Synopsis: Ludwig tells Debonair and Grimm not to interfere as they are 'mere extras', and uses his magic to dispel Debonair's attack before causing large pillars of rock to spiral their way into the sky, crashing together with Debonair in the middle. Debonair withstands the blow and says Ludwig must like being flashy, and Cinderella reminds her that he did used to be their guild's best sorcerer, and now with pages from the Book in tow, anything is possible. Grimm asks why she's here, with Cinderella agreeing that that's a good question. Grimm asks Cinderella if she can use her magic to force her clock forward and return her to her adult body, but Cinderella warns her that she just transformed not that long ago, saying that if she doesn't give her body enough of a break, it might not hold up to the stress. Grimm tells her however that the world is ending, and if it comes down to sitting on the sidelines and doing nothing or putting herself at risk, she'd much rather take the chance to fight. Inside the cell Ludwig made in the Scrivener's Room, Velou pounds on the wall and desperately tries to find some way out, a task that the Red Hood says could be difficult. Velou wonders if there's really nothing he can do while the world ends around him, when an idea suddenly comes to his mind – what happens to the power inside of him if he dies? He quickly asks Dutt for his gun, but the Red Hood stops him, saying that there's no guarantee his death would get rid of his power, suggesting that it might even release it to rot the world away quicker on it's own. He tells Velou to think carefully, saying that as an outside being who was tossed into the story, he and he alone is free to make whatever choice he wants. He asks Velou what kind of ending he'd like to see to this story – a happy one, or a tragic one? Ludwig amps up his magic even further, bringing the entire island floating into the sky behind him. Debonair thinks he's going to take the island and run, and realizes that his power really does make anything possible. Ludwig tells her that she's done enough, and that for all the control she has over her curse, her body still has it's limits, and if she stops now, she'll be able to vanish without suffering. Debonair tells him to stop dragging the whole world down with his self-destructive madness, and declares that she's a Hunter and she'll continue to be a Hunter to the very end. Ludwig acknowledges her and summons a large group of werewolves through portals in the sky, telling her to hunt them to her heart's content then. Debonair prepares to fight them though she knows this is just a ploy for time, but the first wave of werewolves are suddenly taken out by the arrival of Tylty, Porschen, Bonkers, and all of the rest of the newly passed Hunters riding on Migael's magic. Debonair tells them that it's too dangerous and orders them to go back to Ironsides, but they refuse, saying they were all trained by her, and that they too are Hunters now and will fight to the end to save the world. Debonair calls them cheeky, but smiles, and they continue to fight off the werewolves. Back in the cell, the Red Hood is seemingly surprised by Velou's answer, but before they can talk any further, a hole is broken through the wall and Grimm, now in her adult body, steps through and chastises Velou for getting captured. A flashback shows Cinderella pushing Grimm's clock forward so she can transform again, though she warns her that the transformation will end at midnight and there's no telling what will happen to her when it runs out, she might even die. Grimm thanks her, disgusting Cinderella who says they're supposed to be enemies. Grimm leaves her with the promise that if they survive they'll be just that and fight again one day, and Cinderella accepts that promise. Back in the present, Cinderella curses herself, saying that she's the Ashen Witch, not the Good Witch. Grimm tells Velou to give her the book and she'll get them out of there, but the Red Hood tells them to use this instead, handing Velou a book that's now in the shape of a gun. Grimm questions what they're looking at, and the Red Hood explains that he wove together Velou's power with that of the Book to create a magical rifle. They explain that if Velou can fire the gun at Ludwig, the two conflicting powers should cancel each other out and stop the end of the world...in theory, at least. The Red Hood then takes off it's own red hood and gives it to Velou as well, saying that they don't need it anymore and that this time, it's Velou's turn to pull the trigger. Outside in the continuing fight against Ludwig and the werewolves he summoned, Porschen is horrified to discover her ropes are growing flowers. Cinderella says that the book must be eroding even further as the world's concepts are getting scrambled now, and Ludwig says that the world is finally at an end. Velou's voice rings out from behind him, saying that he won't let it end, and Ludwig glances over to see Velou pointing the Book rifle at him. Ludwig asks Velou if he can really shoot him, and says the world is already coming apart at the seams. Even if Velou does kill him, all that will be left is a world with no guiding scenario, and he asks Velou if he thinks anyone can truly be happy in a world like that. Velou thinks before answering him, saying that when all is said and done, that's just what it means to live. He says that everyone is the main character of their own story, and they'll each find their own individual endings one day, with no one able to say whether their story was good or bad until it's all over. There's no telling what the future will bring, and yet, everyone keeps struggling, fighting for happiness anyway. He then thinks back to the question the Red Hood had asked him, and his own answer – he doesn't want any ending, be it a happy or a sad one. He wants the world to keep going, as though a lot of people have messed with it, everyone still has the paths they've walked along so far, and though none of them can see what's at the end of those paths, they still keep walking down them. He tells the mayor that he's going to do the same, and as Velou fires the Book rifle at him, the mayor says that if that's the case, he feels much better. The magical energies of the Book and Velou's power envelope Ludwig, destroying him and the werewolves he summoned and causing the island to crash back down into the water. Watching from above, Cinderella notes that the Book is gone now, along with it's scenario, but that Velou, Grimm, and all the others are still alive. As Debonair happily celebrates with the other new Hunters, Velou says that as long as humans are around, werewolves will exist as well – while the overarching scenario is gone, that fact still remains, so this is where their hunt truly begins. Grimm says they have the vaccine so there's still hope, and Velou agrees. As he puts on the Red Hood's hood, he says that this time they'll save the world for real and make fairy tales into reality – their fight is only just beginning. Review: I think I've more than established by now just how much I love this manga and what it tried to do, and despite this messy, rushed ending? I think I love it all the more now. You can feel the author's resolve through each and every