Gunnm - Mars Chronicle 028 (part 2) Is out!

[FluffyMcMittens]

This took a bit longer to release.

Spoiler:

A sad chapter...
And with these events they are back where they started.
No way closer to escaping.

I do wonder how low this arc will last.

http://www42.zippyshare.com/v/Zbc5FbbV/file.html

https://mega.nz/#!LQNTHAZQ!Yu3WUSBbZ17O ... XSq2rawvnM

[00_unit]

thanks

[Cahir]

Thank you

[VehicleReversing]

Thank you

Spoiler:

Haha Erica just doesn't get it does she? Smug lil kid. Why did Erica seem like a normal child in the flashbacks with Gelda considering all previous chapters? Another memory reset like after Ninon died would suck as an explanation.

Ok, so "Mom"'s dead now. Marquis is going to have the big conference in 10 days where he'll reveal Yoko as the rightful lord, kick Kagura out and pull the strings behind. I'm wondering if Muster is actually still helping Marquis (for now) or is he gonna reveal Kagura's secret then to wreak havoc. What is Muster gonna do with the Mars' treasure? How will Erica find another chance to gtfo and go to that address?
I hope we'll find out within the year

[MrFaber]

Spoiler:

No Nollin

For next chapter i would recommend whole chapter in which Erika tries to solve a rubik cube and when she has almost solved it, the cube dies horribly.

[00_unit]

Thank you

Spoiler:

Haha Erica just doesn't get it does she? Smug lil kid. Why did Erica seem like a normal child in the flashbacks with Gelda considering all previous chapters? Another memory reset like after Ninon died would suck as an explanation.

Ok, so "Mom"'s dead now. Marquis is going to have the big conference in 10 days where he'll reveal Yoko as the rightful lord, kick Kagura out and pull the strings behind. I'm wondering if Muster is actually still helping Marquis (for now) or is he gonna reveal Kagura's secret then to wreak havoc. What is Muster gonna do with the Mars' treasure? How will Erica find another chance to gtfo and go to that address?
I hope we'll find out within the year

My guess is that he's going to do another flashback within a flashback which is most likely about Kagura. Erica problems seems to come from the fact that she seems either possessive or obsessed with Yoko, Erica is starting to become one of my least favourite battle angel alita character at the moment she's becoming obnoxious and irritating at the moment. Also I think I am the only who wants to know about the 4 eyed bird, what relevance does it have with the story.

[Caboclo Guerreiro]

Spoiler:

And now we know why Yoko is going to kill Erika

Also I think I am the only who wants to know about the 4 eyed bird, what relevance does it have with the story.

Spoiler:

the 4 eyed bird is Gerda's scout

[Pablolein]

Thanks! It's pretty hard to follow the plot at this pace, and I've lost any hope about this arc ending someday, but I'll just keep reading.

[kamugin]

Thank you guys.
I won't thank Kishiro though. This whole arch is characterized by sudden change of scenes right after some major climax and we are left hanging before the conclusion. This is becoming over the top irksome and tiresome.
Nevertheless I am among those suckers who bought the first volume of Mars Chronicles by Kodansha... I am still waiting for Amazon to deliver it though.

[00_unit]

Thank you guys.
I won't thank Kishiro though. This whole arch is characterized by sudden change of scenes right after some major climax and we are left hanging before the conclusion. This is becoming over the top irksome and tiresome.
Nevertheless I am among those suckers who bought the first volume of Mars Chronicles by Kodansha... I am still waiting for Amazon to deliver it though.

I thought I was the only one who was bothered by that, Kishiro been doing that too much, from alita's encounter with nova, to the secret treasure of Mars, to cydonia's super weapon, the note Erica have, any hope of seeing those plot thread being solved after it has been revealed/ mentioned Kishiro will immediately show something else and it is one of the most annoying things I seen in Mars Chronicles as I find it too incoherent .
also I'm surprised you purchased Mars Chronicles as I thought you would flat out not support it, given how much disdain you show for mars Chronicles art style in particular

[zwolfbar]

The pace of mars chronicles doesn't bother me as I also read berserk so I'm used to sudden changes, but mostly we're only at chapter 28 not chapter 100 so I'd say all these things getting set now will resolve like other arcs just that now we're in setting the pieces prologue. I'm waiting to see any hiddem warhammer 40k admech easter eggs though like servitor in the background of a panel.

