December 21st, 2015 
AstroNerdBoy ユーキューホルダー! Manga Review
UQ Holder Chapter 106
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Kirie spots Touta gazing at Yukihime, who’s shirt had just popped open when time stopped. She’s touched when he covers her up and vows to catch up to her.
That night, Kirie can’t sleep due to the utter silence and Touta sleeps on the roof since Kirie has barred him from entering the room he shares with Kuroumaru since she’s changing.
For the next four months, Touta trains but time does not move. Kirie is depressed since this is her fault, which surprises Touta. He tells her he’s heading to the tower to make one of his dreams come true, whereupon he’ll see if he can get a ship working. Kirie tearfully pleads for Touta to not leave her, so he concedes to stay with the “cute” Kirie.
Some “night” later, Kirie asks to sleep with Touta, who’s made a bed in the atrium. He’s a little confused by her shifting attitudes, but he gives in to her tearful request. He remarks on how she normally doesn’t want help from anyone. She concedes that this is normally how she is, leading Touta to tell her she can ask for help.
Kirie opens up, saying she doesn’t trust people, thanks to all of the bad encounters she’s experienced before coming to UQ Holder. She reveals that the first time she used her reset powers, she was four and she starved to death due to neglect from her parents, though she says she doesn’t remember clearly, even though she had to repeat time many hundreds of times before she survived. She still can’t trust people, even though UQH has been nice to hear, but she declines to elaborate further.
Touta embraces her, vowing to never betray her and that he won’t leave her until time starts moving again, so she need not feel lonely. Kirie decides to accept the comfort of Touta’s embrace. She asks him about Yukihime, but then finds he’s already asleep.
The following “morning,” Kirie is shocked to find she spent the night in Touta’s arms. She recalls that she was kissing him when time stopped, so on a whim, she kisses him again to see if time will start. As she does, light appears and Mizore is there, asking why Kirie is suddenly in her pajamas, why Touta’s asleep on a mattress in the middle of the floor, and why Kirie appeared to have just kissed him. With time having resumed and Mizore pestering her, Kirie is in a state of panic.
Thoughts/Review:
You know, I have to say that even though some of the time stop stuff (especially from the previous chapter) was bonk, this chapter was actually really good and Kirie got some character development.
I’ve never really had an affinity with Kirie’s character, namely because she’s the bratty character who’s part Chisame from Negima (another character I didn’t really care for initially). While it was clear that Kirie was joining the Touta harem, there wasn’t a linchpin to shifting her feelings to a much higher stage.
With the this time stoppage mini-arc, Kirie gets that missing element to push her to the next level. It is easy to understand why Kirie’s normally tight defenses crumbled. As someone who sleeps with white noise, I can totally understand how total silence (which is impossible to mimic, short of becoming deaf) would make it very difficult for her to sleep. The lack of sleep over time will bring down one’s resistance.
Then there’s the isolation. While Kirie may often sequester herself, there are things to distract her from being lonely. With time having stopped, it is just Touta and her. She has no escapes from the reality of the situation, and she certainly can’t reset time to fix this problem. She can’t run nor hide, thus her defenses are taken down further. Of course Touta’s decision to leave for the tower breaks her.
Touta may be oblivious to things, but I liked how he handled the broken Kirie. He was there for her and she opened up as a result. It was a really, sweet, touching moment. No wonder when it comes to the ships sailing, Kirie x Touta is in the lead.
As for Kirie’s past, although all we got were a couple of crumbs, it was better than nothing and about time too. It is tragic to learn that Kirie discovered her powers by starving to death. I’ve seen some speculation on this and how she’s doing resets without a save point. I suspect that before she learned how to do save points, she was completely reliving her life (or at least, from a time where she could consciously do something about it, say starting at three years of age). Earlier in the manga, Kirie revealed that initially, she felt she was experiencing déjà vu when going through time loops for the first time. I can see that as a child, it would be even harder to understand what was happening to her, while at the same time, because she was a child, it would be easier for her to come up with a solution and accept her situation.
Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll be seeing any more about Kirie’s past for a very long time, if ever. Akamatsu-sensei seems very keen on giving us as little as possible about the character’s past, no doubt so he does not feel fettered by having an extensive back history told.
