FINALLY!! i am all caught up with the manga!! there are only 123 chapters translated from what i’ve seen, and i understand that the translation group stopped doing translations a year ago??
the official yen press translations are about 20 chapters behind the current available translations (however, volume 10 of the yen press edition comes out in may! volume 10 is japanese volumes 19 and 20).
moving on (i’m not gonna mark spoilers since this has been out for a year but, if you’re actively reading the manga and don’t wanna know what happens, then ignore everything below this):
i’ve learned so much!! i was on and off with this manga for years, but i’m so glad i took this month to get back into it! i wouldn’t say there’s a lot happening, but i am liking what’s happening so far, and i feel that it’s well-paced! mikanagi-san has been doing great with pacing, i think.
learning more about yogi was great! and his sub-plot seems done, at least for the time being. there are definitely two points in yogi’s character that i can see being expanded, if the story calls for it - where silver!yogi has gone (if he’s gone anywhere or has he been fully integrated with yogi? - i don’t think the manga made this super clear); and what experiments he underwent with kafka and with circus (more trauma yay!). and i wonder if yogi’s sister will play a role in the future? her story seemed pretty straightforward, but who knows.
learning about nai has been great! who would’ve thought he was part karoku’s father!? i was absolutely stunned to read that haha. admittedly, it really is amazing what karoku’s mother was able to do in a wooden cabin, but that’s absolutely thanks to all the practice she had with splicing at kafka.
i’m super soft-hearted about nai and karoku being true, real friends! karoku was only experimented on and knew nothing outside of the lab, and nai was just a super cute niji who tried to protect little bunnies from being eaten. they came together - karoku having a purpose to save/heal nai and nai being super interested in karoku - and they were there for each other! karoku, i think, absolutely needed something to take care of and something that wasn’t linked back to kafka and experimentation. sad, though, that his mother experimented on nai because “he wasn’t important” but i’m really glad that karoku saved nai and taught him how to speak and walk! they’re truly family and that makes me happy.
however!!! karoku is still a mystery to me. i’ve, finally, (hopefully) deduced that kafka cloned karoku and that’s why kafka has their own karoku. i’m curious if kafka!karoku has hit the next level of evolution that they wanted from the original!karoku (before his parents took him and ran away). it seems like it given that he attacked te third ship. but we’ll see!
i’m also eager to see how gareki shapes up as a combat medic! i’m super proud of him for accepting that position, and for wanting to stick to it! he hasn’t really been able to do much in regards to his unique and specific position, but the manga seems like it was gonna pick back up on that, so i hope it actually did.
also! tsubame and... her brother that i immediately forget the name of! how interesting!!! tokitatsu is such an interesting character and i wish we saw more of him! what’s his purpose for keeping yokata (ha i remembered!) in the dark about him having a sister? i understand making sure that yokata (wait actually is that his name?) completely loyal to him and him alone... hm, that’s probably why, but, tokitatsu, i’m sure, has another motivation behind that, especially since, arguably, everyone under circus (minus research) is technically loyal to him. so i’m curious to his thought process on that front!
+on more light-hearted notes!
i’m glad that yogi has reconciled a lot of his memories! and hirato dressed as a prince is truly heavenly!! he looked so good honestly. i love seeing panels of nai sleeping because he’s truly adorable(tm).
aaahh, i wish we saw nai and karoku interacting more! i feel like i hadn’t seen karoku in ages before the last few chapters. and i want more nai+gareki interaction because i love seeing these two dorks interact haha.
also! akari, for all his meanness, actually trusts circus to do thier jobs - he trust hirato and tsukitachi even though he has high blood pressure about them. this is exactly the type of info i like to know haha.
+this has gotten quite long, so i’ll wrap this up.
i hope that yen press can put out vol11 (japanese vol21-22) this year as well! that would be where the translations end (minus three chapters). i just don’t want them to do another three year gap between volumes haha.
i hope that someone is able to pick up the translation, but if not, i have no problem waiting for the yen press releases! they’re, admittedly, not that far behind japan.
ah, i’m so tempted to write a fic for karneval, but, as always, what exactly? who knows, but i’ll definitely think about it!