word choice in this chapter, and when you contrast it with the ending of the previous one, the message of this chapter – and the message of the entire series – could not be any clearer. Throughout all of the meta dialogue in this series, it became abundantly clear just how much the world was raining on Kawaguchi's parade. There was a very clear story he wanted to tell, one that he must have spent a long time coming up with and one that it seems like he was very pleased with himself, but no matter how much effort he put into this series, it just wasn't catching on with the readers in the way needed to survive in the high-stakes world of Shonen Jump. Keep in mind that this was all going down in the chaotic world we're all living in right now too – I can't imagine that telling a story from the heart in the middle of a pandemic only to see it go belly up not being a very hard thing to go through. The characters are likewise put in hard situations that they've never been through before. Grimm and Debonair are forced to work alongside the likes of Cinderella, the newly graduated Hunters are immediately forced onto the front lines of a final battle for the very world, and Velou is forced to grapple with the idea that his very existence might be what destroys the world everyone is living in. When faced with that hard fact and decision, he almost makes a terrible and final choice – in a dark moment that I almost can't believe the series was allowed to get away with even if it was the final chapter, Velou considers committing suicide if it means that the power inside of him will go away and leave the world free from it's influence. It's a moment that I didn't see coming, albeit one that's similar to something I did wonder if we were ultimately heading towards, in that it felt like there was the chance Velou was going to sacrifice himself to save the world. In my head, I wondered if Velou's sacrifice would lead to the power inside of him going inside of everyone, thus freeing them from the Book's influences and thus making them all masters of their own fate. Apparently I was close to the mark, but not all the way there, a fact that I can't help but be pleased by because where's the fun in 100% guessing right on something? It's at the point that the Red Hood stops Velou that the tone of the chapter starts to change. Ludwig, a man who seems worn down and depressed more than he does almighty, tells Debonair to just give up and to stop fighting and accept the inevitable. She refuses to do so, and it's at that moment that the rest of the characters show up to start help turning the tide again, all alongside Grimm returning to Velou's side, and Velou making his own choice about what he wants to do. Unfortunately, due to the rushed nature of this ending, there do end up being some elements here that feel a little out of place or unfulfilled. Cinderella's tsundere-like nature still feels out of place when she never got to develop into anything worthwhile to really sell the moments she's in; Grimm is just fine by the end of the chapter, and though the open ending leaves room that something does happen to her and we're just not privy to seeing it, the warnings about her own potential sacrifice go nowhere; and as cool as the author tries to make it, the Book turning into a rifle that will fire a shot composed of both it's own powers and Velou's feels kind of forced and out of nowhere. Of everything in this finale, this is the one part that I wonder if wasn't originally part of his idea at all and was only tacked on because it was needed to bring it to an end here and now. In the end, Velou and the mayor's dialogue feels more like a conversation between different parts of the author's mind as well, rather than fully feeling like dialogue being spoken between two characters with the history that these two do together. Unfortunately, Velou's reaction to the mayor has largely been another victim of this sudden ending – while he was initially shown as surprised and happy, any reactions beyond that as the mayor's true nature was revealed has been greatly overshadowed by the meta dialogue and the world's true nature being revealed to him instead. It's understandable as I'm sure Kawaguchi wanted to get out every drop of the overall narrative that he could onto the page, but it's still sad to see what should be a huge moment between these two characters just...not happen. The dialogue between them is fundamental to the series' overall however, as it really drives home it's message. As the positive side of the author's mind is represented by Velou, so is the negative side of it in the mayor, and in the vein of the story, he's asking himself the ultimate question – what's the point of life? Is there really any need to keep on going when things just aren't going great for you? Is there really any meaning to a world filled with sadness and strife where a happy ending isn't guaranteed? These are all questions that I, and I know plenty of others, struggle with daily, represented on a smaller and yet also grander scale in this series' climax. When the dust is cleared, Velou's choice is what wins the day, and just as he wanted, the ending he gets isn't really an ending at all. It's not a happy one, it's not a sad one, it's...bittersweet, really. There's all kinds of questions left unanswered for the characters personally and for their world at large, especially given that the Book itself seems to be completely gone now. Even without it however, there are still werewolves out there to contend with, but they still have the vaccine that could potentially cure them and save humanity. At the same time, Cinderella has seen what they're all capable of, and will surely prove to be a big threat to them in the future as well. Not one character at the end knows what's ahead for them...and as Velou reasoned, that's as it should be, that's life. I'm sad that I won't get to write 'Until next time!' at the end of this review. In the short time we had it, this series has grown to mean a lot to me, warts and all. At the start of it's run, I was certain we were on the precipice of another long-running Shonen Jump success story. But just like the author has tried to do in the end, I'm going to try to look to the future. This might not be the last time we hear from them, whether that's in Jump or any other imprint. There could still be more stories to tell. Those stories might not be as good as this one, but they could be even better. They might not be a success either, but they could be the next big thing. Just as the characters have discovered, all we can do in life is just keep on going and see where the road takes us, and cross our fingers that the journey will mean the story was ultimately good in some form or fashion when we're done. And that's exactly what Yuki Kawaguchi's The Hunters Guild: Red Hood and life both have in common, is that there's only one thing that can really keep us moving even when everything seem stacked against us: Hope. Favorite Panel:
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About the AuthorAspiring author and big anime/manga fan, just trying to do my best in the world. For more details, go to About Me. Archives
September 2022
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