Ghost Reaper Girl Thread

[Adamant soul]

Not gonna lie, seeing Oscar get all flustered 'cause his attempts to win Yog over weren't going his way was funny. Dude should know better than to rely on any spell with a random element to it, it will inevitably give you a shit option every time.

There's definitely more to Oscar and his relationship with Yog than we saw in R'lyeh. As much as he tries to play on Yog's loneliness in his recruitment effort, his desperation makes it seem more like HE was the lonely one. Back in R'lyeh he didn't even seem to be upset about Yog turning on him and trying to kill him. If anything, Chloe's familiarity with him infuriated him way more. They were genuine friends at least at one time (that much is clear) so I wonder what happened to change Oscar into what he is now?

Interesting insight into Oscar's character honestly. Can't wait to learn more of his and Yog's story (perhaps a set of flashback chapters at some point?) but let's get back to the big fight next time Ikeda, come on.

 

[MusubiKazesaru]

How's the manga been coming along? I read some early chapters a bit after it started. Some of the art was great but it wasn't quite drawing me in.

 

[Adamant soul]

How's the manga been coming along? I read some early chapters a bit after it started. Some of the art was great but it wasn't quite drawing me in.

Just kind of been getting better and better honestly.

I do agree that not much happens in those opening chapters in terms of the overall plot (outside of establishing Chloe as an awesome protagonist IMO), it really starts getting going after she officially joins Arkham Bullet in Chapter 6. We start getting more good characters like Shoggoth and Dr West for Chloe to interact with, longer fights, the creature designs get a lot more interesting (and more distinctly Lovecraftian). Chloe is shown to have her limitations and doesn't solo everything (in fact there is a very welcome emphasis on teamwork in this series) and we have a (so far) pretty decent villain in Oscar.

I don't have much to complain about outside of nitpicks here and there really.

 

[Adamant soul]

Just some illustrations this week, very good ones sure but I hope we actually get back to the fight next time (or rather START the fight next time since it hasn't actually gotten going yet).

 

[Adamant soul]

DAMN Night-Gaunt's no fucking joke, wonder if that crater feat will get the verse a neat upgrade?

Typical me to think completely in the wrong direction in terms of what his ability was, thinking he was manipulating earth when he was actually manipulating wind. Him trolling them into thinking he was a ranged fighter when he was actually most dangerous at close range was pretty dope.

So the East 11 are NOT actually ranked by strength but by what their ability or skill-set/role in the group is. I mean the ranks were always stated to be general but this adds another level of the ranks not really proving much in terms of strength in this series.

As for Nyarla helping set this whole thing up, somehow that doesn't surprise me. She hasn't stopped testing Chloe and playing the chessmaster from minute 1. Her direct intervention against Dagon may have caused Chloe to forget momentarily just what a sadistic, manipulative bitch Nyarla is.

And yeah it definitely seems I've been giving Yog/Kai too much credit. While The Silver Key is a hax ability, the actual power boost doesn't seem to be that outrageous, then again we've probably not seen the limit of it yet based on how the chapter ended.

I can't wait to see how this fight continues.

 

[Adamant soul]

Another no show chapter, just an single color drawing of Chloe in her new form.

Seriously wish I could read Japanese as Ikeda does post on his twitter (under the name Akissa Saike) but it doesn't do me much good if I can't read it. It's probably due to health issues since that's what caused the big hiatus, which is why I'm not too upset about it but still, we've been stuck in this East 11 stuff for a while now.

Hope he gets his shit in order soon and at least finishes this mini-arc.

 

[Adamant soul]

GG Night Gaunt.

I love how Chloe didn't win by overpowering him or even through sheer hax, but simply through clever application of her ability.She overcame a stronger adversary by fighting smart. It's nice to see a Shounen protagonist who is legitimately intelligent and doesn't just bum rush their way through fights

Though with that said, it does look like I jumped the gun on assuming the Silver Key was instant death. The fatal aspect of the ability is indeed, in simply being dimension dumped in the after-life. It does still have the capacity to cut people ala Dr Strange's portals and it's great for avoiding enemy attacks (and catching them by surprise as shown here), but it's not quite as broken as I had first thought.

Well Chloe has passed her latest test with flying colors. I'd assume Hastur will be fine to let her stay in Arkham Bullet (likely what Nyarla was aiming for all along) and that should be the end of this arc. Though I think Chloe will take extra care to keep her head on a swivel around Nyarla from now on.

Wonder what'll happen next? Hoping we find out more about the Great Old Ones, given this arc mostly focused on Arkham Bullet.

 

[Adamant soul]

No chapter this week by the look of it, oh well.

But hey since the 2nd of what I would consider to be the major or good fights of this series is over, might as well say of which of the two I think is better.

In terms of tactics, choreography and a memorable enemy (mostly owed to Night-Gaunt for now) I'd say Team Ghost Reaper Girl vs The East 11 is better, while Team Ghost Reaper Girl vs Dagon is better for character moments and sheer spectacle and the fact everyone contributed to the win (whereas Noel and Shoggoth just got washed by Night-Gaunt).

They're both easily my favorite manga moments of their respective years (so far at least in the East 11's case) but I think I'd still have to give the overall win to the Dagon fight. It still has my favorite scene in the entire series so far and it felt like the stakes were a lot higher since innocent people were put in danger and everything wasn't micro-managed by chess-master Nyarla (much as I did enjoy that aspect).

 

[Adamant soul]

Ah so it turns out there was no chapter supposed to come out yesterday in the first place, If I had checked Viz after reading the previous chapter I'd have seen that it was due to come out May 2nd.

Well that one's on me, I don't read the chapters on Viz so I never saw that. Though it suggests to me that Ikeda might be changing this to a monthly release. Given that he has obviously struggled to maintain the bi-weekly release (with the .1 bonus chapters generally being his apology for that) I'd say it's more a positive than a negative.

Bi-Weekly or Monthly doesn't matter to me as long as I get the chapters consistently.

 

[Adamant soul]

Sort of called Scarface being a member of the East 11, didn't think this would all be his plan as opposed to Nyarla's (though he was stated to be a good strategist when he first appeared so I guess it fits). The Hound of Tindalos looks cool as fuck and that thing held Night-Gaunt down with one paw so it's strong as fuck to boot.

Well now that they don't have to act like villains anymore, it'll be nice to see the actual personalities of the East 11 members (I already like Night-Gaunt though). Was funny when Fred pointed out that Chloe and Kai were "more ruthless than us" because it's true.

But yeah let's just storm into HQ and fight three Directors + President Hastur, I'm sure that's going to end well.

I don't think they'll actually end up fighting though, a fraction of a fraction of Nyarla's power was too much for Chloe before. Even with the whole East 11 I doubt they stand much of a chance here. I can only imagine Chloe will give Hastur the same offer she did Night-Gaunt and the best case scenario is that he accepts her offer to use the Silver Key for Arkham Bullet.

And yeah it seems we're going monthly but as I said before, it doesn't matter as long as the chapters come consistently.

 

[Adamant soul]

And....we're back on Hiatus again.

Oh well, if Ikeda has health issues, he has health issues, at least he has a valid reason for taking a break. All we can do is hope he gets well soon.

And thankfully this time it was at the end of a fight, not leaving us on a brutal fucking cliffhanger like last time.