#jyuugo

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So, it's finally here, right? You decided to read the Nanbaka manga some time ago. There's a pretty good possibility you watched the anime at some point and found the manga afterwards, just needing to know what happens after Season 2 (potentially even after growing tired of waiting for season 3).

But, of course, the "why" doesn't matter. You picked up the Nanbaka manga, drank up every chapter you could. Maybe you're like me. You got to around chapter 193 and stopped for a while, unable to find translation past that point. But you got lucky one day looking, wondering if anyone ever picked up that translation again. So again, you drank up chapter after chapter (whether you binged it or waited patiently for fan translators to translate the chapters bit by bit), until you finally arrived...

At the end.

(From chapter 423 of "Nanbaka" by Shō Futamata)

And I surmise (largely based upon what I've seen perusing the fandom tag) that your thoughts upon reaching this point amount to "HUH?! WHAT?!" It seemed like we were just in the middle of a major arc. We've learned so many things, the nature of the world of "Nanbaka" and the overal conflicts have been revealed. New questions have risen, certain recent mysteries have yet to be answered, new information has come to light, there are characters whose status is unclear.

But despite all of this, it's over. The end.

Jyugo escapes Nanba, and the manga ends, heedless of everything else.

"Does the mangaka even care?" you could be wondering.

"Maybe it's just on hiatus, and we'll get a follow up at some point!" you could be hoping.

"Why did I get invested if it was going to end so poorly? Was it just a badly written story after all?" you may be feeling inside.

I can't tell you what Shō Futamata's feelings or what their future plans are beyond what they've officially put out. I can't give a truly objective answer that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Nanbaka is written well, and that the ending is good actually™.

But what I can do is express my own subjective point of view. After all, I'm only human too. Beyond that, I can hope someone reads this.

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Now, my view and opinion is as follows:

As a whole, I loved the Nanbaka manga. I think the ending is good, and that it makes sense.

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I can already hear the thoughts forming in the heads of some of you reading this.

"What? Why? Isn't it sudden?? With everything introduced and all the plot threads left hanging, how could it be a good end? How could this make sense?"

Here's my short answer for the "why".

Because none of those things matter.

"But how could none of that matter? What would be the point of building up the narrative, getting us attached to all these characters and invested in the mysteries if it didn't all matter? Wouldn't it be simpler to say that the mangaka was tired of writing? Even so, what was the point of introducing all of these things if they don't matter as you say??"

Let me clarify that statement:

None of those things matter to the ending.

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Let's take a step back for a moment.

Despite the chapters upon chapters of angst and the character death we've experienced, Nanbaka is, at its core, a comedy manga (there are times I'd even call it a parody). Its goal with its gags and references, and even its execution of characters and arcs, is often to play genre expectations for laughs and/or to turn them on their head. It's unserious at times, and yet the entire premise (even jokes based on common genre tropes or anime happenings) are played completely straight.

Jyugo, our main character, (just based on design and expectations) seems to have all of the setup at of a more edgy shonen protagonist—the world's specialest boy with the tragic backstory, who is doubtless overpowered.

Both the manga and the anime adaptation dispell this notion pretty quickly. Jyugo can open any lock and escape from any prison, but he's pathetic outside of this. In the anime this means he can move past every obstacle to escaping Nanba along with his friends, but he always gets stuck at the final one because of his poor physical prowess (and inability to throw even a single punch). His backstory isn't tragic so much as...empty. In his head early in the story, he's just some inmate who woke up one day with shackles he can't remove, right? He has this clear glimpse of the man who shackled him (the man with the scar on the back of his neck). Does he have any real passion for revenge at the start? No, not really. He just wants to find this guy so he'll remove the shackles. In his memory, he's both escaped from every prison he's been to so he could find the man with the scar, and so he could just kill time. His memories are hazy, he doesn't know his parents or his home. As far as official records are concerned, he was born in prison and his father abandoned him. He has no hobbies, likes or dislikes.

It's against the character of Jyugo, our main character with few qualities and no real dreams or aspirations, that the rest of Cell 13 (his friends, Nico, Rock, and Uno) stand out. Compared to him, who is just killing time, who is bored and doesn't improve his practical skils, who wears the classic black and white striped prison garb, just about everyone in the story stands out more. They're visually colorful and dynamic. They have obsessions, dreams, aspirations, likes, and dislikes. For many of the supporting cast, their backstories and ambitions are enough that they could be the star of their own story.

