ALCBANE
Well, since we’ve nearly caught up on UDDUP, I figure I’d let you in on some extra information. It’s not specifically and directly information about UDDUP itself, but nonetheless it’s potentially very involved with UDDUP and thus could be a major spoiler. The reason I am posting it is because it’s independent of UDDUP and I think it should be available to anyone who might want it despite not being able to read Japanese since, in theory, Japanese readers would have the potential benefit of this knowledge; I just want to level the playing field as it were.
So anyways, let me get to the point; There is a series where Daiba Tatsumi is the protagonist called “ALCBANE” and written by the same writer as UDDUP (but not having the same artist). Keep in mind I am taking this from a preview of the series; I’m not going to the Japanese wiki and looking up spoilers (which I could do, but that’s crossing the line). There’s not a whole lot about it in English, but there is some information in Japanese which I took the liberty of translating. With no further ado, here is the information:
Summary from Mangaupdates (the first part of the source I was looking at):
It’s the beginning of 1998. A young genius in electronic engineering, Tatsumi Daiba, has far exceeded the performance standards in the modern science with the creation of the SPARC. With SPARC’s excellent analytical ability, having built a network expanding over the whole world and having the capability to move its mechanical arms at free will, Tatsumi’s judgement over the evil in the city streets commences.
A continuation of the above that I’ve roughly translated:
And on September 26, 1999, the alteration burst occurred. He analyzed the anomalous phenomenon, which conventional knowledge could not yet measure, with a cool-headed scientific eye. Although he has a normal human body, Daiba resolutely fights crime — even fighting dangerously with ‘knockers’.
Why does he have an abnormal hate for crime? How did he obtain his exceptional intelligence and grappling ability? All the answers are in his unique personal history……
Appearing in a great number of other works, the intelligent and scientific knight that lives righteously was created here!
-Daiba Tatsumi
A Capital university graduate student. A young man admired as genius electrical engineer at a mere 18 years old. He developed and uses a quantum computer, SPARC, and opposes evil. Though he despises crime more than anyone, he makes cool-headed judgments that sometimes appear heartless.
-ALCBANE
Daiba Tatsumi’s suit and mechanical arms; he puts SPARC on and his appearance is disguised. With both taijutsu that he’s mastered and mechanical arms, and because of his excellent analytic ability, he holds the ability to fight “Knockers” . Some forms are effective because of the time period.
-SPARC（Super Parallel Algorism Resonance Computer）
Tatsumi calls it “Sparky”, a Super Parallel Algorithm Resonance Computer. With computational abilities that transcend modern day science, it’s able to possess a pseudo-personality. It performs all information gathering and analysis through the search network “Mentor” which was made by his his own abilities. Daiba’s active funds are also garnered through Mentor’s advertising revenue.
-Isawa Hidemitsu
A quantum physics researcher. Although he was the man who first understood the truth about the alteration burst, he’s a godparent. He acts in accordance with his strong desire to ‘want to understand’ all phenomenon; he is sometimes a dangerous man. He possess the special ability to be able to observe the traces of quantum fluctuations.
-Minowa Ryouko
A weekly-published ‘daylight’ reporter who was chasing ‘a mysterious criminal hunter’. Taking advantage of ‘alteration burst’, she met with ALCBANE.
-Kamioka Ruriko
A Capital University assistant professor. She designed ALCBANE’s mechanical arms with her robotics expertise. One of Daiba’s few friends.
-Gokayama Mutsuo
The commanding officer of the ‘blue seven’ extreme special forces. Kokayama Kikka’s father.
So what does this tell us (assuming the stories are parallel)? That Daiba has a great set of knockers despite them being artificial (I am so sorry for that one, but I couldn’t help my self). (there was a translation issue due to lack of context which has been filled in. Daiba doesn’t have knockers, but fights them (common sense dictated to me knockers were items rather than people), ergo a new joke:) Daiba can help but start beating when knockers are around. Also that Daiba was(/is!) a masked vigilant running around fighting evil! Perhaps his limp is from what ended his crime fighting career? But more relevant to UDDUP is that Sparky, if you didn’t already suspect as much, is in fact a computer (remember Wisemen mentioning the rumor about the quantum computer?). Also interesting is that this manga crosses over with other ones. It apparently crosses over with “Raiseman Zero”, “Seiru”, “The End Kajin”, and “Ao no Kikka”. For example, “Kokayama Kikka” (see above) is a character in “Ao no Kikka”. I find the interconnection idea interesting (sort of like what CLAMP does).
On a side note, I’m fairly interested in the series, but there are two issues at hand. First being that we already have projects like DDC to finish up (we still have about half of it to go). Second, we would have to buy the volumes for it from somewhere and that would be pretty hard to do. At any rate, don’t expect it from us soon, but maybe in the future, maybe.
–Dante
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