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Marginal


Three vols of Shougakkan Bunko "Marginal" are in print. Marginal Gallery


In 2999, only 11 cities are left on the Earth The Company is the organization that controls the cities on the Earth. The Company has a station on the moon. Mayard is in charge of the project of controlling the cities on the Earth. This project is called Marginal.

The city of Monodaul is consist of the Holy Mother, who's the only one that gives birth to children, and her sons. Garbo, the current Holy Mother is the sixth mother. Even though every village wants to get new babies, the birth rate has been decreasing for years.

Grinja and his fellow villagers plan to kill the Holy Mother. Grinja gets the information from a rent boy how to get close to a balcony, where Garbo is going to show herself the next day. They kill her with a poisoned arrow when people are watching her. The mayor declares the Holy Mother has just thrown away her old body and that she'll reappear in her new body in the near future. The Monodaul government, called the Center, keeps it secret that the Mother was assassinated. Mayard orders his staff to investigate the assassination.

Grinja kills the rent boy who gave him the information. On their way home, the villagers find a boy laying in a desert. Grinja picks him up. The boy is called Kira. At a market, Grinja sells Kira to Asijin. Asijin makes him his iroko (color child), who does the housework and sleeps with him. In Monodaul, people are cloloured in their childhood. When they reach puberty, their colour fades away.

Kira is bitten by a poisonous spider in Asijin's cave. Asijin sucks the blood from Kira's wound. Asijin can't find a herb to save Kira's life. He incidentally sees Grinja in the desert, and Grinja gives a herb to Kira to save him. Grinja says he doesn't think the new Mother will appear and the Center will be able to provide children. He insists the world is dying, and the Center and the Mother are the cause of the phenomenon. He says they might be able to change the world while the Holy Mother is away.

Asijin tells Grinja that he fell off the cliff and almost died at the age of eight. A helicopter of the Center found him and carried him to the Center. The Center gave him a medical treatment. When he went back to his home village six months after the accident, there was his grave. Asijin remembers some words that he heard at the Center. "There are only men. Poor world. Poor kid. We're in Marginal. The project is going on smoothly." He also remembers the face of the man that uttered the words. He doesn't understand what the words means, though.

While sleeping, .Kira unconsciously utters words related to the human history. He also says, "Marginal……..Marginal world……Limit…….Barren………"

Mayard and the mayor have been looking for the new Mother. They look at photos of teenagers that have XXY genes. Micale, the mayor's only son, tells Mayard a forest was burnt down some ten days back. Mayard asks about it to one of the Center stall and gets to know the Company's helicopter burnt it down on the same day when the Holy Mother was assassinated.

Gulliver, who is Asijin's cousin comes to the cave to invite Asijin to go to an ice cave to cut out ice. They find a dead boy locked in the ice. He looks just like Kira. The half of the dead body is burnt. Asijin didn't see it when he came to the ice cave 20 days ago.

Mayard thinks the Holy Mother needs charismatic beauty. He chooses Emerada as the new Mother even though other Center staff disagree with him since Emerada is a member of a family of Biblioteque, which doesn't like the Center or the Temple.

The Center discovers a man who's smuggled himself into the Earth from the Mars. Mayard hears he wants to go to the forest burnt down. He is Suzuki Go, a biologist. He's come to the Earth to look for Ivan and Arlin, who were his school mates. Mayard was in the same college and he knew their names. Ivan, Arlin and Go were promising young scholars, but Ivan and Arlin were expelled suddenly. Mayard didn't know why. Go says Ivan and Arlin violated the law and the Company is chasing them. They lived in the forest that the Company burnt down.

. Being sick in bed, the mayor tells Micale to visit the family of Biglioteque. Micale visits there with Nez, and meets Emerada. Emerada keeps two birds, called White Moon and White Star. Emerada shows a book of "Time Machine", written by H G Wells. In the end of the story, the lead gets back from the future with a WOMAN. He says there were as many women as men in the world. Micale can't believe it. It sounds as if it were an animal world. He's been taught the civilized human world has only one Mother. Emerada says the system that one Mother and her sons make a city goes back only 500 or 1000 years. He says women were gone one day. The family of the Biblioteque are allowed to be in the City, while the members are only allowed to let the visitors know about the correct human history.

Emerada used to be Edmos' iroko. Edmos worries about Emerada's health because doctors say Emerada can't live long. Emerada is taken away from home to the Center through a secret passageway.

