This article is a layered and hopefully, one day annotated transcript of the very first chapter of the Elfen Lied Manga series, called Elf. A link will take readers to a more straightforward synopsis of the story.
It is the intent of the users & admins of this wiki not only to transcribe the visuals and dialogue from the series but to gather information on different English language 'scanlations' since the manga series has yet to receive an English language or North American official release. Alternate scanlations will be noted chiefly where the translation or transliteration draws a very different conclusion from the others, not merely where the wording is slightly different. Where official releases in other languages have dialogue that differs notably, it too will be noted. With that said, it is not the goal to transcribe the versions in other languages, since often that would be the same dialogue repeatedly, as well as making the article unwieldy. One goal is to eventually note how much the scanlation dialogue differs from the original Japanese. These transcripts are a work in progress. The admin staff asks that users start no other manga transcripts until the completion of this very first chapter so that it can serve as a template to build upon as we go forward.
The current (10/20/2017) format is a full-on notes and all recounting of the narrative, followed by a version refined and revised to bring in the alterations made by the edits, hopefully allowing for a smoother read.
A commentary and suggestion thread for improving this article can be found here: http://elfen-lied.wikia.com/wiki/Thread:14088
RAW/ANNOTATED EDIT[]
Chapter 1 - Elf
(Color shot of sunlit blue sky overlooking an island compound and a descending helicopter; one stern-looking man disembarks and is met by a bespectacled man who bows to him lightly; A shot of the open sky follows)
(A color insert shot of Kouta and Yuka appears; this seems to be an addition to the first manga volume)
(The reader sees an iron door without windows framed all around by thick walls. It has the appearance of both weight and electronic security mechanisms. Inside the room are two security guards, and a desk with one chair just outside a metal ring; there are papers on the table, possibly listing new protocols and documenting any anomalies)
(While difficult to determine who speaks first, it seems that the elder and superior of the two officers makes the first comment; this transcript proceeds from that presumption)
Superior Officer: I feel something's gonna happen today.
Junior Officer: Yeah.
Judging from the polite wordings the speaker uses, it seems to me the junior officer started the conversation. Like; Junior Officer " She looks like in a bad mood again today, sir." Superior Officer: "Yeah."
(Now a close-up of the superior's face, looking concerned)
Superior: It felt like this when Murakami died as well. Also, security is weak because of the transportation tomorrow.
(Note: Murakami is a never-seen character, only referenced here)
(A motor is humming, and an odd noise builds as they watch; the superior turns to the junior; we see only the junior's face)
Superior: Don't slack off on the job.
(The Junior's face shows he takes this seriously; a sweat drop runs down his face)
Junior: I know that, sir.
(Note: It is unclear whether 'I Know That Sir' is in response to the admonition not to slack off, or to the statement of why security is weak)
That conversation between the two is in the same frame so it looks to me that the junior responded to the superior's instruction, "Don't slack off." Junior: "Noted."
(The unknown noise continues while the Junior Officer sits down at the desk, reviewing and filling out papers while sitting down)
Junior Officer: Ok. What day was it today? (Noise keeps on) Damn. It's too noisy.
(Junior stands up in front of the desk, arms at his side, looking at the unknown inside the metal ring)
Junior: Geez, I was so happy when I heard that I was watching over a girl. Story's different when the girl's not Human.
(Superior is now looking at Junior from behind and to the side; Junior quickly turns to meet his gaze)
Superior Officer: Hey! Don't go near that thing! What are you gonna do, makin' it more angry?
(Junior has turned in a hurry, responds nervously)
Junior: Y-Yes!
(Junior turns back towards the desk)
Junior: Now...huh? Where'd I put that pen?
(Junior turns again, a look of horrid realization dawning on his face; sweat runs down his face, and a light appears just past the middle of his face; it seems like part of the realization effect, rather than a real light)
(The pen appears, resting on the floor just inside the metal ring; perhaps lost when Junior pivoted to answer the superior; in any event, the next panel shows Junior's wide, horrified eyes in full; Superior looks terrified as he tries to warn Junior, whose name is apparently Sasaki)
Superior: Sasaki! Run away!
(The reader sees a pair of legs, and noise effects appear as the ground rattles; its effects are unclear; the legs are presumably those of Junior/Sasaki, meeting an as-yet-unknown fate)
(A new scene begins, inside a control room with large windows, possibly for observation; apparent are five people, four men, and one woman; one of these men is talking in explanation and warning; We will soon learn that his name is Kurama)
Kurama: Please do not go near her in a radius of two meters. If you get near her in a radius of 1.47 meters, you'll get killed instantly.
(The next panel shifts to a close-up of Kurama's face; we see he is the bespectacled man from earlier who bowed to the other man)
Kurama: If someone comes around her, then people will die.
In the Japanese Tankobon book, the conversation order is different. Read from the right frame to the left - a rule of thumb.
Kurama: And if you're wearing a necktie pin or a ring or any droppable valuables things, please leave it to the security inside.
And in the next frame, Kurama continues, "If something like that [necktie pin or ring and droppable things] rolls into her nearby area, somebody is killed for sure.
(Kurama is shown in broad view to be facing the other man we saw earlier)
Kurama: And if you're wearing a necktie pin or a ring or any droppable valuables, please leave it to the security inside.
(Now we see the face of the other man, seeming perhaps unbelieving of the instructions given)
Kurama: Yesterday, someone dropped a pen inside, so he was killed. Please watch yourselves.
(The other man, who we will soon learn is an unspecified Vice Minister for the Japanese government, is looking up at something in disbelief, and perhaps not a little fear, just in front of himself and Kurama. A sweatdrop runs down one of his cheeks as his gaze turns upwards)
Vice Minister: This is? Th---?
(Noise, perhaps the same one from the scene with the two guards, appears as a written/drawn effect beneath their feet; We now see the same doors to the area the two guards were inside. We see the doors and locks in their actual enormous scale; two visible guards accompany Kurama and the Vice Minister)
The noise effect for the junior officer is ガタガタ that means shivering with fear. That for this scene is カツン that is a sound when the shoes hit the floor. Maybe it shows that he stopped suddenly with a surprise.
Vice Minister: Isn't it too big? Building this twenty meters underground just to keep some girl?
Kurama: No.
When translated in the order of balloons,
Vice Minister: Building this facility twenty meters underground in order to lay only one girl under restraint... Isn't this too much excessive? Kurama: "By no means．”
(The Vice Minister stands before the door, almost in profile; we can only see half of him; His look is a combined of one of stunned fear and skeptical disbelief)
Vice Minister: This is so wrong. This is a waste of tax money.
(A view of one of the doors' lower hinges is the entire panel)
Kurama: If you get to know her, you'll feel that even this isn't safe enough. That's why there's a need to move her into other facilities.
(Kurama looks back at the Vice Minister without turning around)
Kurama: Vice-Minister, we're short on that "tax," so we've called you here.
(Another view of one of the corners of the enormous doors appears)
Vice Minister: So? What's in this thing?
(Close-up of Kurama's face, leaning forward)
Kurama: As I've told you a moment ago, she's a mutant, because of the genetic defect.
(Note: Kurama must have mentioned this prior to the reader viewing the scene; also, the scanlation mistakenly says 'generic defection.' It is possible that the original Japanese referred to 'genus' as in a race or species over-group, but 'defection' is entirely the wrong term, describing an abandonment of loyalties or a betrayal, rather than a flaw as seems to be the intent here.)
'genetic anomaly' seems better. Original Japanese says 遺伝子(genetic) 異常 (anomaly/abnormality)
(The panel shifts to an indistinct image; possibly altered by the scanning process)
It is indistinct. A mutant is drawn in an indistinct manner.
Kurama: Mutants die when they're born, usually. But she has an ability to get used to things and to live. They're called a monster, you can say, in genetics.
A more faithful translation would be, perhaps,
Kurama: "Mutants die soon after they're born, generally speaking. But she has an ability to get used to surrounding environments and also to reproduce --- "a monster with promising future" like genetics calls it."
(Kurama faces the Vice Minister who is faceless in this panel)
Kurama: But our problem is that she wasn't created; she was born naturally.
(Note: Kurama never mentioned anything to distinguish between mutants that are born by chance and those artificially engineered, so this reference seems a bit out of place; possible translation error losing intent or nuance)
Looks like some words were omitted when translated.
Kurama: But our problem is that she wasn't created artificially by humans; she was born in a manner of spontaneous generation by chance.
(Next two panels are front-views of Minister and Kurama)
Vice Minister: What do you mean by that?
(Another view of the upper structure of the doors)
Kurama: That means she's a new species, chosen by God...
(As noted elsewhere, Kurama's meaning in saying God may be less straightforward than it seems; whether he means a Supreme Being, a will within nature, or just the chance of fate is unclear; however, it does introduce the idea of Humankind's replacement)
(Panel scene shifts to a shadowed view of a thin. gaunt hand and arm; Kurama continues his thought)
This shadowed view is the chest part of the previous indistinct drawing of a mutant.
Kurama: ...that she doesn't have two arms.
(Note: It seems like perhaps the intent was to say 'she doesn't have merely two arms.')
(New panel view of Vice-Minister's face and upper body)
Kurama: We locked her up because just like us Homo Sapiens, who took over and killed all the group before then prospered, there's no set rule that group of people like her won't take over and kill all of us.
(Remote view of Kurama facing forward)
Vice Minister: That mutant? How is she different from us?
Kurama: She has a few minor differences. But probably her biggest difference is...
(Panel shows Kurama still facing forward with angled view of Minister now sweating from nerves)
Vice Minister: What?
Kurama: Then I will you show you her now.
Again, the scanlation translator reads left frame first and then moved to the right, when it should be in the reversed way. And the frame order of this page is a bit tricky. It starts from the upper right frame, then goes down, then upper left and goes down. So the story development is like below.
(New panel view of Vice-Minister's face and upper body)
Kurama: Like we homo sapiens destroyed archaic humans and then prospered, it's probable that homo sapiens could be destroyed by them, the new spices. That's why we lay her under restraint.
(Remote view of Kurama facing forward)
Vice Minister: That mutant ? , how is she different from us?
Kurama: She has a few minor differences. But probably her biggest difference is...
Kurama: (in the shadowed frame) that her arms are not two.
Vice Minister: What?
Kurama: Then I will show you her now.
(Panel is a full sketch of Minister's face, sweatdrop visible as he gazes stunned at the opening doors; next panels are the doors moving open; a light seems to come from inside as the noise from gears grinding and the ominous sounds from within intermingle)
The order of panels are, firstly door's lock is released with huge sounds ガコﾂ ガコンﾂ, secondly the gate is opening with different sounds ゴォォォォン and then to the full sketch of Minister's face.
Vice Minister: Th...This is?
Kurama: Yes. She's the new breed, named Diclonius.
(The focus shifts to an outdoor scene; This is the Kamakura Train station, whose signs we see as an unknown narrator, who we will learn is named Kouta, seems to both think to himself and speak out loud.)
