Needless

[Xiammes]

Look what I found on /a/ tonight.

Spoiler for image:

He still didn't want her to die, but you can't say that he didn't hold resentment towards her.

[surerman]

Originally Posted by Xiammes

Look what I found on /a/ tonight.

Spoiler for image:

He still didn't want her to die, but you can't say that he didn't hold resentment towards her.

look like I'm not the only one who's mistaken this char gender

eh...that's was my sig (without blood splatter)

and yeah, Saten hold something up his sleeve for her

......

ups!

[Homura7]

One event after another gives you no choice but forget momentarily about your sorrow and focus solely on surviving.

Cruz/Yamada simply had no time to mourn the loss of his sister. You can also say he already mourned her the necessary before his Needless inner finally awakened fully.

Ignore what others say in other places in the net.

[Kurohane]

Originally Posted by surerman

look like I'm not the only one who's mistaken this char gender

The her referred was Aruka.

Originally Posted by Xiammes

Look what I found on /a/ tonight.

Spoiler for image:

Lol, nice find, Xiammes.

Originally Posted by Kurusu-Shirudo

One event after another gives you no choice but forget momentarily about your sorrow and focus solely on surviving.

Cruz/Yamada simply had no time to mourn the loss of his sister. You can also say he already mourned her the necessary before his Needless inner finally awakened fully.

Ignore what others say in other places in the net.

Yeah, you're right.

[Avvesione]

Originally Posted by Kurohane

I mean when Blade and Eve showed up, and Blade told Cruz it was his own power that saved him from Arclight's attack. He was so focused on this revelation that he forgot his sister just died in front of him, and found it even with Simeon, she was still protecting him. Some readers were upset with him for this. I believe their was a reason for this. As Xiammes said, he could have trouble proccesing everything that just happened. Events did occur pretty fast. It's just I see commenters on other sites bashing Cruz for that. Also, he could never have negative feelings for Aruka. He was in tears when Arclight killed her.

I still don't see why some people would have an issue with that. Sure, his sister, one that he still loves, died in front of him and she was acting strange trying to protect him and stuff but he just repelled an attack from Arclight, was reunited with Blade and Eve, and found out about his ability. You know since the beginning of the series he's always wanted a Fragment and wanted to help Blade and Eve by fighting with them and protecting them, so it shouldn't be surprising that he's more absorbed with that than after watching his sister die for the second time. Remember, during the first 'death', he crawled away into the sewers and did his best to escape, not dwell on the fact until afterwards when he was in safety.

Dunno, pretty weak to give him flax over something minor like that. Thanks for clarifying it, was able to understand what you mean now.

[SoloPanda]

Originally Posted by Xiammes

Look what I found on /a/ tonight.

Spoiler for image:

He still didn't want her to die, but you can't say that he didn't hold resentment towards her.

you have found proof on my theory that Saten is a shota-con! Good find >.O

[Ynot]

Originally Posted by Kurohane

You might want to take those links down. I recently got in trouble for posting a link on here.

I don't think those links should be a problem since it's the author himself who put them there.

Anyway. I've been spending some time looking up info on BLACKSPOT. I can't really remember what has and hasn't been said already in this thread and have no desire to plow through more than 400 pages so I'm going to be repeating some things and hopefully add some new stuff.

Basically, Blackspot is a "simplified" version of the original Needless which the author scribbled down into so called "university notebooks" during his highschool days and was close to 2000 pages. Originally Blackspot was supposed to be 50 pages, but it grew into 330.

Unfortunately I didn't find an extensive summary of BLACKSPOT anywhere, but I've posted my translation of the japanese wikipedia about Blackspot and some interesting pieces which I've found on Imai's site below. It probably still has a bunch of translation errors so don't go and quote this elsewhere.