Asijin goes back to his home village with Kira and Grinja. Asijin's father notices he saw Grinja in the city on the day when the Holy Mother was assassinated. Some villagers including Asijin's father and elder brother are planning to assassinate the mayor, his son, and Mayard. Asijin's father foresees in his dream that they are killing the world. Asijin's elder brother wants to get the information about the secret ways under the ground from Grinja.

Grinja sleeps with Kira. Kira's body is different from what he saw when Kira had a fever after he was bitten by a spider. Kira's male organ has gone. Kira says it happens only when Grinja touches him and that his body goes back to the original soon.
Asijin gets furious seeing them in the same bed. Even though Grinja says he'll buy back Kira, Asijin tries to kill him and shouts "He's stolen my stuff and he's killed the Mother!" to the villagers. Grinja is caught by villagers. Asijin's elder brother lashes his eyes to blind him. He takes Grinja to the desert thinking of killing him after getting the information about the secret ways, but Grinja kills him and escapes.
Asijin criticizes Kira of thinking of Grinja when sleeping with Asijin.
Asijin decides to go to the city with Kira thinking Kira is going to meet Grinja there. Kira hits him and runs away.

Go tells Mayard that Arlin contacted him three months ago for the first time in 20 years. She said she was scared of children, four Kiras. Mayard mentions the Marginal project. He calls the world on the Earth Marginal. In Marginal, nobody can get pregnant. The Company buys eggs from citizens on the Moon and fertilizes them in the underground of the Center. The sperms are Marginal Citizens'. They have the antibody to the disease. Only Y genes have the antibody, so only boys are born. They grow up in the artificial womb.
Go says Ivan and Arlin seemed to study cloning. Kira is the name of Ivan's mother, who killed herself when Ivan was very young. Ivan's parents got divorce, but his father got back to them two years later and told his mother to remarry him. She refused. His father got angry and raped and tries to strangle her. She killed herself six months later. One day, Ivan mentions the Earth. 2300 was the worst year for the Earth. Fungi developed in the sea that year had Factor D, which caused people to become barren. Ivan had a dream of creating children who are infinitely happy and sympathize with everybody.
Go thinks the Company might have known about his study and the four Kiras. Mayard agrees with him, while he doesn't know how the Company got to know them.

Kira is caught by bandits in the desert. He is caught killing one of them by the Center staff on a helicopter. The Center staff take him to the medical center to treat his wound. Mayard is surprised to hear a boy with XXY gene in the medical center is pregnant. Doctors say the boy says his name is Kira.

Kira runs away from his room. Mayard finds him in a room. Mayard introduces himself as Ivan's friend. He says, "Ivan is a doctor. Ivan is your father. Arlin is your mother. You were living in the forest. You're one of four Kiras. You're Ivan's child, aren't you?" Kira says, "Ivan's child? Ivan created. Ivan made Kira from Arlin and Ezekiera." "Who said that?" asks Mayard. "Doctor Ivan did." says Kira. Mayard asks if other family members died in the fire. Kira shows the illusion of fire and disappears leaving an anklet.

Mayard shows Go a photo of Kira. Go says he looks similar to Arlin. Mayard tells him he's Kira.

Roni is Micale's classmate. He asks Paul, who is working in the center, to let him see the dead body of his elder brother. Micale accompanies him to the Center. Roni asks Micale to wait for him in a room until he comes back. The room has some computers and Micale hears the Mother is in the room B14. He goes out of the room to go to the room B14. He meets Marco in the corridor and makes an apology for stealing into the Center. Hearing Micale wants to see the Mother, Marco takes him to the room B14. Micale sees Emerada sleeping there.

Micale's father is dying. Though Micale is supposed to take over him, he can think of nothing at the moment.