Kouta: (Spoken) Four O'Clock. Phew, then I barely made it. (The new panel shows him almost in full, standing up and smiling, wearing a backpack, with a casual open shirt and undershirt) Mmm, the smell of the sea. I wonder if the sea's near here?
(A view of two trees shaded/silhouetted against the sky)
Kouta: (Thought/narrated) This summer winter, I failed all of the fifteen college entrance tests.
Looks like the keyword "fifteen" is omitted in scanlations. This strongly indicates Kouta's academic weakness. And also a mistake. It's not summer but winter. Kouta says "This (past) winter, I failed ...." Japanese school year begins in April and college entrance examination is usually implemented from late January to early March.
(Panel shows a picture presumably of correspondence showing his acceptance to the college he now seeks to attend - User Yoshik)
Kouta: (Thought/narrated) When I made up my mind about college, to try again, I received a letter announcing additional students who passed, so I barely got into a college.
(Note: This sentence may have to be checked over, for intent and structure. It's a bit twisty in how it says what it wants to.)
Kouta: At the very moment I made up my mind to spend another year as a RONIN, I got a notice from a college that accepted me as a back-up candidate. So I barely got into a college.
RONIN 浪人= In this case, a high‐school graduate who has failed to enter a college and is waiting for another chance (to obtain a place) until next year's entrance exams. Originally it means "unemployed samurai".
(Panel shows a tree overlooking a structure at the train station framed by the sky above)
Kouta: (Thought/narrated) So to be a college student, I came here, and decided to stay at my relative's house in Kanagawa Prefecture.
He does not disclose at this moment that it is his cousin's house. He just mentioned here "relative's" house.
By the above monologue, Japanese readers understand that this must be the spring, around the end of March to early April, shortly before the matriculation ceremony. So the escape of Lucy is also this season. In the anime episode 1, this monologue does not exist and the season is shown by cherry blossoms. In Kamakura, like many other places in Japan, it is usually from the end of March to the beginning of April.
(Panel now shows Kouta himself, from behind and slightly turned back again towards the reader)
Kouta: (Thought/narrated) It's been about eight years since I've seen her (Note: His cousin) last, so I forgot her face. Anyway, she should be here any minute.
When translated in the order of the baloons, it goes like this.
Kouta: (Thought/narrated) Well, my cousin is supposed to pick me up here... But it's been eight years since I've seen her last time, I can not recall her face...
(Panel shows a sneaker/shoe and the foot inside it; the lace area and the sides of the sneaker seem to be black or gray, while the main body of the sneaker is white--description limited by monochrome panels)
(The speaker, we will learn, is Kouta's cousin Yuka)
Yuka: Umm, is it you, Kouta-Kun?
(Yuka's face is seen in full in the next panel. Owing to the early art style of the mangaka, her features are somewhat different than we will see later on. Her eyes are as Moe as anime Mayu's; her hair is a bit flyaway and not the stable hairdo we will come to know; her blouse is frilled at the top; Perhaps excited from what we will learn is a long-awaited reunion, her smile is visibly pleasant)
Yuka: Thank God! You haven't changed at all.
(Panel shows trees against sunny sky above; next panel shows Kouta and Yuka atop a long stone stairwell)
Yuka: Kouta-Kun, you said you were going to the same school as me, right?
Kouta: Ah--yeah.
(Panel is a close-up of Yuka's face, her eyes closed; she cannot conceal her delight)
Yuka: Thank God there's someone attending the school with me! You can't feel safe if you don't know anybody at a school! (Panel shows Yuka's face, her eyes open this time; more of her upper torso is visible)
Kouta: (Thought/Narrated) Cousin's face. After eight years. Was she really like this?
(Panel is Yuka munching on a pastry of some sort)
Kouta: (Thought/Narrated) I really can't remember at all.
(Panel is their feet next to a tree trunk as they pass it walking)
Yuka: Hey, Kouta-Kun?
Kouta: Yeah?
(Repeat trees against a sunny sky image)
Yuka: You-haven't forgotten me, have you?
(Kouta's eyes show panic and perhaps pain as the picture focuses on that portion of his face; next panel shows a shadowed younger girl, presumably Yuka, with tears apparent as she exclaims in the major bold caps 'DON'T EVER FORGET ABOUT ME!')
(Almost as though after an exertion, Kouta's face is almost blank as he replies to her)
Kouta: You're Yuka.
(Repeat of prior image showing Yuka's head with eyes mostly closed; still happy but now less ecstatic)
Yuka: Yep! Call me Yuka.
(Eyes and face showing confidence and relief, Kouta seems to have dodged a problem)
Kouta: Right. You can just call me Kouta, then.
(The two now stand by a railing overlooking the beach and shoreline seen from behind them)
Kouta: Wow! Amazing. It's the ocean!
(The scene switches back to the facility from earlier; The Vice Minister stares in amazement and some fear at a sight the reader is not yet privy to; repeat of sweat drop going down his face)
Vice Minister: This--is a mutant?
(A full three-fourths of the next page is taken up by the sight that so astounds him. Inside an open-air interlocking set of iron rings is a near-to mummified figure locked into an iron table and then bound again by a series of interlocking belts and restraints, topped by a helmet with three slots over the position of each eye area, relative to where the eyes would be. A piece of the helmet fits over the mouth-area as well; the constraints make no allowance for even the slightest movement, down to the neck; despite the bound-up character's condition, it only seems all the more dangerous as a result)
(The final portion of the page is a close-up of the figure's helmeted face, showing that even jaw movement is held back on it)
Vice Minister: Wha...
(Image shows Vice Minister's stunned face in the foreground; Kurama's feet in the background)
Vice Minister: What are all those protective gears?
Kurama: These are her "cage."
(Image shows perspective on how far inside the cage the figure is situated)
Kurama: That metal bar is the border showing the two-meter radius. Please don't go in there.
(Image shows the cage floor near the front and a resounding boom that emanates from inside it)
(Image shows the faces and upper bodies of Kurama and the Vice Minister as the sound increases again)
Vice Minister: What's this sound? The floor's...
Kurama: She's kicking the floor since it isn't two meters away.
(Image of a comprehensive but grainy view of the whole chamber, with the cage, its entombed figure, Kurama, the Vice Minister and two security guards; The desk now seems like it might be farther away than it was in the first set of panels for this chapter)
Kurama: Now she'll be moved. Let's go upstairs for now.
(Image shows Kurama and the Vice Minister emerging from an elevator, presumably on an upper floor, then shows a close up of half of Kurama's face, his eye visible through his glasses frame. A voice neither his nor the V. Minister's greets him; As the next frame starts, we see a young woman, showing signs of anxious stress, holding a set of papers likely meant for Kurama; She is Kisaragi, and we will soon learn she is Kurama's loyal if seemingly less than able secretary)
Kisaragi: Ah--Chief!
(In a sadly cartoonish motion, Kisaragi quite literally trips over her own feet as she goes, falling face-first onto the floor in front of her as the papers scatter and her underwear is exposed. Her one leg and ponytail fly up along with her skirt. Mortally embarrassed and blushing, Kisaragi sits up amidst the scattered papers, her appearance still as much of a sprawl as the papers; She manages a smile as she tries to focus back on her job)
Kisaragi: Ehhhh-Eh-Uhm-Minister Kakuzawa called a moment ago.
(Kurama's face is shown looking over at her, one eye visible, the other obscured by his glasses frames)
Kurama: Ok. I'll call him later then.
(Kisaragi lightly bows while looking ever more nervous, clutching the papers for dear life)
Kisaragi: A--Ah. Then excuse me.
(Promptly, she once again trips over her own feet, once-more face planting and causing her skirt to go up as she does; She once again raises herself from the floor, even more embarrassed)
Kisaragi: Eh...Ehhhh!
(The Vice Minister looks over at Kisaragi in concern and disbelief; Kurama's look is more nonchalant, indicating he has seen all this before)
Vice Minister: Who-Who is that girl there? She's just tripping on her own.
Kurama: She's my clumsy secretary. She probably tripped on her own leg.
(Close up of Kisaragi's shamed, tearful face)
Kurama: She was a Tokyo University graduate. But she's not used to this kind of thing, so...
(The scene switches to a large freight/transport elevator, where the bound-up caged figure, her constraints and two guards are in transit; the floor emits the ominous sound from earlier as it moves; the scene makes who exactly is speaking completely unclear)
Junior Guard: She's still banging on the floor. Can the elevator hold out?
(Note; In this scene, one guard might be saying one sentence, and one might be saying the other. Again, there is no indication available.)
Yeah, no indication. It is, however, safe to say that the second part "Can the elevator hold out?" is spoken by the junior guard in view of the polite question form. Most likely the first half, too, although it is neutral expression.
(The cell phone in the pocket of one of the guards begins to ring; It is the Junior Guard; he reacts with a look of surprise; The ringing also surprises the Senior Guard)
Senior Guard: What's that sound?
(Junior Guard opens the flip-model cell phone and stares at the screen in wonder)
Junior Guard: Ah--I'm sorry. It's my cell phone.
(Senior Guard gets a worried look on his face in one panel; in the next we see a close-up of his eyes)
Senior Guard: Hey. Do you have any idea how deep underground we are right now? There's no way that phone can work here.
(The bound-up figure inside the cage again demonstrates its unknown power by shaking the floor in the elevator with her strikes; The guards are visibly thrown off by this)
(Junior Guard first drops his cell phone in the confusion following the floor strike, then watches as it slides across the floor, coming to rest just inside the cage area, having slid under the opening created by its wheels raising the structure off the floor)
Junior Guard: Ah! Crap!
(Almost by instinct, he reaches for the phone, his arm entering the warned against strike zone)
(Again, the panels make it difficult to precisely determine who is speaking what dialogue, but in this case the ambiguity has no over-arching plot or narrative problems)
(Senior Guard looks on in obvious terror at his comrade's blunder)
Senior Guard: You moron! STOP!
(Senior Guard watches helplessly as Junior Guard's right arm is pulled inside the cage, with him stuck against its perimeter, grasping the outer cage railing with his left arm)
Junior Guard: Oh, No!
(A close-up of both their worried faces, followed by a one-half view of the restraint helmet of their captive)
Senior Guard: Pull your arm out!
Junior Guard: I can't! That monster's got a hold of it!
(Junior Guard watches in horror as his captive arm is taken apart, revealing bone as the skin breaks in three locations; The effect here seems less a slicing than a shattering, as though the arm had been made of plastic or plaster)
Junior Guard: Ahhh!
(Senior Guard makes a desperate attempt to pull his comrade out, wrapping his own arm around his waist, to no avail, as Junior Guard is pulled further forward; his chin is now resting on the cage rim)
Senior Guard: Move away from there! Pull your arm out!
(Perhaps the scanlations had some trouble here, because one says 'arm' and one says 'hand', and Junior Guard has already lost both; Then again, Senior Guard may not realize this has happened yet, being fully invested in saving his co-worker)
(Senior Guard slips, apparently losing his grip on Junior Guard; all we see are a pair of shoes slipping on the elevator floor)
Senior Guard: Crap!
