(L) Spiral

[Shinji103]

Manga Ending

Spoiler:

(Skipping a lot of the talk scenes where they talk about how they'll live for tomorrow, etc. )

Ayumu and Hiyono go out to buy a new pair of earrings, and Ayumu gives one to Hiyono to give him back when he returns from his confrontation with Kiyotaka. Ayumu and Kiyotaka meet, and Kiyotaka tells Ayumu that Hiyono doesn't actually exist and is just one of his subordinates who he sent to become Ayumu's greatest weakness. Kiyotaka almost gets Ayumu to kill him [Kiyoatak], but Ayumu doesn't. Ayumu and "Hiyono" meet one last time, and after giving "Hiyono" the earring again as something for her to give back when they next meet, they part ways. 2 years later, the Blade Children are succeeding at leading normal lives, while some of them are still succumbing to the "curse" of the Blade Children. Kiyoatak and Madoka managed to keep their marriage in one piece after all that had happened, and Hizumi has just died due to genetic imperfections since he's a clone. Ayumu has also been hospitalized due to the same illness, and "Hiyono" returns to see him in the hospital. They have their usual spat, and "Hiyono" gives Ayumu back his earring before he plays the piano for her.

[LightningZERO]

Did Kiyotaka's face was shown? How does he looks like? Identical with Ayumu?

[Shinji103]

Originally Posted by LightningZERO

Did Kiyotaka's face was shown? How does he looks like? Identical with Ayumu?

Yes they showed his face and he does look a bit like Ayumu.

[XxX_Blade_Child_XxX]

yeah, Kiyotatka looks alot like Ayumu, but with longer hair that he keeps tied back

[gknight]

i know that unless it was announced no one can give me a solid answer but i just want it so much.. i don't understand what's up with that ending.

maybe you heard the creator/studio saying anything about a 2nd season..? ^^"

thanks.

btw how's the manga and is it released in the US? (how many volumes is it)

[NoSanninWa]

There has been no word about the anime ever getting a second season and I personally doubt it.

Hopefully someone will post a synopsis of the manga's ending for those people who are curious. Before the forum crash in December some kind soul posted such a synopsis, but we lost that post. I will only say that after reading that synopsis I lost all interest in ever seeing a second season of Spiral. Still, it would be nice if someone would post that again so that others can understand why a second season is not desirable.

Trust me when I say that anything you want to imagine about the secret of the Blade Children is better than what was revealed in the manga. It's as if the manga mutated into a totally different story and genre than the early part which was animated.

[D a m i e n]

I only remember 2 things about this anime.
1 : i loved the opening song + visual, the puzzle piece moving everywhere really left me a good impression.
2 : it ended without giving any answer about what were the "childrens" and what was the deal with the main guy's brother.

I think i used enjoy the anime but the end just suck, not sure i would enjoy a second season, dont think this kind of anime would appeal me now. Not even sure they will do a season 2 after so many years between the Spiral serie.

[XxX_Blade_Child_XxX]

3) What are the blade children?
MAJOR SPOILER!!!

Spoiler:

Throughout vol 6 (or 7?) through to 10, Kanone took over the entire school, threatening to kill everyone. And he was successfully subdued in vol 10. I dunno how they did it because in my stupidity I skipped 10 and bought 11 and 12.

Anyway, this brings us back to the question. Why did Kanon betray the Blade Children? In his conversation with Eyes, he mentioned that he was with the Blade Children all along, until he met the enigmatic character only known as "Hizumi." This Hizumi character made him realize what evil existence the Blade Children are, and he’s determined to put an end to them himself.

There's this other group called the "Watchers" who watched this whole event unfold, and only broke silence to Ayumu after Kanone was apprehended. The Watchers' representative Tsuchiya Kirie, along with Eyes Rutherford, revealed the truth to Narumi Ayumu...

Eyes began with this, "Narumi Ayumu, do you believe in a 'creator'?"

