Manga: Change 123

[Munsu]

I'm pretty sure someone here reads this, and it was what probably made me start it... don't remember who it was.

Anyways, I'm not a fan of ecchi series (though for some reason many of the series I read have ecchi in them) so I was quite skeptical about starting this series. But I have to say, this is quite a cool and fun series... quite funny at times. The plot is not bad, it has plenty of interesting characters, and the fights are really good. The main male character is not great, but the way the manga has used him with all the Kamen Rider refferences and his code of Justice makes him a cool character to have around, even if he's the typical lame shounen harem character.

This is pretty much a shounen romance anime, with some cool fights thrown in, some fanservice, and some comedy. The art is good.

Anyways, I think a few here will get a kick of reading this, and the comedy is not bad either.

Series is released by SnoopyCool:
http://www.snoopycool.com/
7 volumes have been released so far, with 34 chapters.

In Change 123, we meet Motoko, a girl with a very strange problem. In order to cope with her 3 adoptive fathers' incredibly intensive training methods, she developed multiple personalities, each with a different martial specialty. But what happens if none of them can beat her opponent on their own? And what further nugget of wisdom will be imparted by the great Kamen Raider? This one has lots of pretty girls, great art, and comedy.

http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=11058





So, who's reading?

[Ryllharu]

Wow. I had been reading this a while back. SnoopyCool had gotten to chapter 14 and stopped for about a month. I had really enjoyed it, but nothing came out for a while. Between now and then they blasted out 20 chaptes in batches.

I guess I'll have to catch up, this was one of the better street-style fighting series to come out in a while. A lot like Peridot.

They handled the muscle-memory and stance element to her physical changes pretty well. Her stances change more than anything, and the artist is very good at maintaining continuity with the concept.

[Munsu]

Hmm, Peridot... I need to catch up to that. I think I only read about 14 episodes or so and was enjoying it quite a bit.

But the fights are really well done, and the art is quite clean. The art at times reminds me of Katsura Masakazu (I''s, Zetman, DNA², Video Girl Ai).

[Ryllharu]

All caught up.

I really liked the twist between volumes 4 and 5. I really didn't see that coming at all until the "Oh my!" panel (as opposed to a scream). From there on out it was obvious. Very well done misdirection on the part of the author.

The rabid anti-American arc in volume 7 is a bit much though. Parts of it are so exaggerated it gets funny, but the rest...well that part of the story does take place in Okinawa, so I can't really blame them with all of what happened there in the past 4 years. (14 year old girls getting raped, cab drivers murdered)
The outright nasty tone the arc took me a little by surprise.

[Munsu]

What was the twist between volume 4 and 5? Was it the reveal of who the warrior was? If that's it I thought it was a great one myself. Had me completely fooled.

And yeah, I hate most of the anti-American propaganda that appears often in anime and manga.

[Ryllharu]

Yeah, it was tricking the audience into thinking the Gadam (island warrior leader) was Tsukiwhateverthehelltherestis (super tall girl) while it was really the "princess" transfer student from the other class, who turns out to be Hino Izuru.

[Munsu]

New chapter is out 35:
http://www.snoopycool.com/torrents/C...35.zip.torrent

Edit: Good chapter, and next one looks like it'll be completely kickass.

[Kraco]

I finished the first volume. It's a pretty good read so far.

[Munsu]

I finished the first volume. It's a pretty good read so far.

Glad you like it... it really is a very fun series. This would make an awesome anime series.

[Uberbaka]

Got given this while doing the "give me a random manga" on onemanga, read the first chapter, dropped it, picked it back a week later and got hooked and read up until current release.

When you saw the blood spurt, you know someone is going to get fucked up.

[Munsu]

Got given this while doing the "give me a random manga" on onemanga, read the first chapter, dropped it, picked it back a week later and got hooked and read up until current release.

When you saw the blood spurt, you know someone is going to get fucked up.

That's why I always try to get a sample pic with some blood on it.

[Ryllharu]

New chapter is out 35:

Edit: Good chapter, and next one looks like it'll be completely kickass.

I'm very interested in the title of the next chapter (I love that all the titles are math-related btw) being Fujiko x 0 != Fujiko + 0.

