Tuesday, November 17, 2015

UQ Holder 102: Koroumaru's Date

The big reveal hinted at last week was cut short thanks to a robotic replica of Kuroumaru built by Ikkuu, which frames the girlified Kuroumaru as a relative of his/hers. Kuroumaru then lures Touta into a sightseeing date, though of course Touta remains as clueless as ever. I just hope, however this arc ends up, Touta at least comes to acknowledge Kuroumaru's feelings instead of remaining completely indifferent about it.

What I thought was going to be an uninteresting chapter was certainly spiced up at the end with the reappearance of Xinzqai the immortal hunter. While I think the guy is cool, after Touta's training I'm not sure if he can really be considered much of a threat anymore.

The six armed man behind Xinzqai we've also seen before; Asura Tu of Ala Alba and likely one of Fate's subordinates. Interestingly, there was also a six armed man in similar attire and wielding similar weapons fighting as a part of Kaede's team in the 2015 Mahora tournament footage we saw back in chapter 64. The fact that Asura is a part of Ala Alba just as Kaede was back in Negima makes me wonder if he's related to her former teammate? His skin tone and hair color is a lot like Ku Fei's too, whom the older man lost to in that footage, so maybe he's their son/grandson?

At the end Kuroumaru is brought to her knees by Asura's attack and realizes that she's being overpowered. Maybe this will make her rethink becoming female, desiring strength in order to fight by Touta's side as a friend rather than a lover. Still, there are tons of incredibly powerful females in this verse (and Kuroumaru is already extremely similar, in abilities, appearance, and personality, to Negima's Setsuna, who was arguably one of the strongest), so I can't see 'wanting to be strong' as being a significant reason for Kuroumaru to become male.

...

Seriously, though, am I the only one who has seen a huge similarity between Kuroumaru and Setsuna ever since the former's introduction? I know a few chapters ago we had a cameo from a kid who is practically Setsuna's clone, but the wing imagery that has occasionally accompanied Kuroumaru's appearance makes me wonder if they might be distantly related. I may well be wrong, but I am suspicious that Kuroumaru's Yatagarasu (meaning three-legged crow) tribe and the crow demons Setsuna was rejected from for having white wings may be one and the same. If she has the same condition as Kuroumaru, then that might put a new spin on her relationship with Konoka too.

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