[kamugin]

also I'm surprised you purchased Mars Chronicles as I thought you would flat out not support it, given how much disdain you show for mars Chronicles art style in particular

Told ya, I'm a sucker

I was ordering the GLO omnibus cuz of the extra stuff and Mars Chronicles #1 appeared in the list so I gave up to the temptation.

[kamugin]

The pace of mars chronicles doesn't bother me as I also read berserk so I'm used to sudden changes

I don't think the comparison is proper, I read Berserk too and while Kentaro Miura may do that sometimes, Kishiro does that ALL THE TIME in this fucking arch. Mabe he is putting together a jigsaw puzzle by adding one piece each time without connecting adjacent pieces, thus we only will see the whole picture after the completion --ingenious maybe, but for sure it is damn annoying!

[zwolfbar]

Yea I'm lucky I'm reading the deluxe editions at the same time so reading the motorball arc 1st time then reading mars chronicles it sorta connected in my mind. I really want yukito to keep to keep the tragedy payoffs coming especially if he can bring people to read wh40k novels as mars chronicles is basically adeptus mechanicus pre emperor lol.

[00_unit]

The pace of mars chronicles doesn't bother me as I also read berserk so I'm used to sudden changes, but mostly we're only at chapter 28 not chapter 100 so I'd say all these things getting set now will resolve like other arcs just that now we're in setting the pieces prologue. I'm waiting to see any hiddem warhammer 40k admech easter eggs though like servitor in the background of a panel.

in chapter 12 we see a fallout easter egg the art looks like a pip boy in particular, also I would actually be a lot more forgiving if this was weekly instead, but maybe that is asking too much, even noblesse is faster than Mars Chronicle at the moment

[00_unit]

The pace of mars chronicles doesn't bother me as I also read berserk so I'm used to sudden changes

I don't think the comparision is proper, I read Berserk too and while Kentaro Miura may do that sometimes, Kishiro does that ALL THE TIME in this fucking arch. Mabe he is putting together a jigsaw puzzle by adding one piece each time without connecting adjacent pieces, thus we only will see the whole picture after the completion --ingenious maybe, but for sure it is damn annoying!

This is what I meant, when I mention Kishiro is enjoying this too much from an author point of view , rather than an audience point of view actually, I hope he is not going for that post modern subversion technique or something similar to that anyway

[kamugin]

This is what I meant, when I mention Kishiro is enjoying this too much from an author point of view , rather than an audience point of view actually, I hope he is not going for that post modern subversion technique or something similar to that anyway

I agree. He is trying his hand at a new kind of narrative but so far he only managed to be damn annoying. This Mars Chronicle is by no means something as ingenious as Pulp Fiction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulp_Fiction or Irréversible https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irr%C3%A9versible.

[VehicleReversing]

The pace of mars chronicles doesn't bother me as I also read berserk so I'm used to sudden changes

I don't think the comparison is proper, I read Berserk too and while Kentaro Miura may do that sometimes, Kishiro does that ALL THE TIME in this fucking arch. Mabe he is putting together a jigsaw puzzle by adding one piece each time without connecting adjacent pieces, thus we only will see the whole picture after the completion --ingenious maybe, but for sure it is damn annoying!

