The Bugle Call: Song of War

[MangaDex]

 

[Treinador-O-MAIORAL]

In recent memory this is one of the best first chapter for a Jump SQ manga, very good.

 

[Herowasp]

This series is really good, and pretty unique! I love how uncaring the protagonist is, he’s so consistent with his goal and stuff. Idk how to say it, he’s just real. I hope this one continues for a long time.

 

[nathbregou27]

One of the best manga I've read in a while, even though I generally don't read this style of mangas (military middle agey vibes).

 

[NECOdes]

pretty interesting...

 

[Thiron]

Hmm, his "freedom after victory" condition sounds like it would end with "getting disposed" to me

 

[KimKowabunga]

Seems like a good blueprint for a RTS game. Maybe the author is into Age of Empires.

 

[Treinador-O-MAIORAL]

I was looking for a battle shonen series to follow chapter by chapter and this one has impressed me (thank god it's not another chainsaw man wannabe).
This medieval setting with fantastical powers and fights grounded by actual war and battle befitting for the time (or at least resembling what we think war look liked in the middle ages) is different and interesting to see in a battle shonen manga; Fullmetal alchemist's historical-fantasy worldbuilding is probably the closest analogy for this one.

 

[Joker-San]

Unique Power, World and Rare Eastern Europe Middle Age setting. I have high hope for this one

 

[wodniobojca188]

I hope translation will come back eventually. It's a masterpiece.
Also I hope even if it will end up being axed, it still gets support.

 

[ZombieJr]

I'm guessing the translators just dropped this which is a shame.

 

[Ahegao69]

This manga has blown my mind in just 12 chapters.

Amazing story writing with great pacing, every time i read it it never felt rushed or stretched out, a lot of unique characters with their own unique powers, like some of these power is just unique that i could've never thought of it, amazing world building especially that they've visited some of the kingdom to protect the tower, its just great accross the board.

And my god the art! The art is really great, amazing composition, details, perspective! everything is great!

I definitely have high hopes for this manga but there's only 12 chapter as i currently type this i don't know how things would progress going on forward but as of right now. Definitely recommend that you read it!

 

[owen3939]

If this doesn't become a massive success I'll lose the little faith I have left in Japan

 

[zephyrnepres]

shit goes fucking crazy on chapter 13 none of you are ready for this

 

[meiilee]

Good solid manga so far. 10/10 must read

 

[TheMagnificentSteinerr]

The map I based these assumptions on!
Some facts about the Geography of Sensou Kyoushitsu:

• The Papal States are based on the Papal States, nuff said
• The Empire of Erin is Britain.. We know this because in chapter 7, it is revealed that The Empire is an island. Therefore, it is likely that The Empire of Erin is based on Britain.
• Galia is based on France.
• The location of Normandy eluded me for quite a while, because of it's location which is below Galia based on the map in chapter 15, which means it should be in where modern day Spain is. However, in chapter 17.5, Hispania was introduced, which is evidently Spain. Out of curiosity, I looked up Normandy and found that it is an area in France. Therefore, it is likely that Normandy is in lower France and potentially spanning into Aragon.
• Hispania is in Spain.
• The etymology of the name Gerhart, a character from an undisclosed birthplace, implies the existence of areas under Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and lo and behold, in the 13th century, that location was home to the Holy Roman Empire, which implies it's existence. This is because there is no more land to explore (besides Scotland but we will get to that later), as above Papal is Sicilly, below Papal is HRE, to the side of that is Galia (France), below that is Normandy, and then below that what we now call Spain (Hispania) and below that is Africa, which I doubt we will explore yet.