An all-powerful creator who created the all life and everything in the universe. One day, that creator, out of his whim, decided he’ll try to destroy mankind. Now the creator understand that great natural disasters won't work, because humans are great at surviving and adapting...so the creator decides to destroy mankind from within. He sent to the world all-powerful demon: "Mizushiro Yaiba:” born to Japanese parents For some reason he was born with a rib missing. He’s the father of all the Blade Children.

Mizushiro Yaiba was a child prodigy, and excelled at everything. He grew up to be an adult with a certain kind of charisma. When Yaiba was 23, he formed a group called "Knights," with him as leader. No one really knows what the Knights does, but Yaiba, with his talent, took control of the financial and political scene, and his group grew bigger and bigger. By the age of 26, Yaiba had become the undisputed ruler of the world in shadows. But as powerful as he is, it's still impossible for one man to defeat several billions of people in the entire world. In order to destroy the world, he started the "Blade Children" project at age 29. It's a project to "mass-produce Yaiba's children": Yaiba means "Blade" in Japanese. The Blade Children are Yaiba's children

Many people wanted to inherit Yaiba's lineage. Through artificial fertilization and test tube babies, they willingly carried out Yaiba's seed. About 80 Blade Children were born through this. Those who willingly carried out the project had no idea of Yaiba's true intentions. They thought that with Yaiba's talent multiplied, they could change the world for better...

Yaiba's children, The Blade Children, for identification purposes. had one rib removed surgically as soon as they were born…

The project was a great success. As the children born of this project all inherited the Yaiba's great talents. However, some members of the project sensed that something was going on. Of all the children that were born, all of them inherited the talent: genetically speaking this is rather abnormal. In the evolution of mankind, the Homo Sapiens won over Neanderthals because they were better and fiercer. Could this be that Yaiba's trying to create a superior race and using them to wipe out the inferior?

It also turned out that Yaiba's talents is inherited through every generation. The number of Blade Children continued to increase after the second and third Blade Children project....

The doubters confronted Yaiba, and asked what he’s plotting. Yaiba told them each and every detail with a smile, along with the lines: "My will is to wipe out mankind, and my blood carries that will. Adult Blade Children will act to destroy mankind. There's no running away."

All of Yaiba's Blade Children are born to have a certain distaste for common people. But they are not always like that. It is said that even Yaiba himself was not like that before the age of 20. But when the Blade Children reach a certain age, all those who have inherited Yaiba's lineage would awaken and proceed to act as Yaiba wills: to facilitate the destruction of mankind.

People who remained with Yaiba asked him why would he reveal his plan to those who oppose him, and he replied, "This is just to make sure that the game is a little more difficult to clear, otherwise it'd be boring."

The group soon broke into three parts.
Those who fear the project and Yaiba's existence and want them quickly eliminated, became the "Hunters."

Those who thinks that the project is still in its middle stage, so they should continue monitoring the children and see what happens, the "Watchers."
And finally, those who support Yaiba's plan no matter what, the "Saber."

This breakup of the group is all just entertainment to Yaiba. The Hunters tried to purge the Blade Children, some as young as 5. During this initial purge, about 20 were killed. Of course the Hunters tried to target the source of all problems: Yaiba himself, but they were at a disadvantage in the beginning - No man can kill Yaiba. Yaiba would have a hunter point a gun at his head, but for some reason the hunter can just never pull the trigger to kill him. No bomb or blade can hurt Yaiba, it's just his innate immunity to harm.

The Hunters factions were cornered, and all seemed lost as Yaiba continued with his Blade Children. At that moment, one unexpected 20year old Japanese man appeared. He easily killed Yaiba, who died with an unbelieving look on his face. That man is Narumi Kiyotaka

Yaiba could not be killed by mankind. In the Bible, a rib was taken from Adam to create Eve, so that he could reproduce. Yaiba reproduced without Eve, then why is a rib missing?

Just as there is god and devil, good and evil, there are two creators on the opposing end of the spectrum . One created Yaiba to destroy mankind, the other took a rib from Yaiba to create Narumi Kiyotaka. It's like a chess game.

