Gunnm - Mars Chronicle 030 (part 2) Is out!

[Novel Kars]

I presume that mathusalization is what the "Treasure of Mars" disc is about. It was pointed not to be a cure but a way to avoid death.

Perhaps that involves using a biochemical mechanism of the tumour? That could lead to Alita being much more important than we thought before.

[MrFaber]

Maybe. But i think Maske Tumor has not much relevance to the story in the end. Looks just like a mean way to kill like that powder that crystallize people. At the end it was just left behind as a trap on the site were the golden stick was hidden.

[MrFaber]

I mean, those affected don't seem to enjoy the condition much or to survive long without intense cures and it took the somehow genial mind of that doctor and repeated effort to even concieve and prove than a maske tumor can develope into an individual. I think we are overthinking about it. At best maske tumor seem to be the side product of some failed experiment.

[kamugin]

People here like "to be in lala land" when Kishiro just showed that he doesn't stretch things that far. The first explanation why Alita's brain survived the re-entry and 200 years of trash dump was because of the zubringer stuff. After the first ending was discarded, no reasonable explanation was given and I doubt it ever will.

[MrFaber]

My point. But then Tzykrow is clearly matusalized, Erika is a necro soldier, ok, but she's still like 250 years old, and no hybernation here. We can presume she's is matusalized. So the rest of the survive kunstlers. So why not Yoko?

[kamugin]

My point. But then Tzykrow is clearly matusalized, Erika is a necro soldier, ok, but she's still like 250 years old, and no hybernation here. We can presume she's is matusalized. So the rest of the survive kunstlers. So why not Yoko?

There was no mathusalization at least back in the time when the kunstler's base was bombed, that's why they had to resort to the "necro soldier" process to save the lives of some of them. This is what Gert explained when being interpeled by Erica. That was so many years ago that people may have forgotten.
Alita may have been matusalized only after Nova ressucites her, back in Tiphares.

[Dream]

I always assumed the mathusalisation refereed to "flesh" humans only, and once you get your brain extracted inside a cyborg, it doesn't really matter anymore, since brain cells don't divide much after a certain age.
I personally don't like the idea of Gally being such a special snowflake in her universe. It gives me naruto vibes, when the rebel that tells you "you can do it if you believe in it" happens to be a god reincarnation.

[kamugin]

I always assumed the mathusalisation refereed to "flesh" humans only, and once you get your brain extracted inside a cyborg, it doesn't really matter anymore, since brain cells don't divide much after a certain age.

Even a living brain alone would need some "maintenance" done by nanobots to keep it going for centuries, that's what I think. Coming from a tumor, perhaps Alita's brain have some especial regenerative properties since a tumor is essentially cells that refuse to die. I won't especulate anything beyond that.

[MrFaber]

And yet Gally is not a necrosoldier, and she lived 240 years. So Tzykrow. I believe that the Grunthal massacre heppened after the Maulwurf operation, so after Gally was dumped in the atmosphere. And she must have been mathusalized already at that time. I don't believe being a necrosoldier would be about prolonguing life, but about restoring a dead brain. "Back then there was no other option" must refer to revive the Kunstlers. Karmatron nanotechnology would have done it better. Don't forget that both Gally and Zapan died the ultimed death and Nova menaged to rebuild their brains with every single synapse by fragments, when he revived them. Necrosoldiers tecnology must be a cruder and more taxy version of this.

[nick15]

Thank you all.

Spoiler:

Anticlimactic is what this chapter is. Here is the plain truth: Alita/Yoko/HK-BR035 is a mask tumor extracted from Nollin. I was hoping for something more sophisticated, like some DNA tweaking. After all, what would stop a mask tumor from developing mask tumors? Herr Ngema is no genius whatsoever, his research didn't go beyond cutting pieces out of his subjects and observing how they developed.

By the way, "HK-BR035" has any hidden meaning or is it just a random designation?

I'm trying to figure it out myself, but two parts of the name seem likely:

* HK = "Heraus Kind"
* 035 = likely the 35th attempt (yeesh, 34 prior failures...)

"BR" is the only one I can't figure out. "Brain/Bregen"? "Branche (branch)"? "Brand"? "Brust (breast/chest)"? And that's assuming it's not an initialism of two words starting with "B" and "R".

[kamugin]

By the way, "HK-BR035" has any hidden meaning or is it just a random designation?

l'm trying to figure it out myself, but two parts of the name seem likely:

* HK = "Heraus Kind"
* 035 = likely the 35th attempt (yeesh, 34 prior failures...)

"BR" is the only one I can't figure out. "Brain/Bregen"? "Branche (branch)"? "Brand"? "Brust (breast/chest)"? And that's assuming it's not an initialism of two words starting with "B" and "R".

Not bad, you may be right.

[Martin]

People here like "to be in lala land" when Kishiro just showed that he doesn't stretch things that far. The first explanation why Alita's brain survived the re-entry and 200 years of trash dump was because of the zubringer stuff. After the first ending was discarded, no reasonable explanation was given and I doubt it ever will.

In the very beginning of Last Order...like first episode... Desty Nova tells Jim that her brain has odd nano impact resistance.

[HECTOR4]

Then...

Spoiler:

Then we could say that Yoko is a kind of clone or copy of Nollin caused by an illness. Yoko would not be Nollin's daughter, if not her "copy" or "clone", and she would not be Munster's niece, rather her "sister".

[MrFaber]

I would say somethibg in between. Gally is a kind of non sexually procreated daughter of Nollin. According to Kagura's researcher, he defines behings out of maske tumors as detatched offsprings. There are lifeforns that reproduce like this.

[HECTOR4]

I would say somethibg in between. Gally is a kind of non sexually procreated daughter of Nollin. According to Kagura's researcher, he defines behings out of maske tumors as detatched offsprings. There are lifeforns that reproduce like this.

Yes. Is true. Then we could say that the maske tumor turns people into a kind of hyperactive reproductive hydra, haha.

[kamugin]

... reproductive hydra, haha.

Exactly what I tought to comment but didn't.
Like I said more than once before, to make Alita's birth more believable, Herr Ngema should have performed some genetic tweaking since she isn't an exact copy of Nollin or didn't develop other tumors herself. Kishiro, much unlike him, had little imagination when finally revealed Alita's origin.

[MrFaber]

That a maske tumor doesn't develop maske tumors on itself was pure plot need, it couldn't have been otherwise. About Yoko not being an exact copy of Nollin... i wouldn't be so sure. Nollin is always drawn with an exagerate smiling expression in the few panels where you see her, but, in general, she doesn't look much different then Yoko. At least hair is absolutely the same.

[EDIT] But also the cut of the eyes of child Yoko is the same, and Nollin's mouth have a very small fram kinda like Gally's. I believe Kishiro's intention was to make them look alike yet decive the reader.

[HECTOR4]

I think that in this image Gally and Nollin are very similar. Maybe Nollin lacks "octopus lips", but Kishiro also draws Gally many times without so many lips:

Spoiler: