Medaka Box [Manga]

[DmonHiro]

HA! That was kind of an asspull, but it makes sense. Medaka managed to hit Iihiko with her End God Mode + style because she finally understood him. But now that he switched bodies, he's technically Shiranui, and Medaka made it perfectly clear that she cannot figure her out. So she can't beat Iihiko in this body. Who understands Shiranui best? Our old zero pal. Let's see him kick ass.

[Wolfenstein]

Originally Posted by DmonHiro

HA! That was kind of an asspull, but it makes sense. Medaka managed to hit Iihiko with her End God Mode + style because she finally understood him. But now that he switched bodies, he's technically Shiranui, and Medaka made it perfectly clear that she cannot figure her out. So she can't beat Iihiko in this body. Who understands Shiranui best? Our old zero pal. Let's see him kick ass.

Actually, I'm pretty sure Iihiko stated that the reason for Medaka to have been utterly crushed by Shiranui/Iihiko was because there was a huge increase in his power from his old body. Even to the point where Medaka's Style wasn't even considered an attack to him, cause Yuzuhira kinda stated that Iihiko's feelings also matter when fighting the fusion.

Not that what you're saying dosen't make sense.

[Libros]

Originally Posted by Wolfenstein

Actually, I'm pretty sure Iihiko stated that the reason for Medaka to have been utterly crushed by Shiranui/Iihiko was because there was a huge increase in his power from his old body. Even to the point where Medaka's Style wasn't even considered an attack to him, cause Yuzuhira kinda stated that Iihiko's feelings also matter when fighting the fusion.

Not that what you're saying dosen't make sense.

I thought that the reason he's stronger now is because his old body was, to put it mildly, screwed up from the 5k+ years he's spent in it and Shiranui's is new, relatively speaking.

[kenjtr]

I thought zenkichi would shine this arc and it seems i was right somehow i had a feeling that this style thing would be much more suited for zenkichi then anyone else ofcourse at first i thought medaka would do everything which is completely booring but that changed now which is good .

Question in my mind is that what will happen zenkichi if he beats lihiko since everyone said that if someone beats lihiko then that person will be target of the tale .

[silvercover]

^rather than the target of the tale, it sounded more to me that the shiranui's would be interested in him to the point of "preserving" his life.

hmm. considering hansode already likes zenkichi... its probably not going to be as simple as iihiko's.
makes you think, that perhaps nisio did indeed plan zenkichi rather than on a whim.

[Wolfenstein]

Originally Posted by Libros

I thought that the reason he's stronger now is because his old body was, to put it mildly, screwed up from the 5k+ years he's spent in it and Shiranui's is new, relatively speaking.

That's correct.

But the fact that Hansode is a Shiranui seems to have also been a powerful quality, given Iihiko's line: "Now, now. I wonder how a true Shiranui feels like" *blows stuff up*.

Which is kind of an interesting line in and of it'self. A "true" Shiranui?

And man. That quote from Hanten is some of the most vague stuff I've ever heard.

[Tenchi Hou Take]

Originally Posted by Sol Falling

This was a pretty epic chapter. The setup for a (presumed) climax is very well done. The fact that Zenkichi's revival is only temporary has pretty grave implications for the fate of everyone else. Not only did this give weight to the drama of saving Shiranui, "the only one still living", it is also what makes Ajimu's mysterious/subtle reappearance all the more heartening/appealing. Surely if there's anyone who can help the rest of the cast recover from their current state, or take them somewhere else for some new adventure, that person would be Ajimu.

There are two reasons for why Zenkichi is most suited to be the one to recover Shiranui. The first is the nature of "Contradictory Conjunction"; as the premise is that the most impossible things become possible, Zenkichi is a better candidate than other existing already-overpowered characters like Medaka or Kumagawa. The other reason is that communication, or reaching people, is one of Zenkichi's principle strengths as portrayed in the manga. The current situation, in the context of the main goal being to get Shiranui's personality back, pretty directly parallels the time when Zenkichi had to fight/reach Medaka to restore her from being Medaka II. This kind of role is something Zenkichi is well suited for.

