HSDK 499 Discussion / 500 Predictions

[BASED Shinigami]

I would place Rachel in the camp that entails killing for the sake of martial arts. I believe she is simply keeping her enemies close for undisclosed reasons. It's true she has spent an enormous amount of time around the Shinpaku Alliance, but that is likely mostly due to the fact they all go to same education facility, she has a constant urge to be the center of attention, and she is quite possibly (my theory) spying on them to keep track of their activity & get information on the whereabouts of her missing master who is currently imprisoned at Big Lock. I think it's less likely she is becoming affectionate towards them and is developing friendships as result. Furthermore, it's most certain Rachel has a grudge against Renka's father because he defeated Diego in battle and is the person responsible for his current predicament. Therefore, she has a legitimate reason to murder Renka to get revenge on Ma. It certainly wont bring her master back, but she will get some satisfaction and it will alleviate some of the pain of being without her master. Also, their last fight was a tie, so it makes perfect sense if she feels the need to prove herself by defeating an enemy is undoubtedly her equal or stronger. The same way with how Kenichi felt after Koukin killed him in their first bout. He was hell bent on fighting him again.


Natsu's position is quite uncertain. I think it's matter of what he cares for the most. Does he value his friendships with Shinpaku Alliance members enough to ignore the duties of being a follower of Satsujinken or does his position as an official Yomi and his relationship with his master the Fierce Fist mean more? I believe we'll find out after his battle with Sieg.

Also, I'm not sure Alexander belongs in the Sociopath category. It's only when he loses his head his actions/thoughts become radical and irrational, but that doesn't seem to be an constant recurring problem for him. I get the impression most of time he's a rather level headed maybe even peaceful person ( he was trying to stop them from arguing at that OSNF meeting awhile back) who kills others when it's necessary or by command/order. It's a stretch to say he's an outright sociopath IMO.

[kkck]

It has never been implied she is just keeping her enemies close though. As far as we can tell she actually enjoys school and spending time with her classmates along with the attention she receives. She even had a moment when kenichi called her a friend and nakama or something. More so, as far as following the orders currently given to her by mikumo, she can always say she only follows the order of her master who is not there at the time.

Well, alexandar was primarily a soldier so I guess that his actions do depend a lot on what orders are given to him. He was all about the mission and completing at any cost so I guess we can say that more than a sociopath he was a good soldier (who followed a questionable leader).

[Lost0]

Well, as far as rimi goes the fight should be entirely different from before. If her ki really improved as much as kensei said then she should actually be able to put pressure on miu. While that does not necessarily mean she will be a match for miu it does mean miu will have to respond with her own ki and fight more seriously. Miu has been going through ma's training and the elder did seem to want her to awaken her ki however it is unknown if she has finished her training. The fight could also be dangerous for rimi as she might not be physically strong enough to handle her own ki. Miu was physically more powerful and faster than rimi and even then she had trouble with her not fully awakened dou ki. If rimi's ki matches miu it could mean rimi is not powerful enough to handle prolonged fights with her new ki.There is also the issue that if miu has to use all of her ki she could still change to her bulu persona and really hurt rimi.

I don't think lugh will necessarily destroy takeda. Takeda is already familiar with how lugh fights, he should know what getting caught entails and he should know that ultimately letting lugh catch his arm was a bad move during the last fight. I guess it will come down to myobishi this time around and whether it truly is unreadable to lugh and how much takeda has improved it. Takeda did so some training with his master the earlier day, I think it is possible he was already taught a few techniques that day since takeda was not going to be around today.

The issue with seigfried and tanimoto is how much of a good match it is for either. As of now tanimoto's strongest technique is kyoza so the question would be how effective it would be against seigfried. For the technique to be effective natsu has to effectively hit seigfried 3 times. Seigfried's specialty could easily significantly reduce the effect of the technique by avoiding a single hit. I guess it comes down to whether tanimoto has techniques which are hard to read and predict and how seigfried deals with those. Seigfried was stronger than the entire capoeira team back in the DoD tournament, I don't think he ever lagged behind actual yomi at least since then. I think he is in a similar position to berserker except that he found was style he was innately good at earlier but of course with less raw talent.

You really think Lugh won't destroy Takeda. I think he will because in their last fight it didn't seem like Lugh was trying his hardest, while Takeda was doing his best to stay alive.

