Kira of Storm Hill

Kira of Storm Hill

Manga Chapter 9-2

TV Episodes 43

Manga Chapter Summary:

A teenage boy, Kira, lives in a domed house with his father. His father tells him to look outside as it’s a quiet night (in reality there is a harsh wind blowing throughout the air). On the 999, the Conductor announces the next stop as Storm Hill, with a layover time of 36 hours, 36 minutes and 36 seconds. He says they may face some shaking due to the turbulence in the air flow, but there is no danger. Maetel tells Tetsuro when they enter the planet’s atmosphere that the train’s barrier disappears, exposing it.

The 999 heads through the harsh wind, but Tetsuro is still told by the Conductor that it’s not dangerous. Kira notices the 999 coming and tells his father. Kira wonders what kind of people are on it and his father tells him about how much money it costs to be on board. Even though he has connections, it’s still too much money for him. Tetsuro and Maetel walk out into the harsh storm. Maetel tells him the storm here won’t subside, and Tetsuro is nearly blown away, having to grab onto a nearby pole. Maetel tells him the hotel they’re staying at is soundproof. Despite this, once going into their room Tetsuro has a hard time hearing Maetel due to the noise of the wind. Maetel tells him to give up and go to bed and Tetsuro ties a towel around his head to block the noise.

The two of them go to sleep, but Maetel wakes up later, finding that Tetsuro’s suitcase is on the ground, open, and his pass is missing. Tetsuro rushes outside and sees Kira running down the street. He chases after him, catching up with him right outside his house. Kira’s father comes outside and upon hearing about Tetsuro’s pass, starts slapping around his son, saying he didn’t raise him to be like this. Kira claims he doesn’t have the pass though. Kira’s father begs Tetsuro to forgive them and that they’ll get it back, so not to tell the police. Tetsuro returns to the hotel room, where Maetel tells him that kid couldn’t have stolen the pass as the footprints in their hotel room show that of an adult’s.

Later, the Conductor walks through the 999 railway car and spots Kira’s father sitting in one of the seats. He shows him Tetsuro’s pass and claims his name is Tetsuro Hoshino. The father is eager to finally be able to get off this planet. Tetsuro, Maetel and Kira all head towards the station as the 999 is to depart soon. Spotting Kira outside, Tetsuro jumps him and starts beating him up. Kira tells him if they can get on the train together, he can get Tetsuro his pass back. Maetel tells Tetsuro to believe him and they get on the train. Maetel, Tetsuro and Kira get on board and Maetel claims whoever got on with the pass bearing Tetsuro’s name stole the pass. She asks the Conductor to close his eyes to what’s going on for 5 minutes. Conductor claims this is the first time he’s been terrified by the look in Maetel’s eyes.

A shot rings out, as Kira’s father it shot in the shoulder. It is revealed that it was Kira who shot him! He drops the pass, causing Tetsuro to realize who really stole it. Kira tells his father to return the pass, but his father says it’s too late for him; if he confesses he stole it, he will be sentenced to death. He has no choice but to continue to be Tetsuro Hoshino. He pushes away Tetsuro, but Kira fires again, telling his father he’s going to shoot him in the head this time. Kira’s father relents, and the Conductor tells them that he hasn’t seen anything, letting them off without punishment.

As they go, Maetel tells Kira that his father is a good man, as his parenting reflected on what good a kid Kira is. Kira says he’ll definitely go into space someday and he and Tetsuro will get along if they meet up again. As the 999 departs, Maetel tells Tetsuro that there are times when people want to run away if they think they’ll end their lives here. She believes Kira will surely buy a pass and ride the train someday, even if she’s unsure if he will survive. As the 999 takes off, Kira watches, saying to wait for him, he’ll ride someday.

TV Episode Summary:

The TV episode makes a notable change in that Kira’s father is portrayed as being quite sick throughout, and feels that he doesn’t want to burden Kira. That is why he steals Tetsuro’s pass and boards the 999, to get away from Kira so he is no longer a burden to him. Kira’s father doesn’t slap Kira around when Tetsuro chases him, nor does he beg for forgiveness from Tetsuro. Later when Kira forces his father to give the pass back, Kira leaves the train first and Tetsuro comes out to talk to him. Kira tells Tetsuro why he was by the hotel, because he had spotted his father stealing the pass.

In terms of other minor changes, we have a line of dialogue where Kira thinks of how nothing can grow here due to the wind. We also see Tetsuro flashback to being back on Earth with his mother and a time when they couldn’t plant anything due to a harsh storm, but it was fine the next day.

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

Kira’s Father – Yasuo Hisamatsu

Kira – Mari Shimizu

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

This chapter looked like it could be fairly interesting initially as I started it, with the heavy wind on Storm Hill. An eternal storm; it is a place where it must be so windy that a night where Tetsuro is nearly carried away by the wind is considered quiet. But my heart quickly sank as I realized this was to be yet another chapter/storyline focused on Tetsuro’s pass getting stolen. The opportunity to do an interesting story focused on the stormy nature of the planet sinks away, and it is largely just something in the background. Instead we focus on a plot that has already been done to death.

It is typically boys around his age that steal Tetsuro’s pass, but this time we have an interesting twist as is  revealed to be Kira’s father who stole it. He just casually heads onto the 999, proclaims his name is Tetsuro Hoshino and oddly enough, the Conductor goes with it. We’ve been told in the past that there are penalties for using a pass that doesn’t have your name on it, but that is dismissed here. Or perhaps Kira’s father has found a unique workaround. After all, if his name is Tetsuro Hoshino and the pass says Tetsuro Hoshino, there should be no problem, right?

Tetsuro just has no luck as it pertains to his pass getting stolen. The logistics for it being stolen here are also highly questionable. Yes, Kira and his father know the 999 has arrived, but how do they know where Tetsuro and Maetel are and that they are the passengers? There is no scene of them finding it out. Just somehow this old man with no resources to do so is able to figure out the exact hotel room where Tetsuro is so he can steal his pass? It disappoints me the plot holes we have to go through in order to make this storyline work. At least in a chapter like say “Illusion World of 4 1/2 Mats” (chapters 2-1 and 2-2) Tetsuro and Maetel made the stupid mistake of going to sleep in a public park (and the TV episode showed the thief scoping them out beforehand). Here Kira’s father is able to steal the pass with no explanation whatsoever.

Kira’s father is portrayed to be incredibly selfish. He wants to leave the planet which I get. But he is willing to abandon his son over it and beat him and blame him for the pass being stolen when it didn’t happen. Part of me wonders if there was stuff that happened off screen. Such as Kira knowing all along that his father was going to steal the pass and being fine with it, but then changing his mind as he realizes he stole the pass from a kid just like himself? Kira does somehow know that it was his father who stole it and that they can get the pass back if they go on the 999. But like with how the pass was stolen in the first place, this is a plot point that is completely skipped.

Anyway, while the twist of having the father be the thief instead of Kira was interesting, this is a chapter that really just retreads an already overdone storyline and does so by making several narrative leaps. I wasn’t particularly fond of it.

The TV adaption absolutely improves things by adding on the fact that Kira’s father is sickly and steals the pass because he doesn’t want to burden his son any longer. It is also explicitly made clear that Kira knew he stole the pass and the part where Kira’s father slaps him around is cut. Perhaps the TV adapters speculated on many of the same things I did and took this chance to fix things up a bit. Anyway, the TV episode is absolutely better than the manga chapter, although I am still sick of the repetitive storyline.