Witch of Plated City

Witch of Plated City

Manga Chapter 7-2

TV Episodes 34 and 35

Manga Chapter Summary:

Tetsuro notices a bright light emanating throughout the 999. It is coming from the next planet that they are approaching, Plated. The planet shines so brightly that Tetsuro can’t make anything out. Maetel tells him everything on this world is gold; not just objects but people too. Tetsuro wonders if people can tell each other apart on such a planet. The 999 lands and Tetsuro finds the sparkling city unbearable. The two of them head to a hotel where the staff person calls them dirty beings before realizing they are 999 passengers.

As they are brought to their room Tetsuro comments on how the people here are like those on the planet of Fireflies they visited. Tetsuro finds that everything in their hotel room is also gold, the bed, the walls, even the bath water! Tetsuro climbs into his bed, planning to go to sleep when there is a buzzing at the door. Tetsuro answers it but is knocked out. Maetel finds that her trunk is gone and Tetsuro rushes out of the door with his gun, trying to take down the thief. Tetsuro shoots at the thief, who falls off a bridge into the water.

Tetsuro looks down at the thief and realizes that he is no longer gold. He is a boy around his age and was wearing fake gold plating. The boy tells Tetsuro there is no gold plating down here in the sewers as no one looks down here. The boy plans on selling the contents of the trunk, including the 999 tickets, so he can cover the price of gold plating. The boy tells Tetsuro only those who are poor or those who are travelers don’t have gold plating. He wants to get it to be beautiful and so he won’t rush, as he is a mechanized person.

Tetsuro shoots again at the boy as he tries to flee and the boy backs off. A voice calls out from inside Maetel’s trunk, asking what happened. As Tetsuro looks at it, the boy bashes Tetsuro in the back of a head with a stick, knocking him out. He plans to crush Tetsuro’s head with a rock when a woman approaches. Calling him Wheeler Lock, she tells him to not do that. It is Wheeler’s mother, and she shoots away the rock in his hands.

Tetsuro wakes up in Wheeler’s home, a wooden and stone house next to the sewer waterway. Wheeler offers him food, 100 year old bread that glows goldly like everything else around here. The gold city above them shines so brightly that it looks like daytime, even though it is 2:00 AM. Tetsuro finds the concept of everything being gold plated to be beautiful petty, and that it looses its impact when so much is gold plated. Wheeler is angry, claiming those who don’t have gold plating can’t be with those who are, and shows Tetsuro a photo of his girlfriend, who has gold plating. Wheeler tells Tetsuro he should get gold plating himself, but Tetsuro is uninterested. He tells Tetsuro he lives here with his mother, but the two of them don’t get along.

Suddenly, Wheeler’s home is hit by an explosion. Wheeler tells Tetsuro it is the peace keeping patrol. His mother has been breaking the law, causing trouble for him. They flee into the sewers, where Wheeler finds his mother, floating face down in the water. She tells Wheeler to save himself as they are going to destroy this place. She hands him an oval device and to contact their group at the gathering place, then dies. The oval device announces the location of the gathering place. Suddenly, a lot of air flows through the tunnel. A giant wave of water knocks them out of the sewer tunnel.

Tetsuro looks to the sky, seeing the 999 taking off.  Wheeler and Tetsuro get back together later in the sewers, heading to the gathering spot, with Tetsuro not wanting to eat some gold plated canned food. Tetsuro gets angry as the 999 has now left without him, and attacks Wheeler, who doesn’t fight back, Wheeler says no one came and notifications have stopped on the oval device. Tetsuro wonders if they have all died. Wheeler says they need to destroy the heart of the city. If they do so, the force attracting the gold to all the people will dwindle, and the plating will disappear. Wheeler is the last non-plated person who can do it, and Tetsuro decides to help.

The two of them cover themselves with gold dust and head back up to the surface. They head towards the magnetic plating tower. Wheeler says they usually kill anyone who looks at it, but because they think they’ve killed all the rebels, there is no one there to act as guard. They head inside the tower and go up an optical elevator. The two of them find themselves in front of the magnetic device. Wheeler heads towards its core, only to be grabbed by long mechanical arms from above.