---------- Post added at 10:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:45 AM ----------

I would place Rachel in the camp that entails killing for the sake of martial arts. I believe she is simply keeping her enemies close for undisclosed reasons. It's true she has spent an enormous amount of time around the Shinpaku Alliance, but that is likely mostly due to the fact they all go to same education facility, she has a constant urge to be the center of attention, and she is quite possibly (my theory) spying on them to keep track of their activity & get information on the whereabouts of her missing master who is currently imprisoned at Big Lock. I think it's less likely she is becoming affectionate towards them and is developing friendships as result. Furthermore, it's most certain Rachel has a grudge against Renka's father because he defeated Diego in battle and is the person responsible for his current predicament. Therefore, she has a legitimate reason to murder Renka to get revenge on Ma. It certainly wont bring her master back, but she will get some satisfaction and it will alleviate some of the pain of being without her master. Also, their last fight was a tie, so it makes perfect sense if she feels the need to prove herself by defeating an enemy is undoubtedly her equal or stronger. The same way with how Kenichi felt after Koukin killed him in their first bout. He was hell bent on fighting him again.


Natsu's position is quite uncertain. I think it's matter of what he cares for the most. Does he value his friendships with Shinpaku Alliance members enough to ignore the duties of being a follower of Satsujinken or does his position as an official Yomi and his relationship with his master the Fierce Fist mean more? I believe we'll find out after his battle with Sieg.

Also, I'm not sure Alexander belongs in the Sociopath category. It's only when he loses his head his actions/thoughts become radical and irrational, but that doesn't seem to be an constant recurring problem for him. I get the impression most of time he's a rather level headed maybe even peaceful person ( he was trying to stop them from arguing at that OSNF meeting awhile back) who kills others when it's necessary or by command/order. It's a stretch to say he's an outright sociopath IMO.

I honestly believe that Rachael is the type for revenge. At least in that kind of situation, it's not like he killed Diego. Nor was she that upset when he lost. But she did seem mad when Mikumo threw him in the water, if she wanted revenge on anyone I'd say it has to the bewitching fist. And she probably thinks of renka as more as a rival that a person whom she wants to kill for revenge

[kkck]

I don't think we have much to go on in regards to lugh holding back against takeda. As far as I can tell the issue is that lugh simply has the more passive and destructive style which means that he can do more damage while seemingly trying less. Lugh is a submission person, he does not punch or kick or move a lot, he simply grabs and destroys. So as far as we saw, lugh did basically everything he could against the shinpaku alliance except that he simply wasn't able to do his thing. Lugh failed to actually grab takeda and takeda failed to attack without getting caught by lugh. Lugh caught takeda only when takeda allowed himself to be caught for that matter and unfortunately we will never know who exactly would have won that particular skirmish. Takeda is without a doubt a bad match for lugh however lugh cannot do a thing without actually grabbing his enemy.

[BASED Shinigami]

I honestly believe that Rachael is the type for revenge. At least in that kind of situation, it's not like he killed Diego. Nor was she that upset when he lost. But she did seem mad when Mikumo threw him in the water, if she wanted revenge on anyone I'd say it has to the bewitching fist. And she probably thinks of renka as more as a rival that a person whom she wants to kill for revenge

It may of not been shown in that chapter, but I have every right to assume she was upset that her master was defeated and was subject to whatever consequences that followed for losing. Lets take a look at several incidents. Remember when Alexander lost his fight and was sent to Big Lock what did Boris do? A disciple who believed following and executing orders was of the highest importance no matter how extreme or difficult disobeyed a direct order from his master not to look for him. The reason why? The relationship between a master and disciple is inexplicably a very special bond that is hard to come by just like "real love" in a couples relationship. Another instance would be when Kenichi cried his heart out while holding a supposedly dead Apachai in his arms after he collapsed at the end of his battle with Agaard. He was emotionally devastated at the thought of his master dying. Koukin a Sei fighter as calm as they come became completely enraged when his master fell down too at the end. It was something we had never seen before from a person who specialized in staying calm and analyzing his opponent in battle. Furthermore, fast forward to the next arc, and we have Kenichi willing to put his life on the line to see about the well being of Sakaki at the near end of his battle with Akira even though it was not over yet. The compassion and affection shared between a master and disciple provokes such actions if the feelings for one another are strong enough. I can elaborate on more instances if you wish. Rachel's body language or facial expressions may not of shown she was upset her master had lost, but I suspect Rachel was restraining her true emotions or feelings below the visible surface before she completely lost it when the Bewitching Fist threw her heavily injured master into the water, and then Rachel proceeded to attack her to no avail.

To all those who celebrate the holiday, I just want to say Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy feasting tomorrow