(Junior Guard, now bleeding profusely from his lost limb, is now fully inside the cage's danger zone; both guards seem to realize he is now doomed as they stare at the bound figure; Junior Guard's cap has been knocked off)
(Pure terror takes over Junior Guard's face; the bound figure initiates motion waves while almost seeming to stare at him, helmet aside; ethereal hands at the end of cartoonish arms appear on either side of Junior Guard's head; whether he can see these or not is unclear, but he knows something is touching him)
Junior Guard: Ah! Ah!?
(In one motion, Junior Guard's head is gone; Whether it was merely lopped off or exploded is unclear; while his arm-stump still bleeds, his neck issues forth a geyser of blood that sprays and strikes the control panels on the elevator doors; Senior Guard stares numbly as the same unseen force lifts the corpse like a broken doll and then begins to tug at the keychain on the late Junior Guard's belt)
(Finally able to react, Senior Guard unholsters his sidearm, prepping it to fire)
Senior Guard: Stop right there!
(At effectively point blank range, Senior Guard sights his target inside the cage and opens fire, peppering the target with gunfire)
(A close-up of the figure's helmet and upper torso shows the bullets striking what seems like a force field absorbing all the impact and turning back the bullets; Senior Guard's face shows his evident worry)
Senior Guard: (Thought/narration) It's useless. I can't hit it.
(Gingerly, one of the keys stolen from Junior Guard's body is making it way to one of the main locks; whether this key is the right one is irrelevant; soon the bound figure will be free)
Senior Guard: Stop it right now!
(Senior Guard continues firing; One set of scanlations indicated that he could not pull the trigger at all; This seems to come from overlooking the drawn bullets against the unseen field)
(The scene switches to a room labeled as 'Secretary Room' or Office; where we see the unsteady Miss Kisaragi talking to other secretaries as they work at their desks)
Secretary 1: Hey. Don't you think Chief Kurama is scary? I mean, his face and eyes always have this sharp, angry look to them. How do you deal with it?
(Kisaragi smiles pleasantly)
Kisaragi: What do you mean? Our Chief's really nice, you know, and always kind to me.
(Two short-haired secretaries are thrown off by this answer; one is brunette; the other apparently has lighter hair rendered indeterminate by the monochrome panel; One has dialogue that seems to be a sound indicating a stunned response; the other manages a few words)
Secretary 2: Oh, I see.
Another translation, just slightly different in nuance, would be;
Secretary 1: Hey. Don't you think Chief Kurama is scary? I mean, somehow he always has an angry face and a unusual [searching] look. I wonder why you can serve him as a secretary［If I were you, I wouldn't be able to go on like that.］.
Kisaragi: That's not trueee. He is surprisingly kiiind. （in a comical manner)
Secretary 2: You must be kidding...
(It is possible that their worry is also about the clumsy Kisaragi holding a cup of presumably hot coffee in the next panel before she speaks)
Kisaragi: I'm always making mistakes, and causing him lots of trouble.
(We see Kisaragi looking up happily, as though in a plea to the heavens)
Kisaragi: Someday, though, I'll be the best secretary in Japan, one who can be at our Chief's side and be a help to him.
(The scene switches to two guards waiting outside the elevator from earlier; One is bespectacled and shorter; One is taller and carrying what seems to be a gun larger than a simple sidearm; the drawing is imprecise)
Bespectacled Guard: The elevator should arrive soon.
Armed Guard: Here it is.
(The order of their dialogue is hard to reason out from the scanlation; In addition, the words about the cage's arrival seem badly placed)
(They stand as the doors open, featureless in the drawing showing only that they are looking inside)
(A nude figure, female, once the bound-up figure, stands inside amidst the wreckage of her cage, the dismembered bodies of her former guards, with their blood smeared all over the walls; twisted and broken metal is literally everywhere; She holds the severed head of one guard, bone and blood visible on it; Her stance is casual; that she has been found out means nothing to her; slowly she turns her still-helmeted face towards the newcomer guards)
Bespectacled Guard: What?
(In a new scene, Resonance images of a medical brain scan are posted on an illumination board)
Kurama: Please take a look at this.
(Kurama and the Vice Minister stare at the entire board of six images)
Vice-Minister: What's this?
Kurama: It's a CT (Computerized Tomography) photograph of her brain.
(The Vice Minister's face in close-up; expressing surprise)
Vice-Minister: Huh?
(The CT picture now shows new detail as the Vice Minister points at a spot on it)
Vice-Minister: This is the cerebellum frontal lobe, right? So what's this ball here?
(Kurama is looking at the CT images board, seen from behind and at an angle; the panel after shows nothing but word balloons, possibly an extreme close-up of one of the images)
Kurama: The pineal gland. This is said to control the sixth sense, if and when Humans had such a thing. It may have had use before we gained knowledge of good and evil. Normally, they're only about five millimeters.
or, a literal/direct translation would be;
Kurama: The pineal gland. This is said to control the sixth sense. This is an organ human beings lost while acquiring the knowledge. Now its size is only about five millimeters as the name implies.
(Note: The scanlation texts here are wildly off, and this is a combined approximation of what they offer; Kurama's explanation seems to fall somewhere between the Bible and Carl Sagan)
Remarks about the above Note: I happened to learn that Descartes, a famous French Philosopher, extensively studied about the pineal gland which he believed to be the bridge between the materials and the soul. He considered it the place where the spirit resides. So maybe between Descartes and Carl Sagan. Unfortunately Descartes was wrong.
(Close-up of the pineal image)
Vice Minister: But this is...
Kurama: Yes. It's Her pineal gland is roughly the size of an egg. (Kurama did not use pronoun "it".)
(Two successive images; one of the scans, one of Kurama's back and arm)
Kurama: With her pineal gland at this size, there is the risk of brain damage. We hope to make some scientific insights based on her emerging abilities. Because however you look at it, she is no longer a homo sapiens.
(An image of the large steel doors keeping the person under discussion secured)
Kurama: Yet as long as she is confined here, she will serve as an incredibly valuable research subject, and the new species will die with her.
Another translation attempts of the above Kurama's two dialogues. In my opinion more faithful to the original text.
Kurama: With her pineal gland at this size, there is a risk of mental disorder. As our research progresses, we will be able to unravel her powers scientifically.
(An image of the large steel doors keeping the person under discussion secured)
Kurama: In any case, as long as she is confined here, she can live out her natural life as a valuable research subject and the new species become extinct by leaving her as it is.
(The Vice-Minister's concerned face in close-up)
Vice-Minister: But what if she escapes this facility? Gets outside?
(Kurama and Minister stand by the image board)
Kurama: Then it is we who will go extinct.
Kurama uses a cautious expression here. So,
Kurama: Then it could be we who will go extinct.
(Close-up of his concerned face)
(The first panel takes up half the page; the concerned and worried faces of Kurama and The Vice-Minister, with their upper bodies showing as the panel indicates a sudden loud alarm; whatever the exact sound it makes, it is of the impossible-to-ignore and highly urgent variety; one frame of Kurama's glasses is transparent)
(Kurama stands behind a technician at a console; Technician's face is turned back to look at Kurama; the panic is evident on his face)
Kurama: What happened?
Technician: The alarm is sounding from the control room!
(Next panel shows full view of Kurama's face; partial view of the Technician's)
Kurama: What's the situation?
Technician: I can't contact them!
(Back of Kurama's head overlooking an indistinct monitor, followed by close-up of that fuzzy monitor, showing the nude helmeted girl moving along; If this were a live action movie, the effect might be of the camera suddenly clearing up to focus on the main threat)
(Upper third of page dominated by one panel of Kurama's worried face, his eyes visible and wide as we rarely ever see them)
Kurama: How can this...it can't be. Lucy!
(Down a corridor wide and long, we see Miss Kisaragi, first in the distance, then in close up, holding a clipboard as though for dear life; she gains a concerned/annoyed look when she hears the alarm sounding)
Kisaragi: Ohhh. What's this noise?
(To her shock, Kisaragi encounters the nude helmeted girl, whose name is apparently Lucy, walking in front of her path)
Kisaragi: Ah!
(A close-up of Lucy's helmeted face, and of some blood splattered across her shoulder)
Kisaragi: Are you alright? What--what happened to your face?
(An image of Kisaragi's boot slipping on what seems to be a pool of blood; there is an arm nearby; whether it is still attached to a body is unable to be ciphered here)
(Kisaragi looks down in confusion and dawning horror at what she slipped in)
Kisaragi: Huh?
(Kurama's face is contorted in enraged worry; his eyes are wide and visible and his mouth wide open as he shouts)
Kurama: Kisaragi!
(Image of Kisaragi's wide, tearful eyes and face; there is an arm restraining her from behind, presumably Lucy's)
Kisaragi: Chief Kurama! I'm scared!
(Pull back to see that Lucy indeed has Kisaragi restrained, her arm around the top of Kisaragi's shoulders, but also close to her throat; Kisaragi has her hands on Lucy's restraining arm, possibly trying to pull it off; whether it is Lucy's own strength or her unseen power aiding her is unknown and possibly immaterial; Kisaragi can not seem to escape her grip; her stance does seem like she's trying to slip out by shifting her weight, again to no avail; Kisaragi is in tears as she cries out in panic and fear; Whether she knows whose grasp she's fallen into is in question)
Kisaragi: (Crying Out) Mama. Papa.
(Note: The one scanlation source places Kisaragi as saying Mother--Father. The other places it as Mom-Dad. Her exact usage in the original Japanese, I will leave to the able hands of User Yoshik)
Well, thanks but it's difficult for me to feel the subtle difference in nuance of those English words, Mama/Papa, Mother/Father and Mom/Dad. In Japanese, she uses just common general words, Okaasan (Okahsan) / Otousan (Otohsan) , which corresponds to Mother/Father. Not colloquial words like Okah-chan/Otoh-chan, Kah-san/Toh-san etc. Mama/Papa is also adopted in Japanese. As far as I understand, however, you do not use the words "Mother/Father" when you directly address to them in English speaking countries, while in Japanese those general terms are also used to call them directly like "Mother, how do you feel today?". In this sense, although literal translation would be Mother/Father, I would choose Mam/Dad (or Mama/Papa). The way Kisaragi pronounced these words (the written style of these words) sounds/looks like as if a child is eagerly asking for the parents' help, so in this sense Mam/Dad or Mama/Papa seem better than Mother/Father. Being a non-native speaker of English I may be of course wrong. By the way, she first calls Father and then Mother, which is common in Japan. This order can be, of course, adjusted to your common style.
(Kurama and the apparent leader of the security forces hunting Lucy are shown in profile, grimly assessing the situation)
Security Leader: Chief, I recommend we use Kisaragi as bait and open the main hatch. Otherwise, we may have to kill Kisaragi.
(Note: The translation/Transliteration is particularly awkward in both versions. In this case, it was reasoned out from both versions)
The above translation is regrettably wrong. The leader does not recommend it. He said:
Security Leader: Chief, [she/Lucy] seems to be requesting [of us] that we open the door by taking Kisaragi as hostage.
In the next balloon (although it is just in front of Kurama's face) , he continues:
Security Leader: [she looks like] , also saying that If we refuse, then she will kill Kisaragi..."
