[James Rye]

Originally Posted by KBTKaiser

Then again...

Spoiler:

I do find the existence of the B rank 8 squad to be intriguing since it implies there are more branch offices.

Also, I think Yuuma and Chika might have their work cut out for them for the next battle though. Arafune is a sniper-only team(Chika's gonna need to put all of Reiji's teaching into effect for it) while Suwa's shotgun spam can probably even give Yuuma a moment's pause.

Right.

Spoiler for 86 stuff:

I think that Suzunari branch is either one that belong to Shinoda or the HQ and which recently started to do its own thing but has yet to earn some "standing" in Border's council.
Like it was mostly an operator or engineer related branch, you know, support stuff. And at some point due some reasons they started accepting agents as well and try to get them to A-level as there you really hold a meaning in Border and can influence things. Either that or have a crapton of people working under you.

Yeah, while I think Yuuma and Chika still have a chance to win this battle as well, Suwa and Arafune squad were shown as competent enough to be able to deal with those two if they make any mistakes.
My bet is that they will focus on Chika first and then take out Yuuma and that those two need Usami's help to be able to avoid a lose. As well as have Osamu think what he might have done differently if he had been in that battle or have those two think what would have been differently with a clear leader.
Ya know, just show that they still struggle against good teams with good teamplay/who know what they are doing as they are still a new team despite being superstrong.^^

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

Well the aftermath of this invasion should be pretty huge. It was a nice chance to get some Osamu flashbacks and see how he got here. So Chika's brother being taken wasn't just a simple abduction, he was taking action himself. Probably a good call to lie to Osamu since he would have come along otherwise. Not sure if his message meant to not feel obligated to stay by Chika or just not feel obligated to do more than just stay by Chika.

Also just a good reminder of how Osamu wasn't all that suited to the border agent job at least from testing. Saw Chika trying and went ahead and tried to join up. Even doing something reckless like sneaking into the base in order to try and get someone to support his application. He was just that determined.

The ending was kind of interesting. Had a "oh nice, Chika was sleeping there", but ended up "oh boy...his mom has arrived."

It better be huge, Border lost 6 of its Staff members inside its own HQ and 32 teenagers have been captured. While that is far less than like 4-5 years back then, the people who lost their husbands/wives/sons/daugthers won't take lightly to their lose.
And the press/goverment will also have a talk in that as well. Still wonder why we haven't heard yet anything from the japanese goverment. Kind of feels like they are letting Border do whatever they want.

What I really enjoyed about the flashback was how it kept entirely to Osamu's POV and didn't "showed" us Osamu's emotions but made us "imagine" them ourselves, as if we were in Osamu's shoes, hearing about Rinji's plan, his disappearance, seeing Chika cry for the first time, try to get enlisted as Agent but fail for a reason we cannot understand, do something illegal as last desperate mean, almost getting eaten aaaaaaaaand there's the draw-back to the very first chapter where Jin saved Osamu in the opening from a Neighbor!
Nicely done, liked that compact yet full of informations/more understanding for Osamu's struggle as a trion weak person with great ambitions flashback alot.^^

You know, seeing this flashback makes Osamu's draw against Kazama, the 2nd strongest fighter of Border, even more amazing. Even if it was after 20+ loses and Osamu's trion weakness didn't mattered as much due the endless trion supply from the simulation room. XD
It just makes it more amazing because we basically got told that Osamu is no "agent material". Yet we see him standing up to people who are considered elites or are superdangerous trion soldiers/humanoid neighbors and be able to stand his ground. Albeit ofc at his very limits of his ability.
Still amazing now that we know Border had first made Osamu "fail" for being an Agent. Guess Jin foresaw back then when he saved "four-eyes" that this person gonna mean great changes for Border, even if he is a "weak" fighter.

And yes, sleeping Chika is an adorable sight. <3
Osamu's mom's pretty hot though. Guess he got his looks from his dad after all. :P