With lots of action, smoke, and a sumptuous twist, Choujin X chapter 31.2 brought the battle involving Ely, Tokio and Hume to an end. It was truly a treat!!
Don’t be fooled into presuming that Ishida would go easy on the art, with Choujin X chapters releasing every week. If anything he’s following up each chapter with art that’s even crazier and out of the box.
The craziness that is associated with being a choujin is portrayed amazingly well in a lot of the panels, which exuberate the same amount of chaos and craziness.
The previous part of chapter 31 ended with Tokio finally sprouting wings and taking off to save Ely, who was on the verge of being a fried potato. Choujin X chapter 31.2 picks up from here.
Tokio flies high:
A part of me assumed that Tokio would fail, once again, to do anything substantial, so I was pleasantly surprised when he landed a knock-out headbutt on Hume mid-air, giving his all in the process!
Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t easy for the lanky teenager to reach this height. Tokio had to give his all, and his desperation is there for all to see on his face. Kudos to Ishida for nailing this. It sits perfectly with his character and personality.
I guess this outcome was the result of Tokio focusing on the task at hand, instead of thinking about overarching things like his goal, or what he aims to do with his power.
One thing that bugs me is how Hume never reacted on time, throughout the whole fight, to Ely or Tokio sneaking up on him from his blindspot. If Hume is a battle-hardened choujin, he should have shown more awareness about the second opponent who stayed out of vision.
It’s almost as if he had a one-track mind, focusing only on either Ely or Tokio at one particular time. This could also be a side-effect of the smoke choujin going berserk, or cuckoo, as Ely points out.
That, or he heavily underestimated his opponents. Whatever the reason, Hume’s oversight cost him dearly in this battle.
But before we get to the price that Hume had to pay, let’s talk about Ely awakening her real powers.
Ely’s transformation and her dream:
Though Tokio saved Ely from being burnt, there was still a lot of work to be done, as their opponent had managed to survive even with a broken neck. Raise sure is a very handy feature for the choujins.
With Tokio expending every last bit of himself, Ely was left alone to face-off Hume.
And this is where her character goes through some amazing development, with all the foreshadowing from Choujin X chapter 25 coming into play.
Contrary to what Tokio assumes, Ely does not have everything figured out.
Ely’s dream is to be super rich, to let her grandpappy live in ease. I like how Tokio too is a part of Ely’s goal right now, shows how much the bond between them has progressed.
I guess this dream stems from her insecurities about knowing who her mother was, and how that hurt her grandparents. Maybe Ely felt she was a burden for her grandpappy. And giving him a better life was her way of thanking them for taking care of her.
But more than that, she did not want to turn out like her mother. She wanted to be a giver instead of a taker. However, the fear that she would walk the same path as her mother never left her, the fear that she would eventually be someone who takes.
Now that’s some heavy emotional baggage for a child. Having to right the wrongs of her mother, while living in fear that she would not escape a similar fate. Being afraid that she would whittle away into nothing.
Here’s the thing – Ely’s basic instinct boiled down to living a good life.
This overwhelming desire, and all of the emotions buried deep in her, just burst out while she was cornered by Hume, and lets her manifest her real powers in Choujin X chapter 31.2, i.e. the ability to steal.
This is where we can draw a parallel between Ely and her mother.
Both of them wouldn’t stop at anything to get what they want. While her mother killed and stole to give herself the luxuries that she desired, Ely would display the same characteristics when it came to achieving her goals.
Both of them were takers.
So when she came face to face with Hume, Ely just had one thought: to survive. Because if she died, there’s no way she would achieve whatever she wanted to. She was ready to go to the extremes, and kill Hume, if that’s what was required for her to survive and live her life.
Also in her eyes Hume was a bad person. So killing him would be justif(r)ied.
Interestingly, when Ely was burning Hume, he cried out the word ‘maman’, which is the French word for mother. To think about her while on the verge of death, Hume once again showed how close he is to her, and intensifies the intrigue about their end goal.
Also read: Who is Mother in Choujin X?
However, Ely doesn’t just steal Hume’s ability, she just absorbed him as a whole. Is that supposed to be a metaphor for her having stolen Hume’s life force itself? Is the smoke choujin gone for good?
I am very eager to see how Ely will react to her new powers. How will she come to terms with the fact that she too is someone who takes? I believe, we’ll see her going through an identity crisis of sorts in the next chapters, just like what Tokio had in the initial ones.
But but but, before that, there’s something else that Ishida needs to show us.
The previous two chapters gave some sort of progress to both Ely and Tokio (with him learning to fly properly and all). So, the next one most probably might be focused on Azuma and even Kagomura. I wonder what sort of a power-up or a character development will Azuma go through…
Extra:
The interaction between Tokio and Ely was fun to read in the latest Choujin X chapter. That part where he nonchalantly dismissed Ely’s breasts cracked me up for some reason. I guess the training arc has left Ely with two small insecurities.
What are your thoughts on Choujin X chapter 31.2? Were there any interesting points that you noted in the chapter? Let me know them in the comments below!!