Dark Gathering - Ch. 61 - Cleave
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They went back to their
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Shoutout to Kondo-sensei for making the monthly wait worthwhile, and for another nicely-paced issue.
Last month I remarked that "if the typical battle manga beats enable said potential to be drawn out for us readers to see, then I find them acceptable." This chapter is that statement made manifest, between the usual stellar artwork, the depiction of overlaying curses and teamwork, Yayoi's spirits actually struggling at their limits and the surprisingly tactical rhythm of the whole battle, it's giving me the same chills I get from the high standard World Trigger while not compromising on the horror vibes.
Asura and Maiden
This is exactly what a war god ought to do first: take out the most troublesome obstacles first, bonus points if they're long-range.
This chapter is filled with neat details: last month Tai Sui used the Defense Onmyo/soul transparency technique in order to prevent Asura's sketchbook curse from locking onto him. Now this month when Asura's sketchbook rain weather effect was activated, Tai Sui had to employ this same technique so he won't get touched by it.
After that, did anyone else notice that from Page 12 onwards, Tai Sui's left hand was stuck making the same hand sign, all the way until the rain was gone? It shows that so long as Asura was active, he had to fight with one hand effectively tied up. He really wasn't kidding in claiming him as the most troublesome to deal with.
It's painful to see them both getting hurt, but their final gambit of hands growing from the hand was not only really cool, this overlapping of curses upon curses is excellent imagery that one would expect from the horror genre too.
(By the way, art error: Tai Sui lost his right hand here, but the hand that was shown flying is his left)
High Priest, Sergeant and Revered Spirit
Another fun detail I picked up from the internet: up until Sergeant fell victim to the High Priest, he still had Oiran's butterflies sapping him.
Again, Sergeant's zombie-esque rise from hell and High Priest's unceasing chant are classic horror movie imagery while totally fitting the action.
Most of the audience will understandably make fun of High Priest again, but personally I think he might be the MVP of this portion of the battle: yes he's once again the least offensive and his curse couldn't be completed, but he not only served as a lure for the enemy, his sheer stubbornness towards his chant ensured that Tai Sui was stuck in a single spot for 10 seconds, which ultimately allowed the Revered Spirit's gravity and the Sergeant's prayer of exhaustion to pin him down and take out his left hand. This depiction of curses upon curses upon curses as a terrain effect is such a spectacle.
Incidentally, I liked that with Sergeant's Katana out of reach, he made the quick decision to use his short knife to remove Tai Sui's hand.
Tai Sui's counterattack on Sergeant though, it looked like slashes instead of being pierced with stars. Is that his Purge Reversal/curse reflection in action?
Condemned Sinner
I liked that he made the perfect follow-up and wasted no time bypassing Tai Sui's barrier and dealt a fatal blow.
I likewise believe he still has a final card to play and I don't care. I want a more fun finale, and I need Oiran to do something too!
I've seen suggestions that perhaps Tai Sui's "form" we see here is some sort of remote control, similar to Asura's 7th form. Can't deny it is possible, and he is definitively a Bunrei after all.
Furthermore, we haven't seen Ai or her barrier entity this entire chapter. Wouldn't be surprised if that's the Bunrei's true form. Heck, it could even explain how it's automatically repelling all damage towards Ai.
Whatever the case, with only Oiran, Revered Spirit and Condemned Sinner remaining, I expect next chapter to be the end of the battle. I know I'll be satisfied with it.
Final Note
Browsing comments from the Chinese fanbase, there was an interesting idea: whilst the knocked-out combatants of this battle remain "alive" and have evacuated back into their dolls, they're nonetheless heavily injured and will likely have to stay at the Dorm to recover for a while, like a week or two.
Meaning, they won't be participating at the start of the next arc. Meaning, this gives the excuse of Yayoi having less firepower in her arsenal for a time, as well as a chance to give the spotlight to other spirits, like the three she caught from Kyoto. This could be fun.
Last month I remarked that "if the typical battle manga beats enable said potential to be drawn out for us readers to see, then I find them acceptable." This chapter is that statement made manifest, between the usual stellar artwork, the depiction of overlaying curses and teamwork, Yayoi's spirits actually struggling at their limits and the surprisingly tactical rhythm of the whole battle, it's giving me the same chills I get from the high standard World Trigger while not compromising on the horror vibes.
Asura and Maiden
This is exactly what a war god ought to do first: take out the most troublesome obstacles first, bonus points if they're long-range.
This chapter is filled with neat details: last month Tai Sui used the Defense Onmyo/soul transparency technique in order to prevent Asura's sketchbook curse from locking onto him. Now this month when Asura's sketchbook rain weather effect was activated, Tai Sui had to employ this same technique so he won't get touched by it.