Spoiler for blackspot info:

Digression

Allthough the story and world view are different, in essence I made a story in which Kain replaced Adam Blade and Averu replaced Adam Arclight.
(AB and AA of the original Needless story he wrote in highschool) This means Adam pretty much is Kain, it could be said that when they meet
in "Needless 1.5" it has become somewhat of a parallel world. So since Needless 1.5 isn't perfectly connected to the same time axis let's just
say "Blackspot" is more or less a side story. Please don't think too hard about this, *laughs*

---------------------



Synopsis

Imai has drawn the "Original Needless" manga during his senior highschool time and "Blackspot" contains it's highlights. It was published (first and second part) From 1998 till 1999. In 2003 it was all collected in one version

The original Needless and the serialization differ. Powers aren't described as ragments and it's main focus is discrimination. Compared to the same sort of discrimination in Needless egoic lotus it's done in a far more serious way. Imai said " when I was drawing it, it had become a completely different story, but the world view was almost the same"

In 2004 it was sold through Mangaden and mellonbooks as well as Imai's initial compilation. In 2009 there was a vote on Imai's site for a reprint. It's planned to do one through Mellonbooks.



Summary

2132 What was once called Tokyo has become polluted because of WW3 and is the slum where the city dumps it's garbage. The people living in the slums make a living rumaging through the garbage. In the night it looks like a black gaping hole and is called BLACKSPOT.

First part

One day , together with the trash, a girl is dumped in the Blackspot. Hoodlums attack the girl but she is saved by Kain, a young man living in an orphanage in Blackspot. In order to reunite the girl with her mother he leaves the blackspot and
goes to the city.

second part

When Kain infiltrates Simeon he comes eye to eye with the human experiments and the fated battle between Kain and Averu begins.


KAIN

Kain is a young man living in an Orphanage in BLACKSPOT. He has the power of "voice". The truth is, he was born in Simeon's "lebensborn project" made with the "genes of God". Because of Averu's head's phase transition operation he has the body of a female. Because he showed rejection signs during the operation he was disposed of in the blackspot. He aquired the power of "voice" after the operation. He is experiment no 77.

Averu is a young men called the holy child of salvation by Simeon. He holds the same power of "voice" as Kain. The truth is, he's Kain's younger sister. He has "the genes of God". Because he was suffering from an infection there was a phase transiton with Kain's head and he got a male body. He is experiment no 78.

Karomena is a girl thrown away in BlACKSPOT. It's thought she was abandoned because she's a mentally handicapped girl with a speech empediment, but it's confirmed that she has had a chip embedded in her brain by Simeon. Her name was given to her by Kain.

Seto is Averu's younger sister. It's her aim to "save people with love". In truth she was created when at Kain's birth a head appeared from his abdomen which was transplanted on a body and became Averu's younger sister.

Hayden is the woman who runs the orphanage. But secretly she raises the children so they can be used as experimental material vor Simeon.

Effune is seto's acquintance, a docter. He's a former member of Simeon and the head surgeon for the head phase transition operation on Kain and Averu.

-------relation to other works

Kain, the main character, is the semi-main character of Needless 1.5 after growing up(however there are inconsistencies) Averu was a model for the evil Prince, Gary, who appeared in the story "Magical force required". The main characters Adam Blade and Eve of the serialisation were shown as Simeon's experimental bodies in one panel.

----Supplement

The characters names and Organizations names in this work are taken from the old testament.In the extra's there was a"Blackspot glossary" in which there was Imai's original "genealogie of Adam" integrating canon and apocrypha.

[Homura7]

If I remember right, according with the timeline the Blackspot side story takes place almost near the end of the Needless part 2.

[Kurohane]

Originally Posted by Ynot

I don't think those links should be a problem since it's the author himself who put them there.

Anyway. I've been spending some time looking up info on BLACKSPOT. I can't really remember what has and hasn't been said already in this thread and have no desire to plow through more than 400 pages so I'm going to be repeating some things and hopefully add some new stuff.

Basically, Blackspot is a "simplified" version of the original Needless which the author scribbled down into so called "university notebooks" during his highschool days and was close to 2000 pages. Originally Blackspot was supposed to be 50 pages, but it grew into 330.

Unfortunately I didn't find an extensive summary of BLACKSPOT anywhere, but I've posted my translation of the japanese wikipedia about Blackspot and some interesting pieces which I've found on Imai's site below. It probably still has a bunch of translation errors so don't go and quote this elsewhere.