A woman appears in the core, saying Wheeler will go to eternal sleep in her golden paradise. He is the first rebel in 1,000 years to reach her. Tetsuro shoots at her, hitting her in the face and her body dissolves in the golden liquid around her. Tetsuro and Wheeler flee from the magnetic plating tower, with the gold glow fading from around them as they do so. Soon the entire planet stops glowing. People around Wheeler and Tetsuro ask how they got gold, as they are the only ones who appear that way now. The two of them flee to the sewers and jump in.

Tetsuro wakes up, with Maetel greeting him, saying the 999 is waiting for him in orbit. Tetsuro returns Maetel’s trunk and she asks if he looked inside. He claims an odd voice called out of it but he quickly closed it and didn’t see anything. She tells Tetsuro the Conductor appealed to the main office so the 999 made an emergency stop. Tetsuro wonders about Wheeler, who lost his mother and all his friends. Maetel says he must have wanted to be gold plated for ages, but a change came over him after meeting him. Tetsuro says he understands his feelings and both their mothers died in front of them. Maetel claims Wheeler will be fine. Now that the people of Plated are seeing each other as they are, the world will change and he will be in good company.

TV Episode Summary:

The TV adaption is spread across 2 episodes, episodes 34 and 35. In the TV adaption the Conductor (who has a rare no show in the manga chapter) calls the planet Plated Witch; it was just called Plated in the manga. We have several new scenes in episode 34. This starts by us seeing Wheeler Lock watching Tetsuro and Maetel enter the hotel. When Tetsuro and Wheeler first confront each other in the sewers we see a flashback of Wheeler coming to bring his girlfriend, Mekki, a rose. Gold plated people prevent him from entering and tear apart the rose. 

 

We also have 2 new scenes of Maetel in her hotel room after Tetsuro initially gets knocked out by Wheeler, wondering how he is doing and pacing around later. While talking with Wheeler, Tetsuro speaks of his time on the City of Fireflies planet and we see flashbacks to episode 16. Episode 34 ends as Wheeler sees his mother’s body floating by in the sewer.

 

Episode 35 continues with some more additions. Wheeler’s mother mentions the witch of plated city when she dies; there is no such reference in the manga. Tetsuro flashes back to his mother’s death after seeing Wheeler’s mother die. We see Maetel head to the 999 as it is about to lift off, begging the Conductor for them to wait for Tetsuro. The Conductor goes to ask administration but is rejected, so Maetel goes to the engine room and makes the same request. 

 

Off screen the 999 agrees to stop so Maetel can head down the planet to get back Tetsuro. We have another new scene where the allies of Wheeler’s mother get blasted on the surface, as well as seeing the Witch ordering the sewers to be flooded. Maetel drives by in a vehicle to pick Tetsuro up in the TV episode; in the manga he wakes up with her over him. She brings him back to the 999, where the engine is impatient and looking to leave. Finally, we get a brief new scene with Wheeler being reunited with Mekki, who now lacks the gold plating.

 

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

Wheeler Lock – Kiyoshi Komiyama

Wheeler’s Mother – Nana Yamaguchi

Enigma Voice – Banjou Ginga (episode 34 only)

Mekki – Tomiko Suzuki

Computer Voice – Keaton Yamada (episode 35 only)

Witch – Satomi Majima (episode 35 only)

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

This episode is rather similar in nature to chapter 4-2, “The City of Fireflies”. Both feature those who are considered beautiful based on how much they glow. In that previous chapter it was dependent on how they were born, but on Plated everyone is plated in gold artificially. Tetsuro meets Wheeler Lock, a boy of his own age, who despite being mechanized, lives a poor existence and is one of the few unable to get plated in gold. It is a world where those who aren’t plated in gold are discriminated against and unable to be with friends or lovers if they are plated in gold. The parallels to our own society, such as previous bans on interracial marriages are obvious. Tetsuro and Maetel find themselves treated as second class citizens themselves briefly, while at the hotel, although the fact that they are 999 passengers quickly causes any bad treatment to cease.

