyone else

There's a clear rift between Monegold and Jikishirone - Jiki's already shown to be willing to withhold information, and now she's saying that her prophecies can be incomplete but still touts them as perfectly accurate? Worse, she's presenting the death of a child as an easy solution, like it's something to celebrate?

Monegold said last week that a prophecy received minutes before it comes to pass is no prophecy at all, so with Jiki's attitude this week, Monegold is probably starting to wonder if Jiki is even worth the trouble. If she can hide or amend her prophecies on a whim, who's to say she isn't feeding Mantinel false prophecies? Can a Magik who would abandon a human child really be trusted with foretelling the fate of all of humanity?

With Jiki's dynamic with Mantinel being introduced as somewhat hostile, implicitly threatening to stop "playing nice" if the Witches aren't more grateful for her help, it seems likely that this is both an ongoing issue and setup for a future falling out. While Jiki is currently not among the Human Haters, that doesn't make her a Human Lover, and her mind could change just as easily as Macilvaine's did when he found out humans didn't worship mushrooms as he believed. When that happens, there's no telling what kind of havoc she'll be capable of causing

Fortunately, even if Jiki does turn coat, Mantinel has plenty of strong Witches capable of overcoming her - two of whom are much more central to this chapter than Jiki is! Can you believe I've only covered three pages of content so far???

I Need a Drink

We then cut to a couple days later to see that Desscaras is getting lost in the sauce, until she's joined by Togeice

In the midst of all of the serious talk, Togeice has her own problems: Macilvaine is ruining her carefully curated ice-themed Magic Circle with his mushrooms!

This is a much-needed moment of levity considering the gravity of what we've learned, while also providing an important bit of context for Togeice's characterization. Remember when Monegold was gassing her up and said that she had 16 acquisitions to her name and I wasn't sure if that was a lot? While we still don't know the average number of acquisitions among Witches, we do now know that those 16 are exclusively ice Magiks

What this tells us is that Togeice specifically hunted Magiks that fit her tastes. We've already seen that she has strong Magiks like Huldra and Helganma, but this also means that even if she has the capacity to make as many acquisitions as Desscaras, she simply chose not to because it would throw off her aesthetic. That's the kind of unreasonable choice that only those who have proven their worth can make

We also learn that this is another reason she challenged Ichi in the first place: he sniped Uruwashi just when Togeice was preparing to acquire her. I imagine there's information to be gleaned about how Mantinel's mission system works from this revelation, but I'm not going to get into that now since this review is already so long. The point is, while Togeice was likely already going to object to Ichi going public, that incident made it personal for Togeice

Which is what makes it even more meaningful that Togeice has chosen not to hold Ichi to their bet

All Bets Are Off

Not only did Ichi show how adept he was at using Uruwashi specifically, he also was the only one who was capable of holding off World Hater long enough to save the village. Had Ichi focused on the competition, he wouldn't have been under World Hater's dome, and he wouldn't have been able to hold off the Lancemen long enough for Desscaras to break into the barrier, and so on and so forth

Despite his lack of technical experience, Ichi is already a worthy face of Mantinel, with his own set of skills completely distinct from Togeice's own. After seeing all of that, what more could Togeice have to object to?

Despite that, though, she is still willing to take over for Desscaras as Ichi's mentor and caretaker, but this time not out of concern for Ichi, but rather Desscaras

My Brother's Keeper

As Togeice says, the more she sees of Ichi, the more she sees Libro, Desscaras' deceased brother

The artistry of the panel with Desscaras' memory of Libro being washed away in blood, the layered texture that almost makes you feel the paper warping, the transition to the splashing of wine being poured into a glass...simply haunting

Even only being on screen for three panels, it's really easy to see how Ichi might remind one of Libro. The messiness of their hair, the big toothy grins, and of course, their fascination with Magic

Particularly attentive readers may recall in ch.4 when Ichi declared that Magic is fun, Desscaras had a brief beat panel where she looked...pensive. I suggested at the time that this was because Ichi stirred a memory in her, one with complicated emotions tied up in it. Knowing what we know now, I think it's safe to say that Libro said something similar, that despite his gender he saw all of the possibilities of Magic and wanted to explore them as much as he could