(Image shows the main hatch door behind overhead shots showing Lucy's helmet and part of Kisaragi's ponytail)
Kurama: If we release the locking mechanism, she'll get outside and escape. We can't allow this.
Properly translated into English in terms of the meaning. Just for reference, a literal translation would be:
Kurama: If we release the locking mechanism, she can directly go outside. Keep her inside in check by all means!!
(Note: It seems like the speaker is Kurama here, but there is nothing to confirm this)
It is Kurama as you say, which can be judged by his words of instructions to the leader.
(Kurama stands and looks forward while the lead security officer kneels & readies his sidearm)
Kurama: I want to help Kisaragi. Can you aim past her?
(Sight of gun barrel overlooking Lucy and Kisaragi)
Security Leader: I can't get to Lucy with Kisaragi in the way.
(Overhead/side angle view of the many armed guards facing down Lucy with Kisaragi in front of her; the main hatch door is behind them; some guards are kneeling, some are standing; The Hatch door has warning stripes on either side of the door's frame)
Kurama: (Thought/Narrated) What should I do? If Lucy escapes, I can't even imagine how many people will die [from now on]. (REM: added the omitted words, although it's not a big issue at all.)
(Bottom of Kurama's face; a look of grim resignation has come upon him)
Kurama: However...
(Note: The other scanlation is 'But...'; neither seems quite right)
(Close-up of Kisaragi's frightened tearful face as Lucy's arm holds her fast)
Kurama: Kisaragi? ... (REM: No question mark here.)
Kisaragi: Chief Kurama!! ( REM: In the Japanese text, she shouts just his title without referring to his name. It's not rare in this country.)
(Image of Lucy still holding Kisaragi by the neck, while across from them, Kurama stands at the front while guards behind him stand and squat with sidearms drawn and ready; their arms seem overly elongated, perhaps to emphasize their stance and action)
Kurama: We need to sacrifice you.
(Close-up image of Kisaragi's tearful and fearful face with Lucy's helmet partially seen behind her as she holds her hostage fast; Images of nervous guards with guns drawn and Kurama's sad but resolute face)
(Close-up as Kisaragi bends her head, crying ever more profusely, followed by a corner of the nearby ceiling; this is in turn followed by Kisaragi smiling while still crying)
Kisaragi: Then I'll be helping you?
(We see Kurama's face and upper body as he speaks)
Kurama: Yes. Your sacrifice will not be in vain.
(Note: The two scanlations divide wildly on this next part; Their dialogue will be labeled as S1 and S2 for our purposes)
(Lucy's arm is around Kisaragi's throat, but she is smiling; the next panel is a close up of Kurama's mouth and face as he shouts)
Kurama S1: I promise, that whatever happens, we'll stop her!
Kisaragi S2: You promised. Really.
Kurama S2: NO!!
(The one scanlation has all dialogue on Kurama; the second one divides between him and Kisaragi)
S2 follows the Japanese text.
(Image of Kurama and the guards in the background; In the foreground, Lucy decapitates and murders Kisaragi; Lucy's helmet and slight nude figure seem to invoke HR Giger's original sketches that inspired the Alien film franchise; Kisaragi's murder obviously meant Lucy used her unseen power to achieve this; whether it was a chopping or a tearing is less clear; in any event, no doubt is left of Kisaragi's fate as Lucy lifts her severed head well above her body, perhaps like a trophy meant to mock someone else in the room; sprays of blood emerge from both the bottom of the head and the neck stump)
(Close up of Kurama's enraged face; his mouth is open so wide, he seems to have upper fangs)
Kurama: Shoot her!
(Image of the guards obeying orders and opening fire; presumably, Kurama has stepped back while giving the order to fire)
(Image of Lucy holding up Kisaragi's headless body to ward off gunfire; whether she also uses her power as a shield or to slow the bullets is unclear; The next panel has her seizing four sharp-point metal fountain pens, presumably taken from the late Kisaragi and turning them into projectiles against the guards; One is killed immediately, impaled through the head by a pen while a fellow guard watches in stunned horror)
Corridor Guard 1: Ahhh!
(Angered, CG1 rushes at Lucy with something in hand, ready to attack; later panels seem to indicate it was a baton, but here it looks either like a knife, a grenade of some sort or just his bare fist)
CG1: You Bitch!
(Image of part of Kurama's face and upper body as his face contorts in shouted warning)
Kurama: Idiot! Get back!
(An ethereal arm made out of energy pushes through CG1's chest, taking his heart out the back so quickly he almost doesn't realize it at first; the hand of the arm is shown holding the heart, which is still beating blood)
CG1: But!
(Whether the guard was reacting to his fatal injury or Kurama's warning is unclear; his heart seems to be dashed against a nearby wall; he is still holding his now-apparent baton; behind him is another stunned armed guard; beneath them on the floor is the first guard killed by a flying pen; his cap is next to his head as is a small pool of blood; CG1 still seems more shocked than harmed; This changes as a close-up of his eye shows concern and panic)
(Lucy's power flows out from her in an array of energy 'limbs'; CG1's body seems to simultaneously explode and be torn to pieces all at once; In this and the next panel, his body has become a storm of blood, bone, organs and limbs; blood and an arm whip around the other guards like straw in a tornado; they are cowed by this horrific sight)
Corridor Guard 2: Wahhhh!!!
(Kurama, his face bloodied from the storm, shouts as he tries to rally the guards; his face is partly turned back towards them; Lucy stands by the hatch, unmoved)
Kurama: Don't hesitate! She's like a cornered rat.
(Note: One scanlation says she's like a cornered prey; the other says she's just a rat in a bag now; I chose to combine)
The Kurama's words in the above are divided into two panels in the Japanese Tankobon book. In the first panel, Kurama says "Don't hesitate! Just a bit more." Then in the following panel he added that "She's already a rat in a bag."
(Image of the hatch door suddenly coming open for no reason as Lucy prepares to go through it; the door is not broken or shattered, and no controls are apparent, meaning likely Lucy did not open it herself; her nude frontal figure is apparent but lacks any anatomical details)
(There is a close-up of an eye on a face looking stunned by this development; either this is another guard or it is meant to be Kurama, though no eyeglass frame is apparent)
Kurama or CG2: What?
(Image of helmeted Lucy in the foreground looking over Kurama in the background)
Lucy: (Laughing maniacally if not demonically) Ahahahahaaha!!
In the manga scenes the laugh seems to be from Lucy but it looks to me the laugh comes from the guy in the control room, though the guy who laughs there is not shown here. So the laugh is not heard by Kurama and the guards but it just indicates to readers that somebody is in the control room. This, of course, depends on each reader's interpretation. The panels that show these scenes are not well drawn.
(The next panels show images that need a bit of thought; a control room is covered in blood and slumped dead bodies, with the hatch unlock mechanism activated and a hand by it, perhaps killed while trying to relock it; The reader could think Lucy somehow did this, but the door controls logically would have to be at a remove from the battle; later pages and chapters will clear this scene up; In this control room, Lucy's laughter echoes)
(Lucy ducks out the door, the top of her body including her helmeted face and upper cleavage shown as she speaks the first words she will in the series)
Lucy: A wasted death.
(The other scanlation lists as 'Her Death Was Useless')
A literal translation is "A wasted death" and by that Lucy probably means that "Her (Kisaragi's) death was useless." So the both seem to be OK to me.
(Kurama's face is buried in his hands as he shows his grief and rage at what just happened; The guards rush past him; the scanlations make it hard to discern if he or the guards say the next words)
Kurama: Wait! (Guards: Stop right there!)
(Either Kurama is urging caution in pursuing Lucy or the guards are shouting at her to stop)
It surely is hard to tell, Kurama or the guards. The literal translation is simply "Wait!"
(Kurama still has his face in his hand)
Kurama: She's...She's playing with us.
(Kurama with face in hand while CG2 (possibly another) stands over him and shouts)
CG2: Chief! Get a hold of yourself!
(Panels show Lucy leaving the facility gates, which are iron wire fencing, presumably reinforced. They are seemingly open, either because they are framed in this way at the entrance for access, or the same unknown force that opened the escape hatch opened these as well; the terrain is either very rocky and barren or sees only slight grass growth; her already slight figure is even more indistinct in this perspective; she stops and pauses by a cliffside, showing this facility is fairly high above sea level)
(New panel shows Kurama and a security officer trained as a sniper from the waist up; a long, powerful looking rifle is on a bipod mount on a concrete overlook from which they can apparently see Lucy's position)
Sniper: She's going to escape by sea!
Kurama: Nail her with one shot. She's not an enemy that'll allow you a second one.
(Panel shows sniper at the far back of a close up of the rifle; the barrel is shown to be large, nearly a metal block with a hole drilled into it; the body, mount and scope are equally large and prominent; if this were some manner of monster film, this or its equivalent might be the sort of weapon the antagonist would survive, but there is no way they will shrug it off)
Sniper: It's alright. With this .50 (fifty) caliber bullet, even with her "grip", she won't be able to deflect it.
(Panel shows the back of Lucy's helmeted head; her hair is visible, tightly bound likely to fit inside the helmet; The helmet is shown to have notches on either side of her head and ridges on the top and back of the helmet)
Kurama: Aim for the back of her head! She's exposed herself now.
(Panels in succession; the first is of the sniper's eyes, one fixed on the gun's scope; the next is of the trigger and his finger set to fire it; the third shows the powerful blast issue forth from a close up of the barrel; the fourth and last in this silent sequence shows the back and side of Lucy's helmeted head and the upper part of her back; Her head has turned in response to the report of the rifle's fire)
(Panel shows close-up of Kurama's eye and sweaty face; behind his frames, the eye shows his concern and worry over Lucy turning her head)
Kurama: Dammit!
(Panel takes up most of the next page as the shell strikes the left side of Lucy's helmet, where it seems to both reverberate and split the helmet in at least two pieces, since the hair on the side of Lucy's head is now visible)
(Panel on bottom of page shows Kurama and sniper again, anxious over the results of the shot that, as Kurama said, they will not get again)
Kurama: Did it miss?
Sniper: No, we got her!
(Panel shows the helmet fall away entirely; Lucy falls back in pain and shock from the strike; her long hair comes undone, perhaps unbound by the impact; blood is streaming from the spot she was most directly struck, even if protected by the helmet; her teeth are clenched, and we gain a real if partial look at her unmasked face)
(Panel shows Kurama crying out; shot of upper body)
Kurama: No! She's still alive!
(Panel shows Lucy falling off the cliffside, face looking upward; there are rocks on either side of her position, but she is no apparent danger of striking these)
(Panel shows a splash in the ocean as Lucy hits the water; shot shows the facility in miniature next to the cliffside and ocean; the shot confirms the great height of the facility above sea level)
rem: looks OK until here. (yk)
(Panel shows Kurama standing amidst Security Guards, pointing down and loudly issuing orders from the overlook; only two guards are shown, but there could be more present)
Kurama: Get the lifeboats out and find her!! Hurry!
No word that corresponds to "Hurry!" in the Japanese text. Instead the guards replied by saying:
Guards: Certainly!!