Spoiler for blackspot info:

Digression

Allthough the story and world view are different, in essence I made a story in which Kain replaced Adam Blade and Averu replaced Adam Arclight.
(AB and AA of the original Needless story he wrote in highschool) This means Adam pretty much is Kain, it could be said that when they meet
in "Needless 1.5" it has become somewhat of a parallel world. So since Needless 1.5 isn't perfectly connected to the same time axis let's just
say "Blackspot" is more or less a side story. Please don't think too hard about this, *laughs*

---------------------



Synopsis

Imai has drawn the "Original Needless" manga during his senior highschool time and "Blackspot" contains it's highlights. It was published (first and second part) From 1998 till 1999. In 2003 it was all collected in one version

The original Needless and the serialization differ. Powers aren't described as ragments and it's main focus is discrimination. Compared to the same sort of discrimination in Needless egoic lotus it's done in a far more serious way. Imai said " when I was drawing it, it had become a completely different story, but the world view was almost the same"

In 2004 it was sold through Mangaden and mellonbooks as well as Imai's initial compilation. In 2009 there was a vote on Imai's site for a reprint. It's planned to do one through Mellonbooks.



Summary

2132 What was once called Tokyo has become polluted because of WW3 and is the slum where the city dumps it's garbage. The people living in the slums make a living rumaging through the garbage. In the night it looks like a black gaping hole and is called BLACKSPOT.

First part

One day , together with the trash, a girl is dumped in the Blackspot. Hoodlums attack the girl but she is saved by Kain, a young man living in an orphanage in Blackspot. In order to reunite the girl with her mother he leaves the blackspot and
goes to the city.

second part

When Kain infiltrates Simeon he comes eye to eye with the human experiments and the fated battle between Kain and Averu begins.


KAIN

Kain is a young man living in an Orphanage in BLACKSPOT. He has the power of "voice". The truth is, he was born in Simeon's "lebensborn project" made with the "genes of God". Because of Averu's head's phase transition operation he has the body of a female. Because he showed rejection signs during the operation he was disposed of in the blackspot. He aquired the power of "voice" after the operation. He is experiment no 77.

Averu is a young men called the holy child of salvation by Simeon. He holds the same power of "voice" as Kain. The truth is, he's Kain's younger sister. He has "the genes of God". Because he was suffering from an infection there was a phase transiton with Kain's head and he got a male body. He is experiment no 78.

Karomena is a girl thrown away in BlACKSPOT. It's thought she was abandoned because she's a mentally handicapped girl with a speech empediment, but it's confirmed that she has had a chip embedded in her brain by Simeon. Her name was given to her by Kain.

Seto is Averu's younger sister. It's her aim to "save people with love". In truth she was created when at Kain's birth a head appeared from his abdomen which was transplanted on a body and became Averu's younger sister.

Hayden is the woman who runs the orphanage. But secretly she raises the children so they can be used as experimental material vor Simeon.

Effune is seto's acquintance, a docter. He's a former member of Simeon and the head surgeon for the head phase transition operation on Kain and Averu.

-------relation to other works

Kain, the main character, is the semi-main character of Needless 1.5 after growing up(however there are inconsistencies) Averu was a model for the evil Prince, Gary, who appeared in the story "Magical force required". The main characters Adam Blade and Eve of the serialisation were shown as Simeon's experimental bodies in one panel.

----Supplement

The characters names and Organizations names in this work are taken from the old testament.In the extra's there was a"Blackspot glossary" in which there was Imai's original "genealogie of Adam" integrating canon and apocrypha.

Thanks, Ynot for the info. Nice to learn the original idea author had and how it came to be what we know. I hope this will stop the guessing of how certain Needless 0 chapters fit into the current storyline as Imai Kami-san said himself that Black Spot and 1.5 are considered alternate timelines or side stories. Wow, seeing the most graphic images from the current version, it is still pretty tame compared to the original draft e.g head phase transition, head forming in abdomen *shudders*.

[Avvesione]

Originally Posted by Kurohane

Wow, seeing the most graphic images from the current version, it is still pretty tame compared to the original draft e.g head phase transition, head forming in abdomen *shudders*.

Well, we did have a "head in abdomen" incident in Needless already, so maybe it's not too shocking, though I'm not sure how the other one looked.

Originally Posted by Kurohane

I hope this will stop the guessing of how certain Needless 0 chapters fit into the current storyline as Imai Kami-san said himself that Black Spot and 1.5 are considered alternate timelines or side stories.

