Maria no Danzai - Ch. 35 - Marionette

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Lmao at everyone bitching at Okaya's mom being the corrupt Police-Chief and everyone misusing the word "cliche". It's not at all cliche: it was a great unexpected twist that he has a parent in the Police-Force protecting him. Honestly, I was expecting him to have some serious blackmail on the mocking pencil-neck Police-Superior like he did with that Teacher-Coach that bullied the Jock when he was a kid - now that's predictably cliche.

It changes the story's formula a bit and makes it interesting again. It was kinda getting boring for three arcs: pick off a clique member, punish him/her in a way related to his/her sins, confusing but getting closer figuring it out aftermath for the villians. Now the story has progressed further enough that the formula has to change a bit because the villian-cast can now be a legitimate antagonistic force given they've acquired enough evidence to have prime suspects/suspicions.

I have a feeling that shit is gonna get exponentially intense with Fat-Boy. Like, Maria is gonna finally seriously slip up given the more laser-focused scrutiny getting on her when she kills Fat-Boy. Like, Fat-Boy dies but he gets the last laugh because somehow he confirms she's the killer with his death - so Okaya and Maria have an intense battle where they are trying to kill each other without it getting public (Okaya sorta doing it like so because he finds the whole situation entertaining af). I still think Fat-Boy will be really different, like somehow a deal is attempted or struck with Maria to get to Okaya in exchange for his own life being spared. Maybe Fat-Boy might even be the first to escape his death-punishment somehow; like on his dying deathbed he reveals Maria is the killer to Okaya before he dies.
 
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I don’t know, even for a manga packed with absurdities, the idea of Okaya having control over the police feels like a step too far. It’s one thing to embrace the chaotic and exaggerated elements, but giving a high school boy that much power—especially since it seems he’s had it since middle school—really stretches the limits of believability, even for this story.

Thanks for the chapter!
It could have made much more sense if they had him being as smart as he is because his mum is chief inspector, but no he is just a super genius in control of everything somehow.
 
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Honestly, no need for the mom to have the earpiece or be going off a script. Like an evil parent protecting their child using their position of power is feasible enough. There’s no need for Okaya to have specifically orchestrated this including the wording. It makes his mother a better character too as she would have more agency and appear less like a puppet.
 
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I’ve probably said this before in one of these threads but I heard the author confirmed that this series wouldn’t be long, so there’s probably only 20-25 ish chapters left. I think the fact that this is the first time we’ve gotten a new character in a while proves that this won’t go down a juujika route as well, as that series was constantly introducing new characters.

On the actual twists, I honestly don’t mind them. I think the dynamic of Okaya and his mom vs Maria and Nagare is interesting and seeing a mother vs mother conflict will certainly lead to some places.
 
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I did not see that coming but it all makes sense now how else was scumbags of the earth were able to get away with bullying if they have someone covering for them however you never expected to be the chief of the police and the chief of the police to be mother to the main antagonist.
 
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It already happened when Okaya turned out to be a super detective who knows everything from circumstantial evidence and details that are seemingly disconnected. Since it was already absurd just take it that the mother used his genius to get to the top and will keep going along with it if it means she can get even higher. Is it dumb? Yeah, but it's been dumb for a long time.
Yup, the skis are locked and loaded and the shark is eagerly waiting.
 
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Honestly not fond of this twist.

I hate when revenge manga do this because it usually just means that from now on there'll be a ton of stupid hindrances to the main character and the story will deviate further and further from the original goal.

And it also basically makes way for any bs because the police can just give the villain all the info and essentially run unchecked, conveniently removing any obstacles for the main villain.

The same shit happened in Juujika no Rokunin and it was infuriating and turned that manga into a laughing stock.

But my real fear is this getting used to unnecessarily drag out the plot for hundreds of chapters like with Juujika (god that manga traumatized me).

I really hope I'm wrong and the police is used as an interesting plot device but good god I can only see it getting irritating from now on.
 
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Getting real close to Juujikanizing your work, mangaka-san.
Thread carefully.

Not even close yet, hold your horses a bit, this has to do so much shit to get to Juujika's abysmal level. I don't like the twist much but it depends a lot on what the author will do with it from now on, let's hope
 
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Lmao at everyone bitching at Okaya's mom being the corrupt Police-Chief and everyone misusing the word "cliche". It's not at all cliche...
After that everything you say is cliché af. That last paragraph in particular are all ideas done to death since the early days of mystery fiction. It is not a problem really, every idea has been done to death and what really matters is presentation. Which is obviously lacking here, since the majority into this type of story likely knew what was going to be revealed and the justifications for it when cop brought taunting flowers.
 
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So basically this certain district of Japan is so totally screwed up by cop huh...
 
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Two more motherfuckers now have a date with a chainsaw
 
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Getting real close to Juujikanizing your work, mangaka-san.
Thread carefully.
even jujika didn't have the police as puppets that directly, can't believe they got one over this manga, specially since Maria will have to put his dagger against the police too.
 

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