I Am a Hero - Vol. 22 Ch. 264

[Esroodie]

Y'know what I liked this ending. It fits. The story is a commentary on selfish and anti-social people and ends with the Main Character alone but no longer selfish. Don't know why people still think that the the zombie apocalypse was caused by aliens though; the hive-mind straight up said that this was more of an evolutionary thing. One thing I didn't like was how the perverted characters faced no consequences for being weirdos but thats tends to be how mangaka treats there pervy characters. Also, I know a lot was left unresolved but strangely I am fine with most of it, the only things I wanted to know was about the fisherman and the chimera fusion of those 3 dudes and the girl. Personally, I'd rate it a 8.5/10 but objectively more like 7/10

 

[Grey_mint]

Alright so... I actually expected something way worse! The ending fits the story, and there's not much more that I could ask from it.

 

[Grey_mint]

well, it's an ending. A bit "rebuild from the ashes" maybe, but it's fine. I don't like how so many themes got dropped by the end and remain unfinished, from the gender stuff to Internet culture to the humanity of zombies to the nature of survivors. Heck, the manga doesn't even bother explaining what was going on with Hiromi and why the ZQN are fused into giant monstrosities. Not even sure what making that a plot point in the first place did for the manga honestly, besides turning it into Shounen Battle Manga #56709. Same with the alien theory stuff, but at least that helps explain why the ZQN leave.

I really don't like how the Kurusu storyline developed. It started off as a way to explore the superiority complex that a ton of Internet nerds have. Then the plurality/multiplicity thing got introduced, and there was a second cult dedicated to some celebrity, and the other monsters started happening too... it kind of just never developed into what it needed to be. Not to say that it lost sight of the delusional superiority theme (the Naked Emperor is still ranting about that at the end), but it never managed to capitalize on the theme and develop it into an actual interesting idea.

And in the end, a bunch of semi-important side characters never get a resolution. Hiromi at least has her moments of exploration and gets to figure out her feelings towards Hideo once she becomes swarm queen (even if it does come with a bit of Mindbreak the Cutie), and her conclusion is to let him live and be unhappy. Oda-san on the other hand is just purposefully unresolved as a character, and her oft-mistreated sibling likewise never gets explored (oh I know they get scenes, but it's just a kind of gawky "here's what happened isn't it weird"). And of course, Korori/Nakata and Hideo never meet and resolve the whole mess of emotions there. But at least that has a poetic sadness to it, a bit of "he never saw Molly again", you know.

One last thing: I appreciate the audiovisual hallucinations coming back. I know that thematically it means he's unable to face the reality of his loneliness or whatever, but it's realistic. Real people dealing with hallucinations don't usually just "get over them" at some point. It's a lifelong thing. He's not worse for it, just different.

You're probably not around here anymore, but your comments were pretty insightful. Hope you're well

 

[Vainfire]

You're probably not around here anymore, but your comments were pretty insightful. Hope you're well

Thank ya! I wrote all these comments while on a massive, massive j-horror binge. I got a lot out of it at the time, though looking back I can barely remember why I held these opinions... still completely agree with past self on the zombies being just "different people" though. I'm glad you enjoyed the commentary!

 

[gr8g]

I started with UN read that all in one go, liked it and followed it back here. Man! Read this whole in one go too. Like many people I was also disappointed with the ending. Someone posted that the author was grieving, and so may have axed the storyline. Considering the amount of world building he's doing in UN, he seems to be back to form. I hope he comes back to this and does a redux.
I would consider that Hideo's "I am Legend" arc to be a hallucination he's having while being absorbed by the hive. And maybe we can have a new storyline where we meet these Alien Overlords, with Hiromi either for/against humanity.

 

[zevenate]

Honestly, I liked it. There were definitely things that could have used a bit more development (such as the whole subplot with the Kurusus), but I think it's interesting in its own right to leave things open-ended. Rather than a story using its plot to convey a message, it simply tells a story within which we can see the ideas more subtly, without definitive answers. Most central of these was that of human connection and misunderstanding, as we see that even assimilation into enormous hiveminds cannot dispense with such things. We don't exactly get a firm resolution to the relationship between Hiromi and Hideo (did she retain individuality or merge with the gestalt, was it for love, hate, or both that she let him live?), but such things are often vague and muddled in reality too.

