Medaka Box [Manga]

[Nemesis@]

Originally Posted by zigantz22

Spoiler for Chapter 192 full spoilers:

>Riroland: Thanks~!
>Nisio: I'm deeply moved we finally came to the final episode in good shape.
>Medaka's in the chairman room. She looks at Zen with a quiet expression.
>Medaka "Ah... Zenkichi?" She looks really calm.
>(Two pages opposite, one with the title, the other with the various Medakas performing a dance).
>Zen "How can I say... after 10 years... you're beautiful (Though you're changed. After having passed your twenties, you lost your signature abilities, and your boisterous personality too. That's not surprising since Emukae, Aka... we all lost our abilities since we became adults. Well, Naze and Hansode are exceptions I guess. i was scared since I didn't lose them until I hit 22. In the end, the abilities we had as kinds were really childish things...)
>Zen "uh, anyways, why are you sleeping? Take your work seriously!"
>Medaka "I already finished my work... lately I've been pulling all-nighters... I fell asleep"
>Since she lost her skills, she is not feared by animals anymore. Medaka "Zenkichi, did you get an upgraded ID? Good work on that, it's been 10 years since we used to work together." She takes out some kind of book.
>Medaka "This is the job I got just now, Moonassault Plan (Written as Moon Restructuring Plan). It's the plan to get the Moon back in its former shape. Zenkichi, I hope you're in on this. Since I have destroyed it... and I want all the kids to know what a Moon is after all, they've not seen it for quite some time. It's a great plan, a serious affair. Once we finish it, we'll have something to tell Anshin'in and Kumagawa."
>Zen "I get your enthusiasm but Kumagawa..." To everyone, it just seems Kumagawa just died off somewhere.
>Medaka "Anshin'in is alive. And there's no way kumagawa would die."
>Zen "That's..." Medaka shows Zen Ajimu's message. Zen "Hey, were did you find this?"
>Medaka "In the box". She takes out the dusty suggestion box.

>Zen "Don't just make the Student Council's property your own!" He snatches it away.
>Medaka "Isn't it fine... it's meant for important things after all..." They both look at it.
>Zen "This is where it all started" Medaka "It is".
>Medaka "There was a message for you too, from Anshin'in. I take this as a "promise". And that person is not one who makes a promise in vain. That's why, Kumagawa surely is alive too". Medaka shows to Zen Kumagawa's message.
>Zen "That's right... After all it's strange for me to be worrying about him... we weren't on good terms since junior middle school.
>Medaka "If he didn't contact us, it's a good sign"
>Zenk "Anyways, how long will it takes this Moon plan? 5 years? 10 years? There's something I need to take care of before that" He takes his fighting stance. "We never had such a straight forward duel, had we? Come at me. If I win, marry me."
>Medaka's expression changes completely, from a peaceful one, to this http://blog-imgs-53.fc2.com/4/4/3/44...018455163d.png
>Medaka "Very well, but if I win, YOU shall marry me. It's a promise."
>Zen "Very well, I was prepared for such conditions. (Wait a minute, isn't this the same?)"
>Zen "Our battle starts now. Or maybe not, but whatever, we'll forever stay together". (On one page)
>Medaka "Good, come! We'll never say goodbye to each other again!" (On the opposite page)

>Staff room.
>In the background, Bami is looking at a piece of paper he got from Akune, while his wife is holding Mogana's baby.
>Story: Nisio Isin
>Comic: Akatsuki Akira
>Special thanks to everybody's reading this.
>In the end, a color page with the 99th Student Council picture and Anshin'in (Black hair) photo, under that the Suggestion Box with the two messages.
>-Let's play again- Ajimu Najimi
>-I had fun these past 4 years, bye bye!- Kumagawa Misogi
>FIN
>Please look forward to the next work by Nisio and Riro (I honestly don't know if this means they will do something together, or if it just means to keep an eye on them... separately. Sorry)

The development of Medaka and Zenkichi's relationship in this chapter was very satisfying; everything else... not so much.

