Everything is great and all, but thank God Sister and Hermit are okay!
After last week’s bombardment of cool action and badassry, this week we slow down (not really, actually) a little to set up one of my most anticipated moments in the Nero 66 arc, and that is Laguna’s time to shine.
Chapter 157 initiates with the Oasis crew discussing the attack on Nero 1 made by Jaguar and his fleet of Interstellar Army soldiers, expressing their excitement for finally having a chance of actually defeating the Empire. Goodwin even comes to mention the “princess”, showing the appreciation they still have for her even though she is not there with them anymore, but that’s just obviously a set up to what’s coming.
In the Edens Zero ship, Sister and Hermit are finally repaired and are ready to take off to save Witch, and they’re looking really serious about it, after all, Witch is a huge part of their family and they don’t want to lose more of it, like they lost Valkyrie.
Trust me, Sister, at this point we all want to.
Couchpo tries to talk them out of it pointing out that they can’t leave the ship alone with a non-combatant, wich is obvious considering they’re at war zone and are a designated target to Shura’s forces, but at this moment it is completely understandable that what is/was supposed to make sence in a regular situation does not in this moment. It isn’t until she puts their trust in Shiki and the Crew into question that the two remaining Shining Stars come to agree with her, deciding to protect their home where everyone’s hopefully coming back to.
How many fangirl screamings did you hear when reading it?
Next, we move to Shiki’s group who’s approaching the place where Witch is being held captive, but are soon stopped by some kind of red tread made of ether. When Shiki and Rebecca touch it, both are struck with an uncontrollable urge to romantically love each other. It’s eros time, people. Deducing that it is possibly an enemy attack, Happy turns his tail into an ether made blade and cuts the tread, in hope of restoring their friends back to normal.
I like her character.
Little did they know it was only making the situation worse, as now Shiki and Rebecca are seriously hitting each other very hard, saying that they each other. Ijuna comes and reveals herself to be the user of this ether gear, Red String, and even though Mosco tries to stop her, since knocking her out would probably cancel the ether gear effects, Ijuna goes full dominatrix style and knocks him out.
Shiki and Rebecca keep hurting each other until they reach a point where one simply want to kill the other, and when both shed tears, Laguna comes into the picture and turns them bith into water.
Never in my life have I been so happy to see you, Laguna.
Laguna gives the bottle containing Shiki and Rebecca to Pino, and along with Happy and Mosco, they keep headed to save Witch.
Surprising Laguna by not impeding the crew’s escape, Ijuna calls him by his full name. Laguna has a flashback of a woman and bam, what we all knew for a long time now comes revealed: Ijuna is the princess from the Oasis. Laguna asks about what happened to her, but she admits to have just abandoned Oasis, just like he did.
Opinion:
The scene shared between Sister and Hermit was actually nice. Their fear of losing Witch is absolutely understandable. They’ve already lost Valkyrie, and the four of them had been a family since forever. But this time, no matter how much they want to do it by themselves and are willing to put their lives on the line without thinking twice, they have a choice to make, and that is to put their trust in the rest of the crew; their newfound family. Thankfully they had Couchpo could put this on perspective for them at that moment. I feel like this saga put an effort to stregthen the aready formed bonds by the crew in the Sakura Cosmos Saga, and it’s a beautiful work.
With the Sun Jewl arc adaptation currently on, this is like a low kick in the nuts.
If given much time, this love/hate thingy between Shiki and Rebecca could blossom into an interesting development for the obvious romantic bond forming between the two of them. But it’s understandable that things have to move forward and we have more important plot points to wrap things up, so let’s let Ijuna to Laguna, they have bigger beef to digest.
My heart is broken.
Speaking of them, I liked seing that Ijuna isn’t brainwashed or anything like that. The reason she’s with Shura is because she now wants to.
I suspect it hasn’t always been like that – perhaps she had a more “noble” motive to join his army, but maybe things have changed to the point where she deliberately wants to be there.
I can see this taking two different routes: Laguna slaps some sence into her and both live happily ever after in the Aoi Cosmos, or even with her getting back to the Rebel Army, Laguna joins officially the Edens Crew.
Demanding. Flashbacks. Right. Now.
A common theme between the crew members who have been joining in is the fact that they all have let go of their hurtful past and get free to go on living with their lives the way they want to. I can see Laguna as part of the crew, and it seems to be Mashima’s intention to do that, too. Laguna and Ijuna have clearly a strong past together, and I’m very much excited to see it and how it will affect their current interaction.
Overall, it was a nice chapter, and while not having many big moments, each scene managed to deliver something interesting to the table. What will be next week’s amaziness for us? Only time will tell.
Best Part: Laguna’s arrival. Something made it wholesome.
Worst Part: Ijuna’s reveal was too obvious. We all knew it.
Chapter Rating: 3/5
MOSCO FOR PRESIDENT.
OTAKU SPACE 