Dragonfly Airflow

Dragonfly Airflow

Manga Chapter 17-2

Manga Chapter Summary:

The 999 enters an area of space where streaks of light stretch around the 999 and as Tetsuro describes it, makes it look like they are inside the barrel of a rifle. Maetel claims they are in a long gas tunnel. Eventually they reach an area where a glittering-fog type substance emanates throughout the 999. Maetel says gas may have come in through the space shield. It gets so thick that Tetsuro and Maetel can barely see each other. Tetsuro worries about suffocating, but Maetel says it’s not toxic and is more like a particle of light than a gas. The Conductor comes in but is unable to see them. He says they are almost at their next stop, “Dragonfly’s Lake”. The 999 approaches the planet although the foggy nature of the gas makes it hard to see far. As they descend, we see stalk-like objects through the fog and Tetsuro says there doesn’t seem to be any building at the bottom.

They eventually stop and Tetsuro wonders if they are at the station as it is so hazy. Maetel wonders if they can make it to the hotel. Tetsuro sees the gas coming out of the ground. Tetsuro says he hears something like a feather and wonders if it’s his mind. Maetel says no, as she heard it to. We see a woman with insect-like wings flying above them. Maetel says it sounds like light feathers. We see many begins flying above her, although it is hard to see any details of them due to the fog. They are eventually able to see the shadows of the beings flying above them and Maetel says they look like pretty dragonflies. At the hotel, Tetsuro finds the same gas is coming through the room and is also directly outside the hotel. Tetsuro says the glittering hurts his eyes. He puts on some sunglasses and heads outside, happy that the sun is setting and that it will soon be dark. Unfortunately Tetsuro finds it is even brighter at night then it is during the day. He returns to the hotel room and lies on his bed while Maetel takes a shower. Tetsuro looks in the hall, and finds it is also hazy. He doesn’t know where the dining room is so he calls for room service but is told it’s not available.

Tetsuro makes his way down to the lobby and soon gets lost due to the fog. He isn’t even sure if there is solid ground underneath his feet and eventually falls down a far distance, hurting his head. Tetsuro looks above and sees Maetel, grabbed by a couple of the flying people and being taken away. We hear voices around Tetsuro who think he is dead and say to get rid of his corpse. We see Tetsuro’s body grabbed by a long mechanical arm, which lifts him into a large craft. From the ground, a winged woman says Tetsuro was grabbed by the recovery vehicle and they have to give up. The recovery vehicle flies away. Voices around Tetsuro claim the Area A morgue is already full so they’ll have to go to a far off location; district D. Tetsuro wonders where Maetel was taken and thinks whoever did so are different than those who have him now. The voices claim Tetsuro is dead, but he thinks it’s crazy as he’s clearly alive. He wonders if they are even human. We see that the creatures possessing Tetsuro are ant-like beings. They find Tetsuro odd, as his skeleton is inside his body. Another one of them says he is creepy and they should get rid of him quickly.

The recovery craft heads to a large crater and drops Tetsuro out of the bottom. Tetsuro falls quickly, but is able to use his cloak as a makeshift parachute to soften his landing due to the thickness of the air particles. Tetsuro falls into a large pit full of mechanical body parts. Tetsuro realizes he’s in some sort of junk pile of mechanical body parts. Suddenly, he starts hearing voices around him! They claim they are not garbage and aren’t dead; their bodies have just fallen apart. They are waiting for their leader to come. They believe that Tetsuro is their leader and has come to work for them! Meanwhile, Maetel finds herself in front of many of the beautiful, dragonfly-like women that have been seen flying in the sky. One of them tells Maetel she is Usuba, the Queen of the Kagaeraria, She says she needs to protect her clan, and that goes above her own pride. Usuba claims a leader has appeared to their enemies, and her side also needs a leader. While she is queen, she is unable to show her people how to fight. Kagaeraria are a helpless creature, an ephemeral insector that drifts in the particles of light. She requests Maetel kill the leader of the other side. She reveals the leader of the other side is Tetsuro! Maetel is told that Tetsuro is now at Mt. Arcturus, a place where corpses are dropped into a crater. Maetel says to bring her there.