And back to the comedy aspect, just like with Jyugo, one of the earlier gags in the story is when the mangaka contrives an excuse to explain cell 13's basic characters and backstories via the warden meeting with Hajime. In the manga, Hajime explains "what is up with them", just before shocking Samon and Warden Momoko with the "stupid" reasons Uno, Rock, and Nico kept escaping prison. In the anime adaptation, Samon plays the role of stand in for the audience expectations, assuming each one of these characters ended up becoming criminals due to their tragic backstories, with these reasons for becoming criminals feeding deeply into their aspirations. He sets up fantasy stories of men who go to prison in the process of caring for their sick/disabled girlfriend, or whom want to get revenge for fallen comrades, just before Hajime tears it down by dropping the truth.

Nico has a past of being experimented on and drugged. He has multiple food ilnesses and unidentified diseases. But no matter his dark past, his reason for escaping prisons was due to his hatred of needles and badly tasting medicine.

Rock was reportedly imprisoned after starting a gang riot. He didn't escape prison for any normal reasons though. Not out of any obligation to groups he could be affiliated with or because he just wants out. He escaped because the prison food sucked.

Uno is a compulsive gambler who was sent to juvie for frequenting underground casinos. Rather than escape prison for normal reasons, such as wanting to be out of prison, or even so he could continue to gamble, he escaped because he had a hot date.

It's easy to forget when you get wrapped up in the angst, the characters backstories, the overarching struggle between two organizations who wish to decide the fate of the world, etc that Nanbaka is a parody. From the very beginning, it plays into our suspension of disbelief for manga/anime shenanigans to its advantage (for example, being meta about how Uno, Rock, and Jyugo have to work together to censor Nico's anime references, or forcing the audience to accept that Shiki's security was shitty for a brief moment just so Taura specifically could infiltrate their headquarters with ease), and it turns our expectations on their heads (ex. Enki's rumor about being abusive to inmates stemming from how he would rough them up a bit to protect them from inhumane experimentation, or Warden Momoko appearing to be a stern dom with sharp edges but turning out to be someone who is gushy and soft and blushy thinking about her crush).

We expect the plot twists of Nanbaka's final arc to be a climax of the story, or something which leads into a final confrontation of ideals. We expect the manga to end with an answer to the fate of Togabito worldwide, a victor to emerge between Shiki and Kaazu's war with each other. We perhaps even expect Jyugo to be at the center of this, for him to decide whether the world should change in favor or against Togabito existing, or even for him to make a third choice separate from Hiiro and Mashiro's skirmish. We expect for a thrilling final conclusion which wraps up most of the obvious hanging plot threads, makes a statement for how the world should be, and gives us some happy or tragic (solid) ending for our main cast and their fates.

So, with all of that in mind:

Why would Nanbaka, as a parody manga, end as we expect it to?

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Okay, now I hear you thinking:

"Tumblr user hadesknockedupintheunderworld...that is such a stupid excuse. You seriously expect us to believe that this ending is masterful and amazing because the fact that we didn't expect it to leave off on so many cliffhangers makes it a parody executed at a genius level?? Even a good parody manga that subverts our expectations should have a proper ending. Again, wouldn't this constitute an excuse for the mangaka's laziniess?"

And to this, I say: Please bear with me.

Nanbaka's genre status is only one piece of the puzzle, the "why" of the execution of the manga's ending.

The rest is related to our little pathetic (yet kind of endearing) jail breaker of a main character.

(From Season 1 Episode 1 of the anime adaptation of Nanbaka)

So, Jyugo. Inmate 15, cell 13, building 13. He's our main character.

His status as the main character may not be so obvious at first, especially given how often cell 13 appears as a group early on in the story, but I would say that it at least becomes clear by the time the end of the New Year's Tournament ark (the first one) comes around. Namely, the reveal of Jyugo's special abilities, the fight between Jyugo and Musashi, and the scene where Jyugo ultimately chooses to stay at building 13 after the tournament.

Despite Nanbaka's large cast of characters and its tendencies to focus on everyone but Jyugo at times, though, Jyugo is the main character. Nanbaka is a comedy/parody manga, yes, but it's also about Jyugo's personal journey, the way he changes as a person over the course of the manga. Hiiro kind of spells this out for us in chapter 422, when he reveals that Nanba was also created for Jyugo—his playground, his ideal world, a place where he could be himself.