 

This is yet another chapter where Tetsuro’s pass is stolen, although we don’t go much into it, and unlike many other pass thieves, Wheeler has no plans of boarding the 999 himself. Tetsuro finds himself feeling kinship with Wheeler, although he still has some animosity towards him for getting him in this mess. Wheeler lives a poor life as Tetsuro did and also sees his mother die in front of him, although he and her didn’t seem to have the good relationship with each other that Tetsuro had with his mother. We have a brief scene with the mysterious voice we have heard at times in the past coming out of Maetel’s briefcase. So whatever the source of that voice is, it comes from within it. As he has done in the past, Tetsuro doesn’t seem interested in delving into Maetel’s mysteries and ignores trying to find thing out any further.

 

Despite being a pretty lengthy chapter at just under 50 pages, things start to spiral out of control as we approach the end of the chapter. All of a sudden the authorities on this planet have completely stepped back, thinking all the rebels have been killed, enabling Wheeler and Tetsuro to approach a tower which is the forefront of the gold plating technology, with no one trying to stop them. We see a woman in the control center of the tower, I assume the titular “Witch” of the Plated city and once Tetsuro shoots her in the face, her body dissolves with no explanation and all the gold plating on the planet disappears.

This could have been an interesting story, but it seems incredibly rushed, without proper exposition (there is no mention of this Witch until she appears) and it seems rather ridiculous that it was as easy as that for Wheeler to eliminate all the gold plating for the entire planet. We also have the 999 coming back for Tetsuro, something it’s not supposed to do and Maetel is able to board the 999 without a pass, as hers is still in the suitcase Wheeler stole. It seems like Matsumoto was in a rush to finish the storyline and move on. The net result is a rather lackluster end. That and the fact that the main concept of this chapter is already really similar to another one makes it one of the weaker storylines thus far.

The Silent Holy Land

 The Silent Holy Land

Manga Chapters 6-7 and 7-1

TV Episode 64

Manga Chapter Summary:

The Conductor announces their next stop as Silver Valley, with a stop time of just under 5 hours. Tetsuro has a hard time hearing the Conductor due to him speaking so softly! Maetel tells Tetsuro he is practicing his speech for the next stop and that this planet is likely not suitable for him. As the 999 reaches Silver Valley, Maetel tells him they’ve entered a silent track and noise reduction zone. It is not advisable to speak normally on this planet and Maetel recommends Tetsuro not leave the train.

After the 999 lands Tetsuro sits on the train, bored, and he wonders if they serve boxed lunches here and shouts out to a man nearby. The Conductor quickly grabs him by the mouth and tells him to eat in the dining car if he’s hungry. Even this causes trouble as the Conductor claims he’s eating too loudly! Tetsuro starts flipping out over the need to stay quiet. He spots an explosion near the train car and shouts out if they are okay, with the Conductor again covering his mouth. Tetsuro sees that the police and ambulance came quickly without making a sound.

The time continues to go by slowly for Tetsuro and even the noise of a dropping bolt worries the Conductor. The departure time suddenly passes, but the 999 doesn’t leave! The Conductor claims this is because Maetel hasn’t gotten on board yet. The Conductor says Maetel is the only one with this special privilege. The Conductor goes to get Tetsuro a cold drink, but when he returns, Tetsuro is already gone, having wandered out into the city to look for Maetel. Everyone Tetsuro asks flees and Tetsuro suddenly finds himself surrounded by several vehicles. Tetsuro is sprayed with some sort of gas and wakes up in a jail cell!

Tetsuro is told that he is going to be hung due to the violation of silence! Some time passes and Tetsuro is brought out before a crowd of people, who are eager to see him hung, but are just barely whispering. Tetsuro starts yelling at the priest praying next to him, causing the priest to yell in return! The priest is told he will need 20 years of hard labor if he doesn’t want to be executed. Tetsuro is struck with a hammer in the head to knock him out and is hung. The bottom falls out underneath him though, and the noose snaps.

Maetel appears and tells Tetsuro to yell as loud as he can. Tetsuro does so, causing everyone around him to either fall down in pain or to clutch their ears. Maetel tells him this nation long ago began the habit of making false accusations. All who were accused were executed. This resulted in everyone eavesdropping on another, but people in response started talking a lot quieter. Because of this they all got special eardrum upgrades to be able to detect any sound, even a voice miles away! Simply talking normally here has become unbearable to them.