It sounds like things aren't going to go as they planned, and Fujiko will be as overwhelmed by Zero as readily as they thought the others would. Either way, there will only be more blood that hasn't already been spilt.

[fireheart]

http://www.snoopycool.com/torrents/C...36.zip.torrent

[Ryllharu]

An interesting chapter. Zero was still very much ruthless.

I liked the comedy at the end though, where the idiots mistook the broken juice as a stab wound. It's a comedy cliche, but executed perfectly.

What I like so much about this series is that it has a consistent balance between comedy, action, and a little bit of romance/drama. When Fujiko was embarrassed about confusing the juice enough to make her summon Zero into her, she looked an awful lot like regular Motoko, and blushed fiercely.

So...now we've seen what happens when Zero comes in based on Hibiki (the first time), but Zero-Fujiko was probably a lot worse. It was soooo effortless for her to kill those two soldiers, but she took the sadistic route, dooming them with her final bullet. Can't disarm her, couldn't prevent her from reloading, nasty stuff. Even Izuru, their hope to stop Zero, backfired. When Zero is fused , her focus on the soldier prevents Izuru's abilities from being useful. If no one attacks her, she can't do much.

[fireheart]

I think there are several differences between the first time and this time. First time Zero came out Zero wasn't based on anything she only came out because no one else was "out" at the moment so that's Zero in all her glory. Besides at that time as Kouskegawa noted Zero was using something from all three of them and not based on anyone in particular.

This time I saw it more as Fujiko and Zero fusing together which is probably why her looks didn't change much since it was still Fujiko with the exception that the two of them were out at the same time. Also because Fujikos anger was already aimed at someone she didn't fight Izuru and the others other when they got in the way. Also because it was aimed she wanted that person to suffer as much as possible and not just end it quickly. It also makes more sense that they fused together since that's something they've been aiming at since they after they found out about Zero.

I actually thought the bottle thing was pretty lame, for the reason if he had it there it should have been more noticeable when you look at his body. Secondly I'd think what's-his-name should have noticed the difference between plastic and flesh when he stabbed him.

[Ryllharu]

It was totally lame, that's why I thought it was funny. It's one of the oldest cliches in shonen series. It was supposed to be close to midnight though, so it might be understandable that red fluid becomes blood. As for the knife guy, yeah, he should have known the difference between intestines and a PET bottle. The comedy relief works well though, especially after that particularly tense situation with Zero-Fujiko torturing the guy.

I disagree about Zero's first appearance though. Yes it should have been just her in all her evil glory, and they mentioned the key points where she used Fujiko's moves or Mikiri's, but for the most part, she was using straight lead punches right from Hibiki's usual set. They were just aimed more to kill than simply subdue. Zero's general appearance is a lot like Hibiki's anyway.

I've always thought Hibiki was the dominant member of HiFuMi. She shows up the most often, certainly is one of the most developed personality wise, and she also seems to be the one most obviously attached to Kouskegawa. Mikiri just sees him as a source of food more often than not, and Fujiko likes him, but she's considerably more reserved about it. Hibiki is the only personality he's actually gone on a formal, intentional, full-blown date with. There was also the scene where the four personalities helped stop Zero, and Kosukegawa, 'thought he saw what they'd look like all combined,' and I don't know about you, but I thought she looked like Hibiki more than the others.


Here, you're correct, Fujiko accepted Zero in, which is why she didn't change to Zero outright.

As I recall, the only reason they picked Fujiko to fuse with Zero is because Fujiko is reserved and disciplined enough to possibly hold her back. Hibiki is too fiery normally, and Mikiri is probably too easy going. As this illustrated, that's not entirely the case. That's where the title came in. It was more like Fujiko corrupted by Zero rather than fused with her.

[Kraco]

There have certainly been a good deal of decoy ships lately in this story. First the knife, then the juice bottle. Good stuff despite them, though.

[Munsu]

Just watched the latest chapter, although it was lame with the juice and all that crap, the rest of it was quite badass.

[Munsu]

Here's 37, Boob Problems:
http://www.snoopycool.com/torrents/C...37.zip.torrent

[Ryllharu]

An ecchi comedy side story, although (so tempted to call her Lala from School Rumble) Tsuchimakado(?) leaving was rather abrupt.

She was largely extraneous after the misdirection around Izuru being the Gadam, so I'm not sure how I feel about it.