Spoiler:

The absence of Kumagawa and Ajimu, in particular, was pretty damn disappointing.

Some raw out?

[Randrak42]

Everyone talks about Nishio....but I will say this: I will miss Akatsuki's art, always found it to be orgasmicaly good xD

[Nemesis@]

It seems that the last part of Good loser Kumagawa will appear in Jump Next.

[Sol Falling]

Originally Posted by zigantz22

Spoiler for Chapter 192 full spoilers:

>Riroland: Thanks~!
>Nisio: I'm deeply moved we finally came to the final episode in good shape.
>Medaka's in the chairman room. She looks at Zen with a quiet expression.
>Medaka "Ah... Zenkichi?" She looks really calm.
>(Two pages opposite, one with the title, the other with the various Medakas performing a dance).
>Zen "How can I say... after 10 years... you're beautiful (Though you're changed. After having passed your twenties, you lost your signature abilities, and your boisterous personality too. That's not surprising since Emukae, Aka... we all lost our abilities since we became adults. Well, Naze and Hansode are exceptions I guess. i was scared since I didn't lose them until I hit 22. In the end, the abilities we had as kinds were really childish things...)
>Zen "uh, anyways, why are you sleeping? Take your work seriously!"
>Medaka "I already finished my work... lately I've been pulling all-nighters... I fell asleep"
>Since she lost her skills, she is not feared by animals anymore. Medaka "Zenkichi, did you get an upgraded ID? Good work on that, it's been 10 years since we used to work together." She takes out some kind of book.
>Medaka "This is the job I got just now, Moonassault Plan (Written as Moon Restructuring Plan). It's the plan to get the Moon back in its former shape. Zenkichi, I hope you're in on this. Since I have destroyed it... and I want all the kids to know what a Moon is after all, they've not seen it for quite some time. It's a great plan, a serious affair. Once we finish it, we'll have something to tell Anshin'in and Kumagawa."
>Zen "I get your enthusiasm but Kumagawa..." To everyone, it just seems Kumagawa just died off somewhere.
>Medaka "Anshin'in is alive. And there's no way kumagawa would die."
>Zen "That's..." Medaka shows Zen Ajimu's message. Zen "Hey, were did you find this?"
>Medaka "In the box". She takes out the dusty suggestion box.

>Zen "Don't just make the Student Council's property your own!" He snatches it away.
>Medaka "Isn't it fine... it's meant for important things after all..." They both look at it.
>Zen "This is where it all started" Medaka "It is".
>Medaka "There was a message for you too, from Anshin'in. I take this as a "promise". And that person is not one who makes a promise in vain. That's why, Kumagawa surely is alive too". Medaka shows to Zen Kumagawa's message.
>Zen "That's right... After all it's strange for me to be worrying about him... we weren't on good terms since junior middle school.
>Medaka "If he didn't contact us, it's a good sign"
>Zenk "Anyways, how long will it takes this Moon plan? 5 years? 10 years? There's something I need to take care of before that" He takes his fighting stance. "We never had such a straight forward duel, had we? Come at me. If I win, marry me."
>Medaka's expression changes completely, from a peaceful one, to this http://blog-imgs-53.fc2.com/4/4/3/44...018455163d.png
>Medaka "Very well, but if I win, YOU shall marry me. It's a promise."
>Zen "Very well, I was prepared for such conditions. (Wait a minute, isn't this the same?)"
>Zen "Our battle starts now. Or maybe not, but whatever, we'll forever stay together". (On one page)
>Medaka "Good, come! We'll never say goodbye to each other again!" (On the opposite page)

>Staff room.
>In the background, Bami is looking at a piece of paper he got from Akune, while his wife is holding Mogana's baby.
>Story: Nisio Isin
>Comic: Akatsuki Akira
>Special thanks to everybody's reading this.
>In the end, a color page with the 99th Student Council picture and Anshin'in (Black hair) photo, under that the Suggestion Box with the two messages.
>-Let's play again- Ajimu Najimi
>-I had fun these past 4 years, bye bye!- Kumagawa Misogi
>FIN
>Please look forward to the next work by Nisio and Riro (I honestly don't know if this means they will do something together, or if it just means to keep an eye on them... separately. Sorry)

The development of Medaka and Zenkichi's relationship in this chapter was very satisfying; everything else... not so much.