Probably won't but these side stories are akin to the one with Blade, Seto, Solva, and Kana. They're not going to fit perfectly in with Needless 1 and Needless 2, but it gives us a general idea about the characters, their setting, and whatnot. I'm sure Imai Kami has already made many changes to Needless 2 from his original manga 15 years ago (eg all the new characters) so it's not like 1.5 is a blueprint for what to expect for 2. But still, people will use it as an reference to provide support to their ideas or whatever to help prove their point.

[Kurohane]

Originally Posted by Avvesione

Well, we did have a "head in abdomen" incident in Needless already, so maybe it's not too shocking, though I'm not sure how the other one looked.

Yeah, with the clone Teruyama, I had forgotten about that.

Originally Posted by Avvesione

Probably won't but these side stories are akin to the one with Blade, Seto, Solva, and Kana. They're not going to fit perfectly in with Needless 1 and Needless 2, but it gives us a general idea about the characters, their setting, and whatnot. I'm sure Imai Kami has already made many changes to Needless 2 from his original manga 15 years ago (eg all the new characters) so it's not like 1.5 is a blueprint for what to expect for 2. But still, people will use it as an reference to provide support to their ideas or whatever to help prove their point.

True, true. People forget Needless 0 volume 1 are original one shots Imai Kami-san made. At the end of the first volume in the author's commentary, even he admits they were bad. It's not like they won't get referenced in some shape or form in the main story, but as you said they are not blueprints.

[Homura7]

TBF he references Needless 1.5 at the end of volume 9, when he's talking about the Black Madam. Along with Adam N.'s appearance and Teruyama's plot pretty much heading to his occupation as gatekeeper later on (with his clone dead he can fool Simeon into thinking he's the copy), I guess we can say Imai already added both prologues to the main storyline without making any modifications in its content. In fact, Sword of the Reaper is a very good example of that setting if we judge by chapter 24 (Seth reminding Blade about the old times, or Blade still calling Solva by her former affiliation name), chapter 33 (with Seth and Solva mentioning Kana and her fire/ice machine), and the Bloody Rain arc (Seth talking with Kana, Solva killed her father, etc).

[Avvesione]

Originally Posted by Kurusu-Shirudo

TBF he references Needless 1.5 at the end of volume 9, when he's talking about the Black Madam. Along with Adam N.'s appearance and Teruyama's plot pretty much heading to his occupation as gatekeeper later on (with his clone dead he can fool Simeon into thinking he's the copy), I guess we can say Imai already added both prologues to the main storyline without making any modifications in its content. In fact, Sword of the Reaper is a very good example of that setting if we judge by chapter 24 (Seth reminding Blade about the old times, or Blade still calling Solva by her former affiliation name), chapter 33 (with Seth and Solva mentioning Kana and her fire/ice machine), and the Bloody Rain arc (Seth talking with Kana, Solva killed her father, etc).

Exactly, which is why it's appropriate to use these one-shots as examples to make a point about the characters, the setting, or whatever but incorrect in trying to determine what Needless 1 or 2 will be. We know that Adam Neuschwanstein is being taken care of by the Black Madam and befriends Cain but to say that she'll be accompanied by those two as she resolve the Needless Hunt or fights Simeon is a bit much. Who knows who the main cast of Needless 2 will be or even ANn's or Eve's relationship between the two parts. When the appropriate time comes, then we'll see (though I'm sure we're all eager to learn everything given how long we have to wait between chapters).

[Sayo A.]

^Not long to wait for the next one though.

Originally Posted by Ynot

Unfortunately I didn't find an extensive summary of BLACKSPOT anywhere, but I've posted my translation of the japanese wikipedia about Blackspot and some interesting pieces which I've found on Imai's site below.
...

Thanks for that. There was some interesting info in there that I wasn't able to pick up just from looking at the pictures (it would be nice if someone produced a translation of the manga itself...). Sadly, though, it looks like the author of that Wikipedia article only had access to the first two chapters, just like the rest of us. I want to know more!

