Content Warning: Nudity, Sexual content, violence, and weirdos from the future (I think)
And here we are, the volume of Gigant that really does nothing. At least, in the major plot. That said, there’s a lot of changes in terms of the interpersonal relationships of people in the story but this whole volume feels a lot like filler. Let’s get started.
This volume starts with our future weirdo squad discovering the joys of instant Ramen and the continuing advance of the Devil in the US. There’s also introduction of Chiho and Rei getting ready to take a trip to Ishigaki Island together. And that right there is the whole story of this volume, just about.
On the plane to the island, Chiho crashes out and gets recognized by a bunch of people, including a little girl. This girl, who’s maybe six, then tries to fondle Chiho while she’s asleep. I’m not even kidding. This does show how “PaPiCo fever” has swept the country. Not only with how busy Chiho has been since defeating the three Gods of Destruction but how little time she and Rei have spent together. They are, however, making for lost time. With lots of sex and just hanging out, spending quality time. There’s not much to discuss about this section. Wait, I take that back, there’s actually two things. The first one is the clear use of reference art that looks jarring when you see the characters in the background, as the backgrounds are photo-realistic and the characters clearly aren’t. I find it really hard to read the words when I’m paying too much attention to the floors, walls, and chairs around the characters. This clearly is a “me problem” but this is where I talk about what I’m reading, so you signed up for it. Now, the second thing we can talk about is the continuing coverage of the Devil’s progress through the US. Rei continues to listen to it during the trip, even when they’re laying in bed, just relaxing. There’s a telling comment when Chiho asks him if he always listens to that, followed by the question if America is really in trouble. After getting told yes to both questions, she jumps into the pool naked and gets Rei to join her. She also gives him a hummer while underwater, to which I can only comment that I envy her lung power… Okay, there’s one other thing that happens during the vacation that I’m going to circle back to at the end. Promise.
Ahem. Anyway. While Chiho and Rei are enjoying themselves, we get our only real piece of action when the Future People Weirdos decide to let their Ramen cups sit on a Yakuza’s car. The Yakuza are killed in such a gory fashion, I was just kind of like… The fuck? There’s also the casual nature in how the Weirdos use their powers to kill them. Like, they don’t even matter. Didn’t you assholes come back in time to SAVE people? It’s also interesting to see how they have different powers that we haven’t yet seen Chiho manifest. Another thing that I find interesting is how these people from the future, including the first one in the first volume, don’t seem to know how to operate in our society. They have serious trouble with chopsticks, even the one that seems to be Japanese, in both name and appearance. Oh, yeah, we get some names for them now. But I’m not using them because I like calling them the Future Weirdos. They also seem to have been caught up in PaPiCo fever but don’t seem to be willing to seek her own. I don’t know why.
Now, for the final part of this volume. Chiho and Rei’s relationship hits the news and it’s more than a little explosive. As I’ve said before, I doubt there would be as big of a problem if Rei was the older one but it’s not the case and Chiho’s career is pretty much shot to hell when it comes out that she’s in improper relationship with a minor. And then Rei starts having trouble when his name and face gets out there in the world. This culminates when an older boy attacks him when he won’t give him Chiho’s number. This older kid beats the ever living fuck out of Rei and his friend. It’s a lot like what’s happened to Chiho in her fights, when I think about it. And then Rei does the thing that I will hate him forever for. He breaks up with Chiho. He doesn’t tell her what happened, not really, he just says it would be better if they would break up. Okay, I’ll cut the kid some credit, as he says to give him two years (until he’s legal) and can make his student film. And I just… I really want to slap this kid. Okay, first of all, there’s a chance that either you or her could be dead in TWO DAYS, much less TWO YEARS from now! Next, you assume that you’ll actually be able to make your fucking film. GAH! I hate stupid teenagers! Yeah, mostly because I used to be one. And, there’s one other thing that I said I would circle back to and the time is now. Rei, this dumb motherfucker, he breaks up with his girlfriend AFTER a condom broke during vacation and he was fucking her brains out. Just, fuck, you just KNOW that she’s going to get pregnant…
Oh, and the final page is the US dropping a nuke on the Devil while it’s in Hawai’i. That means that it’s coming to Japan. Will Chiho and the Weirdos be able to stand up to it? I don’t fucking know! I guess we’ll find out.
Now that I’ve gotten all of that out of my system, I do want to say that this is my least favorite volume thus far and it really feels like there isn’t a guide for what’s going to happen. Oh, and only four volumes left. Yeah. It ended at volume 10 in Japan, so we’re going to waiting about two more years to get them released here.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Suggestion: Ugh. I
don’t exactly hate it but I didn’t like it, either. Make of that
what you will.
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