Needless

[Kefit]

Hoo boy, what an uneven chapter.

Spoiler:

I'm discontented to see the shoujo butai fight abandoned, but I am heartened to see Mio still around. I'll call this confirmation that Mio has officially joined Cruz and Blade's crew in terms of narrative construction, which is a great move. I'm sure we'll see whatever happened to Setsuna later - it definitely wasn't just a plot device to get Setsuna off screen. If that's all Kami wanted to do then it wouldn't have been outrageous for stigmata Teruyama to take Setsuna out of the fray quickly in the previous chapter.

The plot dump was a typical Kami plot dump. Thankfully there were still some great pages in this chapter that really show off Kami's immense skill and dedication to his work - particularly the double page spreads. But Kami isn't as good as plot dumping as he is at presenting wonderful fights and characters and antics. At least this plot dump was vital and interesting, finally explaining the details behind the setting and the powers within it.

Unfortunately Arclight's ultimate form looks dumb. I do hope he has multiple forms.

On a wildly speculative note, I find it interesting that Mio refers to two unspecified figures as "Mama" and "Papa" on page 4. This might seem like an innocent instance of Mio being Mio while referring to Arclight and Riru, except there's another mother in that room - the mother of all needless, as explained by Arclight! Mio also correctly refers to the figure that saved Cruz after the PF Zero Blast as an angel. And come to think of it, she was able to deduce that Uten's spear was made of Eden Seed and understood that it could revive Teruyama. Kami loves revealing plot points that rely on looonnnggg running innocuous details like this, so I'm starting to think that Mio knows a lot more than she's letting on.

[Homura7]

Originally Posted by Kurohane

Most likely, because its literally a flesh suit. You could call it his armor. His body is still in the same state as it was before. His left eye and heart are still gone, and his body won't last much longer. Even asimilating the Second Christs remains couldn't cure his degenerating body, only gave it more time.

Also, thanks for the identification.

Well of course it's a flesh suit. His face is expressionless now, his Stigmata disappeared, as well as his damaged right eye and heart.

Like you said Arclight body won't last much longer, though if we go by what he said in chapter 50, he doesn't need Blade's body anymore. A tiny part of it, a limb for example, is plenty enough.

Spoiler for spoiler:

Arclight probably decided to make that move because he wants to finish this fast and go back inside the cocoon to hybernate.

Setsuna, and Seth & Solva situations will be eventually adressed, but not now.

Mio knowing a lot about this shouldn't take us by surprise. Afterall she was the only one along with Cruz who could see the glowing hand.

[Avvesione]

After reading the chapter a few times over again, I have a better grasp on the material and am able to articulate my thoughts better. I still find the chapter to be a bit disappointing but I realize it's more frustrating than anything. Here's why:

Spoiler:

1. Setsuna/Kuchinashi fight ended off-screen. The main problem I have with this is that it just doesn't feel right. One is that it feels like the fight was both shortened and rushed. Needless has always put a wealth of time and detail into its fights, one of the reasons why they're so entertaining and enjoyable. This fight, however, didn't even last an entire chapter, only taking up about a third of chapter 106 (unless you count the 7 month break in-between). And the fight began randomly without showing any of the consequences from Teruyama's attacks on Kuchinashi or Setsuna from 99 here, almost like they didn't do any damage or anything. Every other fight in this arc lasted much longer, even Disk's brawl with the Police Chief and Blade vs. Demon Teruyama (might be interesting to go back and reread after the information from this chapter). And instead of having a resolution where one side wins, it was just mentioned as a "oh, by the way" moment in this chapter. That just doesn't feel right for Needless. Hell, Kuchinashi and Mio were in the middle of an attack that we're not seeing the conclusion, too (guessing Kuchinashi has two broken fingers now). And given that we waited 7 months for the fight to continue only for it to be immediately over, it just doesn't sit right.

I realize with the timing of the manga that it wouldn't make sense for the fight to just continue without any plot or character development or to devote a whole chapter to just "fighting", but that doesn't mean the fight could've started a few chapters back with the chance to do something more with these characters. There was the opportunity to really develop the bond Mio has with Cruz and Co or to put more emphasis on Setsuna's illness or even do something for probably the most neglected character of the manga, Kuchinashi. I know we'll get some development on the issue later, which I certainly will be happy with, but I'm not happy with how it was handled.

