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Variante - requiem for the world | |
![]() Cover of the first Variante manga volume | |
Variante -ヴァリアンテ- (Variante) | |
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Magazine | Monthly Dragon Age |
Demographic | Shōnen |
Original run | 2004 – 2006 |
Volumes | 4 |
Variante - requiem for the world (Variante -ヴァリアンテ-) is a Japanese horror manga by Iqura Sugimoto. [1] The manga focuses on Hosho Aiko,a girl who is brought back to life by the left arm of a "Chimera",a grotesque human-derived species that can drastically alter the shape of their own body parts. [2]
When Hosho Aiko came home one day,she found her entire family slaughtered by a grotesque monster. The creature attacked and killed her as well,but she finds herself awakening in a mysterious room,taken care of by Dr. Kochigawa. She has amnesia,but when another monster appears before her in her room,she regains her memories and her left arm changes into a powerful weapon,very similar to that of the monster,which she destroys.
Sudo remains as the closest person to Aiko,actively taking part in her missions and supporting her. He is alerted by a mysterious person of the existence of a girl named "Nana",about whom Sudo reacts with shock. It is revealed that Nana was a girl Sudo had found sitting before his house and had taken her in,only to discover that she was a Chimera and had killed her. But because of his awareness,he is hired by Atheos at a young age and his sickly mother is kept in Atheos's hospital,serving also as a bargaining chip to keep him in Atheos. Sudo leaves to find the present Nana in an experimental facility in the mountains. On the other side,Aiko is sent there on orders to kill a Chimera,feeling uneasy without Sudo's presence. They find Sudo held by the Chimera,Nana,who attacks them. Sudo asks Aiko to destroy the two together,as to kill Nana would hurt him and to leave Nana would mean in his being devoured,but she pulls him out of Nana,telling him to live. Nana is killed in the process,and Sudo is fired from the case for his actions and is put on house arrest.
Okuda reveals his intentions to use Aiko to give birth to a "Goddess" who will renew the human race. His hate for the current human race was spurned by his father,who was a scientist of war;enemy soldiers had broken into Okuda's home and killed his mother before his eyes. His father gave up his part as a war scientist and began to research an antibody,which resulted in the creation of Chimeras. Sudo criticizes Okuda's scheme and Okuda shoots him,but Aiko's Chimera arm intercepts the bullet,before telling Okuda that she will kill him if he proceeds to steal anything precious from her (referring to Sudo). The Executive Board sends in an army at this moment to destroy Okuda's plans,giving Sudo and Aiko a chance to escape.
Sudo,Aiko,and the Chief escape to the surface,but encounter Chimera soldiers who shoot Aiko. However,Sudo takes the blows and dies in Aiko's arms,shortly before he tries to kiss her. After seeing his death,Aiko goes berserk,killing the soldiers as the Chief holds Sudo's body,watching. The building then self-destructs,and Aiko loses consciousness;the rest of the people,including the Chief,then disappear for reasons unknown after the building exploded. While unconscious,Aiko dreams of her parents,the people she has met and made friends of,and Sudo,most,if not all,of them she loved are dead. She then wakes up alone,having lost her left arm and both legs. A person who looks like Sudo then kneels in front of Aiko and pats her on the head,where he disappears moments later in the following panel after she smiles joyfully with some tears in her eyes (whether this person was an illusion that Aiko thought of in her near-death state is unknown,but it's likely that it is an illusion). The story ends with the public informed of Atheos and the Chimeras,and a somehow fully regenerated and healthy Aiko (how she is able to be here with all her limbs back when the last time she is seen was her lying on the ground with no left arm and legs while smiling is unexplained,much less how she escaped from the place where she woke up in a near-death state in the first place) walking in a heavily populated area. Someone (this person is unknown) calls her name,and she turns around towards this person with a smile.
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In Jason Thompson's online appendix to Manga: The Complete Guide , he regards the protagonist's "emo and paralyzed by doubt" nature as being due to the influence of Neon Genesis Evangelion on manga and anime. [3]