Mizore was in the middle of falling down when time stopped, so I’m not sure how she got into this room so immediately when time restarted. It was done for humor, but it is almost as if to say, “Ignore the fact that I was in another room, in the closet, in the middle of a fall. I’m now in a room I wasn’t in before.” ^_^;
In the end, this was a really good Kirie chapter and caused her to move up a notch in my book. Now that the Kirie x Touta ship has set sail, bring on the Karin x Touta shipping mini-arc of the Touta harem saga. 😉
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Astro: I must say that I also understand kirie terror. I use to sleep with a recorded soundtrack (Tibetan monks singing the mantra “OM” for precise^^) I find it so relaxing ^^. And when I am forced to do without it and that I am faced with impossibility to listen and nights of total silence, I can tell you, Astro-san that I have trouble sleeping. I can always sleep yes, but these is uncomfortable nights. So I can not imagine what that must have felt kirie for not only faced with absolute silence but also the true loneliness as you say, because time itself is silencious, so to speak.
Besides the fact that I am impatient to return to the main story and the tournament arc begins, the other reason I did not liked this mini-arc is because I shared the anguish of kirie during these two chaps. The frozen time! For me would be one of the most frightening things that can happen! And being insiders of the supernatural world does not diminish that fear as seen.
Yeah, I’m not a great sleeper either. I never have been (outside of being a kid, and even then, I was popping up, even if I didn’t remember it). 🙁
I really liked Kirie getting some character development. I foresee her being this series’ Chisame, for me at least. Find her pretty annoying at first, but by the end will be one of my favourite characters.
I know people want to get back to the action(me included) but I think I’ll appreciate this arc a lot more when I reread it all at once in the volume release.
Now, if Mizore could just introduce Tota to her grandmother, I’ll be very happy.
Yeah, she really is like that.
Yes, this would be awesome!
Given Akamatsu-Sensei’s twitter usually contains complaints of a weekly schedule, as well as the aftermentioned schedule becoming harder as manga-ka age. It would seem Sensei is caught between “A rock and a hard place” of sorts.
A quote from an article about the renewed influence of Japan of ‘western media’ (I think at least) sums up Sensei’s position, I think it was from ‘A head of one of Kodansha’s departments’ Quote “The reason Anno Hideki is doing something other than Evangelion, is because he needs money” (the project is the new Japanese Godzila movie 2016)
Sensei is doing UQ Holder for an income, problem is however, is that it will never generate enough for him to retire or at least take a leave of absence and come back â la Toriyama with the Canon Dragon Ball movie Franchise.
Continuing to do a weekly schedule for another 4 years seems unimaginable and I doubt he’ll take the monthly option otherwise he would’ve done so with UQ Holder.
In, short.
I would wonder if it was possible for Akamatsu-Sensei to *Stan Lee or sell his Intellectual Property rights to Kodansha, so he can retire before he gets Axed. A decade ago with Love hina being Weekly magazines only hit?
Selling 8 Million their was never any possibility of Sensei being Axed, however with Taizai and Fairy Tail selling an easy 3 million a year, Akamatsu is no longer untouchable.
I really do not see anyway out for Akamatsu other than to sell his ‘universe’ for 30 million yen or less, I doubt that any other than Kodansha would buy his IP.
*A reference to Stan Lee, which in the 1960’s worked out a contract agreement, that would pay him a fixed salary that would increase every year. In return he would legally not intervene in how Marvel used his Characters and some other stuff about a Major stake in Marvel. It also ties in with a failed attempt by Micheal Jackson to create a Spiderman Movie and had approached Stan Lee about it. As well as court case in which a partner of Stan’s was indicted from South America for ‘stealing’ 3.2 million dollars from Stan, that he had lent as a loan, the partner was convicted in 2003.
Not knowing that Stan had no influence. Another part of Stan’s contract came into play though, as long as his salary was being payed he could take legal action against Marvel to take his IP’s back. Marvel had gone through a lot of financial troubles in the 90’s which is why so many Marvel characters are all over the place EG Fantastic Four with Fox and Spiderman with Sony.