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For a moment, let's return to my previous statement:

None of those things matter to the ending.

Much of what's going on in the world of Nanbaka is bigger than one person, of course. In the later parts especially, we start to be able to see more and more outside the prison. We're introduced to Nanba's women prison, Shiki, the Zodiac Police, and even to Rokuto and Mikadzuki. The world outside Nanba prison comes into greater focus at this point, especially as we begin to see more details of the struggle between Shiki and Kaazu. There are multiple story arcs towards the end focusing on multiple different characters where Jyugo and cell 13 aren't present.

As such, I can understand how easy it becomes to get wrapped up in this story as it ramps up. The problems of Kaazu vs Shiki begin to infiltrate into Nanba more and more, and this building of tension is joined by the revelations surrounding Kaazu, Shiki, and Jyugo. I, too, while reading, was waiting at the edge of my seat to get a follow up on the inmates disappearing during the New Year's Tournament (second time), the future of Orochi, Midzuchi, and Murakami, the fates of Trois, Zakuro, etc, the information on Rock, Uno, and Nico's true first meetings with Jyugo, etc.

So I know it sounds strange when I say that none of these things matter to the ending.

But, consider this. Outside of gags, outside of Jyugo, the arks we see involving Shiki, the Zodiak police, Taura, and others, often serve two purposes.

To flesh out the narrative, to make all of the characters in the wider cast feel like people as opposed to tools or just colorful characters playing roles, and to provide background on events relating to Jyugo's past.

To make some sort of point.

Showing us the backstories of members of Shiki, inmates at Nanba, and some for the Nanba guards and Zodiac Police members allows us to see these characters as people, to put away the idea that everyone affiliated with Nanba or Shiki or Kaazu is either a "good person/hero" or "bad person/villain". One of the commonly recurring themes in Nanbaka (supported by the backstories of Togabito and regular inmates alike) is the lack of prisoners' rights. Imprisonment is often used as a method of covering up inhumane experimentation or treatment of characters. Multiple characters were framed for imprisonment with the express purpose of some group getting to get away with their treatment of them (such as Kaazu imprisoning Togabito so they could get away with executing them, or Elf framing Musashi for arson so Mashiro and Isou could experiment and gather data using him). A good deal of character arcs towards the end also have a particular focus on the inmates, members of Shiki, and Togabito deciding their futures or the ideal worlds they'd like to create.

My point with this is to say that, despite the ending, all of these things do matter to the narrative. And they don't suddenly cease to have meant anything because of how the manga ending left narrative threads unresolved.

They had a purpose.

"So why is there no clear conclusion to these?"

I'll explain it like this. Since Jyugo is the main character, no matter what is happening in the world of Nanbaka, everything comes back to him. All of the narrative threads and story arcs that occur without his presence have a purpose and do matter, but the happenings outside of Nanba (within the entire world) in general are just, well, a part of the world. Regardless of what Jyugo does after the manga's ending, the world will continue to turn. Those narrative threads will come to their conclusions. Hiiro and Mashiro will continue to oppose each other.

They are just things that happen to be happening in the world around Jyugo. But the end of the manga focuses on Jyugo, the culmination of his arc.

And when it comes to reaching the conclusion of Jyugo's character arc, things not pertaining to this do not matter. It doesn't matter what Murakami's fate is. It doesn't matter whether Kaazu or Shiki win their war of ideals. It doesn't matter whether Zakuro died or not, only that Jyugo's fight with him and interactions with him and Elf set off the introspection which causes Jyugo to change further as a person.

Chapter 423 was not planned as "the end" so we could get the thrilling conclusion of major happenings in the world of Nanbaka. It was planned as "the end", so we could see "the end" of Jyugo's development.

Allow me to explain this a bit more clearly.

And ultimately, this is why I think the ending of Nanbaka is both good and fitting. The ending is unexpected, yes, but it challenges you to think, to wonder just what makes chapter 423 "The End". It leaves the surface narrative (the literal happenings in the story) unfinished, yet it resolves it's underlying narrative featuring the main character's evolution. Rather than the end of Nanbaka, being about who will change the world and how, or about a perfect happy or tragic ending, it's about Jyugo accepting himself, it's about him growing into his complete and complicated self despite (and sometimes because of) outside interference.

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Thinking back to the beginning of the story, we are given our very first truth.