On the other hand, lol no it is still not true that Zenkichi's story is the main story of the manga. At the current stage, he is being given a purposeful chance to shine. As a normal person, however, Zenkichi's conflicts are not really enough to drive an ongoing interesting story. The ongoing character arcs of Medaka and Kumagawa are still higher priority, where eventually they themselves will have to take the center stage (i.e. Kumagawa with winning). The reason Zenkichi has gotten a chance to "show what a normal person can do" in the first place right now is because he got wrapped up in Medaka, Shiranui, and Iihiko's extraordinary story.

Anyway, as a last note, it is fucking hilarious that Nishio finally inserted some made up justification for that disguise/mimicking scene with Yukuhashi back in the FP arc. That scene has always struck me as being one of the most random and inconsistent scenes of the manga, since although Yukuhashi claimed it was just a "normal skill" there's never been a hint of other Abnormals using it or doing things like it after that point. The fact that Nishio came up with a plausible-sounding explanation for that freakin' now is like he's deliberately trying to say he never forgets things when writing this story.

What character arc does Medaka still have, aside from this arc in which she'll probably bounce back from fairly easily Medaka doesn't really have any any character arcs foreshadowing because she hasn't driven the plot line in a long ass time which is why the arc after this one has no forshadowing whatsoever, this story is now event based, so it honestly doesn't matter if Medaka's driving the plot because quite simply she's not anymore whatever future arc villain is and that doesn't require to progress it at all.

She doesn't have a logical reason for even being the centre of this arc (which she ultimately wasn't) because she was shooed in. She doesn't have any in story importance for future arcs. Pretty much it's entirely the authors whim, Medaka could be completely lose importance as a character and no contradictions within the story would occur and the "plot", random events would progress just fine.

[silvercover]

well not before this one, medaka could still have some spotlight due to her decision to become the head of the family. we could then see her other "siblings" that will probably challenge her for the inheritance or something.

[kenjtr]

I think soon medaka will just be one of the girls in zenkichis harem :P well that suits her .

[Sol Falling]

Originally Posted by Tenchi Hou Take

What character arc does Medaka still have, aside from this arc in which she'll probably bounce back from fairly easily Medaka doesn't really have any any character arcs foreshadowing because she hasn't driven the plot line in a long ass time which is why the arc after this one has no forshadowing whatsoever, this story is now event based, so it honestly doesn't matter if Medaka's driving the plot because quite simply she's not anymore whatever future arc villain is and that doesn't require to progress it at all.

She doesn't have a logical reason for even being the centre of this arc (which she ultimately wasn't) because she was shooed in. She doesn't have any in story importance for future arcs. Pretty much it's entirely the authors whim, Medaka could be completely lose importance as a character and no contradictions within the story would occur and the "plot", random events would progress just fine.

Medaka's plot arc is about finding her purpose. The way she is now she is incomplete, simply relying on her overwhelming abilities to do things rather than knowing when and where to fight her battles. That's why she lost against Iihiko and has gotten both herself and everyone else killed. Although in the end it's probably easier to seal Iihiko now that he's in Shiranui's body, ultimately Medaka's reckless approach in trying to confront Iihiko has been extremely costly. If you told Medaka from the start this would be the results of her actions, she would have certainly done something differently.

You can say that Medaka's intention to save Shiranui meant her heart was in the right place. But ultimately Medaka didn't have the tools to do anything. In the end it's the real Style users who stood a chance. Thus, if you say that Medaka's role was shoehorned into this story arc, that's precisely where Medaka can grow as a character. Rather than grand overconfidence and baseless determination, Medaka needs to learn about her own true strengths and where she can meaningfully apply them.

[Homura7]

With total independence of if they will be brought back to life after, you all realize that once this ends, only Shiranui and Nienami will stay alive, right?

[Libros]

Originally Posted by Kurusu-Shirudo

With total independence of if they will be brought back to life after, you all realize that once this ends, only Shiranui and Nienami will stay alive, right?

