Quick Stops: Pandora Hearts 74, Kuroshitsuji 70 and ZeroSum 07-12

Been a while since I chatted about Pandora Hearts and Kuroshitsuji manga. I managed to catch up on the recent chapters too. Aside from that, I thought I should include some freebies from the ZeroSum July issue as I haven’t posted anything from the manga mag lately. On that note, I maybe getting my copy of ZSUM’s August edition a little later than usual this month cos I’m late renewing my subscription. Same goes for ASUKA. That means I’ll probably won’t play the 07-G brain teaser and just post my thoughts on the new chapter when I get my copy of the mag. Well, life is busy these days as you can tell. 😛

So then, let’s get back to the topics at hand.

–PANDORA HEARTS 74: BROKEN RABBIT–

art by: 菁winni | source: pixiv.net

Long has paled that sunny sky;
Echoes fade and memories die;
Autumn frosts have slain July.

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.

Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.

In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die;

Ever drifting down the stream–
Lingering in the golden gleam–
Life, what is it but a dream?

Can’t say I’m surprise that Mochizuki-sensei is still pulling out all the stops in turning the already gloomy atmosphere even gloomier with the continuing tragic consequences of Jack’s selfish desire to bring Lacie back to life, by plunging the world into the Abyss yet again. Jack is psychologically unhinged since the day Lacie was sacrificed and he couldn’t care less if everyone else suffered as long as his wish came through. Not even Oswald or Alice (who is born of Lacie) could prevent Jack’s madness from derailing. He nearly choked Alice to death with his violent behaviour but Alice one-upped him by killing herself. That was one twist not many people in the PH fandom suspected. Whether her motivation is justified or not, the gist is that she did it to prevent Jack’s misuse and abuse of the Abyss power.

Unfortunately, Alice’s sacrifice to save the world that Oz loved came to naught when the past caught up to the present and the truth unravels painful secrets all around. Gil is probably the most affected by the cruel turn of events after OZ. This led to the bitter cliffhanger towards the end of the chapter when a mess-up Gil triggered his gun and shoot the person whom he served as his beloved master in the Vessalius household. I don’t think he realized what he did just then and I certainly don’t blame him for the way things had gone down. It wasn’t his fault. But the true tragedy is the boy that lays lifeless on the ground.

We came to love and adore the golden hair boy that is OZ and to see his life suffered such a ruthless fate because of one person’s reckless desire is not how I want to see it all ends. I don’t expect a fairy tale sort of happy ending but I do want to see OZ being redeemed by the true power of the Abyss…perhaps whatever is left of Lacie’s soul would save him. I don’t think Lacie is alive nor do I want to see her come back to life. She should stay dead but if her memories left in the Abyss holds some power, than won’t this reveal what she truly intended? We’ve not been privy to the actual message or feelings that she left behind and I don’t think it is for Jack to cast the world into the abyss. This was Jack’s own interpretation of Lacie’s wish. I doubt she would want something like that to happen. It is probably something she wanted to tell him when she was alive but did not have the chance to convey them and so, she left the bits and pieces of her memories with her twins so that they can reveal her message to him. Problem is, the twins especially Alyss got it mess-up somehow. If Jack truly loves Lacie, he could have just sacrificed himself to the Abyss to be with what’s left of Lacie. Why throw in the whole world? Is he afraid he might not find what he’s looking for? In the end, what he did up to the present is probably for all the wrong reasons. As a result, he ended up destroying the very world that Lacie possibly loved and that’s the world she shared with Oswald and him when she was alive

With the way things are in Pandora Hearts, one could feel that we are reaching a climax of sorts and whatever Mochizuki-sensei is dishing out towards this end, I’m hoping for a satisfactory conclusion. But with all the trolling that the mangaka has led the fandom on, I dread to see a troll ending…no,no…please don’t go there, Mochi-Jun. You’re too good for that. (^_^;;

KUROSHITSUJI 69-70

image scans by: BB.net

I have much less to say about Kuroshitsuji‘s current manga direction in comparison to Pandora Hearts. To tell the truth, I’m not sure where Toboso-sensei is headed with the present story line. As with the previous arc, the main plot is seemingly untouched. Yet again, she plunges Ciel and Sebastian into another off track adventure. This time it takes place in a British Public School which happens to be very, very reminiscent of “Harry Potter” in atmosphere. Really, first zombies and now Harry Potty?! It feels like everything is being drag out for as long as the manga’s popularity sells and as a result, the actual story telling suffers. Maybe I don’t see the connections but to me, Kuroshitsuji is dishing out what peeps in anime called ‘episodics’. If there’s an underlying thread linking these individual arcs, I am not feeling it somehow. Not even Sebastian’s little cinematic flashback during the zombie arc reveal much of anything save for Undertaker’s cryptic words before he disappears from the scene.

My gripes aside, what do I think of the current Public School arc? Admittedly, the new characters being introduced are rather amusing. I can’t help but think that it is a twisted sort of parody on the “Harry Potter” series with its 4-houses and their separate traditions. The girlish looking but utterly conniving “Maurice Cole“, reminded me much of “Malfoy” and Ciel’s adoring sidekick “Macmillan“, would be Kuro’s version of “Ron Weasley” complete with freckles. Well, there’s also the flimsy plot revolving around the mysterious disappearance of the son of one of the Queen’s relative who is/was a student at the school. Thus far, not much is mentioned of the missing relative yet since the events are focus on Ciel trying to get close to the prefects of the 4 houses at Hogwarts…er I mean, Weston College. Things aren’t getting far at present and goodness knows how long it’ll take before we get to the bottom of anything plot-wise.

COMIC ZERO-SUM July Cover

Right then, done with my manga musings. Now we come to the part where I’m spamming scans from the July issue of Comic Zero-Sum. By that, I’m referring to the freebie pin-up booklet that came with the magazine. I’m not aware of anyone sharing their scans of this elsewhere so I thought I should just post mine here.

月刊コミックZERO-SUM 10th Anniversary Pin-up Collection

-Booklet Cover-

♦DOLLS♦

♦LOVELESS♦

♦SAIYUKI RELOAD BLAST♦

♦ARE YOU ALICE?♦

♦AMATSUKI♦

♦MAKAI OUJI: DEVILS AND REALIST♦

♦KARNEVAL♦

ENJOY!

NOTE:
If you wonder where the familiar poem at the top is from, it is an excerpt from ‘Through the Looking Glass‘ by Lewis Carroll.