About the names,

"Kain" (pronounced "kine") is Cain. Imai doesn't necessarily use the English pronunciation of these Biblical names btw.
"Averu" (Avel) is Abel. (I think this is the Hebrew pronunciation).
"Seto" (Set) is of course Seth. She looks a little different here...
"Karomena" - no idea. Actually, I thought they were addressing her as "Anoko". I should probably check that...
"Hayden" looks like some random Western name, but I suppose it could be from the Bible too. (Apparently it's also the name of a part of a Shinto shrine, but that's probably not relevant...) This stupid PC hangs up for five minutes every time I try to open a Wikipedia page, so I'm going to have to give up on this one for today. Maybe someone else can try looking it up?
"Efunne" is possibly Jephunneh. Who? Well, according to Wikipedia's list of minor biblical figures:

Jephunneh (יְפֻנֶּה) is a biblical name which means "for whom a way is prepared", and was the name of two biblical figures:

1. The father of Caleb the spy, who appears to have belonged to an Edomitish tribe called Kenezites, from Kenaz their founder. See (Numbers 13:6 etc.; Num. 32:12 etc.; Josh 14:14 etc.; 1 Chr 4:15.) (BCE 1530.)
2. A descendant of Asher, eldest of the three sons of Jether. (1 Chronicles 7:38.) (BCE 1017.)

So now you know.

The characters names and Organizations names in this work are taken from the old testament.In the extra's there was a"Blackspot glossary" in which there was Imai's original "genealogie of Adam" integrating canon and apocrypha.

Spaeking of which... I remembered something that came up a while ago, and it's probably a good time to refresh our memories. It was suggested that "Riru" might be intended to be read as "Lil" - short for Lilith, the name of Adam's first wife. Looks like that reference might be correct in light of recent developments.

Originally Posted by Kurohane

I hope this will stop the guessing of how certain Needless 0 chapters fit into the current storyline as Imai Kami-san said himself that Black Spot and 1.5 are considered alternate timelines or side stories.

The only thing that's going to stop the guessing is the publication of part 2... BTW I think you're misinterpreting what Imai said. BLACK SPOT is a "side story" because it doesn't match up with N1.5, but as far as we know the events of N1.5 are part of the main Needless story. Of course, that in itself doesn't tell us much about what's going to happen next...

[Kurohane]

Originally Posted by Kurusu-Shirudo

TBF he references Needless 1.5 at the end of volume 9, when he's talking about the Black Madam. Along with Adam N.'s appearance and Teruyama's plot pretty much heading to his occupation as gatekeeper later on (with his clone dead he can fool Simeon into thinking he's the copy), I guess we can say Imai already added both prologues to the main storyline without making any modifications in its content. In fact, Sword of the Reaper is a very good example of that setting if we judge by chapter 24 (Seth reminding Blade about the old times, or Blade still calling Solva by her former affiliation name), chapter 33 (with Seth and Solva mentioning Kana and her fire/ice machine), and the Bloody Rain arc (Seth talking with Kana, Solva killed her father, etc).

I never saw that author's commentary. N1.5 has been with referenced by character appearences. Someone mentioned this before that Egoic Lotus got a reference from that extra chapter with Uten and Kafka. When they are on the train, the couple from Egoic Lotus was there. The Uten and Kafka chapter got referenced in Saint Rose Academy with Kushinashi mumbling in her sleep because of the dream she's having. Who knows if, when or how Second Sight will get refenced, unless you want to count the time they appeared in Egoic Lotus.

The Sacred Sword of the Reaper has gotten so many references because it can be treated as a prequel to the main story, like that Deadman Wonderland OVA of Senji's police days before he was taken to DW. Also, another example in Bloody Rain is when Kana pictured an image of Blade next to Cruz when Cruz was about to go and fight Hatfield. Blade looks exactly like he did at that time with the long hair.

Originally Posted by Sayo A.

The only thing that's going to stop the guessing is the publication of part 2... BTW I think you're misinterpreting what Imai said. BLACK SPOT is a "side story" because it doesn't match up with N1.5, but as far as we know the events of N1.5 are part of the main Needless story. Of course, that in itself doesn't tell us much about what's going to happen next...

Yeah, I didn't want to go into specifics. That's why I left it generalized in my previous post. I know he stated that Needless 1.5 and Black Spot could be considered alternate timelines to each other or Black Spot is a side story to N1.5 because they do not relate to one another. Whichever case, he said don't think to much about it.