(Next panel shows Kurama and some guards standing by the cliffside Lucy fell from, perhaps checking the area, and finding nothing of interest)
(Panel shows close up of top and side of Kurama's head as he walks, seemingly in darkness; either this reflects his obviously sour mood or the facility suffered damage from Lucy's escape; he walks down a corridor by himself that seems all the more isolated for all that has just occurred)
Kurama: (Thought/narrated) This can't be.
Or Kurama: (Thought/narrated) Probably hopeless. (REM: I think Kurama talks about the search by the guards.)
(Kurama faces the Vice Minister, who looks badly concerned)
Vice Minister: Kurama. I think I took this situation too lightly.
(Needless to say, having achieved this goal does nothing to lighten Kurama's mood as the Vice Minister walks past him)
(Kurama faces the spot where Kisaragi was brutally murdered, her head and blood stil on the floor; Notably, her face is turned away from him as he looks down, ashamed and enraged, perhaps as much at himself as Lucy; cut to a close up on the head as Kurama speaks)
Kurama: Kisaragi. I'm sorry.
(Now a close up of his lower body, focusing on his clenched fist)
Kurama: But this isn't the end. Just watch me.
"But this isn't the end. Just keep watching me." seems better.
(A shot of Kurama's head; his teeth are clenched, yet he almost appears to be grinning, or on the verge of losing his composure entirely)
Kurama: (Perhaps spoken, perhaps thought/narrated; difficult to tell) I'll take her down.
Or:
Kurama: I'll definitely take revenge on her for you.
(Scene shift to outside, by the oceanfront; Kouta and Yuka are strolling along the beach; they are just by the waves, with the perspective showing their figures almost in miniature against the layout; Kouta is looking at Yuka while she speaks)
Yuka: When we were young, we used to come here and play all the time, didn't we?
Kouta: Di-Did we? (Perhaps inbetween their last appearance and this one, Yuka has begun to suspect that Kouta's recall is not what it should be; her questioning shows this concern, at least lightly right then; her face shows it as well, her eyes wide with concern - which could be due to the art style at this point - as she snacks on a pastry, perhaps a cookie or a biscuit; Kouta's face betrays his hesitancy, as does his speech pattern)
Yuka: You don't remember anything?
Kouta: Ah-ah-ah-ha...
(Panel shows their lower legs, sneakers and Yuka's socks as they continue to walk)
Yuka: Well, that's fine. I'll take you to the house you'll be staying in. Your luggage arrived last night.
Kouta: Okay.
(Panel shows Kouta looking at the snack Yuka's having; she seems delighted to have his interest; this is nearly a full shot of their bodies, except for their feet, with the sky behind them)
Kouta: So, what exactly are you eating there?
Yuka: Senbei. Wanna try? It's really good.
(Panel shows Kouta reaching inside the bag of rice crackers - Senbei is a rice cracker confectionary quite popular in Japan - while smiling. Yuka's gaze has become blank while staring straight ahead of her; Kouta seems to catch this shift and perhaps become confused by it)
Kouta: Uh-Thank You.
Yuka: Don't.
(Panel shows Yuka staring ahead of herself from the side; a bead of worry sweat has appeared)
Kouta: What?
Yuka: Don't look ahead.
(On cue, Kouta turns to look at precisely what Yuka warned him against with a close up of the front of his face)
Kouta: Why? What's there?
(The next panel shows the two transfixed, a bit stunned in the background as a naked glistening backside emerges from the ocean, though they are receiving a full frontal view, likely stunning them even further)
(The next two pages are presented together in a 'splash page' with no dialogue; From the back, we see Kouta and Yuka continue to stand stunned, still staring at what we now see; it is a naked young woman with a slight but notable figure, grasping her right arm with her left hand; modesty seems to be less her concern than the shift from cold water to chill air as she emerges; we get some detail on Kouta's backpack and Yuka's dress/blouse/skirt; his backpack has one large zippered pouch on the bottom, with two zippered pockets at the top, the one at the top of these two being the larger; the blood on the side of the nude girl's head confirms that this is Lucy, having survived and escaped the island; the fear and worry in her eyes and stance show that this is perhaps not the casual mass murderer encountered earlier; there is something atop her head, sticking out on each side, above and adjacent to her ears; it is the first time we see this in the entire series)
(Note: One scanlation obscured the detail on Lucy's nipples; Also, her hair forms the ahegao hair rise that will eventually be discontinued for her character)
(The first panel on the final page of this chapter shows the cousins still standing stunned at this sight; Kouta is outright blushing)
Kouta: Eh?
(The second and final panel shows a close-up of Lucy's face, indeed very confused and docile seeming; the blood from her head wound has now reached her left eye, staining her face beneath it, and now the protrusions atop her head are very prominent, looking almost like pointed ears, such as on an elf or Star Trek Vulcan/Romulan; Yet the gunfire shot that took off her helmet as it wounded her revealed she does have ears, though it wasn't prominent in that shot; What these protrusions really are becomes the first mystery of the series)
END RAW EDIT
(Refined edit to follow)
rem: looks OK until here. (yk)
REVISED AND REFINED EDIT[]
Chapter 1 - Elf <pp. 3-56>
<pp. 3-6>
(Color shot of sunlit blue sky overlooking an island compound and a descending helicopter; one stern-looking man disembarks and is met by a bespectacled man who bows to him lightly; A shot of the open sky follows)
( A color insert shot of Kouta and Yuka appears; this seems to be an addition to the first manga volume )
(The reader sees an iron door without windows framed all around by thick walls. It has the appearance of both weight and electronic security mechanisms. Inside the room are two security guards, and a desk with one chair just outside a metal ring; there are papers on the table, possibly listing new protocols and documenting any anomalies)
<p.7>
Junior Officer: Looks like she's in a bad mood again today, sir.
Superior Officer: Yeah.
(Now a close-up of the superior's face, looking concerned)
Superior: It felt like this when Murakami died as well. Also, security is weak because of the transportation tomorrow.
(Note: Murakami is a never-seen character, only referenced here)
(A motor is humming, and an odd noise builds as they watch; the superior turns to the junior; we see only the junior's face)
Superior: Don't slack off on the job.
(The Junior's face shows he takes this seriously; a sweat drop runs down his face)
Junior: Noted, sir.
(The unknown noise continues while the Junior Officer sits down at the desk, reviewing and filling out papers while sitting down)
Junior Officer: Ok. What day was it today? (Noise keeps on) Damn. It's too noisy.
(Junior stands up in front of the desk, arms at his side, looking at the unknown inside the metal ring)
Junior: Geez, I was so happy when I heard that I was watching over a girl. Story's different when the girl's not Human.
(Superior is now looking at Junior from behind and to the side; Junior quickly turns to meet his gaze)
Superior Officer: Hey! Don't go near that thing! What are you doin', makin' it more angry?
(Junior has turned in a hurry, responds nervously)
Junior: Y-Yes!
(Junior turns back towards the desk)
Junior: Now...huh? Where'd I put that pen?
(Junior turns again, a look of horrid realization dawning on his face; sweat runs down his face, and a light appears just past the middle of his face; it seems like part of the realization effect, rather than a real light)
(The pen appears, resting on the floor just inside the metal ring; perhaps lost when Junior pivoted to answer the superior; in any event, the next panel shows Junior's wide, horrified eyes in full; Superior looks terrified as he tries to warn Junior, whose name is apparently Sasaki)
Superior: Sasaki! Run away!
(The reader sees a pair of legs, and noise effects appear as the ground rattles; its effects are unclear; the legs are presumably those of Junior/Sasaki, meeting an as-yet-unknown fate)
(A new scene begins, inside a control room with large windows, possibly for observation; apparent are five people, four men, and one woman; one of these men is talking in explanation and warning; We will soon learn that his name is Kurama)
Kurama: Please do not go near her in a radius of two meters. If you get near her in a radius of 1.47 meters, you'll get killed instantly.
(The next panel shifts to a close-up of Kurama's face; we see he is the bespectacled man from earlier who bowed to the other man)
Kurama: And if you're wearing a necktie pin or a ring or any droppable articles, please leave it with security.
(Kurama is shown in broad view to be facing the other man we saw earlier)
Kurama: If something rolls into her containment zone, then someone will surely die.
(Now we see the face of the other man, seeming perhaps unbelieving of the instructions given)
Kurama: Yesterday, someone dropped a pen inside, so he was killed. Please watch yourselves.
(The other man, who we will soon learn is an unspecified Vice Minister for the Japanese government, is looking up at something in disbelief, and perhaps not a little fear, just in front of himself and Kurama. A sweatdrop runs down one of his cheeks as his gaze turns upwards)
Vice Minister: This is? Th---?
(Noise, perhaps the same one created by shivering from fear in the prior scene with the two guards, appears as a written/drawn effect beneath their feet-this could be the result of the surprised Minister stopping short after being startled; We now see the same doors to the area the two guards were inside. We see the doors and locks in their actual enormous scale; two visible guards accompany Kurama and the Vice Minister)
Vice Minister: Building this facility twenty meters underground just to keep one girl under restraint? Wouldn't you call this excessive?
Kurama: By no means.
(The Vice Minister stands before the door, almost in profile; we can only see half of him; His look is a combined of one of stunned fear and skeptical disbelief)
Vice Minister: This is so wrong. This is a waste of tax money.
(A view of one of the doors' lower hinges is the entire panel)
Kurama: If you get to know her, you'll feel that even this isn't safe enough. That's why there's a need to move her into other quarters.
(Kurama looks back at the Vice Minister without turning around)
Kurama: Vice-Minister, we're short on that "tax," so we've called you here.
(Another view of one of the corners of the enormous doors appears)
Vice Minister: So? What's in this thing?
(Close-up of Kurama's face, leaning forward)
Kurama: As I've told you a moment ago, she's a mutant, because of the genetic anomaly.
(Note: Kurama must have mentioned this prior to the reader viewing the scene)
(The panel shifts to the indistinct image meant to convey the idea of a mutant)
Kurama: Mutants are stillborn or die soon after birth, usually. But she has the ability to adapt to her environment and reproduce. Genetics would call her a monster with a promising future.
(Kurama faces the Vice Minister who is faceless in this panel)
Kurama: Our problem is that she wasn't crafted by artificial means; she was born naturally. A spontaneous generation by chance.
(Next two panels are front-views of Minister and Kurama)
Vice Minister: What do you mean by that?
(Another view of the upper structure of the doors)
Kurama: That means she's a new species, chosen by God...
(As noted elsewhere, Kurama's meaning in saying God may be less straightforward than it seems; whether he means a Supreme Being, a will within nature, or just the chance of fate is unclear; however, it does introduce the idea of Humankind's replacement)
(Panel scene shifts to a shadowed view of the thin, gaunt arm and chest of the mutant; Kurama continues his thought)
Kurama: ...that she doesn't have just two arms.
(New panel view of Vice-Minister's face and upper body)
Kurama: Just as we Homo Sapiens destroyed other proto-Humans and prospered as a result, it's probable this new species could destroy us. That's why we keep her under restraints.
