Details As Zain has a yen for birds, Rouj seems to collect frogs. Despite their immediate impression as the strapping young man and the skinny mage, Ghaleon does seem to be slightly taller than Dain. (It's tough to get a comparison, as they're rarely shown both standing and at the same distance from the "camera," but check pgs. 28 and 31 as well.) Ghaleon is ambidextrious. Left-handed: Right-handed: . . . Zain's face, never seen overtly in KSK, is still masked in the TnK frieze by a voice balloon. By the way, for posterity, everything we do have of Zain's face: The wand Remilia wields at the end of TnK is either the model for or the very one Remiena/Lemina has in Lunar 2. Arhes's father appears in "Kioku Suru Fuukei" as one of Dain's hooligan child friends. Symbolism: Ghaleon's emblem of Althena pendant breaks off in the final panel. Part of the panel depicting the Vheen streets on pg. 108 is blatantly reused on pg. 158. . . . A panel on pg. 26 in TnK shows the exact same shot of Vheen's transfer fountain as on pg. 185 in KSK, except in a greatly decayed state. Like what you haven't done with the place, guys. Ghaleon's cloak in "Tamashii no Kokuhaku" is a composite of Morris's and Tagak's own traveling cloaks from the last scenes of "Kokuhaku Suru Kioku." Ghaleon actually does have Tagak's cloak in "Kioku Suru Fuukei"; he's simply wearing Morris's over Tagak's instead of vice versa. The pattern on the shoulder of Zain's cloak in the illustration on the back of the tankoubon is the same as the half-daisy pattern of energy-gauge lights on the front of the airship. The tankoubon cover image is composed of "Kokuhaku Suru Kioku" Ghaleon back-to-back with his older self from "Tamashii no Kokuhaku." (The latter figure is frequently mistaken for Zain - understandable given the presence of young KSK Ghaleon and how the figure's face is hidden from the viewer. Check the outfits, though.) Niea is wearing the hat Ghaleon gave her at the end of "Kokuhaku Suru Kioku" in the image of her as a young lady in the Ausa genealogy sequence near the end of "Tamashii no Kokuhaku." I'm fairly certain that this map, or at least the shape of its compass, was drawn from the pack-in map from one of the Sega/Mega-CD titles, but I don't have mine available to confirm. Ghaleon falls from a wall, and his brother's reactions spark great psychological trauma. Alice of the Younenki no Owari manga falls from a tree, an incident that sparks the destruction of her family. Elie (along with Rena) in the MSL manga falls from a tree and nearly gives away the dangerous secret of her heritage. What is it with manga magic-race kids being unable to keep their balance and its disastrous effects?

Mysteries Compare these two establishing shots of Vheen at the time of KSK and of TnK. Naturally, the Vheen of TnK is more heavily forested, representing the new growth of the humans' thriving community (though TnK doesn't take place in the winter like KSK does, and Vheen would therefore then have its deciduous trees in leaf as well). Look at the position of the ruins, though. At first, it seems as if there's been an artist's mistake and the ruins have been repositioned from north-of-center in the KSK pic to the edge of the land mass in the TnK one. Examine, however, the right rim of the continent, particularly the first bifurcated bit into which you run following the edge up from the bottom; the jagged parts up from the bifurcation are gone in TnK's time, and it seems, comparing land mass sizes and other geographic features, that part (albeit a slight part) of the upper half of Vheen itself is missing. Look also at the bits of forest on the lower lefthand side of the continent; they actually are in the same position relative to the lower rim and the ruins in both time periods and not distended or shifted as one would to cover up a perspective error. It's not a change in perspective; the continent seems actually to be smaller. Did Funato screw up on the art, or did she actually intend for Vheen to have lost some land in back? If it's the latter, then what the heck happened? . Niea's (presumable) husband has the distinction of being the only Ausa father whose face we see (except Nasch, extrapolatively). This would make one think that we're supposed to recognize him, and he looks most like the Smarter-Than-the-Average-Guild-Student who solves the mystery of the airship's huge energy tank. While the SMTTAGS has curly hair, though, the husband's appears to be straight and tousled, and during KSK, STTAGS has what appears to be a good ten years on Niea, whereas in the flashback panel with Niea and her husband, they both look the same age. (One could argue, in fact, that Niea is older, though that might be just how Funato drew her dress and grin.) What do you think? Why does the Blue Dragon appear above Latona when she begins casting her final spells on pg. 171? We see dragons appear only when Dragonmasters or holders of Dragon Auras cast spells, not when just any magician does so. How would she have the ability to access its power? Is this an ability unique to the magic race? Or was she, in another parallel to Ghaleon, once a great hero, too?

From the Department of Obvious Yes, that's the Blue Spire in the background. Yes, that's the sash Dain wears in his later guise as Laike.

Visual Motifs & Themes Barren trees are a recurring visual motif throughout "Kokuhaku Suru Kioku," a reminder of the mazoku's barren, bleak future. They are seen throughout KSK but most frequently accompany moments when the mazoku are troubled by loneliness, perceived abandonment, or bitter feelings about their lot, whereupon the trees dominate the frame; usually, little else is then present but the characters and a blank, empty white. When Tagak, Morris, and Ghaleon leave for their new future at the end of the story, however, the frame is overflowing with lush greenery, symbolic of new life. Speaking of new life, also note the two small plants present in the frame when little Niea makes her first appearance. The barren trees return, however, when Ghaleon visits Niea's grave. As Ghaleon recalls his failed relationship with Zain, he is shown in a probably-figurative image standing apart from the group gathered around Zain's deathbed, back turned to his dying brother. It perhaps symbolizes his attempts to make his rejection of his brother conspicuous, even in Zain's dying days. Later, when the guildmistress asks Ghaleon in the cemetery what spurred him to complete the airship, Ghaleon's initial response is blank silence. Taken alone, the panel composition represents Ghaleon being at an utter loss to provide a conscious explanation for his own behavior. It is obviously meant, however, as an echo of the earlier panels - Ghaleon now turned toward the other end of the panel, where his brother once was and now is not. It provides an unspoken answer to the guildmistress's question about his motive - his never-fulfilled desire for his brother's attention and love. Back.