Shounen Enigma by Sakaki Kenji

[WilliamK]

Spoiler

Thanks for translating. ^_^ The first Enigma chapter title (throughout the series) with more than one word. :P

It's really leading me towards Cannibal = Matsurigi.

 

[R4n]

I read the fake spoiler you posted earlier, FOMA. Thank goodness they were fake. I almost got a heart attack because i thought Sakaki-sensei has the balls to kill my favourite character ;____;

 

[FanOfAniManga]

Well, if you saw my updated message, it turns out even the second set of spoilers with the new title I posted earlier were fake too. I don't believe this. These spoiler websites have always been reliable in the past.

At least now, I'm pretty sure the spoilers websites have got it right this time, as they are now firm. Without further ado, the real title of e51, with a very appropriate subject at hand:

Spoiler

Cannibal.

I'll translate the spoilers if kewl doesn't release the chapter translation first, as the spoilers are long.

For now, all I can reveal is this:

Spoiler

Cannibal's identity. In terms of that...

Spoiler

WE WERE ALL WRONG!
Under Channel [es], Cannibal's name appears as Shimei 咬田.

The kanji represents the person's surname, which could be either Kouden or Youden. It doesn't seem to be a conventional Japanese surname. Under the verb 咬む, the first kanji in Cannibal's surname means "to bite" or "to chew". To the Japanese, it's as much a Name To Run Away From Really Fast as Cannibal.

 

[Jaymie]

That spoiler didn't ruin my theory at all. I just want to know if you-know-who is really you-know-who, or if you-know-who is really the person described in the spoiler pretending to be you-know-who (I'm being vague because I'm on my phone and I can't do spoiler tags).

 

[WilliamK]

Spoiler

Seems like a big chapter. So is Matsurigi Cannibal or not? Or is the first body Cannibal? Or someone else entirely? I'm so curious. >~<

 

[FanOfAniManga]

Spoiler

Seems like a big chapter. So is Matsurigi Cannibal or not? Or is the first body Cannibal? Or someone else entirely? I'm so curious. >~<

Spoiler

You'll find out once you read my last post.

 

[WilliamK]

Spoiler

You'll find out once you read my last post.

Spoiler

I meant, does the chapter show Shimei (Cannibal) being anyone? Or where he/she came from? I want to know sooo much. XP

 

[FanOfAniManga]

e51 JAPANESE RAW HERE

Oh, boy.

Spoiler

I meant, does the chapter show Shimei (Cannibal) being anyone? Or where he/she came from? I want to know sooo much. XP

To answer your question,

Spoiler

Yes. You can see his face on the very last page of this chapter. Also, his name is Kouda Shimei.

 

[WilliamK]

Spoiler

Sakaki done a great job at revealing Matsurigi as Cannibal, even though I was pretty certain of him pretending to be Matsurigi. To be honest, I'm so surprised at Cannibal eating Aru and Kijima, who have pretty damn deadly abilities if anyone tried to attack them. I guess he did use Matsurigi or someone elses identity to get close to them and trick them like he done with Sumio. Now we know Cannibal has eaten Matsurigi, Kijima, Hiina, Aru, Moto, Suuki, Kurisu, Sudou, Mao, Masked Gentleman and roughly 1-5+ other students with abilities whilst the fifth e-test was happening. And that's just from what we know. That's means he has roughly 7-12 abilities at his command. Maybe more if Mao/Masked Dude have some too.

Kirio is pretty badass. I'm sure he'll be a fan favourite... Also the pages seem to be mixed around. Pages 3 and 4, and 5 and 6.

So now, a few questions... are they still as the Prison? Has the train started going to the next stop? Did Akame die? Guess'll have to wait for Kewl's translation.

 

[masgrande]

Spoiler

I can't believe the first main cast got eaten.

 

[WilliamK]

Spoiler

I can't believe the first main cast got eaten.

Spoiler

I know right?! I mean, I suspected more than one got attacked, but not all of them. I mean, Cannibal had to have been pretty fast considering after the meeting (he probably went to as Matsurigi or something), he only had a bit of time until the Gaikotsu Train arrived at the station. Though it's understandable with Aru's speed.

Fortunately though, it seems if those little pie men he eats are the persons "identity" so to speak, I guess they can be restored.

 

[Hangedman]

chapter 51 chinese scan here

 

[FanOfAniManga]

I just went on Amazon.com to see the reviews for volume 5 of Enigma. Here's what I found:
4 reviews, all giving the volume 1 out of 5 stars.

First review:
"Why isn't this cancelled!

I'm not looking forward to the second part."
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Second review:
"I already stopped following the story.
There were already so many contradictions when Act 1 ended.
She's been testing desperately with meaningful explanations... (I think this is how it's translated)
You're wasting your time reading this story.
Is the front cover with the main character supposed to represent a portrait of him as a deceased person?
His triumphant appearance and his clothing is a joke."
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Third review:
"I'm speechless… we need to stop everyone from buying this book. I'm worried about the people who bought this book already."
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Fourth review:
I got stuck trying to translate this one. 7 of 9 people found this review helpful.