Jyugo cannot/will not escape Nanba.

This is very clearly shown in the opening of the anime adaptation, where we're introduced to a typical day of Cell 13 evading all manner of traps to escape Nanba. The four of them each use their unique skills and knowledge (both inherent to them and due to their experiences escaping from various prisons) to get all the way to the final obstacle inside the prison. Then, after Jyugo opens the final door, locked with all manner of special locking mechanisms, the group is faced with Hajime. Ultimately, of course, when Jyugo is the last to face him, Hajime beats Jyugo up, which shows the audience that Jyugo cannot yet escape (in this case, he physically cannot defeat their final obstacle).

As Hajime says in the opening of the anime's first episode:

"That is because this is Nanba prison. No one has ever escaped successfully from this prison."

The manga also starts out showing "the typical day" of cell 13. However, while the anime does this by showing a group escape attempt, the manga starts out showing the four as they converse in their cell with each other and with Hajime.

(From chapter 1 of "Nanbaka" by Shō Futamata)

The anime presents a Jyugo who initially wants to escape (he's escaped from every other prison after all) but doesn't have the ability. The additional anime opening scenes flow (more or less) into the scenes presented in the opening of the manga, which presents a Jyugo who doesn't actually want to leave Nanba.

"I just remembered I'll be released soon. Hey, Hajime. I'm gonna escape now, so will ya extend my sentence?"

In addition, both the manga and the anime end up with Cell 13 instead deciding to stay in Nanba for the time being (finding it more comfortable and livable than the real world).

(From chapter 1 of "Nanbaka" by Shō Futamata. This same scene can be found in Season 1 Episode 1 of the anime adaptation)

So, we start out with a Jyugo who does not/cannot leave Nanba. Although he eventually comes to confide in Hitoshi Sugoroku about the man with the scar and his shackles, removing those shackles is more of a far off goal. For now, he can live comfortably in Nanba, not having to worry about the troubles he'd have outside the prison.

Then, we get this moment of introspection from Jyugo in Chapter 36:

(From chapter 36 of "Nanbaka" by Shō Futamata)

During the end of part 1 here, Jyugo realizes that he's been running away ("the man with the scar" listed as among the things he's been running from while in Nanba), and he realizes he wants to live like his friends (his friends who are "so full of life").

Though we expect Jyugo to begin to physically improve himself (like other main characters in his position who often resolve to do this to protect the things, people, and futures they care about with their own hands), he doesn't make major strides over the course of the manga in improving his physical strength, skill, or becoming proficient in using his blades. Rather, his journey is a more internal one.

(From chapter 36 of "Nanbaka" by Shō Futamata)

To put it plainly, as of Chapter 36, to "run away" as he always has for Jyugo means both to accept his fate (in this case, to allow himself to simply stay in prison, or to allow himself to live an empty life in the underground cells of Nanba) and to escape Nanba (to run away from a place that now has both people who enrich his life (attachments) and his past encroaching on it).

While Jyugo takes some steps forward and backwards over the course of the manga (often during major events of introspection and dealing with his fears), everything comes to head in the last part of the manga.

Or, rather, it's Chapter 423 (the ending), that brings Jyugo's internal journey full circle.

Jyugo learns about himself—the truth about his origins, his powers, his shackles—and chooses to continue on.

Jyugo accepts himself—his "original personality", his past self, his missing piece—becoming someone who is both the "Jyugo" who is human and contains life, and the "Jyugo" who is the Togabito of emptiness, who can hardly recognize himself as existing.

And, most notably:

Jyugo finally escapes Nanba prison with his own power, and he faces "the man with the scar" head on.

This is the point I intended to make.

Chapter 423 of Nanbaka's ending is set up the way it is to subvert our expectations due to its affinity for parody. Chapter 423's ending does not mark the ending of the story of Nanba prison or the war between Shiki and Kaazu. Rather, it marks "The End" of the Jyugo we knew.

It marks the moment Jyugo finally escapes the inescapable prison, the moment he truly resolves to face the man with the scar, the moment he's completed his internal development the manga has been leading up to.

Or, to put this in the shortest words I possibly can:

The story began setting up Nanba as an inescapable prison. The story ends now that our main character has finally achieved this feat and escaped it.

(From chapter 423 of "Nanbaka" by Shō Futamata)

The other things do not matter to the conclusion of Jyugo's story.

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