Michaels dream came close, as the bank roller for his desired Spiderman movie, Stan had agreed to the idea, thus was responsible for the rights acquisition for Spiderman, this was in in 1999, Stan had an enemy within Marvel that was the head and resented him and the fact his salary would be 1 million dollars in 2000. But he begrudgingly collaborated with Stan. He did manage to sabotage the project by continuing to increase his asking price until Micheal walked away.
**the dates and details are not 100%, but the gist is, as well as the analogy/example as well as an exit strategy for Akamatsu from a weekly schedule and retirement should the desire ever come forth.
Well, I wouldn’t rule anything out. I’m pretty sure there have been manga series that have shifted from weekly to monthly. I know some have gone from seinen to shounen. It isn’t unreasonable to think Akamatsu-sensei might shift UQH to a monthly, seinen format. Unlikely perhaps, but not unthinkable.
I wouldn’t be surprised if UQ Holder moved to a less-than-weekly schedule before it ends. I know Vinland Saga started in Weekly Shonen Magazine before moving to a monthly seinen magazine.
Which reminds me, I’m supposed to start reading that series.
Now there’s a series that needs an anime.
I wish it was more popular.
Kodansha USA announcement that volume 7 might be the final Vinland Saga volume to be published in Englsih if sales are low seems to have been successful at getting people talking about the series
Yeah, that always stinks when a series gets dropped. Ultimately, I’ve always believed that dropping a series only makes fans more distrustful of official manga publications because they can’t be sure that any series will ultimately be continued.
I liked this chapter very much too. It makes these individuals more human and I can relate to the pain and suffering each of them had in the past. Its kinda like we are seeing what Dana had put in the books. We’ve been told that Kirie has a fear of being alone or dying alone, and we finally see why, and how stopping time increased that fear of being alone really happening. There seems so far, the main supporting characters have a common theme – Eva, Kuromaru, Santa, Karin, and Kirie has had a difficult past dealing with society and people, and yet survived in their own circumstances and better themselves despite of the hardships. Yet we don’t know the past for the MC super Tōta.
Mizore isn’t in that original group pic, but there is another long haired blonde similar to Eva, that has yet to be seen, so not so sure how much she and Shinobu will be in this story. Then again sooo many changes since it started who knows?
Yeah, that’s true. I don’t think that’s the only thing that may have been in Kirie’s book.
Yeah, there’s that other guy too. And we aren’t sure if that was Santa in the initial promo art or not.
That being said, I think Mizore and Shinobu are here to stay. They may not be part of missions and stay on the island, but I think they aren’t going anywhere.
I think that cover image from chapter 1 features just immortals from UQ Holder which is why Mizore and Shinobu aren’t in it. I’m assuming hooded kid Santa.
I still wonder when we’ll meet Juzo, vampire boy and the green(?)-haired swordswoman. Probably meet at least one of them at the tournament.
Possible, but wasn’t there another theory about the kid?
Maybe. However, Akamatsu-sensei is being rather random with UQH. Combine that with the fact that there has been a need to increase sales.
***link to Kodansha head, turns out it was an executive
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-11-25/reviving-japan-inc-s-entertainment-division
**** link to Micheal Jackson spiderman story, turns out he was trying to buy marvel
http://moviepilot.com/posts/2605862
Thanks for the links. 🙂
This was a really nice chapter. Actually, Chisame was my favorite out of all the girls in Negi’s weird underage harem (Yue and Nodoka were high runnerups, Asuna… I had other ideas on.) So seeing Kirie get this kind of moment was really sweet- heck, I think I’d have loved it even if it was someone else.
But on the other hand… while all this side stuff is nice, I have to ask: Are we ever going to get to that tournament arc? This is starting to feel like a time-stop of a different sort, almost like Endless Eight or some sort of weird filler arc.
😆 Maybe. But then again, UQH is all over the place. It wouldn’t surprise me if it ended up being dropped, though the Negi element probably means it won’t totally be dropped.