Yeah exactly that, right now he's giving us a very long Mars travelling guide so presumably he could jump right into the locations/characters without introduction when the story goes back to present day (fucking when lol). He put the Super Nova cliffhanger there on purpose so there's something to look forward to. But now it's like look at this briefly introduced story element, remember that it might reappear later, ok we're moving on without resolving anything. He's relying too much on the readers' faith that the stage he's setting will payoff
I'm enjoying the Mars setting and Erica getting her sanity chipped away so there's that (at least for me)

[kamugin]

He's relying too much on the readers' faith that the stage he's setting will payoff
I'm enjoying the Mars setting and Erica getting her sanity chipped away so there's that (at least for me)

That sums up all of our reservations about this arch. Though on the contrary to you I don't like the way he is shaping Erica's persona, it looks cheesy.
Man, I'm dying to see some badass panzer kunst fights and all we are getting is some Quasimodo guy running loose and twisted brats. Give us some service, dammit!

[00_unit]

This is what I meant, when I mention Kishiro is enjoying this too much from an author point of view , rather than an audience point of view actually, I hope he is not going for that post modern subversion technique or something similar to that anyway

I agree. He is trying his hand at a new kind of narrative but so far he only managed to be damn annoying. This Mars Chronicle is by no means something as ingenious as Pulp Fiction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulp_Fiction or Irréversible https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irr%C3%A9versible.

To be fair, comparing manga with movie is tricky, as movies like those are 2 hours and a half and you could tell so much within that time span, but some directors would pad with filler with that amount of time and manga especially Mars Chronicle hardly tells a lot of story content right now as he keeps doing at least one double pages every single time with little to no dialogue.

It's possible to do great prequel arcs, look at Berserk's golden age arc, every manga fan would agree it is one of the greatest arc in any manga ever period. Also another great movie for me that didn't make sense at first but paid off for me was hateful eight it's very polarised but I found it interesting

[kamugin]

To be fair, comparing manga with movie is tricky, as movies like those are 2 hours and a half and you could tell so much within that time span, but some directors would pad with filler with that amount of time and manga especially Mars Chronicle hardly tells a lot of story content right now as he keeps doing at least one double pages every single time with little to no dialogue.

It's possible to do great prequel arcs, look at Berserk's golden age arc, every manga fan would agree it is one of the greatest arc in any manga ever period. Also another great movie for me that didn't make sense at first but paid off for me was hateful eight it's very polarised but I found it interesting

I only named those two movies to show examples of innovative, if not revolutionary, narratives. We also can find some examples of non linear narratives in manga and those both media have a lot in common. Two mangas that I am reading right now that have many cliffhangers are Ajin and One Punch Man, but the pace of those two is much more bearable than Mars Chronicles.
Hateful Eight is another movie that I enjoyed in spite of it isn't quite on the same level of the previous two movies I mentioned.

After the brief introduction of Guts/Gatsu, the golden age arch follows a linear narrative without sudden breaks of action till the end, the whole thing is very fullfilling, not some random paint strokes like Kishiro is doing right now.

[zwolfbar]

I like the 2 page spreads I hope kodansha releases a english artbook for series. I'm just following the flow of story & connecting dots later is how i'm planning on avoiding burnout plus getting seven seas captain harlock classic hardcovers.
I know from boat arc in berserk that following individual chapter instead of volume gets lots of burnout. Plus if we're lucky yukito will have a violence jack easter egg maybe probably might.

[Cahir]

It's possible to do great prequel arcs, look at Berserk's golden age arc, every manga fan would agree it is one of the greatest arc in any manga ever period.

I hate it. It is not even good as prequel. I mean, it has different tone: Dark Fantasy, monster slaying went to Machiavellian politics, where demons were coming out of nowhere and breaking immersion and etc. Berserk became good after that arc imo. I have not read more than 230 chapters, tho.

Baccano (anime) is the only good example of non-linear narrative I know (or remember). But probably Mars Chronicles does not have this type of story-line, because "present time" was only used once.

I do agree with sudden changes, but as soon as we are still getting something and it helps to build-up the climax of this arc, I do not have much of a problem with it.

Oh and I think it would be cool, if Kunstlers were with Kagura now. Not much left to show of this arc, maybe only Kagura's backstory and then climax... with no sudden change... where girls will meet Gerda. 40 chapters at best, for this arc?