Suddenly a shot rings out and nearly hits them. Maetel realizes someone had protection and shoots back with a beam from a ring she is wearing. They rush back to the train, being shot at by vehicles flying over them from above. Tetsuro yells at them and they crash as well. Tetsuro notices someone approaching around the corner by their shadow and also shouts out, causing him to fall over in pain as well. They rush back to the train. The Conductor asks if they should sound the whistle, but Maetel says Tetsuro will be more than enough. Tetsuro asks Maetel what she was doing while on the planet, and she says just attending to business. She won’t tell Tetsuro what it is, but says she’d like to quickly come to a time when she can tell him everything.

TV Episode Summary:

The episode retains the core plot, but adds some additional material. At the start of the episode Tetsuro asks Maetel about her looking down lately. When they arrive on the planet, it is Tetsuro’s idea to stay on the train rather than being told to not get off. Tetsuro in the dining car is elongated a bit to add more comedy and noise to it. The comment from the Conductor about them holding up the train for Maetel is cut.

When Tetsuro is shouting loudly in the street, prior to his arrest, a woman pulls him into an alley, but Tetsuro simply shoves her aside and runs out into the street again, which is when the police catch him. A new scene features Maetel talking to the mysterious voice, on the edge of a cliff. He says he is anxiously awaiting for her to return as soon as possible, and she questions if has to take Tetsuro with her. He says no matter how tough it gets, this is her mission. Maetel returns to the 999 and the Conductor tells her Tetsuro is gone. The woman from earlier shoots at them, but it is revealed to be a message, staying that Tetsuro has been arrested.

In a rather comedic addition, Tetsuro shouts out so much at his execution that they put a pot over his head. The priest yells out loud not due to an argument, but because Tetsuro steps on his toes. He is told he’ll need 100 lashes instead of 20 years hard labor. Instead of the noose snapping on its own, it is fired at by Maetel and the woman from before until it severs. Maetel uses her earring to temporarily blind the crowd and pulls out her whip while Tetsuro escapes with the woman. The two of them jump into water and escape. Oddly enough during this sequence we hear police sirens go at a normal sound.

The woman tells Tetsuro her name is Sylvia. Sylvia explains the origin of the rule of silence on the planet as Maetel does in the chapter and we see a flashback sequence with people spying on each other and a dictator who was in charge. We see a man listening to the two of them from afar. Sylvia reveals her husband was put to death because of the law. Their baby was sick and because he loudly banged on the door of the doctor and called for help, he was executed.

Sylvia realizes someone is there and Maetel reveals herself, but they notice when some rocks fall that yet another person must be nearby. The three of them flee through some sewers into a mechanized room where they can hear whispering around them. The police send two hoses into the sewers emitting some sort of gas, forcing them to climb a ladder out of the sewers. The three of them are surrounded by a mob at which point Tetsuro is able to shout at them loudly to get away as he does in the manga. Tetsuro and Maetel say goodbye to Sylvia and head to the 999 which departs.

Design-wise we see the authorities on this planet using the swastika as a symbol which I was quite shocked to see. My assumption would be this was used to make us feel anger at the former dictator of the planet.

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

Sylvia – Eiko Masuyama

Chief Guard – Kouji Yada

Governor – Ichirou Nagai

Mysterious Voice – Banjou Ginga

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

This is another one of those types of chapters where the 999 visits a world were something is out of the ordinary, this time people’s hearing. Everyone is forced to talk really quietly, and speaking even at a normal tone, let alone yelling, can get you sentenced to death! Of course for someone like Tetsuro, this is an extremely difficult thing to do, and Tetsuro quickly finds himself arrested and sentenced to be hung! While it was obvious something was up, you do wish that Maetel and the Conductor had simply flat out told Tetsuro what the rules and consequences were on this planet, although I suppose we don’t have much of a story if that happens. Tetsuro is lucky enough that the noose snaps and Maetel conveniently shows up. All of a sudden Tetsuro’s tendency to shout out really loud becomes a big strength and by doing so he is able to ensure their passage back to the 999. Even flying vehicles are taken down by his voice!

