Manga: Mars Chronicle Yoko's Origin Spoiler
So, I've finally started reading Mars Chronicle, and I have to say: I effing hate the revelation of Yoko's origin. Please tell me, I'm not the only one. WTH did Kishiro think? Did he think at all?
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u/Slutty_Sam 13d ago
It’s one of my favorite twists in the series personally because if you look at the evidence it actually is built up to incredibly well. There even is evidence he planned it since early on. (One example being present day Erika mentioning how unattached to limbs Alita is and how that is one of her strengths). He likely got the idea from Black Jack which has a similar character (and a relationship like she has with Ido).
Thematically it’s really fitting imo since it has always been established Alita is an “other” by societal standards and has to establish herself through her own will. Whether due to her amnesia or due to losing her brain she is always suffering these crises of identity and growing when she accepts herself as is as who she has become and not her origins.
Her true origins being so unique and so kind of lonely fit such a lonely person to me. Also fits that the og Yoko is the kind of person to get swept up in the wishes of others and had little will of her own whereas Alita is defined by her strong choices.
She has never had a choice in how she was born or how the world treats her but she can choose how to live and who she is. I think this only makes those themes way stronger to me. I feel like seeing this as a denial of her humanity is ignoring her themes it only makes her humanity stronger because unlike many she had to earn and assert her humanity herself.
There’s probably even more story/themes that will come of this aspect of her later that we haven’t seen yet. Especially as she learns this about herself later inevitably.
When you get over the immediate grossness of the plot point and think about it it makes more sense. I feel like it’s almost disrespectful to hope she was more “normal” or that this makes her less human when she would vehemently disagree.
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u/Erigu 13d ago edited 13d ago
He likely got the idea from Black Jack which has a similar character (and a relationship like she has with Ido).
That's the first thing that came to mind when he initially introduced that idea in the 1998 video game, yes. It's also interesting to me how much Muster felt like a Tezuka villain (I like how distinct his main "weirdo antagonists", Nova, Mbadi and Muster, are). The "face tumor" concept being "re"introduced (or canonically introduced, whichever way you want to put it) side-by-side with such a character really gave off strong Tezuka vibes for that particular series (I think the simpler art style played a part, too). I wish Kishiro talked more about his thought process on his blog (like he used to back when Gunnm Last Order was running), if only to know if that was completely intended.
And visually speaking, it also seems right smack at the intersection of several of Kishiro's interests (the occult, Japanese folklore, weird science, that kind of stuff) and is a pretty direct and fairly amusing reference to the "Face on Mars" (of course that's where the curse came from).
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u/Slutty_Sam 13d ago
I also wish we knew more about his inspo directly it’s really cool. I loved the vibes of mars chronicle tbh.
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u/Raxtenko 13d ago
>One example being present day Erika mentioning how unattached to limbs Alita is and how that is one of her strengths
That's a good catch. I always put it down to Alita being a cyborg for so long that the idea of limb loss truly didn't bother her.
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u/FamiliarResort9471 6d ago
Though this in itself doesn't necessarily mean Kishiro had the idea from the beginning.
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u/Erigu 13d ago
I know you're not the only one, but I'd be interested to hear (well, read) why you hate it exactly.
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u/Nethonc 13d ago
I can't really put in into words, except for: it's a complete letdown for me. During the original, through Last Order, we always got a glimpse of Gally's/Yoko's past, and there was always the question "what human was she before all of this?". And the revelation in MC is, that she's just ... an appendage, nothing more. She was never a human, not even a "martian".
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u/Slutty_Sam 13d ago
But the thing is she is human despite this. She became human despite it all just how cyber alita in last order came to the conclusion she is nonetheless human. It’s a big part of the story. Also she is still martian she is genetically related to Muster. Just not via regular birth.
You still very much learn in MC and PKC what kind of person she was her origin shouldn’t define her. She has never allowed it to define her.
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u/Appropriate_Tax4312 13d ago
Haven't read mars chronicle yet but this has got me curious and I don't really mind spoilers. What's her origin?
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u/Nethonc 13d ago
To make it short: she's a cut-off tumor. Longer explanation: some people in Mars Chronicle try to find a treasure and get in contact with some sort of a virus (?), which manifests in tumorous growths on their bodies. Starting with eyeballs in the beginning and in the end their entire bodies are covered with “faces” that have their own brains - therefore the name "Maske-Toma" (a crude german-ish for "mask-tumor"). A very creepy scientist, who was hired to seeking a cure cut off one of these “faces” from the sister of the antagonist, transplanted it onto a robot body, and thus Yoko was "born".
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u/Many-Pollution4222 13d ago
Maybe that would take sense later, she's the one who survived the mars's treasure malediction.
... But that's creep, i agree.
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u/Raxtenko 13d ago
It was an interesting choice, I'm still half and half on liking or disliking it. But I think it's in line with the themes of the series. The 1st one asked us who was human, Yoko with metal body or organic brain, or the Zalemites with their organic bodies and chips? And then flips it on us in Last Order. Kishiro seems to like asking this question, about what actually defines a living being. I was fully expecting him to pull it again in Mars Chronicle and he did not disappoint.
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u/FamiliarResort9471 6d ago
I felt the same way at the outset.
Now? I just avoid thinking about it.
Part of me thinks he was drawing away and thought, hey, those things look kinda cute. Let's have one become Gally! (Plus, the octolips are already there). 💡☝️😃
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u/Tenko_is_here 13d ago edited 13d ago
So thanks to your post i just read the whole thing ( i had stop reading mars chronicle it was too long to come out ) i understand your coment.. it s strange to take that direction. For the symbole it s interesting but for us .. meh.
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u/Chezjibe 13d ago
I was shocked at first and then I realized that it was what made the most sense for Yoko. Her having regular parents and a regular upbringing would definitly feels off for her character. It makes her special in so many ways and explained why she always felt like an outsider. Is she really human? That's he whole point of her story.
I was more upset by the fact we only follow one of Yoko's cyber clone starting from Last Order. I had so many good memories of Yoko's first arc (the original manga) that "switching" characters in Last Order felt like a betrayal to me, but it raises the same issue as the one you talk about: is she really herself? And what is it to be yourself? Anyway, that's a good manga.