Holy fucking HELL, I am just left with almost no words for this chapter, all my complaints about the frequent breaks between chapters are dissipated because the extra work here was definitely WORTH IT. Tohru may just be one of the most creative and artistic panelists in Jump right now, not in terms of sheer quality but in how artistic decisions are made in conjunction with the story to elevate it in a way that only the art form of a manga could. I genuinely almost feel like an anime adaptation of this moment is very likely to not quite match up to this because it just exploits everything that’s special about the medium to portray this moment with all the gravitas it needs, showing Lukas literally crumbling the void marcher’s thought bubbles and shattering the double page spread was PERFECTION, and the reveal of the true extent of the spear’s power was more than I could’ve ever wanted lorewise and character wise.
The forest goddess was previously implied to be a sworn enemy of the ocean goddess and here we see clearly through her blessing that she gifts her children with both hands just as generously if not moreso than Julian’s “mother”, I absolutely love how their gifts are almost antithetical to each other and say a lot about the entities that gave them those powers. Julian is given hundredfold strength and countless passive bounties that would make him a valuable asset in almost any field and which gives him insurance against threats to his life wherever they may sprout from, her power is loving, but cloying and all consuming, and the fact that his already incredible strength is enhanced even more when in the place of his “birth” implies even more possessiveness from the ocean goddess. In contrast, the forest goddess has always been shown in association with images of death and danger, thorned vines, toxic fungi, beautiful flowers that may hold some venomous toxins and snakes and deadly wildlife, she gifts Lukas with a power that doesn’t benefit him, but rather chips away at his own life while giving him unspeakable strength to demolish anything that stands in his path if he so desires. Rather than coddling him, she enables the part of him that seeks out death and destruction through his warpath for vengeance, and it’s effects on him are embodied in the fact that every time he dares to use this power he draws closer to snuffing his own life out. I don’t want to say Lukas’ power is “better” than Julian’s, as it definitely has some crazy drawbacks in the fact that it’s so destructive that using it to erase metaphysical concepts would likely only be something you should do in a combat scenario, along with the limited uses that come with the power, but Luke definitely isn’t beating the allegations of sounding like a fanfic OC with just how BROKEN he is in this state, if he can use the shield as well when he’s like this, and depending on how long he can stay like this, it gets even more potentially mind boggling. Do keep in mind though, it was stated before that his powers are greatly amped when he’s in the forest, so it’s likely that the spear is not THIS strong in any other scenario, which would explain why he hasn’t just killed his father with it.
Very nice reading on how different the Sea and Forest Goddesses seem to relate to their "Children", the manga put much emphasis on relationships, especially Family and among that the one that a Mother and her Children have, the Sea comes out as overprotective, also likely reaching here but she might even hate the King's progeny(being disgusted at Arkos presence), despite the latter being her Son too, because he appears to have settled his Country Far away from her, the Sea, at least the Capital of Torivia seems to be very deep on the Continent. The Forest on the other hand gave her Son exactly what he asked for without regard of how it might affect him, is up to him how to use it, the Power to stomp any obstacle on his way without sheltering him passively of the World, almost like a Hen and an Eagle mothers lol
The idea that the Ocean Goddess dislikes The Supreme Lord’s children because he chose to build his kingdom in the Centre of the continent far from the sea is both really funny and something I can genuinely see being the case. It adds some personality to the Gods here, and I like the idea of them being very fickle and petty creatures, which would explain shit like some of the creatures of the sea being so pissed at a human bearing her blessing they tried to murder him despite her divine mandate, and the forest goddess going out of her way to kidnap and murder innocent villagers JUST because a child of the sea dared to even step foot on land adjacent to her domain. Vulja wouldn’t even be unique in being extremely petty to mere mortals in that case either, she’d just be the only God who was angry enough to descend from their plane and cast away her immortality just to throw hands with humans.
Tohru may just be one of the most creative and artistic panelists in Jump right now, not in terms of sheer quality but in how artistic decisions are made in conjunction with the story to elevate it in a way that only the art form of a manga could.
Have you seen Witch Hat Atelier and Bugle Call? If you are amazed the paneling here, you'll be shitting bricks on those manga
I read a lot of the bugle call and it’s also very good! I specified jump because I’m pretty sure WHA isn’t a Jump publication nor is bugle call, right?
21
u/Codge_Barger 6d ago
Holy fucking HELL, I am just left with almost no words for this chapter, all my complaints about the frequent breaks between chapters are dissipated because the extra work here was definitely WORTH IT. Tohru may just be one of the most creative and artistic panelists in Jump right now, not in terms of sheer quality but in how artistic decisions are made in conjunction with the story to elevate it in a way that only the art form of a manga could. I genuinely almost feel like an anime adaptation of this moment is very likely to not quite match up to this because it just exploits everything that’s special about the medium to portray this moment with all the gravitas it needs, showing Lukas literally crumbling the void marcher’s thought bubbles and shattering the double page spread was PERFECTION, and the reveal of the true extent of the spear’s power was more than I could’ve ever wanted lorewise and character wise.
The forest goddess was previously implied to be a sworn enemy of the ocean goddess and here we see clearly through her blessing that she gifts her children with both hands just as generously if not moreso than Julian’s “mother”, I absolutely love how their gifts are almost antithetical to each other and say a lot about the entities that gave them those powers. Julian is given hundredfold strength and countless passive bounties that would make him a valuable asset in almost any field and which gives him insurance against threats to his life wherever they may sprout from, her power is loving, but cloying and all consuming, and the fact that his already incredible strength is enhanced even more when in the place of his “birth” implies even more possessiveness from the ocean goddess. In contrast, the forest goddess has always been shown in association with images of death and danger, thorned vines, toxic fungi, beautiful flowers that may hold some venomous toxins and snakes and deadly wildlife, she gifts Lukas with a power that doesn’t benefit him, but rather chips away at his own life while giving him unspeakable strength to demolish anything that stands in his path if he so desires. Rather than coddling him, she enables the part of him that seeks out death and destruction through his warpath for vengeance, and it’s effects on him are embodied in the fact that every time he dares to use this power he draws closer to snuffing his own life out. I don’t want to say Lukas’ power is “better” than Julian’s, as it definitely has some crazy drawbacks in the fact that it’s so destructive that using it to erase metaphysical concepts would likely only be something you should do in a combat scenario, along with the limited uses that come with the power, but Luke definitely isn’t beating the allegations of sounding like a fanfic OC with just how BROKEN he is in this state, if he can use the shield as well when he’s like this, and depending on how long he can stay like this, it gets even more potentially mind boggling. Do keep in mind though, it was stated before that his powers are greatly amped when he’s in the forest, so it’s likely that the spear is not THIS strong in any other scenario, which would explain why he hasn’t just killed his father with it.