Title: To Your Eternity Vol. 7
Author: Yoshitoki Oima
Publisher: Kodansha Comics
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Publication Date: October 16, 2018
The Story
Volume seven of To Your Eternity gives us the answer to how long of a time skip did we see at the end of Volume 6. That answer is a whopping 40 years! For 40 years, Fushi lived alone on an island. He turned into a crab and floated around the sea for 2 years, getting eaten over and over again by the marine life within. He fought the Nokkers every time that they appeared but after decades of their plans failing, the Nokkers began to do something new… they started attacking innocent people far away from the island in hopes of luring Fushi out.
It was all about to work when a young girl, 9 years in age, showed up with some familiar-looking people. This girl was Hisame, the granddaughter of Hayase who passed away some time ago. Hisame carried the same Nokker in her arm that possessed Hayase the day where Fushi made a boat and sent her on her way. Hisame carries on the legacy of The Guardians in an effort to protect Fushi from the Nokkers and the people of the world.
Fushi leaves the island and heads to the town that the Nokkers attacked. There, he runs into a middle-aged woman and her companions. There, Hisame recognizes who the two of them are and believes that they are a threat to Fushi and ends up attacking the woman. Hisame’s Nokker ends up infecting the woman, cutting her time rather short. Fushi doesn’t know who she is, even when she dies; however, after she passes, he learns her identity.
After this, we go on time skip after time skip after time skip. We keep leaping into the future by generations and this is noted by Hisame’s child coming to visit Fushi as the next head of The Guardians. Then the third successor comes, then the fourth, then the fifth, and then finally the sixth successor. The sixth successor is named Kahaku and is the first male successor. He still vows to carry on the Guardian lineage with the goal of protecting Fushi and the rest of the world from the Nokkers. However, as time passed, Fushi has developed a legendary status of his own and it’s not looking good. There are many who are beginning to see Fushi as a calamity that attracts the Nokkers rather than a savior of the people. This makes traveling rather difficult as proven by the introduction of our next character: Prince Bonchien Nicoli La Tasty Peach Uralis. I call him Bon Bon!
Bon Bon wants to capture Fushi for personal reasons; however, he’s surprised when Fushi decides to allow himself to be captured without any resistance. He’s taken to the castle where we end the volume with some of Bon Bon’s backstory.
Wow… holy time skip, Batman. Still, the thing I have feared is happening. Oima is turning into the George R.R. Martin of manga. I mean, he’s killing off characters so much that even Takahiro and Tetsuya Tashiro would be jealous. Even Gen Urobuchi bows to Yoshitoki Oima! Okay, so maybe I’m exaggerating a bit but I’m quickly learning not to get attached to any of the characters in this series with the exception of Fushi. Still, the time skipping is rather annoying but I feel with a main character that is an immortal, it was only a matter of time before something like this would happen. It makes you wonder if we’re going to see the world become a modern place like our world today and have Fushi living inside of it. It’s quite possible.
Characters
Fushi underwent a lot of development in this volume. His depression is worsening to the point where he realizes that everyone he has loved and wanted to protect is now gone. He began to shapeshift through everyone he lost over the years and a couple of people he changed into shocked me as it appears some characters have died off-screen without any explanation whatsoever. Still, Fushi contemplates if he should just turn back into a sphere and end it all. Sure, Fushi would live on as the sphere but he wouldn’t be concerned with anything that was happening around him anymore. The funny thing is, there is a duality beginning to form with him as well. He desires to live alone so that he can’t bring harm to more people but he often gets bored and is dissatisfied with being alone. This simple conflict shows that he’s learning more and more about human emotions and those emotions are beginning to slowly change him.
I think that’s great as even though we are fast-forwarding through time, it shows that Fushi’s growth isn’t instant. It takes a lot of time for him to absorb knowledge and apply it to himself. Of course, I’m not referring to shapeshifting, copying items, etc. I’m talking about the knowledge of what it means to be human and the human world around him. Heck, he’s been almost a century and the poor kid never realized what it means to boink a girl. I can’t even begin to imagine what that first release is going to be like once it happens!
Hisame, for her short time in the story, was just a mini-me version of Hayase. She was crazed about Fushi but all of that was due to imprinting. Hayase passed that obsession down to her daughter who, in turn, passed it down to Hisame. For a 9-year-old girl, she’s pretty brave to set out on a journey to find Fushi but as brave as she is, she’s still 9-years-old and completely dumb to the world around her. Fushi was her only driving force and you couldn’t help but feel Hayase’s spirit being channeled through this character. I’m just glad that Kahaku isn’t crazy like of his love-starved predecessors.
Speaking of which, he seems to be the first level-headed successor of the lot. Sad that it took eight total generations to reach this point but at least he’s a pretty decent guy. He seems nobler in his duties to protect Fushi but, then again, he’s a dude who likes women so he’s not exactly after Fushi’s man seed. I think this is the first Guardian that Fushi should keep by his side. He wants to help Fushi protect his image, especially after all of the rumors about him being a calamity are spreading more and more throughout the world. Plus, it seems that the Nokker was passed down between generations and each time it does, it seems to obey the user more and more. Hisame’s nearly destroyed her but Kahaku is able to fully control it and bend it to his will.
That Nokker hasn’t even tried to attach Fushi like it did when it was inside of Hisame. Does this mean that the Nokkers have free will of their own or does this mean that they can be “programmed” to not concern themselves with Fushi? If it’s free will, then why are they after Fushi? Why did they stop chasing Fushi and turn their attention towards humans? Is it to lure Fushi out? Do they have a different agenda? The Man in Black even said that he cannot control the minds and the Nokkers are instinctive rather than sentient. It really makes you wonder just what they are, to begin with. Seven volumes in and they’re still a confusing facet to the story.
Finally, we have our sweet little Bon Bon. A Prince that wants to be the next king but his father deemed his younger brother as the heir. So, he felt that if he were to capture Fushi and collect the 1,000 gold piece bounty, that would turn all of those people who see Fushi as a calamity into his supporters, thus making a strong case to present to his father to choose him as the next king instead. Underneath the super flamboyant exterior is a man who actually does care for the people… he’s just really… eccentric about it. I don’t know if him being king would do anyone any good but it seems to be a goal of his and one that he is willing to stoop to new lows to achieve. Seems about right in the world of politics!
Final Thoughts
For a volume that did so much time skipping, we sure had a ton of information and development dropped on us. Fushi is beginning to understand things a little more but his depression is showing through more than ever. I feel that this is going to Fushi’s next big test as he tries to find an answer to justify his own existence. In the meantime, he needs to find a way to permanently stop the Nokkers but this seems to be easier said than done. They seem to multiply way too quickly and this new tactic of attacking people rather than him is causing Fushi a ton of difficulty in finding that answer.
I usually like to predict where the series is going to go but I just can’t think of anything for this one. For all we know, we’ll have another 40-year time skip next volume and everyone will be dead and we’ll mean Kahaku’s son/daughter’s son/daughter’s son/daughter and start this cycle all over again.
Also, didn’t The Man in Black say that he wasn’t going to be around forever several volumes ago? For someone who is aiming to disappear, he’s sure taking his time to do so! Just a random thought.
Follow me on Twitter @TheAnimePulse
You can also check out other The Outerhaven reviews on your favorite social media networks:
Subscribe to us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theouterhaven
Subscribe to us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheOuterHaven
Subscribe to us on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/theouterhavennet
This item was purchased for review.
