First...
Uoooooh! How can you leave the volume with such an ending. How painful it is that you must leave Rinne as a Meat Puppet!
Anyways...
A great volume. The mix of action, horror, drama, with the tiny bits of comedy and heartwarming/breaking scenes were well done. The battle scenes were very interesting too.
The volume was fast-paced and revealed a lot of information and characters. I'm surprised I registered everything in one try... The second to last chapter (Where the battle against Sterilization Disinfection occurred) was very absorbing.
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The author must have had real fun creating the Mushi to Medama world. Lots of new things happen, and there was a lot to take in.
Let's not forget the strange names of the characters... (-_-)
So basically, the Apples are shards of God. The seven main/big pieces of god can become the greatest existence (God) by collecting all of the shards, from the small ones to the big ones.
Also, in this story, the heart is the "energy" of beings, and it is the main focus for the Apples' powers. Removing the heart is death that one cannot come back from. If a heartless body receives an apple, they become a Meat Doll.
The seven big shards of God are:
殺菌消毒 (Sterilization Disinfection) - Mina Saibara = Digestive organ
不快逆流 (Unpleasant Counter-Current)
最弱 (Ultimate Shield) (Literally, "Weakest")
涙歌 (Melodia Noise) (Literally, "Tear Song")
一人部屋 (Single Room)
破局 (Poison) (Literally, "Catastrophe")
神蟲天皇 (God Insect Emperor)
Not only that, Melodia Noise and Ultimate Shield are traitors and Poison disappeared somewhere.
Also, Sterilization Disinfection kept on referring herself as a "Digestive Organ". I'll put that up before I forget...
On a more pointless note, Ultimate Shield is also weak to Sterilization Disinfection's Genocide Justice and Single Room.
Sterilization Disinfection has two spray cans:
消滅霧 (Genocide Justice) (Literally, "Annihilation Mist") - Completely erases what it sprays on. What is lost cannot even be regenerated by an Apple.
固定霧 (Jack Jewel) (Literally, "Fixation Mist") - Like the name, it fixes the things it sprays on, allowing moves like hardening Meat Dolls into impenetrable barriers or rooting her feet on the ceiling
Mixing them together inside her, you get:
終末 (Judgment) (Literally, "End") - Allows her to transform into a fog that has the nature of Genocide Justice
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And that should be all of the information the book gives on the main world. I don't think I left anything important...
To the actual story/thoughts:
Sterilization Disinfection proves the be the mightiest(?) existence around this volume. She kills Rinne, Hino, Kio, and a whole hospital full of people.
I found her pretty creepy. I can't see how a person can't. That, and the fact she's basically
insane and everything.
Then again, if you think about it, she was even when she was human, when she was Saibara Mina. Being some girl who was a bacillophobe, lived in a pure white room, and died just like that, and was lucky enough to receive the Apple of Sterilization Disinfection, revive as her, and become even more twisted.
She also proves to be sneaky, hiding Rinne's stolen apple and using it to stay alive.
Yet, in the end, Ultimate Shield comes up and slices her head of with a sickle.
Which brings us to Ultimate Shield. Just what is this being? Nagumo Ame, some girl introduced in the last chapter, revealed herself to be it. Seems Ultimate Shield has the ability to transform...
Yet at the same time, another new character, Zekiguchi Nashinori, who says he killed Guriko when she was still Yono. He can transform too... Hmm...
Wonder if he really will throw away Ume, now that she is useless.
Sakaki Ganhou makes his first appearance. Probably the strongest normal man in the world? He even found out everything about the Dream World Beast incident! Yet he acts like one of those light idiots.
First impression, I hate him.
Kuroki Tatsue, Guryuu's younger half-sister, also makes her first appearance. Unlike Ganhou, her use in this episode was so tiny, besides for carrying around the creepy teddybear that Ganhou speaks through and picking a fight with Guryuu (and losing). Seems her "ojou-sama" way of speaking is fake?
First impression, she's amusing. Give me more.
Katou Katsumi is fated to be a throw-away character, huh. I really prefer her character designs in the novel over her manga design.
I guess there is no need for a character who's personality somewhat laps over Rinne's? She got killed soon after meeting Rinne, getting slammed into the wall and ground by the Long-Armed Demon.
It was horrifying to read... Poor Katsumi.
Itsuwara Hino and Kio... I started out hating these two, who reminded me of Ganhou, but by the end of the volume, I had completely grown fond of them. Probably because at first, I thought they were faking their cheerfulness, but in the end, it was proven they really were that bright and stupid. Which made their deaths just that much more sad. Of course, they did die a lot earlier and the Hino and Kio in most of the volume were Meat Dolls, but still... Sad.
It was really sad when Guriko finally called them "Mom" and "Dad", only for them to both perish right after.
Nageki Kurukiyo is yet another new character this volume. The "Melancholy Detective". Favorite line is "The world is too full of melancholic things". Despite a scary outer appearance, he seems to be quite a neat person. Though it seems all of this happened after, and because, his lover got killed by the Dream World Beast. Then he started hunting down these monsters (in revenge)...
Later, he picks up Ume, who lost her powers, and brings her back home... where he chains her like a dog, brings her to the baths with him, washes her, sees her whole body, acts like a lolicon pervert, and just plain tortures her.
To be honest, I like him. Very funny guy. His whole interactions with Ume were truly delightful. Part reason is because Ume is getting some divine judgement for killing all of those people.
I was a bit surprised at the beginning, where he gets knocked out right away when he meets the Long-Armed Demon. "Weak", was my immediate thought. Then again, he is human.
And that brings me to the last new character, Aizawa Ume. AKA, the Long-Armed Demon.
Let me get this straight, I do pity poor Aizawa Ume, who lost her family and two arms from a damn burglar, but I have no sympathy for the Long-Armed Demon. Killing Katsumi and others like she did, her life probably should be ended for that.
Of course, Kurukiyo doesn't do so, and chains her up in his room. I'll settle with this for now. It is funny.
Her psychokinesis was powerful, but she failed and paid dearly against Sterilization Disinfection. The end of the Long-Armed Demon.
Last, and so far, most pointless character has to be Breaksun, Rinne's neighbor. She has a strange name, but that was the most interesting thing about her. Though this name is clearly suspicious...
What, 11 new characters in one volume?!
As for the main (old) characters, Guriko took the stage.
After Guriko lost it and went battle-frenzy over the Long-Armed Demon, she mopes the whole episode over the "two paths" Nashinori gave her as a choice. But that is still plenty of development. She smiles more this episode thanks to the Itsuwara couple, loses an arm, and decides to leave and travel to search for a way to return Rinne back to normal.
Sakaki gets a little moment with his family, but that was his main development. Other than that, there was the part he admits he loves Guriko just like Rinne does, but we basically knew that at the end of volume 1. As always, he is fearsome when it comes to Rinne. Like when he rampaged over town to get to the hospital when he heard she died.
Least development for Rinne, it seems. She gets depressed from Katsumi's death, realizes she is weak and always protected, and soon gets killed. Now, as of volume 2's end, she's just a Meat Doll.
Feel sorry for Guryuu too...