Below this is theory crafting for the future of Sensou Kyoushitsu (assuming the story doesn't end after The Empires defeat)

• The majority of the names in this series are European in nature, yet we have some exceptions, such as the capital of The Papal States and Miura. The capital of The Papal States is Terumi, which is a japanese name, and Miura is a japanese name as well. This implies the existence of Japan. However, it was not until the 16th century where Japan and European powers really made any contact, yet this could be possible through the Mongols. The Mongols were not able to successfully invade Japan, but they were invasions during 1274. It's plausible that some Japanese names got mixed in with the Mongolians and this could have led to a few Japanese names ending up all the way in western Europe. This implies the existence of both Japan and the Mongol Empire within the universe of Sensou Kyoushitsu.
• The name Oscar comes from the Irish, so it's a decent possibility that Ireland exists. Furthermore, The Empire of Erin has the name Erin in it, which is also gaelic. Ireland was owned by Britain at the time, which we have assumed to be The Empire of Erin
• The name Zahid is arabic, so maybe some Arabic countries exist.
• We will likely go to Sicilly, if it isn't under Papal States control already.
• Hungary is also quite close to The Papal States, so its another candidate to visit.
• I hope we go to Russia and Egypt

The rest of this text will contain spoilers for chapters 18-27, which are only accessible in Japanese. Honestly, if you can deal with google translate ahh TL, the Normandy Arc is probably the best arc so far.

• Desert of The Dead is mentioned, which is in Afghanistan, and there are people who we meet which are presumed to be middle-easterners (Source: Chapter 18)
• Germania is probably the Holy Roman Empire (Source: Chapter 19)
• Gaul is a historic area that once was a portion of France, and it says Gaul is under Papal State control. If Gaul is seperate from Galia (which is also a historic area of France), this would mean that France is even more divided than we have previously thought. My personal headcanon is that the bottom two sections of France in the map I linked are Gaul, the middle section is Normandy and the top two sections are Galia. (Source: Chapter 19)
• Just a pretty baseless observation, but a lot of the mercenary characters have a traditionally "nordic" look to them, so it could be a possibility that we see the nordic countries. (Source: Chapter 19)
• Interestingly, history is repeating itself, as Garland's father has a cassette player which was recreated from information in thre tower. This shows that the ancient civilization is probably our civilization. (Source: Chapter 20)
• Mediterranean is canon (Source: Chapter 23)
• Chapter 23 also mentions a country, which based on the context is Udo's home country, but due to the absolute gibberish that is google translate, I have no fucking clue what it is. However, baed on the etymology of the name Udo, which is german, it can be implied that this country is Germania.
• Sidenote: Karl VS Udo and Akira VS Old Couple gotta be some of my favorite fights of the series, second only to Mirror VS Zoe.
• Chapter 23 has Karl teleported to a country which isn't named that has no Tower (rip my goat Karl).
• England being shown implies that that Dutchy of Normandy is in upper France, so it's likely Galia is the middle of Europe and Normandy is upper europe, counter to the map shown in chapter 15, which could have just been a misinterpretation, as up until this point, tower = kingdom, but it appears there are three kingdoms in france, so they likely share one tower. (Source: Chapter 24)
• Garland is Kayano? (could be google translate tweaking the fuck out)
• Clone dude is Theodore? (could be google translate tweaking the freak out)
• Theodore is honestly such a good character, even though he's pretty pathetic and a weak coward, he got me so invested. The story did a great job of making him seem like a person, and even as he was dead, he kinda overcame his issues in a way. Aaaand I'm going of tangent from the geography/worldbuilding.
• Chapter 25 is so questionable (still peak
• Chapter 26 is peak.

CHAPTER 27 EDITS:

• With chapter 27, we see the end of the Normandy arc, and the absolutely insane reveal that the towers were sent back in time to change the past and that the wars going on are proxy wars, explains the similarities to late 13th century geography, yet the differences such as The Empire of Erin having an irish name instead of an english one, or France being partitioned into 3 kingdoms.
• We also learn there are 9 towers, and I believe we can assume that 1 tower = 1 kingdom. I assume these future people are going to be based on present day. However, I believe there are only 9 towers that our characters know of, as its likely this wouldn't count africa due to europeans lack of exploration, and places like the americas or japan. I guess we could also assume that these 9 towers include china.
• Using the 8 most influential european countries and china, here is my theory for each country with towers.
  • China
  • Germany
  • UK
  • Italy
  • Russia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • France
  • Romania/Greece/Turkey
• My reasoning for a majority of these picks is due to these countries success in modern times as they all have relatively high GDPs and are first world countries which would have access to powerful technologies like time travel. I also doubt time travel is very advanced, so it must be rare and expensive. If time travel was advanced, they would just send their own armies to conquer middle ages europe. Furthermore, these countries are all relatively successful in modern times. Germany (Germania), UK (Empire of Erin), Italy (The Papal States), Spain (Hispania) and Gallia/Normandy/Gaul (France) are already confirmed, so I will give my reasoning for the rest of the picks, besides their GDP.
  • China is one of the most powerful countries of the modern age, and it has the second highest GDP of any country. Ever since the warring states period, it has always had power in the modern age. However, in the 13th century, mongols controlled a sizable portion of China, so this could potentially reinvigorate mongolian conquest of europe.
  • Russia wasn't particularly strong country until the Romanov's breathed life into it, but in the 13th century, for once in it's history it was relatively unified. Therefore, it is a prime candidate for a tower from both a lore and a historical perspective.
  • Sweden is another successful modern day country, and the reason I have it as a candidate is more so from a story angle. Vikings are fucking cool. Even though the viking "empire" had mostly died out by the end of the 13th century, they could just pull a berserk and fuck up the timeline a bit (berserk takes place in the 13th/14th century, yet the ottoman empire is at the size of 17th century europe in that series). Historically, vikings were a powerful seafaring "kingdom" and with the soldiers of Normandy setting to sea in this chapter, and with normandy being historically norse, this could be a call back to that. Perhaps the Normandy people are going to voyage to Nordic lands.
  • My reasoning for Romania/Greece/Turkey is that these three could pool together their forces and kickstart the Ottoman Empire. This would work historically, as the ottoman empire formed in 1299, and we do have middle eastern characters like Zahid or the escaped slaves.

 

[gamria]

After Ch 27, I had a mind to start writing up my own comments in this space of the forums, even if I wind up just talking to myself. And what do you know, someone else like me is here!

Hmmm, I'm not sure which I liked better, the Land of Mirrors (Galia) arc or the Land of Slaves (Normandy) arc. My reason being that:

• On one hand, the latter has a less unique setting and spent the first half doing a mix between scouting and character development, which while necessary and logical lowered the tempo of the story to slow levels (not ideal for monthly serialisations).
• On the other hand, we received plenty of info and reveals, and the second half is back to the series' signature style of magical tactical warfare with a span of 7 chapters, the longest stretch of time spent on a single battle thus far and in a most exciting and epic fashion where everyone played a part.

I can only say that each of the two arcs had aspects that I felt did better than the other, and thus like them differently.

Anyway, I'll write up some comments, but Ch 27 will have to be done separately.

Ch 20

Spoiler

When the previous chapter mentioned "Skyfall", I was wondering what that could possibly mean, especially since we already have someone who pulls meteors from the sky. But man was the answer fantastic: crazy gravity powers, complete with Gravity Rush-esque disorienting perspectives who can rise and fall from the sky.

But man is Akira's future sight completely busted when complimented with super strength. And now having access to the powers of dead Rami (like Ch 17 Tem's "slow down physical blows"), I find it hard to believe he isn't secretly the Emperor of the Empire. Unless he's perhaps nonetheless the "admin" of the Empire's Tower and there is an actual separate Emperor of the nation but is not the one in charge of the Tower?

Ch 21

Spoiler

Items that Koura brought with her to this campaign:

1. A knife imbued with Gyorm's (the Galian-allied Ramus) air-solidifying Ramus power
2. An ice pick imbued with Sara's (the captured Imperial Ramus from Ch 6) weight-manipulation power

Sad as it is, the former is very compatible with Zoe and the latter is very compatible with Poppi

When the hour to eliminate the Garland came, I was wondering if it was just going to be a stealth mission without the usual pitched battle. But nope, the time for stealth is long past, and the Pope had already mustered all the troops so they can march in through a Mirror portal (and what an entrance)

The Lucas, Udo and Koura combo for the giant blood siege lance is a sight to behold, for good or ill

Ch 22

Spoiler

Seeing Lucas command troops never gets old

I like that Lucas thought to look at the natural routines of the troops under his command, so that when he does command them he can better leverage their strengths.