This is why it hurt Desscaras so much to hear that Ichi was okay with dying. She wasn't just hearing the feral boy she picked up from the mountains being flippant with his own well-being: she was watching Libro dying with a smile - again. She was faced with her own inadequacies as an older sister, the farce of being "the strongest" when she's not even able to save the one person she loves most - again. The knowledge that the World Hater is destined to come back and steal everything from her - again

I don't even drink and I think that'd drive me to the bar

No matter how physically strong or technically skilled Desscaras is, she's still human - even if her body were completely invulnerable, her heart is very much not. Whether or not anyone else can see it, Togeice most certainly can, and she wants Desscaras to know that she doesn't have to handle it alone, reassuring her with her childhood nickname of "Dess"

This Too Is Yuri

While this is probably just meant to harken back to their youth, that was gay, right? Like, c'mon, she's offering to help her with rearing a younger man - they're Ichi's lesbian moms!

And since I've already broken the tone of this review, I have to get this off my chest: why did Adrienne Beck make Togeice's nickname "Chik"??? The original Japanese is "Toge-chan"!!! That choice was very confusing, and made me wonder if maybe Chikutoge actually is her given name and she goes by Togeice professionally! Toge wouldn't have been a problem either way, cus it's in both of her names! What could have possibly motivated that change???

Ahem...either way, I enjoy the new dimension to their relationship. It was all well and good to have them be rivals based on their opposing approaches, but to have them also mutually respect and care for each other because of their long history and despite their differences is extremely compelling. Now the question is whether or not they're capable of being this vulnerable in settings that aren't so private as a bar...or that are more private...

That said, Desscaras seems a lot more emotionally available in this chapter than I originally gave her credit for, as after this encounter, the conclusion she reaches is that she needs to have an open conversation with Ichi, something that even Ichi is surprised to see

Carpe Diem

As I gathered from last week, Ichi is the "in-the-now" type rather than the type to think ahead. While the narrative isn't going out of its way to say that this is a bad perspective to have, I think the intention is to analyze what it means to "live for today"

For Ichi, it means "not worrying about tomorrow." It means not wondering where your next meal is coming from, but instead actively looking for it. It means having fun with the time that you have because every second could be your last, and sooner or later it will be for reasons that are likely beyond your control

It means not thinking about it

It means shirking responsibility for what comes next. It means ignoring consequences, pushing recklessly toward a goal even if it might kill you - after all, who cares once you're dead?

The answer, of course, is "who you leave behind"

Ichi may be fine with dying because he won't be around to regret it, but what of Kumugi? What of the villagers from the foot of Druid Mountain, or Thazanwood, or Hoitaka?

What of Desscaras?

I don't think Ichi has quite realized that there are actually people in his life now, that anyone actually cares about him

In ch.1, a girl asks him to come down from the mountain and live with the villagers. In any other manga, that girl would probably be the love interest, the childhood friend who sees the protagonist for who he is when everyone else thinks he's a freak. But here? She doesn't even have a name, and that always bothered me, but now I finally understand why

It's because Ichi had no real attachment to anyone in that village

Abandoned by his parents, Ichi found the resolve to live merely because he was scared to die. He pushed forward to live another day not because anyone would miss him, but solely out of pure self-preservation instinct. To him, not even his parents cared if he lived or died, and in fact seemed to prefer the latter, so why would anyone else care? Who would mourn the feral mountain child? On the mountain, alone in the woods, who would even realize that he was gone?

But that's not the case anymore. He knows peoples' names now, and people have gone out of their way to keep him alive, to keep him safe

To give him a future

And this just...hasn't sunk in for him yet. In much the same way that he can't envision a future for himself beyond how gratifying it will be to kill the World Hater (which could potentially fill its own entire review, now that I think of it...), he can't envision a world in which people care about his survival enough to mourn his death

And it is from hearing this perspective that Desscaras is able to steel herself to open up to Ichi for the first time about what she wants: for him to become her family

Found Family

In what capacity Desscaras means "family," I don't really know yet. Beck's translation of "I want you" gives it some romantic undertones, but I don't think that's what she means here. She likely means either to become his sister and view him as an ersatz Libro or to become his mother and provide what his birth parents could not, or some combination therein

It doesn't really matter what form their relationship is meant to take, though, what matters is the message: "I want you to live"