Mayard calls Go and the Company members to have a meeting. One of the Company members says Ivan's study was against the law. The law doesn't allow those who have a genetic factor of Ezekiera to have a child. In a village called Ezekiera, there was a religion that caused mass suicide every hundred years. Half of the villagers had the genetic factor. The factor Ezekiera induces gene mutation and it affects eyesight and the function of brain and heart.
Ivan tried to create his ideal children using Arlin's eggs and the factor Ezekiera . He ended up creating quad babies.
Go asks how Ivan got the factor Ezekiera. One of the Company members says one out of 30 million people has it. Go asks if Ivan was so lucky that he met someone with the factor. "Yes, he was." says Narstars, who arrives late. She says Mayard knows Ivan. When he had his heart operated in the hospital on the Mars, Ivan was an assistant. Ivan took 1cc of blood from Mayard every day for 20 days. He must have been interested in Mayard seeing his medical record. Mayard is one of the factor Ezekiera holders. An artificial heart is working well in him, while his eyesight is weakening. Mayard thinks the Company burnt down the village without informing him of it since the Company suspected he hid Ivan in the forest. Narstars says, "We suspected you were trying to have your babies."
The Company members say Arlin is alive on the Mars. When Arlin called Go asking for help, the station caught it and offered her help. She escaped from the Earth by Ivan's spaceship. She told everything to the Company. Then the Company decided to explode the forest.
The Company shows Go and Mayard a video tape. Arlin is talking about Ivan and her daughters in it. She says the quad babies shared a personality. When she taught something to one of them, others got it at the same time. Three of them normally grew up. The other one stayed a baby. Ivan said the baby was the center of their brains and minds. She adored them. The daughters made Ivan happy. However, when the daughters were about ten years of age, Ivan said he should be able to have a baby between him and Kira in the near future. Arlin was shocked to hear that. The daughters were to make Ivan's wish come true. They spoke speechlessly to her brain. They said "Mom, don't hate us. We just want to make Ivan happy." She almost tried to kill the baby. She felt as if she was going to be killed by their daughters and asked for help.

Go is paralyzed by Mayard and carried back to his room with Kira's anklet. Marco, who disagrees with Mayard's policy, helps him escape from the Center. Marco puts a microtape in one of the bells around the anklet. The microtape recorded the conversation at the meeting. The conversation proves that the Company plans to end the Marginal project. Marco tells Go to go to the family of the Bibliotheque, where Nez should help Go.

When Go arrives at the family of the Bibliotheque, the building begins to destroy. Go runs into the building. Edmos and Asijin are there. Asijin finds Kira above the broken ceiling and catches him. Go introduces himself to others. Kira goes back to himself and asks where Mom is. "Do you mean Arlin? How's Ivan?" asks Go. "Ivan's dead!" says Kira. He shows an illusion fire again. Asijin hears what Kira says in the fire. "Mom's despair changed into fire to burn all of us. Ivan's sadness made us escape."

When Kira is in a bedroom with Asijin, Go gets into the room. Asijin asks Go why he has the anklet that Asijin gave Kira. Go answers Mayard gave it to him. Asijin says Mayard must be Go's lover and Go had a fight with him for Kira. Hearing Asijin and Kira made love to each other, Go asks when they did. Asijin answers they did five or six days ago. Go thinks Asijin could be the father of Kira's baby.

The City announces the death of the mayor. Micale is taking over him and he is going to be the first husband of Hallelujah, the new Holy Mother. The ceremony is going to be held within seven days.
Asijin tells Kira the new Mother Hallelujah will give birth to children for everybody. Kira asks if Mother will give a child to Ivan. Kira feels relieved even though he doesn't know why. "I don't have to give birth to a child for Ivan any more!" says Kira.

Micale tells Nez he's seen Emerada, the new Mother, in the Center. He says it's not human and he won't marry it.

Edmos takes Nez to the family of the Biblioteque. Go has to talk with Nez. Asijin eavesdrops their conversation. "It's the most important that Kira is pregnant." says Go. That's why Nez has to protect Kira. Nez says he can't protect Kira. Go insists Nez has to do it since the Marginal project isn't going well because of the intrigue of Mayard and the Company. Kira gets into the room. Go says Kira can save the Earth. Nez says it's crazy to give birth to a baby on the Earth, which is contaminated with germs.
Asijin and Edmos tell Nez to cooperate with them.

Mayard calls Master Senzai to catch Kira. Master Senzai knows where Kira is. When Kira is alone, he tries to shut all the doors of the room to catch him. Grinja appears and he gets into the room beating Master Senzai's power. Asijin comes into the room and tries to rescue them breaking the invisible boundary around them. Master Senzai isn't able to transfer Kira to the Center. Asijin is transferred there instead.

Micale visits the family of Biblioteque to give back a bird to Edmos. He sees Kira and Grinja there.

Edmos tells Karin not to talk about Emerada any more. He thinks Emerada can live longer in the Center even though Emerada's not very healthy and doctors say he will die young.
Micale gives White Moon back to Edmos. The bird reminds him of Emerada.

Kira asks Grinja not to go back to the desert saying, "I'll give birth to your child!"