Wow. I guess people really do hate Enigma so much. And all this time I thought Enigma actually had a chance. I'm really starting to believe my taste in manga is completely inverted from everyone else's. To be honest, I'm starting to get sick of Enigma too. Maybe it's because I've lowered my expectations of what I read over time, or maybe it's just because I'm starting to get sick of manga in general. Either way, I'm disappointed that I've adapted myself to reading all the worse manga series that I may be hating deep inside (Enigma, ST&RS, maybe even Beelzebub and Nurarihyon no Mago) and missing the ones that may actually become popular and may be the ones I'd probably enjoy more (Kagami no Kuni, One Piece, etc.).

 

[Zeromcd]

There has been some speculation that Sakaki Kenji has gotten a divorce from Kyosuke Usuta due to what she wrote in this weeks author's comment page in Jump.


急に寒くなってきたので、早くもこたつを出しました。こたつ最高。結婚したい。＜健滋＞
It's suddenly became very cold, I've already got my Kotatsu out. Kotatsu are the greatest. "I want to get married" <Kenji>

Of course this is just specualation based on a single comment.

 

[WilliamK]

@FOMA: Well, I knew Enigma was hated by Japan, but come on, it has a lot of great comments in other speaking countries. I don't care what the Japanese comments say considering they the great fanfare Fairy Tail and Kimi no Iru Machi are still getting. A lot of things are reversed outside the big 3, an example would be GE - Good Ending has the least sales, but seems to be quite popular in English community forums. Enigma too. It fares quite popular, but readers in Japan seems to dislike it. Same oppositely, Fairy Tail and Kimi have obtained quite a lot of hate, whilst being fairly popular in Japan. Remember FOMA, reviewing isn't very popular overall and the reviews there seem to be made by bratty children. Saying it's bad is fine, but they're not even clarifying why. Though overall, it does seem to be getting a lot and I mean a lot of hate for all its volumes.

Either way, all we can hope is that it's pulling a Medaka Box or a +Natural (from Bakuman).

@Zerocmd: Wow, really?! I wish her the best of luck if it turns out to be true... Things aren't going well with her to have her first manga on the cancellation treatment and get divorced. Rather have her manga over her husbands, to be honest.

 

[Negative Syndicate]

I think the comment is kind of like joke; she want to get married to kotatsu because it is warm. I think people are just overthinking.

 

[Jaymie]

I think that Sakaki overstepped with the plot. The plot overwhelmed the characterization, and everyone ended up being cardboard cut-outs. WSJ is a character-driven magazine (some series get in the top five just because they feature certain characters), so that was a huge failure on her part.

She should have also played up the fanservice. Enigma had a shower scene, and that was it. Fanservice, when overdone, can ruin a story, but it can also help in obtaining a fanbase that will consistently vote for it. That's sort of essential for a brand-new series from a brand-new author.

And about her overstepping with the plot, I think that she should have made the characters compete against each other. The Train arc seemed like she was trying to fix the series, but it only made things worse by that point. The school arc should have been a bit shorter. Maybe if there were only like five passwords or something. Enigma had violent themes, so there should have been more blood. It sounds childish to say that this was a fault of Sakaki's, but we're talking about a magazine for teenage boys. She should have been more conscious of that fact.

She is a great author though! I'm looking forward to whatever she creates next. I hope she doesn't get shafted to Saikyo Jump. Jump SQ would probably be ideal, but the bi-weekly magazines wouldn't be bad for her either.

 

[Divinenega]

I think that Sakaki overstepped with the plot. The plot overwhelmed the characterization, and everyone ended up being cardboard cut-outs. WSJ is a character-driven magazine (some series get in the top five just because they feature certain characters), so that was a huge failure on her part.

She should have also played up the fanservice. Enigma had a shower scene, and that was it. Fanservice, when overdone, can ruin a story, but it can also help in obtaining a fanbase that will consistently vote for it. That's sort of essential for a brand-new series from a brand-new author.

And about her overstepping with the plot, I think that she should have made the characters compete against each other. The Train arc seemed like she was trying to fix the series, but it only made things worse by that point. The school arc should have been a bit shorter. Maybe if there were only like five passwords or something. Enigma had violent themes, so there should have been more blood. It sounds childish to say that this was a fault of Sakaki's, but we're talking about a magazine for teenage boys. She should have been more conscious of that fact.

She is a great author though! I'm looking forward to whatever she creates next. I hope she doesn't get shafted to Saikyo Jump. Jump SQ would probably be ideal, but the bi-weekly magazines wouldn't be bad for her either.

.
When you mention issues with characterization it reminds that Psyren also had the issue of putting plot before characters most of the time. It's sad to think about but I guess at this point the series doesn;t have much of a prayer. I do look forward to whatever she makes next though and hopefully she'll learn from the experience.

 

[Galactic Tomahawk]

I think that Sakaki overstepped with the plot. The plot overwhelmed the characterization, and everyone ended up being cardboard cut-outs. WSJ is a character-driven magazine (some series get in the top five just because they feature certain characters), so that was a huge failure on her part.

I agree with this, she has a potentially good cast to work with but she hasn't really done anything with them past their intro chapters. It's especially noticeable when guys like Hina and Moto only got a couple chapters each.

Otherwise though... I dunno if Amazon user reviews are something I'm about to take too seriously. I mean I'm not trying to deny Enigma is getting hate in Japan or anything (in case I've ever come off like that in the past) but Amazon gets stuff like that all the time and I've never really taken their reviews at face value.

 

[Crude]

I don't get why Enigma is getting so much hate in Japan. Didn't it used to rank high in the ToC?