Furthermore, on this point, it feels a bit inconsistent for the characters. For one, Setsuna is arrogant, prideful, and egotistical; she would never run from a fight and never has before. Even though she pretty much lost to Eve (Iron Mountain), Blade (Third Shelter) and Rin (St. Rose), she never gave up or surrendered (all the fights ended due to other circumstances). So for her to just up and "disappear", it feels contradictory to her established character. I guess maybe she knows something about what's going on for her to run away with Kuchinashi, but still, it isn't something that we'd expect Setsuna to do, especially when she felt she had the upper-hand against Teruyama.

Also, that bit by Teruyama is something that I find interesting... he said they "disappeared". Didn't say "run away" but "disappeared". Now the first thing that comes to mind with that is Uten's fragment which can turn things invisible. However, that doesn't seem to be the case, at least right now. Instead, you might think it's Setsuna's fragment, Speed, but that doesn't seem consistent with the whole "disappear" line. If it were her normal Speed fragment, Teruyama would probably have said "run away" since you can still track her with your eyes. But "disappeared" is something else entirely. It reminds me of what Eve said in Ch100 when Arclight left the room, saying that "he disappeared". At first, I thought it was Arclight using Bremuda Asport, but there's a sound effect there showing him disappearing. However, this could also be Psychokinesis, which also had a sound effect when Riru was doing her Teleportation. So really, it doesn't mean a whole lot for the situation, but it's an interesting word choice to say that Setsuna and Kuchinashi "disappeared".

So yeah, to summarize before moving on, I know that we'll get some resolution here eventually, something big, but it doesn't doesn't make up for how it was handled in the manga. It is frustrating to be waiting so long for this fight to return and for it to be over in a matter of 10 pages with only a "oh yeah, they left, that's it" resolution.

2. Arclight getting another power-up. Like, I don't get what the deal is with Arclight's character. What was with needing all 12 Stigmata for him to attain Godhood? I'm guessing he didn't need all 12 to absorb the angel because, well, he's doing it with only 9 Stigmata. And what about the datachip having the blueprints of God on them and waiting for them to be analyzed? Well, that doesn't seem to be an issue at all anymore with him absorbing the body and obtaining that flesh armor. And I'm not even sure about the whole Arclight wanting Blade's body thing that was the driving force of the story at the beginning of the manga. Does he really need it? Does he know most of Blade's body is reinforced with metal, machines, and the organs of clones? And if that's the case, how do they have the exact same body plan if Blade's has been reconstructed and without Doppelganger? Besides not having a heart and right eye, it's almost as if Arclight's body is superior to Blade's because Blade's body seems more mechanical than Arclight's (and he can probably use Doppelganger to a great extent in his own than he could in Blade's). And what was up with Arclight hibernating in that cocoon without absorbing the angel? Sure, he has every Stigmata on auto-run right now, but couldn't he just have absorbed the angel right away rather than waiting until now? Wasn't he waiting for the 12 Stigmata before doing that and becoming a God? Doesn't appear that seems to be a plot point right now with him in this new form. And the datachip? Guess it's not needed right now, either. There's got to be another form after this for Arclight to obtain based on the whole Stigmata and datachip stuff because it seems like they really have no meaning right now if this is it for Arclight (which I don't expect it is but still).

Yeah, since he was able to absorb that angel without all 12 Stigmata and without the datachip, it feels inconsistent with what we've been hearing from these characters and it raises the question of why Arclight didn't absorb the angel immediately if these weren't barriers to doing that. It is kinda frustrating to see those points kinda ignored during this whole transformation process, especially since they were build built up for most of the manga and especially now.

---

But beside those two rather significant points (for me, at least), I found 107 to be quite rewarding in finally explaining the origin of the Needless powers. I am glad that the source of these powers is being discussed and it can be used to answer a number of questions, but it also raises a number of questions, too, like just who these two angels were and their dimension and anything else and how/why they're doing what they did. I'm also a little curious as to the timing of this information and what will come next in terms of building off this knowledge base, especially with the few mentions of angel since Mio recently said it again in 99.