A very good demonstration of why quantity is a quality is itself. And a clever way to create your own terrain and turn the tides, but sadly not without sacrifice.

Ch 23

Spoiler

A nice battle of attrition between two veteran Rami, though the measures for assisting Udo are unpleasant to say the least.

Clever of Lucas to use the prospect of more resources to bait the enemy into a trap. For your information, the teleported location is the fort from Ch 15 from which their party first entered Normandy, complete with the exterior that lies outside of any diocese. Extra insult to injury by using Carl's former comrade Sara's power to push him into the portal.

For extra icing, this is a battle between one who longs to distinguish themselves on the battlefield and one who found something more precious off of it.

Ch 24

Spoiler

The former Seclusion Ramus' power is reportedly imbued into an hourglass and appear to only work from the outside. And the Facsimile Ramus Theodore feels it best if it's in his safekeeping for the coming battle, for his new friend Kayano.

The implied suspicion that the powers of dead Ramus will go to the closest Tower is now hard confirmed by the Pope...and demonstrated by the Empire's Tower having command over the Skyfall's gravity powers from across the sea. Or more specifically, the Tower IS a Ramus, whose branch grew HUGE. (That's all we got for now)

However, the Pope muses that having the Tower use a power is very inefficient, so such attacks cannot be used repeatedly and shows the enemy's desperation. Moreover, he thinks to himself (possibly with Demi's sight) that this Tower is rotting...

I love all these ways to screw with Demi's nigh-omniscient powers, hiding a target among enemies who all have the same face on a chaotic circular battlefield and constantly on the move. In turn, Lucas aimed to make the task easier by getting Miura and Poppi to herd enemies into one sector for Demi to focus on.

But just like with Marineford, seconds of courage are enough to change outcomes. Overall, a very tense and sizable chapter full of drama, reveals and development worthy of the series' 2nd year anniversary.

Ch 25

Spoiler

Good news is that the imminent attack on Galia has been terminated, one goal achieved. Bad news is that retreat is impossible (or at least be far too costly) with Akira present, so Zoe must engage him.

Not looking good for the end of chapter though. Lucas and Zoe cut off and surrounded. Weight-manipulation powers ran out. Mirror in Akira's hands. Lucas turning deaf and even had his dream trampled on. However can the tides turn...

Ch 26

Spoiler

The mirror that Akira took from Lucas...is a fake! What a relief. And even he never saw this turn of events coming.

Lucas' Flowering ability is more or less what I suspected: can broadcast his thoughts (and not just military commands) without musical instruments and listeners (friend or foe) will heed them. And this is still not worth losing Zoe over?

Despite the Pope's rational tendency to manipulate, his interactions with Lucas do strike me as the kind who cares and respects the decision of others. I'm glad he's allowing Zoe to follow her heart.

From borrowing the physical strength of her future selves to borrowing time itself and outspeed future sight, pretty nuts. (Estimate is 1 second for a normal person = 10 seconds for Zoe) Understandably, neither Flowering lasted long.

But what a final blow: the Skyfall's second partner Meryl (relationship unclear, even with Notebook 34) disguising herself as Zoe to fool Akira's future sight and pin him down, so Lucas can bisect him with a portal. A collective effort from his enemies across multiple nations, including the Mirror. Even if this is non-fatal since we have seen him regenerate, this is still delightful.

 

[TheMagnificentSteinerr]

After Ch 27, I had a mind to start writing up my own comments in this space of the forums, even if I wind up just talking to myself. And what do you know, someone else like me is here!

Hmmm, I'm not sure which I liked better, the Land of Mirrors (Galia) arc or the Land of Slaves (Normandy) arc. My reason being that:

• On one hand, the latter has a less unique setting and spent the first half doing a mix between scouting and character development, which while necessary and logical lowered the tempo of the story to slow levels (not ideal for monthly serialisations).
• On the other hand, we received plenty of info and reveals, and the second half is back to the series' signature style of magical tactical warfare with a span of 7 chapters, the longest stretch of time spent on a single battle thus far and in a most exciting and epic fashion where everyone played a part.