We cut to Maetel near Mt. Arcturus. She wonders if Tetsuro has transformed into a strange monster. She makes her way through a tunnel, finding various mechanical body parts along the way. Eventually she starts hearing the voices from a lot of them, talking to Tetsuro as their leader and asking him to do things for them. We see Tetsuro sitting on a large pile of them as the body parts all encourage him. Maetel shows up and asks Tetsuro what he is doing. He claims he is the leader, and Maetel says she is the same. She says she was asked to come here and kill him. She asks Tetsuro what he should do. The body parts continue to talk to Tetsuro and start insulting him. Tetsuro kicks away the head of one of them and the two simply leave the area, heading back to the hotel. Tetsuro asks where the craft is that brought him here. They see several of them in the sky. Maetel claims the creatures piloting them live only to work and are insensitive to other things. Tetsuro says they couldn’t even tell if he was alive or dead. Tetsuro wonders what will happen between the Kagaeraria and the mechanical body parts. Maetel says there is no future for races that take it for granted getting others to work while they put in no effort. The 999 departs the planet and the narrator quotes a painter who says you can’t put your destiny in the hands of others to survive.

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

This chapter returns us to a type of planet where insects dominate. We have previously seen this in chapters such as “A Tale of Endless Summer”, although also in several TV episodes that were based on other Matsumoto manga such as “Keiko of the Insect Planet” and “The Planet of the Queen’s Rebellion”. If anything this chapter kind of reminded me more of those episodes than prior manga chapters. The 999 arrives at a planet where there is a thick gas in the atmosphere that while harmless, makes it very hard to see. Tetsuro, following his stomach as usual, eventually gets in trouble due to this as he goes outside looking for food, get’s lost, then falls a great distance, hurting himself and getting knocked out. Tetsuro is mistaken for being dead and is picked up by some ant-like creatures. As Maetel puts it at the end of the chapter, the creatures are quite dedicated to work, and due to this and perhaps because Tetsuro is so alien to him, they can’t even tell he is alive! As a result Tetsuro gets dumped into a giant crater full of mechanical body parts. Where did all these body parts come from? We don’t actually witness any normal, living, fully put together mechanical humans on this planet. Did all of these body parts get damaged in past conflicts and dumped here? Alas, that is a mystery never answered.

Maetel on the other hand also gets kidnapped, seized by the Kagaeraria, a race of beautiful dragonfly-like women. Incidentally, both Tetsuro and Maetel end up in the same position. Tetsuro is considered the leader by the mechanical body parts in the crater, and the Kagaeraria request Maetel be their leader. This results in a rather funny scenario where Tetsuro and Maetel are imposed to be the leaders of two opposing forces that are depending on them, yet clearly neither is going to fight the other and they just head off and leave together once they meet up. What will the ultimate fate be of the conflict between the Kagaeraria and the mechanical body parts? Perhaps nothing. The funny thing is, neither side wants to put in the work themselves. They want to rely on someone else to do it for them. So perhaps they find a willing party someday. But at least for now, neither of the leaders they pick are going to fight each other, so nothing is going to happen. We do contrast the Kagaeraria with the ant-like race that picks up Tetsuro and drops them on the crater. Maetel claims all they focus on is work. So they are essentially the polar opposite of the Kagaeraria. Perhaps that is ultimately what happens, either or both sides recruiting one of these ant-like people to lead them.

The overall message Matsumoto seems to be going for us to not rely on others to do things for you. You can’t put your own destiny in other people’s hands. It is a good message, one I totally agree with. You want to control your own life as much as you can. The more you are able to, the more successful I think you will be. Simply relying on others to do things for you puts you in a subservient position, and you can be in a spot, like the two sides we see in this chapter, where absolutely nothing happens because you are relying on a party that doesn’t have stakes in accomplishing what you want accomplished.