At the moment of Yaiba's death. This whole matter should've been easily solved by killing all the Blade Children, which the Hunters wanted to do. However, the Watchers and Sabers would not have them kill the remaining 50 Blade Children, who were all no more than 6 year old. They wanted to find a way to save the Blade Children without killing them and asked Kiyotaka for help. But Kiyotaka was powerless in such a problem: he’s a "destroyer," born to destroy Yaiba and has no power to release his heir. But he showed the watchers and sabers a glimpse of hope: one who is Narumi Kiyotaka, but is not Narumi Kiyotana - one who is not like god, but not god, and has powers like god: Narumi Ayumu. Ayumu was created to save the Blade Children.

Of course not everyone believed that, so some continued to hunt down the Blade Children, but some hunters switched and joined the Sabers or Watchers....

Tsukiomi Academy was a school run by the Knights before the rift, therefore a large number of the Blade Children were assembled there. Kiyotaka sent Ayumu into this school in order to slow down the Hunters' progress, and also give him problems so that he would mature and grow from them. He has developed a personality that would cause him to fight the Hunters whenever someone gets murdered with no reason.

But there something in Kiyotaka's plan that he didn't tell anyone, and that's the reason why Kanon went berserk. It turns out that Kiyotaka never really planned to save anyone, he’s just wasting time so that Ayumu can mature to his true purpose: like Yaiba and Kiyotana, Ayumu has his opposite: Mizushiro Hizumi, Yaiba's brother. This is just a recurring game between the two opposing creators. But some like Eyes still continue to believe in Ayumu even though he’s just a false hope, for those who have no hope, it is better to believe in a false hope than nothing at all.

[Potatochobit]

yeah, and thats why this show is silly after the lets blow up ayumu arc :/

[hiyono_s2]

um would anyone know a good site to find translated scans of the manga??? i only found volumes 1-4 online. && can anyone explain what happens in the manga that the anime doesnt show? more details on hiyono being sent by kiyotaka please!

[XxX_Blade_Child_XxX]

There aren't many more details about Kiyotaka sending Hiyono, not that I can remember at least...

I know that there are some translations for the spiral manga at

http://www.realitylapse.com/manga/spiral.php

as to which volumes I'm ont too sure...

[XxX_Blade_Child_XxX]

Originally Posted by Nayuki

How about a series just about Rio?

a series about Rio would be cool, I like Rio...

[Kain Wanderer]

Its been some time from this post to the 1st one about 3 years. Does anyone know anything new on this anime. I have been checking out a few other places and some of those fourms are saying that a 2nd season to this anime is in the planning and will be starting on Japan some time in 2007. Also can anyone will update us on the manga.

[NoSanninWa]

It seems unlikely that there will be a second season. To date there are no reliable sources saying this.

[Skyfall]

Just finished watching this, and if asked to describe it one sentence i would say: One big ball of nonsense.

The start was interesting, and despite the anti-climatic chibi and slapstick moments (that thankfully gradually dispersed as the series progressed) i was interested in learning about the Blade Children, their curse, fate, the reason they are hunted and how is Narumi's brother connected to all this and what role he is supposed to play. Needless to say, i was not exactly pleased when the anime failed to address any of these points.

The plot and details were forgotten very quickly in favor of ''Lets have out weekly 'blow up Ayumu!' episode". Through the series they keep referencing to the cursed Blade Children, yet we never get to know why they are cursed or even how this curse manifests itself. As far as i could tell there was no curse to begin with, aside from being mentioned simply to add more 'serious' and 'futile' feel to the situation.

We learn they are being hunted, yet we have no idea why these hunters even exist or why they should be hunted in the first place. Unless we assume all of the hunters to be a bunch of medieval idiots who think that "Zumg, missing rib! Evil, evil i say!!" ... though from the looks of it such a guess wouldn't be too far off.

