Sora Unchained arc Revealed

[Timotheus]

I've been going back over my various forum posts on this series and collecting whatever I'd said about the stories there while waiting for others to get their copies of it. Now I'm going to post them in chapter order along with whatever else I might have on that chapter. If anyone else wants to contribute, feel free. Afterwards I'm going to consolidate these posts into one article and post it for general information. If this works out well maybe I'll go back and do the same for some of the other arcs.

Sora Unchained arc - Dark Horse Trade Paperback number 19/20
Issued Jan. 2005, To be Reissued Feb. 2012
Kodansha Tankouban Vol. 19 and 20


Part 1 - I Choose You, Sora.
Dark Horse issue 105, Feb. 2004 release
Let's Decide The New Chief
Kodansha chapt. 119, July 1998 release
Tankouban Vol. 19

Sora Hasegawa, closet debutant.
The cover illustration shows Sora wearing a "Lolita Clash", "Lolita Lempic...", Paris shirt. While I'm still looking for details (My daughter seems to recall a punk/SKA group called Lolita Clash) it seems more likely this is a reference to the french perfume label "Lolita Lempicka". It seems to be a fairly high end brand of fragrances with very fancy bottles. Further information is desired.

The idea of cheating when drawing lots is a common theme in manga and anime. It's been pointed out on other sites that Tamiya and Otaki are shown setting up poor clueless Keiichi to win the drawing for who gets to be the driver in the OAV's motorcycle race, and cheating on such selection processes has been used in the plots of Sailormoon and Maison Ikkoku.

There are several ways this supposedly random drawing can be rigged by whoever is setting up the lots in the first place. Hence the comments by the club members about irregularities by Sora's promoters and Keiichi's comeback line of "is this the face of a cheater?!" (Belldandy wouldn't cheat if life itself depended on it. She'd just be sure the right decision would come about.)

The untranslated names of the club members on the bottom of the Choosing Maze are Mitsuwa, Ishii, Hasegawa, Chikafuji, and Kawada. Exactly how this maze game works to select someone is something I'd love to learn, anyone know?

Which name goes with which member other than Sora hasn't been firmly established, but I believe the one with the mustach is Kawada Suzuki and the large gentleman may be called Watanabe (based on information from the Hill Climb Motorcycle and Karaoke Contest stories).


Part 2 - The Shortcut To Winning.
Dark Horse issue 106, Mar. 2004 release
The Way Of Competition
Kodansha chapt. 120, Aug. 1998 release
Tankouban Vol. 19

The Racing Board shown is a real item. I found an advertisment and website for a Tanaka Paveracer, 40cc power cart that looks remarkably like the ones in the story.

The little creature Belldandy is using is called an Airbug Spiralee. It will be appearing in later chapters. Why Dark Horse felt the need to put an "and" in the name here is unknown.

A most important developement in this story is how a running theme that has existed throughout the series is made absolutely clear here. It wasn't really obvious at first, but a character trait BOTH Belldandy and Keiichi share is that they are gung-ho competitors and nothing makes them happier than squaring off against a new opponent.

In the past, their pleasure in such competitions has been clouded by outside circumstances or unhappy results if they lose, but both Bell and Keiichi love a pure challenge they can devote themselves to totally. (This character trait for Belldandy is first mentioned in the Anime Otoku story.)

This wasn't very clearly shown earlier in the manga, and many stories even made it seem as if Belldandy was
rather timid about taking risks. (I know I thought that at first, and from the older posts on the subject I wasn't the only one.) That's why her occasional outbursts of excessive force or effort seemed so out of character.

Actually, she's an all or nothing sort of competitor, who is just very choosy about what she decides to get involved in. Normally she tries not to upset things or push herself into situations, but when she decides to go for it (or she feels she's forced to), look out! This aspect of Bell's personality will become more noticable in the manga stories from here on, and if you go back and review the older stories I think you'll see what I mean.


Part 3 - The Director's Curse.
Dark Horse issue 107, April 2004 release
The Cursed Chief
Kodansha chapt. 121, Sept. 1998 release
Tankouban Vol. 19

If you didn't notice, Sora is still steering the racing board while riding tandem with Belldandy.

Belldandy HAS driven a go-cart before. She learned by copying Diana Lockheed's moves while racing her back in Winner Take All. However, this race WAS before Chihiro and the other current club members had joined the story.