Oh, and on Mio, I'm happy to see her fight against Arclight without as much as a hesitation or second-thought. It shows how dedicated she is to helping Cruz and Co., especially after she was called back by Setsuna in 92 and with her and Kuchinashi hunting Cruz in the Simeon HQ back in 97. Having Mio fight with everyone else now is definitely a good thing for this manga. However, seeing as it's 6 against Arclight (and Riru is still around), I'm not sure how much of an impact she'll make on the fight, but at least she's with the main cast now.

And that's about it for now, at least all the big stuff. I might try to toss out some theories again later, but just thought I'd voice my opinion on why I feel frustrated about this chapter and why I have a negative opinion on it overall.

---

Originally Posted by Kefit

Spoiler:

On a wildly speculative note, I find it interesting that Mio refers to two unspecified figures as "Mama" and "Papa" on page 4. This might seem like an innocent instance of Mio being Mio while referring to Arclight and Riru, except there's another mother in that room - the mother of all needless, as explained by Arclight! Mio also correctly refers to the figure that saved Cruz after the PF Zero Blast as an angel. And come to think of it, she was able to deduce that Uten's spear was made of Eden Seed and understood that it could revive Teruyama. Kami loves revealing plot points that rely on looonnnggg running innocuous details like this, so I'm starting to think that Mio knows a lot more than she's letting on.

Translation:

Spoiler:

Mio is God.

[Homura7]

Let's go by parts.

Spoiler for spoiler:

-Even before he already had something to restore his body, and that something is the Needless Hunt.

http://img.batoto.net/comics/2011/10...c1dc78/043.png

The true purpose of the Needless Hunt is to find the holders of the sacred mark, the Stigmata.

http://img.batoto.net/comics/2012/01.../img000011.png

So as you can see Arclight had a way to heal his body from the very beggining and even before he knew about Blade. And this...

http://img.batoto.net/comics/2011/10...SS_v08_018.png

Confirms Blade's body was never his main priority but a plan B in case he didn't make it.

These few pages I posted should be enough to help you understand why Arclight did this.

Now...

As arrogant and prideful Setsuna may be, if she's in no condition to fight and she didn't want to run away, then it had to be Kuchinashi who forced her to leave.

I find what Teruyama said very interesting. They "disappeared"? And did Teruyama say "they"? So Kuchinashi also started coughing up blood?

It's probably because I'm not that attached to my favorite characters, but I've found this chapter no different than the last 10. When there's so much fronts in the open, I'm always ready for a the focus to jump into any of these plots at any moment. But anyway, opinions are opinions, and sometimes it's even good to have some negative ones, coz no series I read hasn't had at least one.

Now Needless has come such a long way, I think it would be good to reread everything from the beggining, so we can recall things we have forgotten about.

[Ynot]

Spoiler for 107:

I think Arclights present form(with five eyes and two extra "lady-limbs") is more than an exterior flesh armor. I think it's a one way ticket from which he can't/won't return and the reason why he didn't want to absorb the hibernating angel earlier.

Arclight said he "was unable to acquire power equal to theirs due to his human form" when absorbing the 2nd Christ's remains. Now he has discarded his human form and if he'd return to it I think he'd lose the acquired power as well. So why would he absorb the hibernating angel now? Why didn't he do that earlier? Well perhaps he still had to do things which required a human body(like impersonating the president) and he has the "blueprint of god" now, so whatever'll happen he has the recipe to make himself a backup body if anything undesirable happens. I doubt his transformation means he'll stop looking for the remaining stigmata. I'm sure he'll still try to get those too. In fact, the remaining stigmata are probably the only hope Blade&co have left to defeat Arclight.

[Homura7]

Originally Posted by Ynot

Spoiler for 107:

I think Arclights present form(with five eyes and two extra "lady-limbs") is more than an exterior flesh armor. I think it's a one way ticket from which he can't/won't return and the reason why he didn't want to absorb the hibernating angel earlier.

Arclight said he "was unable to acquire power equal to theirs due to his human form" when absorbing the 2nd Christ's remains. Now he has discarded his human form and if he'd return to it I think he'd lose the acquired power as well. So why would he absorb the hibernating angel now? Why didn't he do that earlier? Well perhaps he still had to do things which required a human body(like impersonating the president) and he has the "blueprint of god" now, so whatever'll happen he has the recipe to make himself a backup body if anything undesirable happens. I doubt his transformation means he'll stop looking for the remaining stigmata. I'm sure he'll still try to get those too. In fact, the remaining stigmata are probably the only hope Blade&co have left to defeat Arclight.