Which brings us to the next point ... the missing rib. Why are they missing a rib? Ok, that would not be so important, but at least explain to us what the missing rib stands for. Whats the symbolism behind it ? Why is it 'evil' to have a missing rib in the first place ? Another 'deep and meaningful' element that seems to be added simply to make the atmosphere of this mystery without substance more 'meaningful'.

Ayumu ... why is he the hope of Blade children ? What is special about him ? What is it they are supposed to be saved from in the first place? (No, "Their cursed Fate" are just empty words that mean nothing without any explanations and/or evidence to back them up). How are they supposed to be saved, and why is it him who can save them? Again - nothing gets explained.

Kyotaka ... why did he disappear? Why is he special to the Blade Children? What is his relationship with these children, seeing they have great trust in his words. Where is he now? Is he alive/dead ? Again - details of the show that got thrown out the window.

Ok, if the plot(?) is a complete mess, at least i can look towards some nice action and adventures taking place inside the story, even if setting makes no sense and is not explained. ... Or not.

More often then not the characters act in a way that makes next to no sense at all. For being such a supposedly smart bunch at times it didn't seem they were thinking at all. The hunters seemed to be the dumbest of the lot. Looks like only the first one who tried to snipe Eyes-kun had some trace of common sense.

If you are so hell bent of eradicating them, then why not simply shoot them from the get go? Oh, wait - they tried ... not really. There were times when some of the hunters actually got them at the gunpoint, but instead of actually shotting they get 'overpowered', because in some weird way someone always had the time to rush forward (For hunters, their reaction time seems to have a few second delay) and knock the gun sideways or throw something at their head But that is ok, since most of the times they were busy setting up some not-so-bright traps for some weird reason. (The whole ordeal with the hunter trapping Kousuke in the train depot was especially roll-eyes worthy). But hey - why do things the simple way if you can do them the hard way.

One thing this series did succeed at was quickly deplete my suspension of disbelief, because most episodes required rather large portions of it. The 'logical deductions' looked more like wild and random guesses that were tried to be passed of as actually logical deductions.

Aside from Rio being cute, there is not much positive i can say about the series. Past the middle point i started to get worried we are not going to get any explanations at all, and sadly i was proved to be correct. As soon as the background was established the whole plot got thrown out the window in favor of episodic adventures involving someone trying to blow up Ayumu one way or another, without solving anything in the end.

5.5/10. Style over substance.

[rooboy]

The song at the beginning is great though.

[Xellos-_^]

I am reading the manga right now.

Exploding Lolita

[Shabazza]

hi,
I recently started watching Spiral, but I don't know If I shall drop it or not 8/

First I thought that would be some good stuff although the animation was below mediocre (well, the show is kinda old so I don't care), but the characters are already starting to annoy me (I'm at episode 4).
Is there any good plot/character development later on or can I just drop the show without missing anything?

I read Skyfall's post and that makes me want to drop it even more 8/
Any non-fanboy/-girl comments appreciated.

[Solace]

Skyfall's points are fairly accurate. The anime just doesn't really explain anything and after all of the "events".....just kind of ends.

The subplots are interesting, if a little easy to figure out, but the show is all over the place. One minute it's a mystery, then it's a comedy, then it's...you get the idea.

The best part of the whole show (for me at least) was the characters (the opening is pretty neat too). I really wanted to find out more about them, but the show just doesn't deliver on any of the points it presents. If you're expecting character development, there isn't much, sadly. In fact *nothing* is resolved in the end...you're still left with every question presented at the beginning unanswered. You're actually left with *more* questions than when it started.

A serious waste of potential. The manga delivers on the points but it's a huge letdown when everything is revealed. It's like the writer couldn't figure out how to tie up all the mysteries into a unique package.

Watch it because you have nothing better to do. There are certainly worse anime out there, but this one is average at best.

[KimmyChan]

Spiral is a really great series that keeps you guessing until the end

It has a lot of really good characters and there are so many twists in it's great storyline