Manga: Change 123

[Ryllharu]

But if Zero is "black" as Botan has just informed Motoko's grandmother, the others being Hifumi's respective colors of offense (red), speed (blue), and defense (yellow), Zero should have a nearly perfect defense just as Izuru does. If she's fast enough and defensive enough, Zero might be able to avoid the full damage that comes from Izuru's counters.

It comes into question because all we've seen thus far is that Zero leans towards brutal offense bolstered by speed, and we don't know if she can equally switch to iron defense bolstered by that same speed to alleivate damage mid-counter.

Plus, going back a few chapters, if Motoko is the inscribed circle, Hifumi is the triangle, and Zero is the circumscribed circle, Zero knows everything (even Motoko's blocked past). Including the fact that Fujiko pointed out Izuru's weakness, anything at her back.

She has been working on it, but I question at this point whether or not Izuru can truly stop Zero with all those factors. So far it has just been conjecture and hope from Hifumi, Motoko and Kosukegawa.

[fireheart]

I'm unsure though what you say is highly possible, but for one thing we still have the comment that Kosujegawa made concerning that she will attack head on as long as someone stands up to her. If that comment is true then she'll never really switch to iron defense. But I do think it's highly likely that Zero will be able to avoid full damage from the counters so far we've never really seen her take much damage.

Also don't know if Zero really knows everything going by what you've said she should, but for some reason it feels like Zero shouldn't know everything though I got no arguments to say it should be that way.

Though there's something else that shows that Izuru would have a hard time seeing how little chance she had against Fujiko not only against her but the Zero Fujiko as well.

As it stands I think that Izurus current strength isn't enough at best she can stall Zero but if they're lucky that's enough to stop her. After I went back to read the conversation they had it almost seemed as if her role is to stall for time and protect Kosukegawa if necessary.

[Ryllharu]

Also don't know if Zero really knows everything going by what you've said she should, but for some reason it feels like Zero shouldn't know everything though I got no arguments to say it should be that way.

They have gone over this many times, but I don't mind elaborating.

Both Fujiko's "father," the mercenary, and Kannami (her therapist and Kosukegawa's childhood friend), believe that Zero was the original break-off personality. Zero was created by whatever mental trauma occured when Motoko's mother was killed. Motoko was never angry again after that because Zero has it all. She knows exactly what trauma Motoko experienced at that time because it is the primary fuel behind her fury (Kannami suggested this). Motoko's normal state remembers nothing prior to the trauma she experienced (common to Dissociative Identity Disorder sufferers). Kannami suggested that Hifumi try to merge with Zero not only to curb Zero's anger, but also discover what caused Motoko's DID to emerge in the first place.

The inscribed circle (Motoko), triangle (HiFuMi) and circumscribed circle (Zero) was a diagram shown during the chapters where Zero was lured out. I can't remember the exact chapter. Zero is the outer circle because she knows the most. Though Motoko is the primary personality, Hifumi shares everything that Motoko does. Motoko is always asleep when a part of Hifumi comes out, but Hibiki, Fujiko, or Mikiri know everything that Kosukegawa does when they aren't out or only one of them is. Motoko sleeps through it all.

Knock all of them out, putting them "to sleep" inside their head along with Motoko and Zero comes out. She's the core of it all. She also retains all of the combined training that Motoko recieved which eventually created Hifumi (Kosukegawa remarked on this when Zero first appeared). Motoko is all the way inside the diagram because her "normal" state is actually the most sheltered. She was sheltered from the initial trauma by Zero, and sheltered from the harsh training she was put through by the emergence of Hifumi. Hifumi was powered up to prevent Zero from ever coming out again (Takezo, Mikiri's father, remarked on this during the arc on Zero's first emergence).


In the end, you may be right about Zero not knowing everything. While Hifumi are awake all the time, they refer to Zero being dormant while the rest of them and Motoko are conscious. It sounds like a mistake though, since only Motoko should be left unless she is unconscious as well. This is why I speculate that Motoko herself is not the root personality, Zero is. When everyone else is asleep, only Zero remains.

[fireheart]

Thanks for elaborating on it.

Mmm that's quite a theory it would be an interesting twist to the whole thing. Though it makes me wonder, if Zero is the root it feels kinda weird that she refers to herself as Zero and not as Motoko. Also if Zero sees and knows everything that Motoko and HiFuMi does shouldn't Zero evolve from being more than just all of the anger if she's the base? Also your theory made me think of something completely different what happens when they just go to sleep at night.