The Golden Hammer Race arc is also one of the story arcs where Bell's competitive nature starts showing. (Observe her efforts to win in the races, fight off the sleep demon, and how she can ignore K-1's behavior without embarassment as long as they can get back in the race.)

And for those of you following the TV anime, the second story of the arc (What A Miracle) is where we first see Tamiya in his cheerleader outfit.

It's interesting how Sora never questions just how Belldandy has such an accurate inventory of the local area wildlife in her head. (Especially as the animals in question would be in motion and not likely to be in the same places day after day. Well maybe the owl would, but otherwise how could a normal person know all those detail with such certainty?) Of course it is Bell saying it, and Sora was distracted. Still its fun noticing how people just accept what Belldandy tells them without worrying about how she might know such things. (P. S. The Japanese text is just slightly less specific as to the racoons and owls locations, but more specific as to where the starlings are.)


Part 4 - Special Training
Dark Horse issue 108, May 2004 release
Crash Course Continues
Kodansha chapt. 122, Oct. 1998 release
Tankouban Vol. 19

The most fascinating aspect of this story is that it shows a 180 turnabout on the part of Bell's sisters. Skuld is going off on a rant about how Belldandy and Keiichi should always be together (at least as far as racing's concerned) , while Urd is saying (at least publically) that it's okay for them to do things apart.

We also haven't seen Skuld do the "PBTTT!" bit for awhile.

I try to not take sides in translation conflicts. I cannot speak or read any Japanese so I don't feel qualified to judge who's version is correct. (I do feel qualified to compare different versions however.) In this story however there are two places where the Dark Horse and independent translations differ in ways that I felt should be pointed out.

In the Japanese version, Keiichi is commenting on how Skuld and Urd are such sisters rather than Belldandy and Skuld.

More importantly, there's a joke in the sequence where the club members are preparing for Sora's next attempt to drive through them that Dark Horse left out. In the panel where the club member in the bandana is standing in front of the really large member. In the English version the smaller member is thinking, "Am I fast enough to dive for cover?" The Japanese version goes more like, "If I have to, I'll hide behind him... " That's what the arrow between them is refering to. If Dark Horse wanted to pull the joke, they should have removed the arrow.

[Timotheus]

Part 5 - Drive
Dark Horse issue 109, June 2004 release
Everybody Races
Kodansha chapt. 123, Nov. 1998 release
Tankouban Vol. 19

Not much trivia to report in this story.

The biggest discussion point here is how Dark Horse reinterpreted Keiichi's comments while he's practicing with Sora and what he and Belldandy say to each other that night in the temple garden. The Japanese text doesn't have him actually challanging Sora to follow him or making statements to Belldandy later that he thought he was helping her. However, the drawings do seem to be depicting him doing just that, so in this case I think the Dark Horse/Studio Proteus versions are closer to what Mr. Fujishima intended.


Part 6 - Miles and Miles
Dark Horse issue 110, July 2004 release
Keiichi's Distance, Hasegawa's Distance
Kodansha chapt. 124, Dec. 1998 release
Tankouban Vol. 20

Those stamps Tamiya, Otaki, and later Chihiro, are using at their check points are their signature stamps. The letters printed by them are their names.

Keiichi DOES have a Check Point list, his senpais are just choosing to stamp his face to aggravate him.

As a bit of speculation on my part, you've noticed I'm sure how Tamiya and Otaki put on hapi coats with the Whirlwind logos on them after they've stamped both Keiichi and Sora (so Sora and K-1 won't see them wearing them). Such coats are a form of advertising used by shops and worn by people employed by the shop to do things in public places. One of these things is handing out flyers and brochures at special events, which is what I think Chihiro is having them do for her after the racers have passed. More on this in the last story.


Part 7 - The Race Gets Hot, A Goddess Gets Hotter!
Dark Horse issue 111, Aug. 2004 release
The Race Begins! Goddess Acts Too!
Kodansha chapt. 125, Jan. 1999 release
Kodansha chapt. 126, Feb. 1999 release
Tankouban Vol. 20

One can only wonder how Keiichi heard them tell Sora she might have to pay a toll.

As has been pointed out by many sources, the poster next to the locker room door for the sea slug society is the same poster found on the bulletin board next to the NIT-MCC recruiting poster put up by Keiichi in the movie. I believe this is the first example of a movie reference in the manga.