I can only say that each of the two arcs had aspects that I felt did better than the other, and thus like them differently.

Anyway, I'll write up some comments, but Ch 27 will have to be done separately.

Ch 20

Spoiler

When the previous chapter mentioned "Skyfall", I was wondering what that could possibly mean, especially since we already have someone who pulls meteors from the sky. But man was the answer fantastic: crazy gravity powers, complete with Gravity Rush-esque disorienting perspectives who can rise and fall from the sky.

But man is Akira's future sight completely busted when complimented with super strength. And now having access to the powers of dead Rami (like Ch 17 Tem's "slow down physical blows"), I find it hard to believe he isn't secretly the Emperor of the Empire. Unless he's perhaps nonetheless the "admin" of the Empire's Tower and there is an actual separate Emperor of the nation but is not the one in charge of the Tower?

Ch 21

Spoiler

Items that Koura brought with her to this campaign:

1. A knife imbued with Gyorm's (the Galian-allied Ramus) air-solidifying Ramus power
2. An ice pick imbued with Sara's (the captured Imperial Ramus from Ch 6) weight-manipulation power

Sad as it is, the former is very compatible with Zoe and the latter is very compatible with Poppi

When the hour to eliminate the Garland came, I was wondering if it was just going to be a stealth mission without the usual pitched battle. But nope, the time for stealth is long past, and the Pope had already mustered all the troops so they can march in through a Mirror portal (and what an entrance)

The Lucas, Udo and Koura combo for the giant blood siege lance is a sight to behold, for good or ill

Ch 22

Spoiler

Seeing Lucas command troops never gets old

I like that Lucas thought to look at the natural routines of the troops under his command, so that when he does command them he can better leverage their strengths.

A very good demonstration of why quantity is a quality is itself. And a clever way to create your own terrain and turn the tides, but sadly not without sacrifice.

Ch 23

Spoiler

A nice battle of attrition between two veteran Rami, though the measures for assisting Udo are unpleasant to say the least.

Clever of Lucas to use the prospect of more resources to bait the enemy into a trap. For your information, the teleported location is the fort from Ch 15 from which their party first entered Normandy, complete with the exterior that lies outside of any diocese. Extra insult to injury by using Carl's former comrade Sara's power to push him into the portal.

For extra icing, this is a battle between one who longs to distinguish themselves on the battlefield and one who found something more precious off of it.

Ch 24

Spoiler

The former Seclusion Ramus' power is reportedly imbued into an hourglass and appear to only work from the outside. And the Facsimile Ramus Theodore feels it best if it's in his safekeeping for the coming battle, for his new friend Kayano.

The implied suspicion that the powers of dead Ramus will go to the closest Tower is now hard confirmed by the Pope...and demonstrated by the Empire's Tower having command over the Skyfall's gravity powers from across the sea. Or more specifically, the Tower IS a Ramus, whose branch grew HUGE. (That's all we got for now)

However, the Pope muses that having the Tower use a power is very inefficient, so such attacks cannot be used repeatedly and shows the enemy's desperation. Moreover, he thinks to himself (possibly with Demi's sight) that this Tower is rotting...

I love all these ways to screw with Demi's nigh-omniscient powers, hiding a target among enemies who all have the same face on a chaotic circular battlefield and constantly on the move. In turn, Lucas aimed to make the task easier by getting Miura and Poppi to herd enemies into one sector for Demi to focus on.

But just like with Marineford, seconds of courage are enough to change outcomes. Overall, a very tense and sizable chapter full of drama, reveals and development worthy of the series' 2nd year anniversary.

Ch 25

Spoiler

Good news is that the imminent attack on Galia has been terminated, one goal achieved. Bad news is that retreat is impossible (or at least be far too costly) with Akira present, so Zoe must engage him.

Not looking good for the end of chapter though. Lucas and Zoe cut off and surrounded. Weight-manipulation powers ran out. Mirror in Akira's hands. Lucas turning deaf and even had his dream trampled on. However can the tides turn...

Ch 26

Spoiler

The mirror that Akira took from Lucas...is a fake! What a relief. And even he never saw this turn of events coming.