If Ichi can't envision a future for himself, then Desscaras will show it to him. If Ichi doesn't have a reason to live for tomorrow, Desscaras will become it for him. If Ichi thinks that no one cares about him, Desscaras will prove to him that someone does

I'll certainly have a lot to say based on Ichi's response, but for now, I think it's clear what the answer to my question from last week was: Ichi is the one meant to learn the lesson here

I've mentioned before that Ichi doesn't have a long-term goal or ambition, an unusual trait in Jump's catalog, and the revelation that he doesn't consider the future explains that discrepancy quite well. Now that Desscaras has proposed to become his family, his reason to live, I think that Ichi is going to start actively looking for a dream to call his own, something to validate the emotional investment that Desscaras is putting into him. Whether that's what actually motivates him or if he'll even be right to look at it from that perspective is anyone's guess, but the conclusion of establishing a goal is the logical next step for this story either way

Honestly, I think this was the shot in the arm this series really needed - an emotional anchor

There have been a number of points where I wasn't sure if I'd actually keep writing for Ichi long-term. Only a few chapters in, I already wasn't quite feeling the spark that I foresaw from chapter 1, and lost my vision of a future where this series connected with me the way that Undead Unluck or Cipher Academy did

But now I'm happy to say that I can envision that future. In fact, I can see a bunch of them. I can see character arcs and storylines and endings of all kinds, triumphs and heartbreaks, themes and motifs resonating with my heart and inspiring my mind!

Like Jikishirone's predictions, the future becomes more clear as we learn more about the present, but unlike them, the possibilities have yet to narrow! Anything can happen, yes, but now I have the context to understand the possibilities and see the branching paths for what they are!

I'm so glad that I stuck with writing for Ichi, and I look forward to seeing what Nishi and Usazaki bring us next

Until next time, let's enjoy life!

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iamahippocrite-blog · 5 months ago

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a little frobin for your night

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iamahippocrite-blog · 5 months ago

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it's October so

read jitsu wa watashi wa

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iamahippocrite-blog · 5 months ago

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My Monster Secret: Actually, I Am...

High school student Asahi goes to confess his love to Youko, only to discover that she is actually a vampire! Now he has to protect her secret, lest her father withdraw her from school!

The plot twist, is that Youko is, despite being a vampire, in fact, the most normal girl in school. Aliens, Demons, Time Travelers, it's got it all.

Overall, a very fun slice of life romantic comedy, with a ton of fun characters. Despite being nearly 200 chapters long, there is never a dull moment.

One complaint is that it is aggressively straight. There are a few crossdressing characters, but it is used for "Ha Ha, Shima keeps dating men, Ha Ha" jokes rather than anything progressive. Also, I would've preferred if Shiho focused more on the whole wolfman angle, rather than the pervert stuff. At least she absorbed most of the fan service.

8/10: The ending is the exact sort of saccharine overload I really appreciate.

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iamahippocrite-blog · 8 months ago

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I love that Usopp is the only straw hat who interacts with our main girl in One Piece Fan Letter. Because Usopp gets it. He’s been there. Of all the Straw Hats, I feel like he’s the closest one to a “normal” person. Even now with all the insane skills he has—the portrayal of the other Straw Hats on Sabaody felt like celebrity cameos, giants spotted in the wild…whereas Usopp is portrayed as just a guy. Bending down to help a girl pick up her things, checking if she’s ok, giving her terrible advice on how to sneak into a bar. Part of this is because at this point Usopp doesn’t have a bounty under his own name, so nobody would know him. But it’s notable that for all the little fandom jokes and Easter eggs the episode sprinkles in, nobody mentions Sogeking. It would’ve been so easy to drop even one quick joke about it. But no. Because with Usopp, we don’t love him for the persona. We love him for the goofy, insecure, empathetic guy that he is. So of course the Straw Hat with the most speaking lines in an episode about regular people is Usopp. Of course he’s the one to see our girl, actually see her, and reach out to her. Of course.

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iamahippocrite-blog · 9 months ago

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World Trigger is one of the greatest manga I've ever read because of how real a lot of insecurities and strategies feel. These characters discuss things applicable to the real world and real people, through these lenses of fantastical battles. These two chapters legitimately helped me comprehend ways to improve in real life.