I liked the explanation we eventually got for why people need to talk so quietly. It would have been very easy for Matsumoto to simply have some easy explanation, that people were born that way, but he instead takes the time to provide an explanation that while a little complicated, makes sense and also fits the theme of mechanized humans so prevalent in the manga/show. This chapter’s storyline reminds me a lot of an old horror comic story I read in the horror comic “The Haunt of Fear”. In it, a king loves loud parties, but when his daughter dies due to no one being able to hear her calls for help, he orders the entire kingdom to be silent, punishing anyone who dares to speak or even make breathing sounds! He eventually has a metronome sewn into him by an angry mob that goes off anytime he moves and he throws himself off a cliff, being unable to hear the noise. I’m sure there’s no connection between the two; that comic predates this by approximately 25 years, and was published in America so Matsumoto probably didn’t read it.

This chapter has the rather annoying storyline of the 999 not moving because Maetel hasn’t returned. I do recall that this comes up at least one other time, although I can’t recall if it’s been in a chapter I’ve already covered or one that is yet to come. In any case, that Matsumoto goes to this well when it is convenient is quite annoying after many storylines where we have a rushed race to get back to the 999 by its departure time. Chapters like this one tell us it is meaningless. Also, we never get an explanation for where Maetel has gone; adding more to her mystery, but also starting to become a bit annoying as Tetsuro is totally fine without getting any explanation for it until Maetel is ready. We get it by this point, Maetel has something mysterious about her; we don’t have to keep repeating the same old plot of her going off on some business but needing to keep it secret. As often is the case, the TV episode does provide an answer, showing us that while being away she was talking to the mysterious voice we have heard from many times throughout the show.

The TV episode fleshes things out a bit more, most likely to ensure the running time was met as this isn’t the most complicated chapter. Sylvia is a likable and sympathetic character although oddly enough the baby of hers we see in the flashback gets completely forgotten about in the present time. I hope it’s alright! With her being on the run who is taking care of it?

Spoiler Analysis:

Tetsuro being bored on the 999, something which took up a decent portion of this chapter is something we’ll eventually get an entire chapter dedicated to with chapter 8-3 “C-6248’s Rebellion”.

The Phantom World Filaments

The Phantom World Filaments

Manga Chapter 6-6

TV Episode 30

Manga Chapter Summary:

Tetsuro notices that it is suddenly getting colder on the train. Maetel says they are passing through a cloud sea, during which time the temperature always drops. The Conductor announces their next stop as the Silver Valley, with a layover time of nearly 5 hours. Tetsuro looks outside and finds hazy clouds in front of them that have what look like broken filaments from a light bulb. Maetel claims its substance from a planet that blew up around here, killing millions. The blast was so sudden that the citizens of the planet didn’t even have time to realize that they died.

Tetsuro runs off to the toilet. Meanwhile the 999 locomotive receives a message from the control center to reduce its speed as a huge biomass has been detected near Silver Valley. As Tetsuro heads towards the toilet, he notices shadows of people in the next car. When he opens the train car door though, it is just glowing humanoid figures, occupying each of the seats. As Tetsuro wonders what kind of people they are, many hands grab him and pull him into the train car. They ask him to play with them and won’t let go of him despite his pleas.

A cloaked woman approaches and takes Tetsuro’s hand, insisting he talk with her. The cloaked woman says they have no name and claims to not be mechanized. Tetsuro, quite nervous, tells her of his quest to get a mechanical body and that he is traveling with Maetel. The cloaked woman insists that they go see Maetel and despite his objections, Tetsuro brings the cloaked woman to her. The cloaked woman asks Maetel that it take Tetsuro with her and that Maetel can’t come. Tetsuro squirms as the cloaked woman tries to take him away. 

The 999 continues through the cloud sea, with the filaments surrounding the train. Maetel insists the cloaked woman unhand Tetsuro, but she says the train won’t move further without her approval. The 999’s control center requests Silver Valley’s Security division send out crafts to help the 999, which it does. The cloaked woman however threatens to destroy the train if they come closer, so they retreat. More of the glowing figures laugh and claim they are all powerful, and that they are bringing Tetsuro to their home.

The train the cloaked woman brings Tetsuro to detaches from the rest of the train. For once, Maetel is uncertain of what will happen to Tetsuro. The train car approaches a glowing part of space where Maetel claims the planet used to be. The train car starts glowing with light as it heads into the glowing part of space. The cloaked woman claims this is their planet, Filaments, even though it blew up. The cloaked woman claims it is going to enter Tetsuro’s body as it wants to be reborn as a human. Tetsuro insists no. Maetel and the Conductor notice the glowing light starting to pulsate. The light glows more and more around Tetsuro, then he suddenly finds himself back on the 999.