Fair enough.

Spoiler for spoiler:

You're right. Taking a better look I noticed Arclight already had his wings connected to that head.

I wouldn't bother trying to figure out his reasons for doing this since those will be explained next month.

There's no need to say Arclight is invincible now. Having acquired 9 of the 12 Stigmata he's gained power beyond anything we have seen so far.

And as I said in my previous post, he has no need for Blade's body anymore, because his masterplan that started in the very first chapter of the story has finally come to fruit. It's still incomplete though. And frankly, he taking over Blade's body would have been predictable, so I'm glad it didn't turn out this way.

Arclight has gotten rid of his humanity and his physic has taken the shape of what resembles the angels he was talking about.

Blade was nothing but a replacement for his plan A, he never was indispensable.

It's over. At this point their only hope is whatever Saten is scheming.

[Kurohane]

Originally Posted by Avvesione

Translation:

Spoiler:

Mio is God.

Joking aside, Mio's current actions prove this isn't all there is to her. There are times when she has shown insightfulness contrary to her character. In chapter 51, she was the one who suggested that Cruz and her travel together despite being on seperate sides, plus she kept her encounter with the angel to herself only mentioning his. In the underground city hospital, Saten addressed Mio with a strange comment, "If you keep cheating on me like this, I'm gonna cry". Next, in her fight with Ishiyama, she gets defeated with little to no effort by Ishiyama.

That event brings up another point. Her willingness to fight against Simeon after the PF Zero Blast. Even though she has shown afffecton towards Blade, calling him Onii-chan, that didn't stop her from following orders and fighting him. However, Bloody Rain to present she has fought multiple Simeon personal without a second thought: the clone army, Hatfield, Ishiyama, and her own teammates that she worked with for a long time and developed a sistership. Granted, she didn't want them to die while fighting them. She even said to Setsuna that she would perfer not fighting her if it could be avoided, but she will if she continues to pursue Cruz. Notice the difference between Cruz and Blade, she had no problem if Blade died, afterwards she just wanted his head. However, with Cruz, it's different, becuase she doesn't want him captured or killed.

Another point is her wanting Blade's head. Why would she want that? Doesn't seem right for her character, especially with her "bunny" she is always carrying around. One thing to note that Blade posseses the Byakugou, which she would have attained if her and the girl's squad mission succeeded. Where was she taking Teruyuma's body before she encountered Uten's spear? She somehow knows about Eden's Seed, so she quickly utilized it to revive Teruyama, but what was she going to do with him before? She knew he wouldn't be of much help in his current state. How was she going to heal him before that other alternative literally flew out of the sky?

I believe she knows more than she is letting on. It wouldn't be the first time that someone played the fool.

[Homura7]

You could say Mio is already one more member in the Resistance.

[Skieth]

Originally Posted by Ynot

Spoiler for 107:

I think Arclights present form(with five eyes and two extra "lady-limbs") is more than an exterior flesh armor. I think it's a one way ticket from which he can't/won't return and the reason why he didn't want to absorb the hibernating angel earlier.

Arclight said he "was unable to acquire power equal to theirs due to his human form" when absorbing the 2nd Christ's remains. Now he has discarded his human form and if he'd return to it I think he'd lose the acquired power as well. So why would he absorb the hibernating angel now? Why didn't he do that earlier? Well perhaps he still had to do things which required a human body(like impersonating the president) and he has the "blueprint of god" now, so whatever'll happen he has the recipe to make himself a backup body if anything undesirable happens. I doubt his transformation means he'll stop looking for the remaining stigmata. I'm sure he'll still try to get those too. In fact, the remaining stigmata are probably the only hope Blade&co have left to defeat Arclight.

Spoiler for Spoiler:

While things do look bad with Arclight's transformation, I can't help but wonder if this transformation is what will lead to his downfall. Attempting to find all of the Stigmata's must somehow be tied into him being able to absorb and control the angel's power. Missing three might somehow cause the angel some control over Arclight or his power. Also, I can't help but feel that Arclight incomplete body may finally play a factor in the story. I question whether that artificial heart of his will be able to keep up with him in this transformed state. Will be interesting to see how he finally goes down.