Maybe the next arc will be about those 2 trying to revive the group? or the group doing something or other in the afterlife trying to resurrect themselves? Who can say.

[Tyabann]

Originally Posted by Libros

Maybe the next arc will be about those 2 trying to revive the group? or the group doing something or other in the afterlife trying to resurrect themselves? Who can say.

So it really WILL be Dragonball then.

[Homura7]

Rather than next arc, is gonna be the closure arc, wrapping every hanging plot thread that had been left for last. Because, let's just be honest, after this no other being can be more overpowered than Iihiko.

[Tyabann]

Originally Posted by Kurusu-Shirudo

Because, let's just be honest, after this no other being can be more overpowered than Iihiko.

"There's no way Nisio could write a villain stronger than a god-being who is older than time and has a million times more skills than she has years of her life".

[Tenchi Hou Take]

Originally Posted by Sol Falling

Medaka's plot arc is about finding her purpose. The way she is now she is incomplete, simply relying on her overwhelming abilities to do things rather than knowing when and where to fight her battles. That's why she lost against Iihiko and has gotten both herself and everyone else killed. Although in the end it's probably easier to seal Iihiko now that he's in Shiranui's body, ultimately Medaka's reckless approach in trying to confront Iihiko has been extremely costly. If you told Medaka from the start this would be the results of her actions, she would have certainly done something differently.

You can say that Medaka's intention to save Shiranui meant her heart was in the right place. But ultimately Medaka didn't have the tools to do anything. In the end it's the real Style users who stood a chance. Thus, if you say that Medaka's role was shoehorned into this story arc, that's precisely where Medaka can grow as a character. Rather than grand overconfidence and baseless determination, Medaka needs to learn about her own true strengths and where she can meaningfully apply them.

That's not a driving plot purpose which is my point. A side character could easily have such a purpose but such a purpose won't drive the plot forward, It's no I want to be the best such and such, or theres this objective I'm aiming for something that'd lead into situations, Kumagawa's I want to win isn't really all that driving either but it's more driving than Medaka's.

There's nothing wrong with character development but this is about story importance and who has more importance and which would serve as a better main character, now I'm not going to answer that question since it's basically personal preferrence I'm just saying that by your own criteria's Medaka doesn't need to be the MC, nor do her actions have to be the most important storywise because she isn't driving the story, she has no real tangible goal and is simply reactive hence why all these arcs were villain intiated. There would be no great inconsistencies in the story if the MC changed. That is ultimately my point. If you changed the MC of One piece there'd be large inconsistencies same with bleach and Naruto, the story is built in such a way that it doesn't make sense for a MC to change. That is not the case with Medaka Box, That's pretty much my only point. There was even hinting within the story of a MC change regardless how legitimate that turns out to be.

Originally Posted by Kurusu-Shirudo

Rather than next arc, is gonna be the closure arc, wrapping every hanging plot thread that had been left for last. Because, let's just be honest, after this no other being can be more overpowered than Iihiko.

TBF this is ultimately a side product of Medaka as well as to some degree Aijimu, she as a character has become so overpowered that the only way to produce a tangible threat is to create another insanely overpowered character and to if she overcomes that character the cycle goes on getting more and more convulted. Had Nisio not made Medaka so overpowered for which it's too late, so had Nisio changed the MC and made the story more grounded e.g Zenkichi's student council level we wouldn't be stuck in the DBZ effect.

[DawnEmperor]

@Sol Again, why the hierarchy in plot threads(Medaka vs Zenkichi vs Kumagawa)? As you said, they all have their chances to shine and resolve(or fail to resolve) their plots. I don't understand how this has to mean certain plots have to take center stage because they're subjectively "more interesting".

[Homura7]

I just recalled something.

Spoiler for spoiler:

Spot on, Tsurubami.

[Tyabann]

Why haven't we seen that particular God Mode since? It would look cool with her shorter hair.

[Tenchi Hou Take]

Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon

Why haven't we seen that particular God Mode since? It would look cool with her shorter hair.

Because it failed like a smoker running a marathon.