Animal Scent ( 獣臭 / じゅうしゅう/ juushuu / Beast Odor ) is the seventy-fifth chapter of the Elfen Lied manga series and the last chapter of Volume Eight.
Plot[]
As the Unknown Man attempts to attack Mayu, Wanta bites him hard on the arm, earning the small dog a savage kick that causes Mayu to worry whether he is still alive. She is taunted by her attacker over her concern for a dog when she is facing such imminent peril. Ordered by her attacker to undress or face pain, Mayu is overwhelmed by the memories of being raped by her step-father, and of submitting (to her mind) too quickly to his demands. These harsh memories end up causing her to collapse and scream out loudly, it throws off the Unknown Man and rouses Nana.
Nana pleads for the attacker to hurt her instead, but he mocks her and declares his focus is on Mayu alone. Her efforts to help Mayu only get her another spiked iron ball fired into her gut. Realizing that Mayu has fled, the attacker looks around. She makes a run for the phone and manages to call Bando right before the line is kicked out of the wall, with her getting hit yet again as the attacker chides her efforts. Mocking her slight figure as he begins to strip her, he further mocks her efforts to beat him. He is caught unaware as Mayu manages to pull the phone over by its cord. She smashes him in the head with the phone, and then kicks him in the nose as he tries to grab her back, likely breaking his nose. The Unknown Man is enraged to the point that he plans to fire one of his spiked balls into her eye before raping her. Mayu offers up a prayer that Wanta will still know and love her after her face is mutilated. The attacker fires his weapon just as he is kicked in the gut by a new arrival.
His shot misfires as Bando begins pounding the Unknown Man across the room. Bando is plainly disgusted by his pedophilic behavior, while also trying to pretend, through harsh banter, that Mayu's fate didn't matter to him, complaining of trying to find the Maple House based on brief mentions from Mayu. Trying to claim that there had been a misunderstanding, Unknown Man tries to crawl away from the enraged Bando's renewed assault.
Despite her warning, the Unknown Man manages to fire a spiked ball into his gut, taunting him that he will now rape Mayu right in front of him, bragging on the uselessness of trying to pull the ball out. He even warns Mayu not to resist anymore, or she will see him harm Bando even further. As Bando struggles to get the ball out, the attacker boasts of its pain-inducing, agony-causing design and the Diclonii it was tested against, making its removal nearly impossible and wholly impractical. Not knowing that his hand was artificial the Unknown Man is shocked when Bando manages to get it out, taunting back that practice is no substitute for field testing, and that the drug/toxin the spikes were tipped with caused him a worse pain than removing the ball ever could, making its removal easier.
While again claiming a misunderstanding, the Unknown Man is struck hard by that same ball, which Bando takes great pleasure shoving into the man's backside, repeating back a taunt Unknown Man had used on him. Bando holds him down, preparing to execute the attacker, only to be stopped by Mayu. The Unknown Man flees amid Bando's questions and insults regarding Mayu's action. Bando aids Mayu in pulling the spiked balls out of Nana, using a heated knife and noting Nana's lack of reaction to the pain of removal. He is thrown off by a grateful Mayu's embrace for his rescue, again using bluster to try and push her away. Wanta is also revealed to be alright, and Bando offers to give Number 28 a proper burial.
Kouta, Yuka, and Nyu return from college, leading Bando to at last find out that Lucy has always been nearby, and that Mayu lied to him about this all along.
Trivia[]
- This chapter contains somewhat disturbingly explicit images of Mayu's rape by her step-father, some of which strongly imply he sodomized her.
- The chapter's cover also has Mayu looking uncomfortable; both her cleaning attire and her broom itself seem like something out of an earlier era, and far more formal than her usual house attire, for living or housekeeping.
Gallery[]
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