[Homura7]

Spoiler for spoiler:

In order to heal his badly damaged body, Arclight began his complex plan which consisted in the extermination of needlesses and harvest a body part of their corpses. The complexity of that plan even had into account a method to revive his dead subordinates through clonation (the sample of DNA Saten was holding that time).

And then the news about Blade came to him, and Arclight decided he would take over his body to replace his. But with the Needless Hunt almost complete, it doesn't seem he needs Blade's body anymore. In fact before the PF blast he said he didn't care if it was destroyed as long as a tiny fraction of it remained.

And probably aware of Blade's arrival to his secret chamber and knowing he wouldn't cease chasing him, Arclight decided to finally fuse with that head stored inside the cocoon, though the main reason he did that is most likely because he had the two parts of the datachip. Then when the cocoon was ripped open he took advantage of the whole situation and played with them while his body kept absorbing the head without anyone realizing.

And when someone finally noticed, it was already too late.

Going by Needless 1.5, the Needless Hunt is still ongoing even 2 years later, though this time it's Adam C. who is harvesting the limbs and parts of the needless corpses.

This means something happened to Arclight (I very much doubt he's dead at that time). Perhaps he's in a state of hibernation.

[Avvesione]

Picked up my copy of Ultra Jump today. Looked it over and there's nothing special besides some ads for Needless 15 as well as Link Warrior (came out Spring of last year). The ad for 15 was the same one I posted last month with Cruz looking all heroic (same picture as Volume 15 cover).

Also, sounds like my copy of Volume 15 should arrive Friday, so I'll pick it up sometime this weekend and post any new pics like Disk's library or anything like that.

[Homura7]

Guess I missed the main point.

Spoiler for spoiler:

If we recall right, up till he retrieved the datachip hidden inside Cruz's brain, Arclight wasn't doing anything but wander aimessly around the HQ.

After getting his hands on the blue print as he called it, he headed towards that room and entered the cocoon.

So in conclusion, it was the retrieval of the data chip what prompted his decision.

And since Arclight has, in his own words, become a God, this must only mean that the chip has been decoded already and that Seth & Solva were too late.

We are due to hear a long explanation from Arclight next chapter.

[Ynot]

Originally Posted by Avvesione

Also, sounds like my copy of Volume 15 should arrive Friday, so I'll pick it up sometime this weekend and post any new pics like Disk's library or anything like that.

Lol, my copy will probably take at least two more weeks. I wonder which characters will be featured on the sideflaps of the cover this time. My guess is Testamenko and Teruyama. Pretty much everyone else has had their turn already.

[Homura7]

So, how many times we have been tricked by Imai? I've lost the count already.

Spoiler for spoiler:

I always thought Arclight made the cocoon, only to find it was one of the angels. Explains why Disk made this comment:

http://c.mhcdn.net/store/manga/6322/...?v=11341282363

I recall the cocoon was at the Simeon building in the Black Spot at the beggining, the place were the angel went to hibernation. Then it was moved to the City.

I've read the chapter about 7 times already, yet my emotions over these huger revelations haven't diminished a bit. Shows what can Needless convey with its marvelous history.

Spoiler for spoiler:

The succession of the developments is just magnificient. Both the origin of the Second Christ and the poison that evolves the humans into needlesses have finally been unveiled.

Perhaps I'm exagerating, but few manga can convey me such strong and instense feelings.

Spoiler for spoiler:

I'm expecting quite a long speech from Arclight next chapter, where he explains why he decided to eat up the head now and not earlier. The only reason that comes to mind is:

-The Datachip. It should be noted that after he retrieved the last part, Arclight immediatly headed towards the giant chamber where they are now. Before that he was wandering in the building aimlessly.

So my conclusion is, the datachip has already been decoded, if we going by Arclight's words naming his Stigmata pattern the Blue Print of God.

I don't know if you noticed that Arca's Stigmata was at first located on Arclight's right hand. Now it's located on his right arm.

An I'm leaving this here too.

Spoiler for spoiler:

One of the angels merged with a human, and that human became who would be known as the Second Christ.

Mio said an Angel is protecting Cruz. Coincidence? I don't think so. Though it's kinda different because as of now that angel doesn't exist in physical form but spirit-like.

Thank you for your attention

Well then, if you want to toss your theories, now it's the time.