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iamahippocrite-blog · 9 months ago

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Undead Unluck ch.223 thoughts

[Well...That Could Mean Anything...]

(Contents: immediate reactions - cancelation scare/renewed hope; speculation - story progression)

Please Say "Sike"

...I guess I should've seen that coming

If they can skip the three months leading up to the Quests, why not skip the month of the Quests?

Granted, my assumption was that the Master Rules wanted to fight and defeat the Union, that they were willing to interfere with their training but not to actually cheat at the Quests themselves, which seems to have been an accurate assumption to make

The fact that even Soul objected, demanding an explanation and even going so far as to attack Luna in retaliation, explicitly tells us that nobody involved wanted this outcome

The question this begs, though, is if Tozuka wanted this outcome

The overwhelming response to this chapter was definitely an anxious one. Folks were already super nervous because UU's been in the back of the magazine for the last few weeks while also being notably absent from a recent list of profitable manga that Shueisha put out recently, so seeing this chapter explicitly skip a bunch of content that had been built up for the last year or so was troubling to say the least

However! It also didn't take long for the fanbase to reevaluate the purpose of this direction

Hold the Line!

As Luna notes, Andy held off all ten Master Rules for eons. Of course she lost faith in them! Hell, Andy bodied Sick in less than a minute, and what few members of the Union that Language took out came back - it's pretty easy to see how the remaining fights were going to go, both from Luna's perspective and ours

And that's boring

While we all wanted to see the cast fight their natural enemies and learn more about themselves, awakening their souls and developing new ways to use their Rules, the truth is that was going to become formulaic sooner or later. Language's ambush on Nico and Ichico was a great way to keep us on our toes, but unless all of the Master Rules dropped in on the Roundtable Room at once, there wasn't really a good way to keep things fresh without it feeling like they were on a conveyer belt

There's also the fact that Ragnarok needs to be triggered by failure, so much like with the Four Seasons, the Union was either inevitably going to fail at beating one of the Master Rules or beating them was going to trigger Ragnarok anyway - both of which are outcomes to Quests that we've already seen. The Quests getting autoskipped though? That's a fun twist on the established pass option while also raising the stakes and giving both the cast and audience a scare

If UU weren't having such a rough go in the real world, we'd all be seeing this scene as a super cool twist, and I think that's what Tozuka intended it to be, but because we have reason to fear for its future, we can't help but take it as a bad sign

While Sun basically eating the Master Rules and beginning his assault on the Union certainly looks like a sign of the end, though, I think that this is meant to be the Master Rules all storming the Union at once like I suggested

Two Cakes

Many of you likely noticed that the rings that surround Sun have orbs with Roman numerals engraved on them, corresponding to the ranks of the Master Rules. This implies that the Master Rules haven't been absorbed, but rather sealed

If the Master Rules are still alive, they can still be battled, and likely will need to be defeated to weaken Sun. Using what was learned from the battle against Seal, the Union will likely use their souls to enter the orbs, giving us all of the match-ups and character development that we wanted to see while also moving at the breakneck pace that Tozuka seems to be so fond of

I imagine that someone may need to stay outside to hold off Sun while everyone's souls are separated from their bodies (if that's even an issue), so that will likely be Andy and Fuuko's job since they're ostensibly at their peak already and don't need any further development aside from the finale to their stories, though I could also see this being Chikara's big moment, holding off Sun all by himself while everyone else fights

All that said, this doesn't necessarily mean that we'll have the year and a half run that I projected last week; if Tozuka really is being forced to speedrun the story, it's possible that each Master Rule fight will only be one chapter and serve as a capstone for a different character/set of characters' arcs, but even then, it's extremely likely that the intention is to at least last until the next round of new manga, which will coincide with UU's fifth anniversary

Skipping the off weeks for Christmas and New Years, this gives us, at a conservative estimate, 16 more chapters to work with

To-Do List

Considering the number of events that still need to happen, I think 16 chapters could feasibly work if it looks a little something like this:

Establishing the formula - Chikara's capstone

Sick - capstone for Rip/Latla

Time - capstone for Shen/Mui and likely Feng

Justice - awakening of Unjustice/capstone for Julia?

War - capstone for Billy/Tatiana

Luck - likely a moment for Fuuko, though not her capstone

Change - capstone for Gina(+Sean?)