[Ynot]

Oh wow. This is the the first time I managed to find the raw before the ultra jump site has even been updated. I only skimmed through it's contents because I'm dead tired and wanna go to sleep so I won't be able to spread the joy....well except to a few people. It'd be nice if they want to spread it further, but I'm going to sleep now.

Beware, major spoiler below

Spoiler for needless 105:

Arclight is inside the cocoon.

[Xiammes]

where can I acquire a copy of this raw?


Edit: Never mind, found it

Spoiler for holy shit:

This looks to be an amazing chapter, Arclight comes out more badass then ever, Satan appears, it seems Set and Solva lost the battle to Uten and Kafka but come to some kind of agreement/truce, Ishiyama appears with some other new guy that they are trying to keep us from seeing his face. I can't wait for more details.

[DarkSkiper]

Thanks for spoiling us!

Spoiler:

Arclight being in cocoon was kinda predictable, but still good to know.
It's always a good chapter if Saten is in it!
Sad that the Set&Solva vs Uten&Kafka fight ended off panel...
Ishiyama has a new guy by his side? So the possibility of this turning into a 3-way or even 4-way war is still there...

[Xiammes]

Originally Posted by DarkSkiper

Thanks for spoiling us!

Spoiler:

Arclight being in cocoon was kinda predictable, but still good to know.
It's always a good chapter if Saten is in it!
Sad that the Set&Solva vs Uten&Kafka fight ended off panel...
Ishiyama has a new guy by his side? So the possibility of this turning into a 3-way or even 4-way war is still there...

No problem, here is a bit more if you want.

Spoiler for holy shit:

Yeah but Arclight comes out with a shit ton of stigmata's on him. Riru seems to be challenging Cruz, Disk and Eve, or at least separating them from Arclight and Blade. Also Arclight is missing a few stigmata's one in particular is Uchida's, still Blade seems to be screwed.

Saten only appears on panel once, holding a key talking to some guy who busted through a wall.

Yeah it shows Kafka and Uten dragging Set and Solva in to a Simeon building, Seto does something and it highlights Kafka and Utens brains, then a few pages later Kafka and Uten let Set and Solva go and they bust down a door which they attack some scientist that are analyzing the chip.

Ishiyama kicks Set right in the face and a new guy appears next to him, he holds out his hands similar to the way Cruz does with his SoA. They make sure to not reveal his face, meaning he might be someone we have seen before. He is pretty big in stature, much Taller then Ishiyama.

I really want to know what Set and Solva were talking to Uten and Kafka about, it has to be pretty important.

[DarkSkiper]

Originally Posted by Xiammes

No problem, here is a bit more if you want.

Spoiler for holy shit:

Yeah but Arclight comes out with a shit ton of stigmata's on him. Riru seems to be challenging Cruz, Disk and Eve, or at least separating them from Arclight and Blade. Also Arclight is missing a few stigmata's one in particular is Uchida's, still Blade seems to be screwed.

Saten only appears on panel once, holding a key talking to some guy who busted through a wall.

Yeah it shows Kafka and Uten dragging Set and Solva in to a Simeon building, Seto does something and it highlights Kafka and Utens brains, then a few pages later Kafka and Uten let Set and Solva go and they bust down a door which they attack some scientist that are analyzing the chip.

Ishiyama kicks Set right in the face and a new guy appears next to him, he holds out his hands similar to the way Cruz does with his SoA. They make sure to not reveal his face, meaning he might be someone we have seen before. He is pretty big in stature, much Taller then Ishiyama.

I really want to know what Set and Solva were talking to Uten and Kafka about, it has to be pretty important.

Thanks!

Spoiler:

Well it looks like Arclight is still incomplete.
And the way your saying the new guy holds out his hand similar to the way Yamada does it, reminds me of Arca's last words "The Left and Right hand of God".
So it seems theories about Yamada being 1 hand is coming to be true, since it seems that the "other" hand appeared.
Maybe he looks like a older version of Yamada? Would explain why his face is hidden.
And I guess that Uten and Kafka were mind controlled and that Seto and Solva somehow freed them(my bet is magnet world had something to do with this).