[Kurohane]

The datachip is still being decoded. That was what those scientists were doing before Set and Solva raised a little heck. However, I doubt it would take a long time. Arclight knew he would have the answers soon, and took this action. The helpdesk at Simeon said to Kafka the only way of contact to the underground facility was through that lab room where the chip was being deciphered, meaning quite possibly they need to contact him as soon as possible once finished, but right now, they are held up by Set and Solva.

Also, about that tunnel they were in, could it possible lead back to the Black Spot branch of Simeon? It could possible be connected to the sewers that lie underneath the Black Spot, like those passage ways that lead to the underground city. Disk mentioned that they were older than the rest of the facility. Also, the underground tunnels stretch everywhere. Cruz once said when with Mio that he traveled to another Black Spot through these passages.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

[Homura7]

^You're mostly correct. Even Riru knew which was te content of the chip, so Arclight's actions after retrieving the last part are understandable.

That would mean he doesn't need Blade's body anymore, right? Even before he scattered everybody during the climax in the Black Spot Simeon branch he said a limb or a body part is everything he would need.

[Ynot]

^ So are you saying Arclight was only after Blade's DNA if he couldn't get his entire body from the neck down?

Spoiler for 107:

Originally Posted by Kurusu-Shirudo

One of the angels merged with a human, and that human became who would be known as the Second Christ.

Mio said an Angel is protecting Cruz. Coincidence? I don't think so. Though it's kinda different because as of now that angel doesn't exist in physical form but spirit-like.

Let's investigate this part a bit further. Assuming there were only two angels and one's whereabouts has already been identified, that leaves us with just one option. The angel helping out Yamada is the one who fused with the 2nd Christ originally. Arclight said it died, but how could he be sure of that? He wasn't there and who knows the limitations of an angel? He fused with someone before so maybe it left the 2nd Christ's body at the moment of death and hopped into another body. That would explain how the angel could be in memory world and also why the angel is trying to protect Yamada.

But that theory leaves us with a couple of questions. Was Yamada already born back when the 2nd Christ died? Or did the angel have another host in between? Why does the angel look the way it did when it helped Yamada in memory world? Of course that last question assumes the naked girl in memory world is the same person as the angel Mio was talking about and that hasn't been confirmed yet.

Now one other thing. Disk explained the way Arclight was negating his enemies attacks by saying "For example, you can counteract a fire attack by using the exact same attack or a water attack, right?" ....Yamada has a fragment which is pretty effective at negating all sorts of attacks too.....

All in all it is interesting to think about and if right could mean Yamada is the 3rd Christ. It's gonna be exciting to see how this is going to develop further.

[Homura7]

^Yeah, that's what he seemed to imply, I posted the page where he says that. Here's it again:

http://c.mhcdn.net/store/manga/6322/...?v=11264159764

Spoiler for spoiler:

And now he has merged with a real angel and has become the ultimate being. In this chapter we have learnt that the process to copy a Stigmata is exactly the same of when you learn a fragment using the embedded crystal on the forehead, the only difference being the mark has to be activated in order to incorporate it in the system.

Arclight was already impossible, to the point his PF Zero had to be sealed in order for Blade to have a chance to hurt him even if it was just a little. But now? Now he isn't just impossible to defeat, he's invincible!! So terrifyingly strong he even told Riru to stay on the sidelines. Yeah, he's the very equivalent of a god now.

[Soji]

Ynot@Interesting I think you on something here....

Spoiler for Spoiler:

If the Angel that help/protect Yamada is the one that which was fused with the second christ....then maybe when the Second Die the angel become something like a spirit/soul and wait for the right person that would become his/her new host.
And she/he chose Yamada because his kindness?I mean ,from what we know the Second Christ was a kind and strong man.

Why does the angel look the way it did when it helped Yamada in memory world?

Well this one is easy ,Yamada admires and trust both Blade and Eve so what better form to take for the angel that one that is both Blade and Eve to talk with Yamada?
With that form the angel was sure that Yamada would be quiet and trust her / him.
Obviously, as you said yourself this is only a theory.

[Kurohane]

Spoiler for 107:

It's a good theory. My only problem with it is the corpse of the Second Chrost was still latent with power, as when Arclight absorbed it, it caused that blast that destoyed the facility. If the angel left its host, wouldn't it's powers be taken along with it?

Ahh, Soji, you changed your avatar?