Urd and Skuld's assistance to Keiichi is interesting for a number of points, not the least of which is that it shows Skuld as probably being able to teleport and levitate the same as Urd. (She seems to have gotten there on her own, and later disappears behind her smoke cloud cover. It doesn't seem like she just ran away and does wind up in the tree with Urd. Now Urd may have been providing transport for both of them, but judging from their conversation I can't see them cooperating to that degree.)

They both seem to feel they have a duty to help Keiichi, like he was family. Or to score points with Belldandy. Either way, Keiichi is now an insider in their world view.

The Freaky Potion - Stupid New Machine rivalry is finally firmly established as a running plot.

Urd establishes the use of a kiss (first seen in the movie) as a method of passing on a spell to someone in the manga.

The car next to Belldandy in the parking lot where she's waiting for the race to end is a Caterham Super 7, the same car driven by Sena Wakabayyashi, Ken Nakajima's stepmother in You're Under Arrest. This is the first guest crossover between the two series that I'm aware of.

The conversation between Belldandy and the club members actual marks the end of Kodansha's chapter 125. Chapter 126 starts with the aftermath of Urd's kiss and Skuld's indignation at it. Chapter 126 is then split between Dark Horse issue 111 and 112.

For those (very) few readers who didn't get it, Keiichi is making steam train sounds (chuffa-chuffa! Whoo-woo!)

The trash stalls Keiichi lands in (marked flammable and non-flammable) are a recyling station. Wood and paper goes in the flammable side, plastics and metals are in the non-flammable side. Keiichi crashed in the side with the harder, sharper objects.

911 is not an emergency number in Japan.
What Sora is refering to in the Japanese text are emergency procedure numbers from the community disaster response handbook. (There are guideline procedures for fires, floods, earthquakes, car crashes, injuries, heart attacks, etc.)


Part 8 - The Best Magic
Dark Horse issue 112, Sept. 2004 release
Aberrant Kiss
The Strongest Magic
Kodansha chapt. 126, Feb. 1999 release
Kodansha chapt. 127, Mar. 1999 release
Tankouban Vol. 20

Dark Horse issue 112 contains both Kodansha chapter 126 and 127
Chapter 126 is split between Dark Horse issue 111 and 112. Chapter 126 ends after Belldandy leaves Keiichi to fix his racing board and continue the race.

It was fitting that Dark Horse would celebrate its long established habit of recombining Kodansha manga chapters with its last two comic book issue releases.

It's interesting that Belldandy was aware that Keiichi was in trouble and was in a position to save him. The only explaination for this is that she had been keeping an eye on him all the time. As it's stated that she knows Urd had placed a spell on Keiichi, it can be implied that she also knows about the kiss, even though Keiichi realizes it might not be a good idea to tell her about that and changes his story mid-sentance. As has been noted before, Bell has her own agenda as to what is cause for jealosy and what isn't.

When Belldandy and Holy Bell leave Keiichi after he wakes up, they transport themselves through a piece of chromed metal (another mirrored surface).

So Keiichi re-invents the motorized skate board with just the items in his pockets. Now that's a mechanic!
I wonder if Mr. Fujishima just wanted a chance to do a skateboard montage without making it look like that was what he wanted to do.

It's interesting to note that since the sign says "NO BIKES OR CYCLES" Keiichi is not actually breaking any rules since what he's riding doesn't fit either of those catagories.

As is revealed at the end of this story, a hidden sub-plot of this arc was how mercantile Chihiro can be. Her plot to use the Motor Club's race as an advertising stunt to sell the racing boards is foreshadowed by the scene in the first part of the story where we see how fast Chihiro can put on her "Salesperson Face" and Keiichi's comments on how she can "Turn It On." Later there are hints that she's doing something on her own behind the scenes, then we see she's got Tamiya and Otaki in Whirlwind coats at the check points, but doesn't want Keiichi or Sora to see the coats. Finally, at the end we discover they've been handing out sales brochures, that the race had been advertised as a sales stunt, and that Chihiro has already made a sign exploiting Keiichi's emergency conversion to a motorized skateboard as a sales feature.

This doesn't mean she wasn't honestly trying to help Sora and the NIT-MCC resolve their leadership crisis. It's quite obvious she was. It's just that its also being shown that she's not above using this as an opportunity to further her own mercantile efforts as well.