That chapter was so peak I don't even know where to begin. The small little nuanced ways that Srajo and the Hail Hex have been humanized go such a long way. Despite being a character that we're still not sure we can trust, she's still so endearing as well. And the same goes for the other characters and the little dynamics they have with both each other and Riko's gang. There's Nishagora's friendly rivalry with Reg, there's the budding bond between Yatamaru and that mysterious masked dude (which we saw in the Bondrewd flashback in chaoter 64), there's Srajo's slowly budding slowly trusting relationship with Riko, etc.
And then there's Sherumi and Menae. At first they were introduced just to exposit some cool trivia about the Abyss, but ever since their deaths they've been subtly built up more and more to the point of being the front cover of Volume 12 (I should've know there was more to it then Tsukushi being Tsukushi.....tho that may still be true). But after this revelation from Ozen, they're looking to be one of the most important factors of this arc.....
Oh yeah, speaking of Ozen....
HOLY SHIT OZEN'S BACK! LIKE, BACK BACK! NOT JUST A NAME DROP! AND her appearance is a direct continuation of that Jirou side story from all those chapters ago holy shit. From the Shrine Maiden, to the mystery behind Miko, to whoever Doni is, to the full investigation behind the Birthday Death disease and now the mystery behind whatever the curse of the 7th layer is......
The build up in this arc is fucking insane and knowing this series I just know the pay-off is gonna be immaculate.
And now I have theories regarding what's coming next.
Since this is the last official chapter of Volume 12 and all that's left is a Side Story, I'm convinced that this upcoming side-story is gonna be a direct continuation of this Ozen & Jirou plot-line. Not only that, but I think this side-story is gonna be all about Ozen and Jirou trekking down to the 7th layer; whether it be through the same short-cut that Cravali took, the elevator that Bondrewd uses to go to and from Orth or through a different method I don't know......but I've always brainrotted about a scene where Ozen discovers what happened to that Field of Eternal Fortunes that Lyza loved so much....and I personally hope we get something like that....but yeah.
Now for Riko and Srajo's joint operation, I don't think things are gonna go to plan.....at all (though it's made in abyss so that's a given lmfao). I think what's gonna happen is that Riko and Srajo are gonna be stuck together in a situation where they're forced to completely trust each other with their lives and that's gonna force Srajo to spill whatever secrets she's hiding about what the Juusou truly are and especially what happened to Sherumi and Menae. And to make the situation even more hectic....I think Ozen is gonna run into them as well while they're stuck.
And.....for my wildest theory....I think there's a chance that Bondrewd could come back. Hear me out
We saw in the Cravali side-story that Ozen's squad was planning something, and we saw Gyarike planning something along with the Umbra Hands. What if....Gyarike has Bondrewd's helmet with him? So that he can be summoned at will when things get bad? We already know that Gyarike is investigating the Shrine Maiden along with Hablog, it's just a maybe though.
So yeah that's it.....god I rambled a lot holy shit LOL. |