Deadend Crow remains largely a mystery within the story so far aside from the connection he has with the incident involving a large scale massacre and the fact that he is a machine that despises humans. The aspects of his character that define his story has yet to be touched on. Deadend Crow is presented from the point of view of a villain which naturally evokes contentious feelings. Who developed Deadend Crow and what was his intended application when constructed? Deadend Crow may be present within the arc but likely due to his lacking relevance within the overarching narrative, his proximity within this arc isn’t felt significantly. Why should the audience come to care about his journey? The central driving force behind the intrigue is the vengeance Holy wishes to deliver onto Deadend Crow. What seems necessary at this point is focus on Deadend Crow to flesh him out beyond a template antagonist.
The form Deadend Crow takes is cool but it is hard to invest yourself into his character when you realise that he is an antagonist destined for defeat with a non-existent personality beyond anger toward humans and a lust for destruction. What makes Deadend Crow tick? Why does he operate the way he does? Who is he? Where was he constructed? When was he developed? How did he end becoming such an antagonist? There are various questions that attempt to understand more about Deadend Crow in order to present a more appealing and compelling side of him than currently in focus. We get that Deadend Crow is dangerous but what is there really to care about with him? More weight is behind his defeat than having this fight explore him further. There is obviously a story behind his development and weapons construction which I find myself wanting to learn more about but when will we learn about it? Such a context would better elevate the current conflict ongoing between Deadend Crow and Holy with the Edens Zero acting as support. At present, Deadend Crow is just two-dimensional and to put it bluntly, boring.
Holy, on the other hand, has become increasingly more exciting to read about as her status as an enemy of the Edens Zero erodes away in favour of focusing on her retribution against Deadend Crow. That anger and vengeful craving she feels has become an aspect of her character the readers can get behind and relate to. Her fluidity of allegiance is also a curious aspect. It may appear to be a betrayal of her governmental responsibilities but it actually speaks toward the broad perspective she possesses. What Holy see’s isn’t merely what she is told. This is why when Holy grins before melting Deadend Crow’s outer armor, you can feel the weight behind the emotion she is feeling. All those years of preparing have amassed into a single moment. Additionally, when Holy is captured by Deadend Crow, you feel concerned at the narrowing options available to Hermit in concluding the battle they are presently in due to your investment in Holy’s character. Holy’s sacrificial plea deepened the reaction felt. At this point, it is hard not to place your support completely behind Holy.
Rebecca’s suggestion regarding saving the corpses of the mother’s related to the Edens Zero crew is very fascinating. Logically, a corpse cannot be saved and it would make no difference if they are removed from the planet or consumed along with the time of the planet when the Chronophage arrives. I understand there is value in a proper burial or cremation but are those feelings worth the distraction from the pressing matter at hand? Depending on how the arc progresses, there could very well be payoff for Rebecca’s current feelings of powerlessness.
As for summoning the Chronophage, would Dark Ziggy really leave Rebecca there when he is aware of Operation Planet Eater? Dark Ziggy already knows what Rebecca has planned and why she is special. If he believed his plans could be stopped by Rebecca, surely he would have motioned to separate Rebecca yet he doesn’t, why? Does Dark Ziggy know that Rebecca’s attempts at summoning the Chronophage will end in failure? Or at the very least not have the Chronophage do what is expected? Dark Ziggy’s lack of concern for Rebecca is incredibly ominous and indicative of what may happen.
The 20,000 years later scene is very curious especially now that we learn Humankind went extinct 20,000 years ago. When read within the setting of what the entities at that time discovered, it becomes even more interesting. A man and woman were discovered with the man being alive. We know the primary agent of time travel is Rebecca and that Shiki has an integral value in evolving her powers. What appears to have taken place is at some point Rebecca chose to use her powers to shift Shiki and herself forward into time. Move 20,000 years later and Shiki arrives. The resulting effect from Rebecca exhausting her energy for such a jump could be the loss of her life. The Shiki present in the 20,000 years later timeline is likely the Shiki from the present time or an alternate version of the events (chapter 200 is titled “Alternative”). These events of what will have happened in an alternate timeline could find their way to being attracted to present Shiki. Very much looking forward to the next chapter and seeing how the Cosmos has structured itself within this distant future where humans are extinct.
Enjoyment level: 8/10
12Dimension 