Voll. 9 is out. Ich thhink IT Looks great
https://www.google.at/imgres?imgurl=http://i.imgur.com/mkQZQMQ.jpg&imgrefurl=https://www.reddit.com/r/UQHolder&h=500&w=334&tbnid=FgRjqBgS7CeAmM:&docid=aHnKxjPOLN68rM&ei=1YF6VsjsIIacUaHDt9AF&tbm=isch&client=ms-android-h3g-at&ved=0ahUKEwiIq_L87PHJAhUGThQKHaHhDVoQMwgjKAgwCA
Yep
For the problem for last paragraph of your review, I think tuta and kirie just switched the rooms of theirs… Just probably because of loneliness of Kirie, Kirie occupies tuta’s room. So it is no wonder Mizore occured next to kirie just when time re-started. And thanks for the review.
Touta shares a tiny room with Kuroumaru and they sleep on bunk beds. I didn’t get the feeling this was Kirie’s room due to the couches and stuff that one could see in some of the views. I could be wrong though.
You’re welcome. 🙂
I have double checked chapter 105 & 106. So let me update my spectuation: 1st, Tuota was forbidden to get into his own bedroom (page 3 of CH. 106) and asked to sleep in Kirie’s room (page 9 of CH. 106), because Kirie wanted to hide the fact that Kuroumaru’s gender (page 4 of CH.105); 2nd since Tuota was forced to sleep in Kirie’s room, it is obvious that Mizore showed up next to Kirie just when time re-started.
so I made a mistake last time, I thought Kirie occupied Tuota’s bedroom, but indeed Kirie may sleep in a room for a guest.
Yeah, she could rent a suite meant for guest. She does have the funds.
I’m thinking there might be a ‘writers-block’ or lack of creativity in not going to the tournament just yet. New tournament opponents must be created and made convincingly strong so that super Tōta will have some difficulty but eventually winning. It could explain why the story is all over the place.
Add to that a few sprinkled in chapters of more clashes with Fate’s current “Cosmo Entelecheia” members with the UQH group, and maybe see some other cameos from Negi’s old group Ala Alba, plus fan service to keep the readers attention.
If this Mage of the Beginning first had Nagi, who asked Negi to free him, and now in UQH this mage now has Negi too – and now both asking to be set free… this team Tōta is getting together has to be really good, and better than those that went earlier. If this story gets that far.
Maybe the Mage of the Beginning just needs a nice bath, it would fit the current trend.
Its already stated that Fate does have a final solution plan, and that Tōta is it. So Fate has to settle with Tōta at some point so that some form of teamwork gets Nagi and Negi free, so that Eva can make her cholce. The thing is – this story needs a kick start going in that direction!
UQH isn’t going any direction and hasn’t for a long while. 😉
I think Sensei is just dropping things all over. Whether he gets back to them or not remains to be seen. 😉
Or, she just wants a stable of strong dudes. 😉
In the end of the chapter… weren’t they sleeping in Kirie’s bedroom, where Mizore-chan was?
As for the reason a kiss was the key out of this predicament… another paction tease!
You are correct. I had to go back and look and the room is Kirie’s.
This was a really sweet chapter. It kind of reminded me of the last episode of Futurama where (*Spoiler Alert* for those who haven’t seen it) the universe gets frozen in time except for Fry and Leela, who spend the rest of their lives together in that standstill, wandering the Earth and enjoying every moment of it. Kirie got some much-needed character development here as well, plus she got to claim Touta’s lips a second time, so it’s Kirie-2, Everyone Else-0 which according to the rules of anime & manga that I just made up should put her at the official #1 ranking in the harem.
Now to see who comes next in the harem. Karin? One of the newbie mortals? Ikkuu (hey, he looks like a girl)? Or maybe Kuro will get her butt in gear and try to get back to the top of the heap where she belongs?
Oh, and Merry Christmas, ANB!
That was my hope, and early indications are this is correct.
Thanks! You as well. ^_^
Merry Christmas everyone!
(a late) Merry Christmas to you as well. ^_^
Now that it seems that UQH has de-cloaked as a harem (which is no surprise, seeing as that’s Akamatsu’s specialty) I suppose it makes sense that my ship had to sink. So Santa will stay loyal to Sayoko (as you said) and Kirie will join the harem, because every harem needs a tsundere/kuudere and with this last chapter Kirie really seems to fit this part
Yeah, that’s true what you say about Kirie.