2 pages spread arts are fine, if we will not count how many pages we are getting per month

[VehicleReversing]

He's relying too much on the readers' faith that the stage he's setting will payoff
I'm enjoying the Mars setting and Erica getting her sanity chipped away so there's that (at least for me)

That sums up all of our reservations about this arch. Though on the contrary to you I don't like the way he is shaping Erica's persona, it looks cheesy.
Man, I'm dying to see some badass panzer kunst fights and all we are getting is some Quasimodo guy running loose and twisted brats. Give us some service, dammit!

Well I don't suppose I could convince anyone, but here's my take on Erica's character.
Erica(as a kid) isn't evil(yet) so it's not too late(yet) for her character to go back to "normal", all of her actions by far are out of some justification (and being a misguided naive kiddie)
1)Killing her parents because of abuse
2)Killing the professor because she and Damjan are plotting to escape
3)Killing the fake mom to cover for "who planned the escape?"
Number 3 is the closest to the character actively doing something "bad" (Dunno bout you but she telling the mom about Marquis planning to kill them both doesn't exactly line up since Marquis would still require Yoko as a front to manipulate politics from).
This character could have been good but due to life ceaselessly throwing shit at her so she had to be "bad". Same thing with Muster though I admit that even by drumming the his life sucks factor to 11 doesn't make the extreme "I was good but now super evil because of MY LIFE" any less cheesy. I see a potential for Erica's character to get past that, and result in an interesting dichotomy of her views vs Yoko's being equally understandable and valid(which we got a glimpse of in this chapter).

As to your point about panzer kunst/kunstlers I agree wholeheartedly. There has been no action for many chapters, and since that's the one thing that Yukito does best with consistency it's been kinda boring and un-Gunnm .
Looking back at how kunstlers operate, I find their organization perplexing. In vein they are like shaolin monks (living in secluded valley, doesn't teach just anyone) who also could be hired by governments/people to carry out mecenary-like operations (or even terrorist-like blackops). Created by one guy originally, teaches only cyborgs (are cyborg children common on mars? do kids have to have their body hacked off to join? does anyone join willingly?)
I mean what country would allow such a powerful warrior community living unchecked, maybe they have ties to the government though that seem unlikely. From what little info we have so far these kunstlers had enough resources to join in the great war that happened some time ago, would trains others to be kunstlers, and can be hired. Do they even have an agenda aside from train-fight-kill?

[kamugin]

As to your point about panzer kunst/kunstlers I agree wholeheartedly. There has been no action for many chapters, and since that's the one thing that Yukito does best with consistency it's been kinda boring and un-Gunnm .
Looking back at how kunstlers operate, I find their organization perplexing. In vein they are like shaolin monks (living in secluded valley, doesn't teach just anyone) who also could be hired by governments/people to carry out mecenary-like operations (or even terrorist-like blackops). Created by one guy originally, teaches only cyborgs (are cyborg children common on mars? do kids have to have their body hacked off to join? does anyone join willingly?)
I mean what country would allow such a powerful warrior community living unchecked, maybe they have ties to the government though that seem unlikely. From what little info we have so far these kunstlers had enough resources to join in the great war that happened some time ago, would trains others to be kunstlers, and can be hired. Do they even have an agenda aside from train-fight-kill?

You raised some interesting points here and I would like to add my impressions:
The kunstlers do have an agenda. In chapter 11.1 we saw Erica confronting Gergt, asking him about the truth of them being necro soldiers. He confirms that and says it doesn't change their dreams. What are those dreams? Taking down Earth and ruling over Mars? This is my shot, but we can only speculate since very little info was given on the kunstlers background. However we all know that they are a terrorist group that doesn't measure consequences to reach their goals (Camlann tragedy). I also think they changed their ways over the time since the foundation of the group by Tiger Sauer, Vilma/Caerula wouldn't have raised him to become a "bad guy". About the recruits, the way we see how uneasy is a kid's life in Mars, I don't think becoming a cyborg in exchange for a chance of surviving and getting stronger is a bad deal.

I won't make any new comments on Muster and Erica (brat) because I am fed up with them.