Spoiler:

The absence of Kumagawa and Ajimu, in particular, was pretty damn disappointing.

Spoiler:

So Ajimu and Kumagawa's final messages were meant for the readers in the end. Pretty powerful, I guess Nishio is pretty effective at giving me conflicting emotions. In any case, it looks like Medaka and Zenkichi have been put to bed as characters, but by pulling Kumagawa out and especially by Anshin'in's metafictional nature it seems like Nishio might have the intention to place them in further stories. Kumagawa perhaps only in a few more GLK oneshots or novels, but Ajimu definitely has the flexibility to show up as a subtle reference, etc. in much more.

However, I feel like by letting Medaka Box end here and ending Medaka and Zenkichi's stories, Nishio has pretty much admitted that this series was an abortive clusterfuck with a bad premise which never really took off with readers, which he has no intention of continuing. Although there were definitely meaningful and interesting themes in the background, Nishio didn't manage to bring them forward to engage the audience, with the result that the series has ended prematurely without having managed to develop anything particularly meaningful ("in good shape", lol. That's PR talk if I ever saw it.). In the end, out of the whole body of Nishio's work, it looks like probably no one will bother to remember Medaka Box or find it notable in the end.

That is pretty damned disappointing considering that Medaka Box was pretty much the first manga which made me aware of or interested in Jump as a magazine, and consistently remained the currently running Jump series which I was most interested in for the entirety of its run. I definitely expected Medaka Box to amount to more. In the end I can only say Nishio could seriously have done better.

In any case, the end of this series will also mark the end of one of the few major Nishio translation efforts in the west, particularly the only one with consistently regular releases. I will be enjoying the return of the Monogatari anime this summer, but hope the efforts on more of his written output can pick up soon.

[bastek66]

Last/color page of manga

Spoiler:

[Kurosu]

Originally Posted by Iby

I also wanted to ask about that "last chapter of GLK" stuff... doesn't GLK consist only of one-shot and 2 novels?

Yes. But there's going to be one more chapter of GLK, so we can assume it's the epilogue of his story.

[Nemesis@]

Originally Posted by bastek66

Last/color page of manga

Spoiler:

Just missed the Naze there. wonderful color

[Tyabann]

Originally Posted by Endscape

Actually, losing Skills as they grow up makes perfect sense. Skills are born from personalities, so the stronger and more unrealistic the Skill is, the more self obsessed the person is, whether they're Plus or Minus. But that sort of thing is child-like, and you can't keep that up as you get older and enter into the world of adults.

Because adults can't be bratty and self-obsessed, right? Because a lot of adults aren't just pretending to be mature, acting in accordance with their internalized concept of adulthood, right?
Maybe the chapter offers an explanation that's not complete shit, but this sort of plot device is commonly used to devalue the usefulness and competency of characters over 20 years old, making teenagers seem far more powerful and important than they actually are in real life. It's a power fantasy thing.
There's nothing necessarily wrong with that, but as someone who is no longer a teenager, I feel rather insulted every time an anime tells me that I'm worthless due to being ever-so-old.

[Ushio the Omega]

Originally Posted by Kurosu

Yup, so there's going to be one more final chapter chronicling Kumagawa, presumably timeskip Kumagawa. Guy gets a whole chapter to himself, gotta say, Jump has been rather kind to this series.
For a series with the sales it had and failure of an anime, not only does it have a proper end (in a sense), it also goes out with a color page and a fan book. Probably the best we could ask for tbh.