(Remote view of Kurama facing forward)
Vice Minister: That mutant? How is she different from us?
Kurama: She has a few minor differences. But probably her biggest difference is...
(Panel shows Kurama still facing forward with angled view of Minister now sweating from nerves)
Kurama: She doesn't have merely two arms.
Vice Minister: What?
Kurama: Then I will you show you her to you now.
(Panel is a full sketch of Minister's face, sweatdrop visible as he gazes stunned at the opening doors; next panels are the doors moving open; a light seems to come from inside as the noise from first the door's lock and the gate's opening from within loudly intermingle)
Vice Minister: Th...This is?
Kurama: Yes. She's the new breed, named Diclonius.
<p.14>
(The focus shifts to an outdoor scene; This is the Kamakura Train station, whose signs we see as an unknown narrator, who we will learn is named Kouta, seems to both think to himself and speak out loud.)
Kouta: (Spoken) Four O'Clock. Phew, then I barely made it. (The new panel shows him almost in full, standing up and smiling, wearing a backpack, with a casual open shirt and undershirt) Mmm, the smell of the sea. I wonder if the sea's near here?
(A view of two trees shaded/silhouetted against the sky)
Kouta: (Thought/narrated) This winter, I failed all fifteen of my college entrance tests.
(Panel shows a picture of correspondence confirming his acceptance to the college he now seeks to attend)
Kouta: (Thought/narrated) At the very moment I made up my mind to spend another year as a Ronin, I got a notice from a school that accepted me as a back-up candidate. So I barely got into a college.
(RONIN 浪人= In this case, a high‐school graduate who has failed to enter a college and is waiting for another chance (to obtain a place) until next year's entrance exams. Originally it meant "unemployed or masterless samurai".)
(Panel shows a tree overlooking a structure at the train station framed by the sky above)
Kouta: (Thought/narrated) So to be a college student, I came here, and decided to stay at my relatives' house in Kanagawa Prefecture.
(Panel now shows Kouta himself, from behind and slightly turned back again towards the reader)
Kouta: (Thought/narrated) It's been about eight years since I've seen her (Note: His cousin) last, so I forgot her face. Anyway, she should be here any minute.
When translated in the order of the balloons, it goes like this.
Kouta: (Thought/narrated) Well, my cousin is supposed to pick me up here... But it's been eight years since I've seen her last time, I can not recall her face...
(Panel shows a sneaker/shoe and the foot inside it; the lace area and the sides of the sneaker seem to be black or gray, while the main body of the sneaker is white--description limited by monochrome panels)
(The speaker, we will learn, is Kouta's cousin Yuka)
Yuka: Umm, is it you, Kouta-Kun?
(Yuka's face is seen in full in the next panel. Owing to the early art style of the mangaka, her features are somewhat different than we will see later on. Her eyes are as Moe as anime Mayu's; her hair is a bit flyaway and not the stable hairdo we will come to know; her blouse is frilled at the top; Perhaps excited from what we will learn is a long-awaited reunion, her smile is visibly pleasant)
Yuka: Thank God! You haven't changed at all.
(Panel shows trees against sunny sky above; next panel shows Kouta and Yuka atop a long stone stairwell)
Yuka: Kouta-Kun, you said you were going to the same school as me, right?
Kouta: Ah--yeah.
(Panel is a close-up of Yuka's face, her eyes closed; she cannot conceal her delight)
Yuka: Thank God there's someone attending the school with me! You can't feel safe if you don't know anybody at a school! (Panel shows Yuka's face, her eyes open this time; more of her upper torso is visible)
Kouta: (Thought/Narrated) Cousin's face. After eight years. Was she really like this?
(Panel is Yuka munching on a pastry of some sort)
Kouta: (Thought/Narrated) I really can't remember at all.
(Panel is their feet next to a tree trunk as they pass it walking)
Yuka: Hey, Kouta-Kun?
Kouta: Yeah?
(Repeat trees against a sunny sky image)
Yuka: You-haven't forgotten me, have you?
(Kouta's eyes show panic and perhaps pain as the picture focuses on that portion of his face; next panel shows a shadowed younger girl, presumably Yuka, with tears apparent as she exclaims in the major bold caps 'DON'T EVER FORGET ABOUT ME!')
(Almost as though after an exertion, Kouta's face is almost blank as he replies to her)
Kouta: You're Yuka.
(Repeat of prior image showing Yuka's head with eyes mostly closed; still happy but now less ecstatic)
Yuka: Yep! Call me Yuka.
(Eyes and face showing confidence and relief, Kouta seems to have dodged a problem)
Kouta: Right. You can just call me Kouta, then.
(The two now stand by a railing overlooking the beach and shoreline seen from behind them)
Kouta: Wow! Amazing. It's the ocean!
<p.17 bottom>
(The scene switches back to the facility from earlier; The Vice Minister stares in amazement and some fear at a sight the reader is not yet privy to; repeat of sweat drop going down his face)
Vice Minister: This--is a mutant?
(A full three-fourths of the next page is taken up by the sight that so astounds him. Inside an open-air interlocking set of iron rings is a near-to mummified figure locked into an iron table and then bound again by a series of interlocking belts and restraints, topped by a helmet with three slots over the position of each eye area, relative to where the eyes would be. A piece of the helmet fits over the mouth-area as well; the constraints make no allowance for even the slightest movement, down to the neck; despite the bound-up character's condition, it only seems all the more dangerous as a result)
(The final portion of the page is a close-up of the figure's helmeted face, showing that even jaw movement is held back on it)
Vice Minister: Wha...
(Image shows Vice Minister's stunned face in the foreground; Kurama's feet in the background)
Vice Minister: What are all those protective gears?
Kurama: These are her "cage."
(Image shows perspective on how far inside the cage the figure is situated)
Kurama: That metal bar is the border showing the two-meter radius. Please don't go in there.
(Image shows the cage floor near the front and a resounding boom that emanates from inside it)
(Image shows the faces and upper bodies of Kurama and the Vice Minister as the sound increases again)
Vice Minister: What's this sound? The floor's...
Kurama: She's kicking the floor since it isn't two meters away.
(Image of a comprehensive but grainy view of the whole chamber, with the cage, its entombed figure, Kurama, the Vice Minister and two security guards; The desk now seems like it might be farther away than it was in the first set of panels for this chapter)
Kurama: Now she'll be moved. Let's go upstairs for now.
<p.20>
(Image shows Kurama and the Vice Minister emerging from an elevator, presumably on an upper floor, then shows a close up of half of Kurama's face, his eye visible through his glasses frame. A voice neither his nor the V. Minister's greets him; As the next frame starts, we see a young woman, showing signs of anxious stress, holding a set of papers likely meant for Kurama; She is Kisaragi, and we will soon learn she is Kurama's loyal if seemingly less than able secretary)
Kisaragi: Ah--Chief!
(In a sadly cartoonish motion, Kisaragi quite literally trips over her own feet as she goes, falling face-first onto the floor in front of her as the papers scatter and her underwear is exposed. Her one leg and ponytail fly up along with her skirt. Mortally embarrassed and blushing, Kisaragi sits up amidst the scattered papers, her appearance still as much of a sprawl as the papers; She manages a smile as she tries to focus back on her job)
Kisaragi: Ehhhh-Eh-Uhm-Minister Kakuzawa called a moment ago.
(Kurama's face is shown looking over at her, one eye visible, the other obscured by his glasses frames)
Kurama: Ok. I'll call him later then.
(Kisaragi lightly bows while looking ever more nervous, clutching the papers for dear life)
Kisaragi: A--Ah. Then excuse me.
(Promptly, she once again trips over her own feet, once-more face planting and causing her skirt to go up as she does; She once again raises herself from the floor, even more embarrassed)
Kisaragi: Eh...Ehhhh!
(The Vice Minister looks over at Kisaragi in concern and disbelief; Kurama's look is more nonchalant, indicating he has seen all this before)
Vice Minister: Who-Who is that girl there? She's just tripping on her own.
Kurama: She's my clumsy secretary. She probably tripped on her own leg.
(Close up of Kisaragi's shamed, tearful face)
Kurama: She was a Tokyo University graduate. But she's not used to this kind of thing, so...
(The scene switches to a large freight/transport elevator, where the bound-up caged figure, her constraints and two guards are in transit; the floor emits the ominous sound from earlier as it moves; the scene makes who exactly is speaking completely unclear)
Junior Guard: She's still banging on the floor. Can the elevator hold out?
(The cell phone in the pocket of one of the guards begins to ring; It is the Junior Guard; he reacts with a look of surprise; The ringing also surprises the Senior Guard)
Senior Guard: What's that sound?
(Junior Guard opens the flip-model cell phone and stares at the screen in wonder)
Junior Guard: Ah--I'm sorry. It's my cell phone.
(Senior Guard gets a worried look on his face in one panel; in the next we see a close-up of his eyes)
Senior Guard: Hey. Do you have any idea how deep underground we are right now? There's no way that phone can work here.
(The bound-up figure inside the cage again demonstrates its unknown power by shaking the floor in the elevator with her strikes; The guards are visibly thrown off by this)
(Junior Guard first drops his cell phone in the confusion following the floor strike, then watches as it slides across the floor, coming to rest just inside the cage area, having slid under the opening created by its wheels raising the structure off the floor)
Junior Guard: Ah! Crap!
(Almost by instinct, he reaches for the phone, his arm entering the warned against strike zone)
(Again, the panels make it difficult to precisely determine who is speaking what dialogue, but in this case the ambiguity has no over-arching plot or narrative problems)
(Senior Guard looks on in obvious terror at his comrade's blunder)
Senior Guard: You moron! STOP!
(Senior Guard watches helplessly as Junior Guard's right arm is pulled inside the cage, with him stuck against its perimeter, grasping the outer cage railing with his left arm)
Junior Guard: Oh, No!
(A close-up of both their worried faces, followed by a one-half view of the restraint helmet of their captive)
Senior Guard: Pull your arm out!
Junior Guard: I can't! That monster's got a hold of it!
(Junior Guard watches in horror as his captive arm is taken apart, revealing bone as the skin breaks in three locations; The effect here seems less a slicing than a shattering, as though the arm had been made of plastic or plaster)
Junior Guard: Ahhh!
(Senior Guard makes a desperate attempt to pull his comrade out, wrapping his own arm around his waist, to no avail, as Junior Guard is pulled further forward; his chin is now resting on the cage rim)
Senior Guard: Move away from there! Pull your arm out!
(Perhaps the scanlations had some trouble here, because one says 'arm' and one says 'hand', and Junior Guard has already lost both; Then again, Senior Guard may not realize this has happened yet, being fully invested in saving his co-worker)
(Senior Guard slips, apparently losing his grip on Junior Guard; all we see are a pair of shoes slipping on the elevator floor)
Senior Guard: Crap!
(Junior Guard, now bleeding profusely from his lost limb, is now fully inside the cage's danger zone; both guards seem to realize he is now doomed as they stare at the bound figure; Junior Guard's cap has been knocked off)
(Pure terror takes over Junior Guard's face; the bound figure initiates motion waves while almost seeming to stare at him, helmet aside; ethereal hands at the end of cartoonish arms appear on either side of Junior Guard's head; whether he can see these or not is unclear, but he knows something is touching him)
Junior Guard: Ah! Ah!?