When Asijin regains consciousness in the Center, Mayard says, "The mark on the forehead hasn't disappeared, Asijin." Asijin can recognize his voice. He heard the voice when he was in the Center 12 years ago. Mayard doesn't look changed at all. Mayard recalls the boy, who almost died. The man in front of him now has a beautiful body that has grown up under the influence of the gravity of the Earth.

Micale wishes Kira were the Mother.

When Kira was found in the desert, he didn't remember anything. Now he recovers his memory and tells Grinja and others about Ivan. Ivan was sad after Arlin had escaped. The four Kiras foresaw a helicopter will come to burn the forest. After they made Ivan sleep, they were waiting for the helicopter. There was no dream in their life and they expected the life to end. When the helicopter came close, Ivan woke up suddenly and told them escape.

Kira thinks the world ended with Ivan. He wonders what he is now. He wonders if he can have another dream in this another world. Grinja tells him he can dream whatever he likes.

Margo, one of Asijin's group members, hypnotizes Kira. When Kira hears a password, he will turn seven switches on at a time with his psychokinetic power to explode the seven water supply towers in the City.

Mike, being in the City of Gobi, tells Nez to let Go and Kira escape from Monodaul.

Mayard lies to Asijin he's injected a poison to him and he ordered him to come back to the Center with Kira if he wants a detoxicant.

Micale meets the Holy Mother to receive her clothe as a part of their wedding ceremony. Even though the Holy Mother has Emerada's appearance, Micale doesn't think it's Emerada.

Asijin gets inclined to let Kira go on his way to the Center. They incidentally get into the yard of the Center. Micale and Nez hide them. Go is happy to see Kira and Asijin there. Knowing Mayard is putting an end to the Marginal project, Nez decides to escape from Monodaul with Kira, Go, Asijin and others during the wedding ceremony.
Micale says he wants to escape with them and says he doesn't want to stand on the balcony with the Mother.
Go says the world of Marginal is unnatural. The Center is manipulating the information not to let people know the truth. Go doubts it is good for people not to know they are short-life species and other worlds have women.
Micale gets sure there's a world that has many women. He says to Kira that Kira must be a woman and she is going home. Kira says she'll come back since Grinja is in Monodaul. Micale says he will help them escape.

Mayard receives a private call from Narstars. She asks him if he's found Kira. She suggests he kill Kira so that their plan can go well . Mayard asks Narstars what his next job will be after the Marginal project has ended. Narstars says the Company decides to put an end to the Marginal project within 22 years since the longest life expectancy of Mayard is 22 years, and she asks him if he's never heard of it. Mayard has never heard of it.

Hallelujah, the new Holy Mother shows herself in the Temple balcony with Micale. When she hears a bird chatter "White Moon", she smiles and jumps off the balcony to the ground. She dies immediately. People are in panic.
"The Mother is not dead! " shouts Micale to the people. He shows Kira to the people and says "She is the new Mother."

He says to Kira, "You said you were going to give birth to a baby, didn't you?" "I did, but I won't give birth to everybody's baby." says Kira.
"Whose baby are you going to give birth to?" says Micale.
Explosions occur immediately after that. "Whose baby are you going to give birth to?" is the password for Kira to turn on the switches.
Micale tries to calm the people down, but he is shot in the eye.

Asijin finds Mayard and asks him to give him a detoxicant. When Asijin is going to the Center with Mayard, Kira finds Asijin and runs towards him. Asijin gets into an elevator with Mayard and shuts the door to prevent Kira from being caught by the Center. Mayard tells Asijin he lied to him in the elevator.

The City is going under water. Even though Nez tries to escape by a helicopter with Kira, Micale and others, Master Senzai is waiting for them when they arrive at the heliport. Master Senzai says Kira is controlling the flood. He says a group of pilgrim saints take advantage of Kira's power to let the flood occur. The pilgrim saints are survivers of the City of Sahara, which perished 20 years ago. They arrived the City of Monodaul to die. Grinja arrived the City with them. Master Senzai makes Grinja unconscious and tells Kira to keep away from him. Master Senzai tell others to get on the helicopter leaving Kira and Grinja there.

Go doesn't want to kill a child that Ivan and Arlin left even if it's necessary to save the City. Go hugs Kira and tells him to hear something other than death or despair. A flood of water dashes into the heliport and Kira pushes Go away. Nez drags Go into the helicopter.
Kira doesn't know what he should hope for.

Mayard and Asijin arrive at the underground dam. When they go down the water, Kira, who is flowing in the water takes Asijin to a safe place. Asijin can't tell where Kira is going. Asijin finds Mayard near him. He is unconscious. Asijin carries him to a warm panel and undresses him. Asijin is surprised to see Mayard's body.