Lucas' Flowering ability is more or less what I suspected: can broadcast his thoughts (and not just military commands) without musical instruments and listeners (friend or foe) will heed them. And this is still not worth losing Zoe over?

Despite the Pope's rational tendency to manipulate, his interactions with Lucas do strike me as the kind who cares and respects the decision of others. I'm glad he's allowing Zoe to follow her heart.

From borrowing the physical strength of her future selves to borrowing time itself and outspeed future sight, pretty nuts. (Estimate is 1 second for a normal person = 10 seconds for Zoe) Understandably, neither Flowering lasted long.

But what a final blow: the Skyfall's second partner Meryl (relationship unclear, even with Notebook 34) disguising herself as Zoe to fool Akira's future sight and pin him down, so Lucas can bisect him with a portal. A collective effort from his enemies across multiple nations, including the Mirror. Even if this is non-fatal since we have seen him regenerate, this is still delightful.

Damn, you absolutely caught way more than I did. I was using some really low quality TL, so I didn't even catch Akira using other Rami's abilities. I'd love to talk Sensou Kyoushitsu with u cuz I have so much to say about it but no one has read it, much less 18-27.

 

[gamria]

Man, this took a while to write up

Ch 27

Spoiler

• Man, the title for this issue is already giving a big flag: "Modern Times"
• Is that "blood teleportation" or something?
• "Thanks to you...I won my bet." Yeah, suspiciously double meaning: the bet about triumphing in this high stakes operation, or the bet that Lucas wouldn't succeed in killing the Garland?
• This is one of the things the Pope's been doing? Mustering troops, spreading word of Galia's peril and having everyone, including Galian refugees, fare the troops well and ready to welcome the heroes home? What a PR gamble.
• And so we have only one more Mirror portal we can use...
• Crazy that Udo actually lived through the campaign and returned to his family.
• I can work with this: Lucas not fully forgiving Kora for Gyorm's death, but being grateful for her healing and staying amicable.

---

The boy remains very shaken from the campaign though: actually considered resigning as a Bugler. If he keeps fighting under the Pope's command, even if he strives to be a musician, he doesn't think he can achieve that dream.

...and yet, even if he resigns, there's no escape is there? According to the Imperials, even if he runs away, the future he wants will not be there. Why? Because he's a Ramus? A Sapling Candidate? Is it so wrong of him to want to be a musician? "...please, tell me"

And so the man believes it's time. And the part you've been waiting for since knowing the title of this chapter...

---

I'll go over the facts presented in this chapter. My own thoughts on these will come separately later.

• Upon seeing Akira regenerate, the Pope remarks he's just like him- While everyone else was on the campaign, Oscar and Zahid were accompanying the Pope as he surveyed the land. In particular, when they visited one of the craters of the Garland’s attacks (probably Cannoli Castle), he went right down to the centre and retrieved something
• The modern-looking room resides in a building known as the Estate at the Roots. The room itself is a recreation of the Pope's chambers from his homeland, and is a calming place for him.
• The Pope once told Lucas the Tower is an artifact from the past. In truth, it is a "Time-Crossing Weapon, Personal Development Model" (遡行 is strictly only for "upstream" and not downstream so it's not wholly "time travel"; I had thought 自己開発 would be "self-developed", but it seems to be more "personal development"?)
• The Towers are weapons sent by the people of the future in order to change the past.
• Along with the Towers are military strength: the power of the Rami. Such might would provide advantages in battles of the past and allow history to change into a more convenient one for their nation.
• Under such ambitions, multiple nations sent Towers into the past. And thus began this proxy war, fought by the people of the past on behalf of folks in the future.

---

Some last thoughts before ending this section.

I must ask - why did the Pope think bringing this up will help Lucas?

1. To answer why he's been saddled with the fate of a Ramus, or why he received the power he did?
2. To console him that people in the future continued the arts even in times of warfare out of hope?
3. Or perhaps, we finally get a namedrop for the titular Sensou Kyoushitsu, the "Classroom of War Instrumentalists" that'd somehow comfort Lucas?

And when Lucas beholds the truth, what course will he take?