After that, did anyone else notice that from Page 12 onwards, Tai Sui's left hand was stuck making the same hand sign, all the way until the rain was gone? It shows that so long as Asura was active, he had to fight with one hand effectively tied up. He really wasn't kidding in claiming him as the most troublesome to deal with.
It's painful to see them both getting hurt, but their final gambit of hands growing from the hand was not only really cool, this overlapping of curses upon curses is excellent imagery that one would expect from the horror genre too.
(By the way, art error: Tai Sui lost his right hand here, but the hand that was shown flying is his left)
High Priest, Sergeant and Revered Spirit
Another fun detail I picked up from the internet: up until Sergeant fell victim to the High Priest, he still had Oiran's butterflies sapping him.
Again, Sergeant's zombie-esque rise from hell and High Priest's unceasing chant are classic horror movie imagery while totally fitting the action.
Most of the audience will understandably make fun of High Priest again, but personally I think he might be the MVP of this portion of the battle: yes he's once again the least offensive and his curse couldn't be completed, but he not only served as a lure for the enemy, his sheer stubbornness towards his chant ensured that Tai Sui was stuck in a single spot for 10 seconds, which ultimately allowed the Revered Spirit's gravity and the Sergeant's prayer of exhaustion to pin him down and take out his left hand. This depiction of curses upon curses upon curses as a terrain effect is such a spectacle.
Incidentally, I liked that with Sergeant's Katana out of reach, he made the quick decision to use his short knife to remove Tai Sui's hand.
Tai Sui's counterattack on Sergeant though, it looked like slashes instead of being pierced with stars. Is that his Purge Reversal/curse reflection in action?
Condemned Sinner
I liked that he made the perfect follow-up and wasted no time bypassing Tai Sui's barrier and dealt a fatal blow.
I likewise believe he still has a final card to play and I don't care. I want a more fun finale, and I need Oiran to do something too!
I've seen suggestions that perhaps Tai Sui's "form" we see here is some sort of remote control, similar to Asura's 7th form. Can't deny it is possible, and he is definitively a Bunrei after all.
Furthermore, we haven't seen Ai or her barrier entity this entire chapter. Wouldn't be surprised if that's the Bunrei's true form. Heck, it could even explain how it's automatically repelling all damage towards Ai.
Whatever the case, with only Oiran, Revered Spirit and Condemned Sinner remaining, I expect next chapter to be the end of the battle. I know I'll be satisfied with it.
Final Note
Browsing comments from the Chinese fanbase, there was an interesting idea: whilst the knocked-out combatants of this battle remain "alive" and have evacuated back into their dolls, they're nonetheless heavily injured and will likely have to stay at the Dorm to recover for a while, like a week or two.
Meaning, they won't be participating at the start of the next arc. Meaning, this gives the excuse of Yayoi having less firepower in her arsenal for a time, as well as a chance to give the spotlight to other spirits, like the three she caught from Kyoto. This could be fun.
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No need to be sorry, here's a fun fact for you, some readers in the Chinese fanbase likes to refer to Dark Gathering as the true "Jujutsu" Kaisen - less fisticuffs, more clashing of curses and sorcery.
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PokeGhosts
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Amazing breakdown with some details I missed, giving me even more appreciation for this manga and this chapter, thanks!! And ayy, another World Trigger fan in the wild!
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If you ever read Dragon Ball, this is still considered very fast XD
They can still heal, I think. They need rest in place with high level spiritual power though, but our girl already buy a house specifically for that.
Its because Otogiri absorb some power from the sergeant.
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Yeah, ever since we got into the god plot we didn't get as much worldbuildihg and characterization.
The manga was always soft SMT, so can't expect much more lol
Ha, yeah, could be infinitely worse, it's no Namek at least lol
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i see cleave i think of shrine
The funny thing is that this is more JJK than the recent JJK. JJK is more about curses, spirit and magic shit. Lately, it’s mostly fist fight and Sukuna fight was dragged out so much that it becomes stale and bad. Gege is too busy killing off people to focus on the story. I mean, wth happened behind the scene? Dude did very well with earlier half of the series from the start to the Shibuya arc.
My opinion tho, It's meant to be dragged out when it comes to shonen, but I agree with you w/ the quality becoming stale. I mean, Gege's pissing off fanbases left and right at the expense of the story
Nah, not really
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Man, this fight is getting me Zombieya Reiko vibes (clones like JJK, like some people implying here, can still wait to be as amazing as Dark Gathering and Zombieya Reiko) and I knew that "god" is just a fake as I said in the previous chapter, it's just another spirit with a ridiculous amount of power.
I hope Meat Boy and the Soldier survive all this massacre, they're been doing so amazingly in the last chapters.
I hope Meat Boy and the Soldier survive all this massacre, they're been doing so amazingly in the last chapters.