Mayard says he is going to end the Marginal project within 22 years and the Company will invest in something more promising, such as developing mines in the Alpha Centauri. To end the project, he has to prove to the Planet Committee that no babies will be born on the Earth.
"Kira says she's going to have a baby." says Asijin.
"I don't want her to have a baby" says Mayard. She might have a baby. However, he can't tell Kira's children will be able to have a baby. He has a lot of progressive diseases. He has had his genes treated many times. Kira has the same genes as his. Kira's descendants might have the same diseases as his. He's sure Master Senzai can deal with her fine. He says neither he nor his descendants need no future and that he'll be the last person on the Earth after the project has ended.
Asijin believes Kira will come back and give birth to his child. He also believes the Mother will reappear and the flood will become one of the legends.
Mayard says people can't live without the support of the project. It's the Company that decides whether people can live or not. The Company has made a decision that the project should end. He'll be the last guardian of the Earth.

Kira can't stop flowing toward the ocean. Master Senzai can't stop him, either. They realize the water has a pulse. Kira can hear someone call him. He feels the rhythm of the blue ocean. Master Senzai thinks the ocean should be red and the blue ocean must be Kira's illusion. Kira thinks the blue ocean is what the sick Earth has been dreaming of. The dream has been waiting for Kira.

Mayard dies in the underground uttering ".Na…..s……ta…s"

The water goes away from the City. Master Senzai reappears on the seashore with leaned body.

Mayard died because the heat pill in his body ran out. Even doctors in the Center can't make him back to life because his body got rotten rapidly on the warm panel.

Go asks Master Senzai where Kira is. Master says Kira is dead. "It's the end!" says Go. "No, everything is starting." says Master Senzai.

Asijin talks with Narstars on the moon watching her image in front of him. She asks if Mayard said something in his last minute. Asijin answers he said "Na…..s……ta…s" even though he doesn't know what that means.

On the moon, Narstars says "It's not true." dropping tears. "Mayard and I were always playing guessing game when we were kids. One of us guessed what the other is thinking. I couldn't imagine those days we would live so far from each other." says Narstars. Ad says he had thought she disliked Mayard. "It's me who was disliked by him. He didn't touch me at all." says Narstars. Ad asks why she didn't tell him she loved him. "I did." says Narstars. "I did, holding his legs." She says, "He said he would give me all the property of our family, the Company, and Alpha Centauri. He said he would give me everything but love."

Some days after Asijin gets back home, he sees a helicopter of the Center and Grinja near the ice cave. They get into the cave together and find out the dead body similar to Kira has gone..They think the Center has taken it away.

Master Senzai saw the Kira in the ice cave when he was chasing Kira in the water. The Center carried the Kira in the ice cave to the Center. The Company on the moon is cooperating with the Center because Narstars gets interested in the future of Mayard's child and the Earth's rebirth. Two doctors arrive from the moon.
Kira in the Center is dreaming of the life in the forest and what another Kira experienced in Marginal The two doctors from the moon are thinking of sending Kira back to Asijin and Grinja after they have fixed the burnt body and Kira wakes up. They plan to take one of ovaries away from her body to study. Asijin and Grinja can control Kira's special power. The doctors think they need to study why Asijin and Grinja can do it because Kira's children will inherit Kira's power. The doctors say Arlin worried if Kira and her childrean would be able to control their power properly.

Master Senzai says to Go and the doctors, "Don't worry." He says unnecessary powers don't come out so often. Kira had the mission of reviving the Earth. "Can't you hear the rhythm of life?" says Master Senzai.
A doctor says, "Kira's gene seems to inactivate the Factor D, which makes people sterile. But has Kira revived the Earth itself?"
Master Senzai says "Kira shared a dream with the Earth."

Asijin wakes up in his cave hearing Kira's voice. Standing outside the cave with Grinja, Asijin sees Kira walking toward them. "That might be a ghost." says Grinja. Kira is wearing the anklet that Asijin gave him, but he doesn't have the wound bitten by a spider. Asijin and Grinja think he could be the one that was in the ice cave. Grinja suggests they give him some food and make him sleep. Asijin suggests they give him another name when he wakes up next morning.


You can read translation of Prologue - Chapter 3 at Emily's site below.
Monochrome : Marginal

more synopses of Hagio Moto titles
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Poe no Ichizoku
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Onshitsu
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