What makes this work for me despite the lacking conclusion is that it made sense. The world was consistent (and interesting), the characters were (to varying extents) fleshed out and acted reasonably, and what conclusions there were were sensible. Maybe I'm just in a mood where I don't see the need for any grander sentiments in life, but, for all the epic tales of virtue, evil, heroism, and villainy, I think having a story like this is fine too.

 

[GodsWeakestSoldier]

What the fuck I loved this but then we get this nothing burger at the end what the fuck I thought he would find someone and then it'll end nope he just knows how to make bullets and hunts deer now wtf also what's up with boat guy hideo never thought to go check to see how he was doing

 

[TkoHarley]

I'm just glad Hideo adapted and isn't sad, he's a really nice guy and deserves to be happy

He seems very sad to me

 

[TkoHarley]

It's a very melancholic ending. Our main character ends up spending the rest of his life utterly alone. Narratively, I think this is meant to represent what locking yourself away from society does. But at the same time, it feels very loosely tied onto the story. Everyone in Tokyo is gone, including the survivors they saw from the heli. Don't ask how. Hideo never went back to the boat. Don't ask why. Auntie is a young woman again, don't ask how the hell.

There were a lot of messages in this story. All of them focused around what it means to interact with other people. My favourite aspects were the zombies and their whole ecology. I loved the hivemind concept and the self-awareness of the zombies. I also loved the psychology of the characters. It was a really interesting expereince to slowly realize that both of our MC's were just kinda shitty people.

Hideo starts off wanting to be a hero, and we cheer for him as he overcomes his delusions and fears. But then he shows a lack of care about Oda's death. She leaves behind a long note for him and he just says "This is a long note" and never reads it. As he grows accustomed to the apocalypses he goes on to pursue Hiromi, and it becomes difficult to know if he actually loves her or just wants to fuck a high school girl.
All these flaws are brought into focus when we see Nakata, someone Hideo hated from the beginning. Nkaata at first seems awful, talking about groping all the time. And thanks to the first chapters were we see Hideos hateful opinion of Nakata, we think "This guy is the villian!". But no. Quickly we see that Nakata is a smart, dependable and caring person. A true hero who tries to save who he can. And Hideo ends up shooting because of his own ignorance. The whole last section of this manga really paints the beginning of the story in a new light.
Ultimately, Hideo turned out to just be a spiteful perv, who couldn't open his heart up to anyone.

I like these concepts. I think it was really interesting. But towards the end, some things kinda failed at execution.

Why did Hiromi choose to leave Hideo and join the hive? And we never really finished her mental process inside it. She just dissolved literally into hate.

What was the end goal of the hives? I really enjoyed the ecology and was looking forward to what it would mean for the planet. The closest answer we get is that Italy one, which shows all humans transformed into various infastructure components. And some kind of womb. But nothing comes of it.

Theres a lot more I could say but I'll just leave it with this summary of my opinion:

It's a great manga, with a conceptually fantastic ending marred by poor finalization of certain plot points.

 

[SephirothCereal]

I'm glad Hideo didn't win at the end of the day with anything and has to be by himself hopefully for the rest of his life but god I wish that guy went through worse or something. I genuinely hate him with every fiber of my being. Also I think it's really strange that auntie just... somehow got super young and whatever and is just now a baby making machine like it's pretty strange. Also not to mention the fact that Korori is just a molester or whatever living his sweet best life. Whatever...

Honestly not the worst ending ever, I'm just a bit bummed out that the alien/zombie stuff never gets mentioned again and we never learn anything about the Barcelona zombie (guy that was just a head and legs). Probably one of the best zombie concepts I've ever seen but it's just held down honestly by how rancid (and meaningless) + uninteresting a ton of these characters are. I REALLY enjoyed Kurusu as a character(s) at least

 

[datboi]

Not the best ending, it's alright. Wish he expand more on some stuff but hey that was pretty enjoyable ride.