For that matter, let's count the boons of the Land of Slaves campaign:

1. Facsimile Ramus slayed, so the Empire's access to clone soldiers has been cut off
2. The Garland's attack on Galia has been terminated, thereby saving the kingdom
3. This charging zone for the Garland's attacks is now destroyed. The Empire may or may not have other sites available, but it's still something
4. Identified the Garland and Akira's future sight powers for the future
5. Normandy is ripe for liberation from the Empire, but not exactly the most favourable territory to subsume into the Papal State

What and where to next? Another campaign against the Empire, or we taking on another Tower nation this time?

Theorycrafting 1

Spoiler

Before

Since first beholding the Towers and that they’re supposed to be from an advanced civilisation, they are obviously anachronistic with this medieval setting (had to reread to remind myself of the year 1294 though). So whenever I describe this series, I had taken to using “medieval-like” since I know there’s something more to this.

My working theory was that this is a post-apocalyptic setting, Horizon-style. You know, as in the modern world as we knew it perished due to some apocalypse, but technological preparations have been made to ensure that humanity can flourish once more and civilisation can begin anew (and helps to explain the mishmash of people names from different cultures, like the oddball Japanese and Arabic ones). That kind.

Between the Pope’s choice of words and the Towers’ capabilities of data storage and item recreation, too easy to surmise that future tech is involved. I didn’t even need to see Akira’s recreated cassette player to be sure (though it did help confirm these shenanigans are of Earth origins).

(By the way, according to the Pope in Notebook 7, pretty much any information can be put into the Tower, from religious text to candy recipes to efficient training methods to card game rules)

Also based on the Pope’s choice of words, I suspected he has direct origins to the old world. When he met the King of Galia and said it’s been 1000 years, I saw it as affirmation of that theory, and I continued to feel sure that it’s a post-apocalyptic setting.

After

I’ll admit, I didn’t see outright time travel involved. This isn’t a post-apocalypse, this is the actual past but history is altered by future tech. The Towers weren’t made for the noble salvation of humanity, but for petty (?) warfare that’d better their home nation.

Even though my fundamental feelings about the dynamics between the Towers, nations and Rami weren’t particularly affected, learning the Towers’ origins and reason for being still threw me for a loop.

Like, I didn’t think these Towers… are conceptually similar to the Crystal Tower from Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers. I’ll try and explain the concept (spoilers for the game)

In the future, as a result of a cosmic disaster that befell another world from across dimensions, your world was struck by a calamity so terrible it collapsed entire civilisations. In this timeline, they came up with the idea of grafting the Crystal Tower (already an ancient structure with magical power plant capabilities) with the ability to travel across time and space. ​

The goal: travel to that other world long before it was doomed – in saving one world, your world gets saved too. If history must be unwritten, let it be unwritten.​

After I finished Ch 27 and thought about the twist, it occurred to me “this is Shadowbringers!”

• A colossal futuristic tower sent into the past in order to change history, that uses plants instead of crystals?
• Packed with all sorts of knowledge and relics from the homeland?
• Does this make the Tower admins… our equivalents to the Crystal Exarch? A demi-immortal wise and knowledgeable “lord” and operator of the Crystal Tower who was also able to time travel because they’ve been fused with crystals and thus are technically extensions of the structure? But again with plants instead of crystals?

Readers wonder if the authors have played Elden Ring, Portal, Gravity Rush, etc. On this occasion, I’m seriously wondering if they’ve played through Shadowbringers. If so, good tastes.
In any case, am I liking this twist? Will have to hear the actual non-speculative explanation next month, but I am eager to learn more, got more curiosity for sure.

Theorycrafting 2

Spoiler

Geography and Nations

@TheMagnificentSteinerr After reading your post, I regret not having paid more attention to the maps in the series. On a reread, just looking back on this one in Ch 8 and these ones in Ch 15 should've raised alarms for me.

Your speculation about the nations and their geographical positions are most interesting, but I don't think we have to be too concerned about equating the states and borders in "Towerland" to real-life 13th Century nations. Keep in mind that these Towers and their admins have been here for nigh on 1000 years.

