How about that? As soon as one surprising opponent goes down, another one, perhaps even more shocking and unexpected, shows up to challenge Blade and company. Wow, don’t expect any breathers anytime soon, because it seems like it will be constant fighting until the end.
The chapter paced itself well with the three stories going on, finishing up Disk’s fight first, watching Cruz struggle in the middle, and ending on Blade and his brawl. Not a whole lot new with Disk and her battle besides seeing one of her ultimate moves, a rather violent and grand one. Got to admit that this New Full-Armor Disk-chan is getting better and better with each new chapter and each new attack. She’s actually turned into quite the fighter now, although I wouldn’t favor her over anyone else in the chapter though. But at least she can fight now and survive some punishing blows. The development at the end was something we already knew before, that the JSDF has been deployed. Seems like Disk knows something we don’t judging from her grave reaction (and knowing Disk, if she’s serious, then it’s really, really serious).
Cruz’s story is a nice segue from Disk’s because it begins with the JSDF ships in the sky above the city. Except this time, those airships are actually doing something. Instead of assaulting Blackspot to eradicate the Needless, the airships are focused mainly on the City, using their overpowered beam weaponry on buildings and citizens alike. To make matters worse for Cruz, the area of the City that he’s in has been walled off, making escape for him impossible while those airships relentlessly attack everyone on the ground below. Poor Cruz is in another helpless and chaotic mess when his story ends but at least he’s surviving whereas most others around him are not. And the significant pull from this part is actually more related to the airships than Cruz. With some Needlesses in the City, the military is taking priority with annihilating them first, without any regard to the citizen or the City they are supposed to be defending. You have to wonder if they will attack Blackspot after this or if they were deployed only to kill Blade and his friends. And that’s where the chapter heads next.
The last part of the chapter finally resolves Blade’s first fight in this City arc. The outcome was never really in doubt when the chapter began; it was decidedly over when the chapter 93 ended, but there were some surprises and important information to extract from this short conclusion. For one thing, Blade actually kills his opponent. It’s been a while since there was a major death in Needless (Hatfield being the most recent) and, given the adversary for this chapter, this end was kind of surprising. But before anyone severs any ties with that character, it’s best to know that Blade recognized something was off during that whole battle. What exactly was off, you might wonder? Well, it becomes unmistakably evident when the next challengers appear. And what a bombshell, too! Looks like Blade will need all the help he can get from Eve, Seto, and Solva for this next fight.
The chapter provides some nice conclusions to the opening battles of the arc with Disk and Blade handling their opponents rather easily. But with the next set of opponents already there for Blade, you have to wonder how well this fight will go and when the girls will get involved. Hopefully they’ll do more than provide a few pantyshots like they did in this chapter. Disk and Cruz’s stories are pretty much open now which is a prime opportunity to bring in other characters. If not, then Cruz and Disk would probably reunite while fleeing the airship’s assault. I’d love to see what Disk says to Cruz since she purposefully wanted him to stay in Blackspot and not venture into the City with them. There is not a whole lot certain for next chapter besides the new opponents for Blade and company, so it should be enthralling to see what happens next to Disk and Cruz. What surprises await for them in the City?
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#1 by John Sato on May 25, 2012 - 5:09 PM
I was actually very surprised by Cruz in this chapter. Ever since that encounter with Mengroze he seems to have gotten much quicker on his feet. I think the way he’s making an active attempt to run as opposed to just sitting down and giving up really highlights the change in his character that you noted earlier. He’s still calling out for Blade to help him, but he’s making his own attempts at the same time.
Aside from that, though, I have to say I’m really happy with this arc so far. I feel like the series stumbled a little bit after the St. Rose arc, though that may have just been because that arc was so good. I don’t know, I’m just not so sure that it should have taken as light-hearted an approach to the Bloody Rain (strikethrough) Mustache arc. Anyways, all that to say, I’m really enjoying the city arc so far. It’s got the great action, great comedy, and awkward Cruz fanservice shots that I’ve come to love Needless for. I’m really looking forward to how this turns out.
#2 by avvesione on May 27, 2012 - 3:16 AM
One of my favorite things about Needless is how its handled Cruz’s development and shown him progress in every arc since the PF Blast in Chapter 50. He’s becoming more proactive and acting in situations that require him to do so, especially when Blade or the others aren’t around. This really is the first time he’s on his own, so it’s nice to see he’s grown enough to the point where he can do things on his own, even if he does still call out for Blade’s help.
As for your comment on the Bloody Rain arc, I didn’t mind that it was lighthearted compared to the Memory arc or this City arc, but I can understand what you mean since it could’ve easily been serious given the situation they were in. I think the strengths of Bloody Rain were to show Cruz’s mentality had progressed but his strength is still completely absent. He went out of his way to defend someone weaker than him and attempted to fight a Needless in his own way but was also set up to fail. If the arc were to show him advance to the next level and be able to fight Needlesses, the arc would’ve been more serious but since it wasn’t, it was fun. And since it was Mio and Disk with Cruz, there’s no way that arc would as serious as Memory or City.