(In one motion, Junior Guard's head is gone; Whether it was merely lopped off or exploded is unclear; while his arm-stump still bleeds, his neck issues forth a geyser of blood that sprays and strikes the control panels on the elevator doors; Senior Guard stares numbly as the same unseen force lifts the corpse like a broken doll and then begins to tug at the keychain on the late Junior Guard's belt)
(Finally able to react, Senior Guard unholsters his sidearm, prepping it to fire)
Senior Guard: Stop right there!
(At effectively point blank range, Senior Guard sights his target inside the cage and opens fire, peppering the target with gunfire)
(A close-up of the figure's helmet and upper torso shows the bullets striking what seems like a force field absorbing all the impact and turning back the bullets; Senior Guard's face shows his evident worry)
Senior Guard: (Thought/narration) It's useless. I can't hit it.
(Gingerly, one of the keys stolen from Junior Guard's body is making it way to one of the main locks; whether this key is the right one is irrelevant; soon the bound figure will be free)
Senior Guard: Stop it right now!
(Senior Guard continues firing; One set of scanlations indicated that he could not pull the trigger at all; This seems to come from overlooking the drawn bullets against the unseen field)
<p.28>
(The scene switches to a room labeled as 'Secretary Room' or Office; where we see the unsteady Miss Kisaragi talking to other secretaries as they work at their desks)
Secretary 1: Hey. Don't you think Chief Kurama is scary? I mean, somehow he always has an angry face and a sharp probing look about him. I wonder how you can be his secretary. If I were you, I just couldn't handle it.
(Kisaragi smiles pleasantly if nervously)
Kisaragi: That's--not true. He is-he is surprisingly kind
(Two short-haired secretaries are thrown off by this answer; one is brunette; the other apparently has lighter hair rendered indeterminate by the monochrome panel)
Secretary 2: You must be kidding. Really?
(It is possible that their worry is also about the clumsy Kisaragi holding a cup of presumably hot coffee in the next panel before she speaks)
Kisaragi: I'm always making mistakes, and causing him lots of trouble.
(We see Kisaragi looking up happily, as though in a plea to the heavens)
Kisaragi: Someday, though, I'll be the best secretary in Japan, one who can be at our Chief's side and be a help to him.
(The scene switches to two guards waiting outside the elevator from earlier; One is bespectacled and shorter; One is taller and carrying what seems to be a gun larger than a simple sidearm; the drawing is imprecise)
Bespectacled Guard: The elevator should arrive soon.
Armed Guard: Here it is.
(The order of their dialogue is hard to reason out from the scanlation; In addition, the words about the cage's arrival seem badly placed)
(They stand as the doors open, featureless in the drawing showing only that they are looking inside)
(A nude figure, female, once the bound-up figure, stands inside amidst the wreckage of her cage, the dismembered bodies of her former guards, with their blood smeared all over the walls; twisted and broken metal is literally everywhere; She holds the severed head of one guard, bone and blood visible on it; Her stance is casual; that she has been found out means nothing to her; as slowly she turns her still-helmeted face towards the newcomer guards)
Bespectacled Guard: What?
(In a new scene, Resonance images of a medical brain scan are posted on an illumination board)
Kurama: Please take a look at this.
<p.31>
(Kurama and the Vice Minister stare at the entire board of six images)
Vice-Minister: What's this?
Kurama: It's a CT (Computerized Tomography) photograph of her brain.
(The Vice Minister's face in close-up; expressing surprise)
Vice-Minister: Huh?
(The CT picture now shows new detail as the Vice Minister points at a spot on it)
Vice-Minister: This is the frontal lobe, right? So what's this spot here?
(Kurama is looking at the CT images board, seen from behind and at an angle; the panel after shows nothing but word balloons, possibly an extreme close-up of one of the images)
Kurama: The pineal gland. This is said to control the sixth sense, if and when Humans had such a thing. It may have had use before we gained knowledge of good and evil. Normally, they're only about five millimeters.
(Close-up of the pineal image)
Vice Minister: But this is...
Kurama: Her pineal gland is roughly the size of an egg.
(Two successive images; one of the scans, one of Kurama's back and arm)
Kurama: With her pineal gland at this size, there is the risk of mental disorder. As our research progresses, we hope to make some scientific insights based on her emerging abilities. Because however you look at it, she is no longer a homo sapiens.
(An image of the large steel doors keeping the person under discussion secured)
Kurama: Yet as long as she is confined here, she will live out her life serving as an incredibly valuable research subject, and the new species becomes extinct by leaving her as she is.
(An image of the large steel doors keeping the person under discussion secured)
(The Vice-Minister's concerned face in close-up)
Vice-Minister: But what if she escapes this facility? Gets outside?
(Kurama and Minister stand by the image board)
Kurama: Then it could well be we who will go extinct.
<p.33>
(Close-up of his concerned face)
(The first panel takes up half the page; the concerned and worried faces of Kurama and The Vice-Minister, with their upper bodies showing as the panel indicates a sudden loud alarm; whatever the exact sound it makes, it is of the impossible-to-ignore and highly urgent variety; one frame of Kurama's glasses is transparent)
(Kurama stands behind a technician at a console; Technician's face is turned back to look at Kurama; the panic is evident on his face)
Kurama: What happened?
Technician: The alarm is sounding from the control room!
(Next panel shows full view of Kurama's face; partial view of the Technician's)
Kurama: What's the situation?
Technician: I can't contact them!
(Back of Kurama's head overlooking an indistinct monitor, followed by close-up of that fuzzy monitor, showing the nude helmeted girl moving along; If this were a live action movie, the effect might be of the camera suddenly clearing up to focus on the main threat)
(Upper third of page dominated by one panel of Kurama's worried face, his eyes visible and wide as we rarely ever see them)
Kurama: How can this...it can't be. Lucy!
(Down a corridor wide and long, we see Miss Kisaragi, first in the distance, then in close up, holding a clipboard as though for dear life; she gains a concerned/annoyed look when she hears the alarm sounding)
Kisaragi: Ohhh. What's this noise?
(To her shock, Kisaragi encounters the nude helmeted girl, whose name is apparently Lucy, walking in front of her path)
Kisaragi: Ah!
(A close-up of Lucy's helmeted face, and of some blood splattered across her shoulder)
Kisaragi: Are you alright? What--what happened to your face?
(An image of Kisaragi's boot slipping on what seems to be a pool of blood; there is an arm nearby; whether it is still attached to a body is unable to be ciphered out here)
(Kisaragi looks down in confusion and dawning horror at what she slipped in)
Kisaragi: Huh?
(Kurama's face is contorted in enraged worry; his eyes are wide and visible and his mouth wide open as he shouts)
Kurama: Kisaragi!
(Image of Kisaragi's wide, tearful eyes and face; there is an arm restraining her from behind, presumably Lucy's)
Kisaragi: Chief Kurama! I'm scared!
(Pull back to see that Lucy indeed has Kisaragi restrained, her arm around the top of Kisaragi's shoulders, but also close to her throat; Kisaragi has her hands on Lucy's restraining arm, possibly trying to pull it off; whether it is Lucy's own strength or her unseen power aiding her is unknown and possibly immaterial; Kisaragi can not seem to escape her grip; her stance does seem like she's trying to slip out by shifting her weight, again to no avail; Kisaragi is in tears as she cries out in panic and fear; Whether she knows whose grasp she's fallen into is in question)
Kisaragi: (Crying Out) MAMA! PAPA!
(Kurama and the apparent leader of the security forces hunting Lucy are shown in profile, grimly assessing the situation)
Security Leader: Chief, she's taken Kisaragi hostage. Lucy seems to be saying that she wants us to open the door behind them. If we refuse, then she will kill Kisaragi.
(Image shows the main hatch door behind overhead shots showing Lucy's helmet and part of Kisaragi's ponytail)
Kurama: If we release the locking mechanism, she'll get outside the compound and escape. We can't allow this.
(Kurama stands and looks forward while the lead security officer kneels & readies his sidearm)
Kurama: I want to help Kisaragi. Can you aim past her?
(Sight of gun barrel overlooking Lucy and Kisaragi)
Security Leader: I can't get to Lucy with Kisaragi in the way.
(Overhead/side angle view of the many armed guards facing down Lucy with Kisaragi in front of her; the main hatch door is behind them; some guards are kneeling, some are standing; The Hatch door has warning stripes on either side of the door's frame)
Kurama: (Thought/Narrated) What should I do? If Lucy escapes, I can't even imagine how many people will die from there on in.
(Bottom of Kurama's face; a look of grim resignation has come upon him)
Kurama: However...
(Close-up of Kisaragi's frightened tearful face as Lucy's arm holds her fast)
Kurama: Kisaragi.
Kisaragi: Chief!!
(Image of Lucy still holding Kisaragi by the neck, while across from them, Kurama stands at the front while guards behind him stand and squat with sidearms drawn and ready; their arms seem overly elongated, perhaps to emphasize their stance and action)
Kurama: We need to sacrifice you.
(Close-up image of Kisaragi's tearful and fearful face with Lucy's helmet partially seen behind her as she holds her hostage fast; Images of nervous guards with guns drawn and Kurama's sad but resolute face)
(Close-up as Kisaragi bends her head, crying ever more profusely, followed by a corner of the nearby ceiling; this is in turn followed by Kisaragi smiling while still crying)
Kisaragi: Then I'll be helping you?
(We see Kurama's face and upper body as he speaks)
Kurama: Yes. Your sacrifice will not be in vain.
(Lucy's arm is around Kisaragi's throat, but she is smiling; the next panel is a close up of Kurama's mouth and face as he shouts)
Kisaragi: You promised. Really.
Kurama: NO!!
(Image of Kurama and the guards in the background; In the foreground, Lucy decapitates and murders Kisaragi; Lucy's helmet and slight nude figure seem to invoke HR Giger's original sketches that inspired the Alien film franchise; Kisaragi's murder obviously meant Lucy used her unseen power to achieve this; whether it was a chopping or a tearing is less clear; in any event, no doubt is left of Kisaragi's fate as Lucy lifts her severed head well above her body, perhaps like a trophy meant to mock someone else in the room; sprays of blood emerge from both the bottom of the head and the neck stump)
(Close up of Kurama's enraged face; his mouth is open so wide, he seems to have upper fangs)
Kurama: Shoot her!
(Image of the guards obeying orders and opening fire; presumably, Kurama has stepped back while giving the order to fire)
(Image of Lucy holding up Kisaragi's headless body to ward off gunfire; whether she also uses her power as a shield or to slow the bullets is unclear; The next panel has her seizing four sharp-point metal fountain pens, presumably taken from the late Kisaragi and turning them into projectiles against the guards; One is killed immediately, impaled through the head by a pen while a fellow guard watches in stunned horror)
Corridor Guard 1: Ahhh!