The cloaked woman tells Tetsuro that she gave up trying to seize his body as his soul was similar to hers when she was still alive. She claims Tetsuro was full of hopes, dreams and faith in the future like she used to be. She says farewell and walks out. Tetsuro asks her if mechanized bodies are worth having and she says that’s something someone else can’t decide for him, but Maetel might have an opinion on it. The cloaked woman departs the train and heads back towards the glowing spot in space. Tetsuro tells Maetel that’s where the souls of all those on Filament have gathered. He wonders if Maetel will ever tell him about mechanization.

TV Episode Summary:

The episode begins showing us people on the planet Filament. We see a pair of peasants, mother and son, heading past a fancy town where they are celebrating the return of the son of the manor, who now possesses a mechanical body. The peasant boy hopes for a mechanical body someday. Suddenly a large pink wave passes through the area (later explained by Maetel to be caused by the planet’s sun) and the entire planet blows up.

We return to the present afterwards and see a train pass by the 999. Tetsuro looks onboard and sees glowing humanoid spirits onboard.  The Conductor doesn’t believe Tetsuro when he says he saw another train. The Conductor also announces the Cloud Sea as if it was a formal stop. References to Silver Valley are cut, as the adaption of the upcoming chapter that features it was moved from directly after this storyline to far later in the series.

Tetsuro initially leaves Maetel in the manga to go to the toilet; in the episode he says he’s getting some exercise. Although Tetsuro does claim once grabbed by the spirits that he’s only here to pee. Tying in with the earlier flashback, the cloaked woman claims in the episode that she needs Tetsuro for her son (there is no reference to her having a son in the manga). When the defense force comes to take back the 999, the cloaked woman sends out beams that attack them in the episode (versus just making threats in the manga).

Once the train car is pulled away into the glowing area in space, we see the cloaked woman’s son approach and she claims that he will be entering Tetsuro’s body and traveling in his place to get a mechanical body. The boy approaches and jumps onto Tetsuro, but hesitates, and tells his mother he can’t do it. The train car returns to the 999. The reason for rejecting taking over Tetsuro is similar as to the manga, it’s just the son who says it rather than the mother. Tetsuro tells him he’ll get a mechanical body on his behalf someday and the boy says he hope he will visit him after that.

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

Boy – Keiko Yamamoto

Boy’s Mother – Mieko Nobusawa

Train’s Voice – Keaton Yamada

Ghost A – Kouko Kogawa

Ghost B – Kouji Totani

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

Here’s another chapter that focuses on scaring us a bit. The 999 enters a section of space where a planet had blown up, yet clouds remain in the area where it used to be. Once entering a bunch of spirits, depicted as glowing humanoids start appearing on the 999. One of them appears in a cloak, and tries to seize Tetsuro. We have seen several prior chapters where Tetsuro is seized by a woman for some nefarious purpose or otherwise, such as Shadow or Mud Maetel. This chapter makes me think primarily of Laura from chapter chapters 4-7/5-1 as she literally tried to take Tetsuro’s body and live in it which is what the unnamed cloaked woman seems to want to do here. In the end however we get an ending very similar to an ending we only got a few chapters ago in chapter 6-2, “Goddess of the Snow Capital” where the woman decides that Tetsuro is a good person, and she’s not going to do the nefarious deed to him after all. I was wondering how in the world Tetsuro would get out of this predicament, so to see it end so similar to a way we saw a recent chapter wrap up is rather disappointing. Most of the chapter is pretty good, and it gets across what I think it was really going for in being rather scary, but Matsumoto should have thought of a better ending.

The episode changes things slightly in that we now have a backstory for the cloaked woman, she was a peasant woman on Filament, and had a son, making the relationship very similar to Tetsuro and his mother. Like Tetsuro, her son wanted a mechanical body, which they hoped to get for him someday. It is the boy’s spirit who they are hoping to use Tetsuro for rather than the mother. This change causes things to make more sense, and gives us some better backstory and motivation than what we got in the manga.