[Ryllharu]

I guess when they go to sleep for the night, they all go to sleep, just like normal. However, there was the beginning to the chapter where Motoko woke up outside her door, fully fed, dressed and prepared for school. She had written to HiFuMi about being tired or something and they took care of it for her. Maybe they wake up earlier than she does, perhaps from being used to the training in the mountains?

Maybe "root personality" is too strong of a term. She certainly the overpowering personality. My guess is that if Zero really is the dominant personality (because they mentioned Motoko never really gets angry about anything, so she ends up looking more derivative herself) whatever happened to her when her mother died overwhelmed anything else.

If her mother was a spy, perhaps Motoko witnessed a lot more than what she once assumed was just a simple, honest accident.

[Munsu]

42 is out, don't have a link with me at the moment.

[fireheart]

Change123_ch42

Lots of things we've talked about seem to surface in this chapter

[Ryllharu]

I'm at least a little surprised that the idea surfaced this soon, or that accurately to what we were speculating.

We got a little action from Izuru too. More of a setup chapter for whatever mess is about to surface.

[Munsu]

Good chapter, liked the scenes with the Guardian, we got a bit of action, and some good comedy moments.

[Munsu]

Here's 43:
http://www.snoopycool.com/torrents/C...43.zip.torrent

Thought it was a cool chapter, The Guardian is awesome.

[Ryllharu]

Sumire is just plain nasty. Sinking a scapel millimeters from her relative own heart was so brutally ruthless (I think they are mother and daughter but they didn't say that explicitly). That was definitely a "holy crap" moment. Kind of strange for someone like Motoko's mother to come from this kind of "family" only to be killed in a "simple car accident."

Kosukegawa is too noble. To no surprise, Hibiki wanted him to just take Motoko right then and there.

[NeoCybercoin]

Yeah I laughed when I read the part about Hibiki wanted him to just take Motoko and Fujioko being dissapointed that he only wanted a hug. But I must say..the whole scalpel thing was done pretty nicely though. Never ever saw that coming...pretty nasty move too.

[Kraco]

Kosukegawa is too noble. To no surprise, Hibiki wanted him to just take Motoko right then and there.

I'm glad it got sorted out so promptly. It would have been annoying if his depression, hesitation, and gloominess had been stretched for several chapters.

[Munsu]

44:
http://www.snoopycool.com/torrents/C...44.zip.torrent

[Ryllharu]

It was nice to see one of the male characters kick some ass. The Guardian is a good character, not ridiculously strong so he would outshine HiFuMi or Izuru, but strong enough to play a role in the series.

There have been other male characters who tossed some of the girls around, but this is one of the first we can actually root for (and isn't one of Motoko's fathers, who only appear for single arcs at a time).

[Munsu]

Noticed that this series hasn't had any releases in months, and the noticed that Snoopycool haven't released anything in months, I went digging for information. Saw this post by snoopy in their forums in a Change 123 thread on August 12, so hopefully it's good news rather than bad news:

Well, one of the computer did fry... it's fixed now, though, aside from some RAM that I need to buy.

And I am losing my job~ but that's a fairly recent development. (I've recently noticed that our mayor has a tendancy to curse whenever someone disagrees with him. I guess that's what happens when you raise a kid to believe that everything they think is correct.)

Anyway, the lack of releases is because I burned out and slacked off. Motivation has been lacking for a while, and that's pretty much the only thing that's required to do all this stuff... so you know how it is. The staff has been working on some stuff without me, so the next release we have will be pretty substantial.

[TheBladeChild]

Omg finally chapter 45

http://www.onemanga.com/Change_123/45/00-cover/

[Ryllharu]

Normally, I would wait for snoopycool because their quality is largely unparalleled, but Imangascans claim that the snoopycool staff okay'd it.

snoopy has been kind of lacking in motivation according to the staff on their forums, and he has the final say on QC and updating the website.

EDIT:

Another cute comedy/romance chapter.

Pretty vapid until the end, when Hibiki showed up Sora (whose name I had forgotten until the end of the chapter) where Izuru had previously failed. Sora is an evil bitch, maybe Sumire really will kill her. Sora was skirting the line already by hanging around Motoko trying to provoke her without getting caught. If she messes with Kosukegawa too much, she will very likely will turn Motoko and Hifumi against her own family (the clan led by her grandmother).

[Kraco]

Damn Kosukegawa fell asleep.

[Munsu]

Nice to have Change 123 back, and the idiot missed out on a foursome. I hope the group continues it, since it doesn't seem like snoopy will be back any time soon.