Galia wasn't always the Land of Mirrors, Normandy wasn't always the Land of Slaves, and Francis (King of Galia) admits as much that situations could and have changed every hundred years. Who knows by this point how heavily the Nine Towers and their millennia-old presence since before the Middle Ages have altered the course of history as-is? And before even factoring all the Rami they've brought into the world?

(And that not every nation in Towerland owns a Tower of their own)

Still, interesting hypothesis about what modern nations could be responsible for the Towers, but I'm dubious about there being a Chinese Tower on account of the lack of any Chinese presence, names included.

Also, another curious matter you got me thinking: how do the Tower folks intend to deal with far off external civilisations like the Mongols when they start invading in earnest? When all our forces are free to deal with them, sure no problem. But if you have to deal with multiple fronts, that's when limited personnel starts being a bottleneck.

Miscellany

The Pope describing their Tower as a "Personal Development Model" Weapon has me confused - I've never seen a weapon described as "Personal Development" before.

Seeing as the Towers are what brought Rami into the world, perhaps it relates to Zahid's theory about their powers? He speculated their powers are based on their personalities and experiences - maybe the Towers analyse the Rami as they grow up, then profiles a "Personal Development" programme for each of them and proceeds to assign them a suitable power?

What's more, in calling the Papal State Tower a "Personal Development Model", are there other Models too?

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Finally, may as well bring up Akira, the man who constantly describes himself as "not a Ramus". In particular, I want to draw attention to the Pope's reactions to him.

Throughout this arc, he was only able to identify him as "that Imperial Soldier", who is accordingly strong enough to match Zoe. Seeing as there's no benefit for the Pope to actively conceal his enemy's identity or suspicions regarding such from his subordinates, it's like the Pope really didn't know who exactly he was until he saw him regenerate. And you'd think after 1000 years he'd at least know his strongest competitor, especially with Demi around.

I theorised before that Akira could secretly be the Emperor, or the Emperor is someone else that Akira the admin appointed. But I came up with a new idea: maybe Akira is a split being from the Emperor, with Akira being the more battle-junkie field personnel and the Emperor being the logical leader of the nation. And that's what throws the Pope off.

 

[TheMagnificentSteinerr]

Spoiler: My response

Still, interesting hypothesis about what modern nations could be responsible for the Towers, but I'm dubious about there being a Chinese Tower on account of the lack of any Chinese presence, names included.

this one is on the more delusional side, tbh i only added it because i was trying to fix the plot hole of some japanese origin names. I guess the chinese one is more so just somewhere in asia so that the japanese names could have made their way to europe.

Your speculation about the nations and their geographical positions are most interesting, but I don't think we have to be too concerned about equating the states and borders in "Towerland" to real-life 13th Century nations. Keep in mind that these Towers and their admins have been here for nigh on 1000 years.

The reason why I'm trying to conform to geographical borders is more so from a writing standpoint, as I assume they will be moderately close to reality, esp based on what weve seen so far.

I theorised before that Akira could secretly be the Emperor, or the Emperor is someone else that Akira the admin appointed. But I came up with a new idea: maybe Akira is a split being from the Emperor, with Akira being the more battle-junkie field personnel and the Emperor being the logical leader of the nation. And that's what throws the Pope off.

I like your second idea quite a lot here. I guess this is also because I believe Akira being the emperor wouldn't exactly work for his character, as he's portrayed as just "some guy". A very powerful and very evil "some guy" but also a human "some guy". As opposed to the King of Gallia or the Pope, who are very much written to have a divineness or a inhumaness to them.

Galia wasn't always the Land of Mirrors, Normandy wasn't always the Land of Slaves, and Francis (King of Galia) admits as much that situations could and have changed every hundred years. Who knows by this point how heavily the Nine Towers and their millennia-old presence since before the Middle Ages have altered the course of history as-is? And before even factoring all the Rami they've brought into the world?

I mean in the real world, borders change every hundred years too. Look at the map I linked in my first post. We can clearly see how drastically the world could change in just 100 years.

Spoiler

EDIT: Rereading chapt 17, and my dumbass just found out that Britain wants to conquer all of europe, and that this war is just the start