(Angered, CG1 rushes at Lucy with something in hand, ready to attack; later panels seem to indicate it was a baton, but here it looks either like a knife, a grenade of some sort or just his bare fist)
CG1: You Bitch!
(Image of part of Kurama's face and upper body as his face contorts in shouted warning)
Kurama: Idiot! Get back!
<p.42>
(An ethereal arm made out of energy pushes through CG1's chest, taking his heart out the back so quickly he almost doesn't realize it at first; the hand of the arm is shown holding the heart, which is still beating blood)
CG1: But!
(Whether the guard was reacting to his fatal injury or Kurama's warning is unclear; his heart seems to be dashed against a nearby wall; he is still holding his now-apparent baton; behind him is another stunned armed guard; beneath them on the floor is the first guard killed by a flying pen; his cap is next to his head as is a small pool of blood; CG1 still seems more shocked than harmed; This changes as a close-up of his eye shows concern and panic)
(Lucy's power flows out from her in an array of energy 'limbs'; CG1's body seems to simultaneously explode and be torn to pieces all at once; In this and the next panel, his body has become a storm of blood, bone, organs and limbs; blood and an arm whip around the other guards like straw in a tornado; they are cowed by this horrific sight)
Corridor Guard 2: Wahhhh!!!
(Kurama, his face bloodied from the storm, shouts as he tries to rally the guards; his face is partly turned back towards them; Lucy stands by the hatch, unmoved)
Kurama: Don't hesitate! Just a bit more. She's already a rat in a bag.
(Image of the hatch door suddenly coming open for no reason as Lucy prepares to go through it; the door is not broken or shattered, and no controls are apparent, meaning likely Lucy did not open it herself; her nude frontal figure is apparent but lacks any anatomical details)
(There is a close-up of an eye on a face looking stunned by this development; either this is another guard or it is meant to be Kurama, though no eyeglass frame is apparent)
Kurama or CG2: What?
(Image of helmeted Lucy in the foreground looking over Kurama in the background)
(The next panels show images that need a bit of thought; a control room is covered in blood and slumped dead bodies, with the hatch unlock mechanism activated and a hand by it, perhaps killed while trying to relock it; The reader could think Lucy somehow did this, but the door controls logically would have to be at a remove from the battle; later pages and chapters will clear this scene up; In this control room, laughter echoes)
Person covertly aiding Lucy's escape: (Laughing maniacally if not demonically) Ahahahahaaha!!
(The next panels show images that need a bit of thought; a control room is covered in blood and slumped dead bodies, with the hatch unlock mechanism activated and a hand by it, perhaps killed while trying to relock it; The reader could think Lucy somehow did this, but the door controls logically would have to be at a remove from the battle; later pages and chapters will clear this scene up; In this control room, Lucy's laughter echoes)
(Lucy ducks out the door, the top of her body including her helmeted face and upper cleavage shown as she speaks the first words she will in the series)
Lucy: A wasted, useless death.
(Kurama's face is buried in his hands as he shows his grief and rage at what just happened; The guards rush past him; the scanlations make it hard to discern if he or the guards say the next words)
Kurama: Wait! (Guards: Stop right there!)
(Either Kurama is urging caution in pursuing Lucy or the guards are shouting at her to stop)
(Kurama still has his face in his hand)
Kurama: She's...She's playing with us.
(Kurama with face in hand while CG2 (possibly another) stands over him and shouts)
CG2: Chief! Get a hold of yourself!
<p.46>
(Panels show Lucy leaving the facility gates, which are iron wire fencing, presumably reinforced. They are seemingly open, either because they are framed in this way at the entrance for access, or the same unknown force that opened the escape hatch opened these as well; the terrain is either very rocky and barren or sees only slight grass growth; her already slight figure is even more indistinct in this perspective; she stops and pauses by a cliffside, showing this facility is fairly high above sea level)
(New panel shows Kurama and a security officer trained as a sniper from the waist up; a long, powerful looking rifle is on a bipod mount on a concrete overlook from which they can apparently see Lucy's position)
Sniper: She's going to escape by sea!
Kurama: Nail her with one shot. She's not an enemy that'll allow you a second one.
(Panel shows sniper at the far back of a close up of the rifle; the barrel is shown to be large, nearly a metal block with a hole drilled into it; the body, mount and scope are equally large and prominent; if this were some manner of monster film, this or its equivalent might be the sort of weapon the antagonist would survive, but there is no way they will shrug it off)
Sniper: It's alright. With this .50 (fifty) caliber bullet, even with her "grip", she won't be able to deflect it.
(Panel shows the back of Lucy's helmeted head; her hair is visible, tightly bound likely to fit inside the helmet; The helmet is shown to have notches on either side of her head and ridges on the top and back of the helmet)
Kurama: Aim for the back of her head! She's exposed herself now.
(Panels in succession; the first is of the sniper's eyes, one fixed on the gun's scope; the next is of the trigger and his finger set to fire it; the third shows the powerful blast issue forth from a close up of the barrel; the fourth and last in this silent sequence shows the back and side of Lucy's helmeted head and the upper part of her back; Her head has turned in response to the report of the rifle's fire)
(Panel shows close-up of Kurama's eye and sweaty face; behind his frames, the eye shows his concern and worry over Lucy turning her head)
Kurama: Dammit!
<p.48>
(Panel takes up most of the next page as the shell strikes the left side of Lucy's helmet, where it seems to both reverberate and split the helmet in at least two pieces, since the hair on the side of Lucy's head is now visible)
(Panel on bottom of page shows Kurama and sniper again, anxious over the results of the shot that, as Kurama said, they will not get again)
Kurama: Did it miss?
Sniper: No, we got her!
(Panel shows the helmet fall away entirely; Lucy falls back in pain and shock from the strike; her long hair comes undone, perhaps unbound by the impact; blood is streaming from the spot she was most directly struck, even if protected by the helmet; her teeth are clenched, and we gain a real if partial look at her unmasked face)
(Panel shows Kurama crying out; shot of upper body)
Kurama: No! She's still alive!
(Panel shows Lucy falling off the cliffside, face looking upward; there are rocks on either side of her position, but she is no apparent danger of striking these)
(Panel shows a splash in the ocean as Lucy hits the water; shot shows the facility in miniature next to the cliffside and ocean; the shot confirms the great height of the facility above sea level)
<p.50>
(Panel shows Kurama standing amidst Security Guards, pointing down and loudly issuing orders from the overlook; only two guards are shown, but there could be more present)
Kurama: Get the lifeboats out and find her!
Guards: Right away, sir!
(Next panel shows Kurama and some guards standing by the cliffside Lucy fell from, perhaps checking the area, and finding nothing of interest)
(Panel shows close up of top and side of Kurama's head as he walks, seemingly in darkness; either this reflects his obviously sour mood or the facility suffered damage from Lucy's escape; he walks down a corridor by himself that seems all the more isolated for all that has just occurred)
Kurama: (Thought/narrated) It's probably hopeless. She's gotten away.
(Kurama faces the Vice Minister, who looks badly concerned)
Vice Minister: Kurama. I think I took this situation too lightly.
(Needless to say, having achieved this goal does nothing to lighten Kurama's mood as the Vice Minister walks past him)
(Kurama faces the spot where Kisaragi was brutally murdered, her head and blood stil on the floor; Notably, her face is turned away from him as he looks down, ashamed and enraged, perhaps as much at himself as Lucy; cut to a close up on the head as Kurama speaks)
Kurama: Kisaragi. I'm sorry.
(Now a close up of his lower body, focusing on his clenched fist)
Kurama: But this isn't the end. Just watch me.
Kurama: (Perhaps spoken, perhaps thought/narrated; difficult to tell) I vow to take revenge on her for you.
<p.52>
(Scene shift to outside, by the oceanfront; Kouta and Yuka are strolling along the beach; they are just by the waves, with the perspective showing their figures almost in miniature against the layout; Kouta is looking at Yuka while she speaks)
Yuka: When we were young, we used to come here and play all the time, didn't we?
Kouta: Di-Did we? (Perhaps inbetween their last appearance and this one, Yuka has begun to suspect that Kouta's recall is not what it should be; her questioning shows this concern, at least lightly right then; her face shows it as well, her eyes wide with concern - which could be due to the art style at this point - as she snacks on a pastry, perhaps a cookie or a biscuit; Kouta's face betrays his hesitancy, as does his speech pattern)
Yuka: You don't remember anything?
Kouta: Ah-ah-ah-ha...
(Panel shows their lower legs, sneakers and Yuka's socks as they continue to walk)
Yuka: Well, that's fine. I'll take you to the house you'll be staying in. Your luggage arrived last night.
Kouta: Okay.
(Panel shows Kouta looking at the snack Yuka's having; she seems delighted to have his interest; this is nearly a full shot of their bodies, except for their feet, with the sky behind them)
Kouta: So, what exactly are you eating there?
Yuka: Senbei. Wanna try? It's really good.
(Panel shows Kouta reaching inside the bag of rice crackers - Senbei is a rice cracker confectionary quite popular in Japan - while smiling. Yuka's gaze has become blank while staring straight ahead of her; Kouta seems to catch this shift and perhaps become confused by it)
Kouta: Uh-Thank You.
Yuka: Don't.
(Panel shows Yuka staring ahead of herself from the side; a bead of worry sweat has appeared)
Kouta: What?
Yuka: Don't look ahead.
(On cue, Kouta turns to look at precisely what Yuka warned him against with a close up of the front of his face)
Kouta: Why? What's there?
(The next panel shows the two transfixed, a bit stunned in the background as a naked glistening backside emerges from the ocean, though they are receiving a full frontal view, likely stunning them even further)
(The next two pages are presented together in a 'splash page' with no dialogue; From the back, we see Kouta and Yuka continue to stand stunned, still staring at what we now see; it is a naked young woman with a slight but notable figure, grasping her right arm with her left hand; modesty seems to be less her concern than the shift from cold water to chill air as she emerges; we get some detail on Kouta's backpack and Yuka's dress/blouse/skirt; his backpack has one large zippered pouch on the bottom, with two zippered pockets at the top, the one at the top of these two being the larger; the blood on the side of the nude girl's head confirms that this is Lucy, having survived and escaped the island; the fear and worry in her eyes and stance show that this is perhaps not the casual mass murderer encountered earlier; there is something atop her head, sticking out on each side, above and adjacent to her ears; it is the first time we see this in the entire series)
(Note: One scanlation obscured the detail on Lucy's nipples; Also, her hair forms the ahegao hair rise that will eventually be discontinued for her character)
(The first panel on the final page of this chapter shows the cousins still standing stunned at this sight; Kouta is outright blushing)
Kouta: Eh?
(The second and final panel shows a close-up of Lucy's face, indeed very confused and docile seeming; the blood from her head wound has now reached her left eye, staining her face beneath it, and now the protrusions atop her head are very prominent, looking almost like pointed ears, such as on an elf or Star Trek Vulcan/Romulan; Yet the gunfire shot that took off her helmet as it wounded her revealed she does have ears, though it wasn't prominent in that shot; What these protrusions really are becomes the first mystery of the series)
Elfen Lied Manga Transcript - Chapter Two
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