Death - likely a moment for Andy, not his capstone

Soul - group effort?

Sun - group effort, Ruin returns

Sun pt. 2 - capstone for Ruin

Sun pt. 3 - capstone for the Union

Final boss - Luna

The Heart

Luna defeated - capstone for Andy and Fuuko

Epilogue

This definitely would be a bit rushed, and I'd much rather each fight get a lot more time to breathe, but the main point I'm trying to make here is that it isn't impossible to tell a complete and satisfying story with the time remaining so long as the focus is on completing the character arcs of the cast members that have been established to be the most salient this entire time rather than trying to give everyone a slice of the pie

Tozuka's already made it clear that not every cast member is created equal, which is an unfortunate necessity in an ensemble cast that's under the constant threat of axe-ecution by Jump's editorial staff, so if things need to be pared down, this seems like a reasonable way to do it in my opinion, though again this could easily be doubled or even tripled depending on how badly Shueisha wants the series to still be producing content to coincide with the Winter special episode or possible season 2

Don't take this list at face value, though - remember, I'm just a reader, and while I've been right every now and again, I've also been wrong much more often, so my projected timeline is almost certainly off-base. I just hope it's wrong in the right direction!

Hell, my entire premise of needing to fight the Master Rules in the first place might be wrong! Not in the sense that they won't be present in the story anymore, but more in the sense that they won't be antagonists anymore

The Enemy of My Enemy

If you'll recall, the way that Andy escaped from Seal wasn't by taking down all of the Rules that Seal captured - it was by convincing them to fight back. With Luna having betrayed her creations and manipulated her counterpart, it really doesn't take much stretching of the imagination to see how the Master Rules might have a bit of a bone to pick with her

Therefore, instead of having a dedicated battle against each Master Rule, it's equally likely that there'll be a dedicated battle with each of them. This would let each of them show off their powers and personalities while also letting us build up the tension against Sun without simply rehashing the previous Ragnarok

More importantly, though, this would solidify one of the most major themes of the story: union. Every human enemy save for Ruin has become an ally, and we've had plenty of situations where UMAs have gone against God's orders and allied themselves with humanity, so having the most human UMAs do the same would be the perfect way to wrap up that narrative throughline

However, that again is still pretty predictable, almost rote with how the story has progressed so far, so I still expect one more wrinkle to come out of left field, regardless of how many chapters we have left:

The Union will lose

Failstate

The biggest question mark hanging over this entire series, at least for me, is what Sun and Luna's goals are

What is the world supposed to look like after the game ends? If Luna loses the bet and humanity can't reach the Gods, what's meant to happen? Will humanity be wiped out, will the Rules become harsher on them, what?

To truly understand the weight of the threat, of what the Union is trying to prevent, we need to be shown at least a glimpse of it, so even if Time or Soul or the Heart or whoever will immediately undo the damage, the Union needs to see what they're fighting for

Bonus points if that's the moment that reforms Ruin - that he sees how much worse everything is with humanity's loss, how ruined the world will be, and he decides then and there that he needs to ensure it remains unruined

Again, though, Tozuka has always proven to be a few steps ahead of me, so even if I have the basic ideas, the final product surely won't look much of anything like what I'm suggesting, and will surely be better than anything I can imagine

Looking Forward

In a perfect world, Tozuka would be able to take as much time as he wants to flesh out every single character and backstory and battle to his heart's content, but that's just wishful thinking. The undeniable truth is that Tozuka is working in the most cutthroat company in an already cutthroat industry, so naturally not everything can or will go to plan

However, even under those conditions, Tozuka has managed to tell a consistently engaging and beautiful story that has served as an inspiration to many of us for the past nearly five years. As I've said a thousand times now, we need to have faith that Tozuka is going to continue to do his best to deliver a story that we'll love, even if we don't agree with every choice he makes for it

He certainly doesn't want us to read each chapter filled with fear and trepidation; he wants us to read them with joy and wonder, like we always have! Whether Tozuka decided that this was the best time to end it or Jump forced it on him, whether UU will last for four more months or four more years, the single most important thing that we can do is enjoy what Tozuka has to offer. That's all he's ever wanted from us, and it's what this series has taught me to do

So come on, you do it too:

Until next time, let's enjoy life!

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