Why is it a failure? every volume since the third has sold over 100,000 copies that's better than what most manga in shonen jump can get.
You only have to look at how many real failures there are like Cross・Manage, Hungry Joker, Shinmai Fukei Kiruko-san and Koisuru Edison that's 4 out of only 21 current jump manga for instance without counting all the manga that have come and gone since Medaka started.

[Wolfenstein]

Originally Posted by Ushio the Omega

Why is it a failure? every volume since the third has sold over 100,000 copies that's better than what most manga in shonen jump can get.

Probably because the amount of advertisement + an anime, which still resulted in shit sales(relatively). It just wasn't paying back.

[Kurosu]

Originally Posted by Ushio the Omega

Why is it a failure? every volume since the third has sold over 100,000 copies that's better than what most manga in shonen jump can get.
You only have to look at how many real failures there are like Cross・Manage, Hungry Joker, Shinmai Fukei Kiruko-san and Koisuru Edison that's 4 out of only 21 current jump manga for instance without counting all the manga that have come and gone since Medaka started.

I said the anime was a failure. I spoke about the manga sales in the sense that it kinda just stayed at average. Which, considering that it got anime and light novels, is not a good look.
It kinda just speaks to how poorly the anime did. However, with all they put into this, I can only imagine Medaka Box performed below expectations, which is why I'm rather happy
that Jump supported it as they did up until the end and then some.

[Darknemo2000]

Originally Posted by Ushio the Omega

Why is it a failure? every volume since the third has sold over 100,000 copies that's better than what most manga in shonen jump can get.
You only have to look at how many real failures there are like Cross・Manage, Hungry Joker, Shinmai Fukei Kiruko-san and Koisuru Edison that's 4 out of only 21 current jump manga for instance without counting all the manga that have come and gone since Medaka started.

Well Magazine itself did support this manga and was much more patient with it than with some other manga's in its place so you have to take that into account too just as big advertisement stuffed into this project.

Manga sales are alright but not something spectacular too and considering it did get anime the sales should have been higher too.

All and all I am happy it ended - giving some space for new manga's and hopefully Nisio will go back focusing on novels more because lately I felt that even his novel works were kind of getting worse too, specially when compared to his first ones.

[silver001]

I guess Zen being normal was actually a good thing in the end for him.

[Nemesis@]

Volume 21 will be on sale 4th June and Volume 22 on September.

Next WCF J-Stars figure sets for October, November and Dicember, Medaka figure here

Spoiler:

[mark1246]

is it ever explain who the father of the baby is?

[Lupus753]

Spoiler for rambling:

...Well... that was odd. I agree with what Kaisos said. It seems growing up does suck, as being a child/teen gives you superpowers. Apparently, being superpowerful is "childish". But what happens when a person's personality stays basically unaltered throughout life, as is often the case in real life? Why doesn't every kid with a strong personality have an abnormality? Do people's personalities start at the age of two (this question might apply to real life)? It always seemed that some characters' personalities and outlooks were caused by their skills, not vice-versa. What caused Medaka's personality to change, since nothing seemed to work before? Increased responsibilities at the head of a company, perhaps? How'd she destroy the moon? How'd she rebuild it if no adults have skills? What...

...Actually, I'll calm down. Many things (ESPECIALLY the nature of skills) never made any sense to me before. I shouldn't expect sense even at the end. Still, if I write a Medaka Box fanfic, I will most ignore everything after ch. 140. Ignoring large parts of canon are very common among fandoms.

[kazzuya13]

Just ignore skills already you can just say that the skills is pretty a powered-up version of a 8th grade syndrome.

[Wolfenstein]

I guess teenagers are just that hardcore.

[Kurosu]

Originally Posted by kazzuya13

Just ignore skills already you can just say that the skills is pretty a powered-up version of a 8th grade syndrome.

I'm now under the impression that Hakoniwa Academy was an institution for severe cases of 8th grade syndrome.

[Thth]

Well, atleast its some sort of conclusion rather than an open end which I was expecting.