When Charlie gets sent to prison, the series sets a good time to mention the problem with Charlie’s lack of rights. Which is a great time to establish because despite Charlie being half human and half chimpanzee, he is not fully human. So he doesn’t have the rights that every human has from birth. His parents are aware of it and are trying to fight for Charlie so he can get those rights. Of course the incident that was referenced 10 years ago has the family in a tough spot. Charlie was picked on by the other kids, and of course bullying is wrong, but of course the ones who get in trouble are the ones who fight back. When you add Charlie’s strength, then it is understandable how the story became how it did. But Charlie was only 5 years old and confused. So he isn’t at fault, but again his lack of rights is becoming an issue.
Luckily the sheriff sends Charlie back home because common sense says he isn’t linked to the animal activist terrorists. Deputy Graham isn’t being fair to Charlie, but in his situation you can at least understand him. When he sees the incident and his men attacked, fear consumes him. Charlie should be isolated or killed for the sake of the majority of people. Then we got Representative Linares, who is trying to use Charlie as a platform for her campaign and apply rights to all animals. I guess the issue here is that Charlie is special. What animal has the mind of a human besides Charlie? At the very least her approach is more sound than the terrorists unless she is linked with them.
In school we see Gare, who is an animal activist. Though we can clearly see him pushing his views on others, which of course causes other kids in school to bite back. Though sadly for him, we see the terrorist group take advantage of him. The sad part is they don’t care that Gare would be killing innocent students like himself. The worst fact is adults are taking advantage of his views, which have merit. The problem is that he is going too far. As the situation isn’t black and white.
One of the best moments in the volume is when Charlie brings out students who need treatment right away in front of Deputy Graham. Graham might have issues with Charlie, but that was a pure human act. One of the best things this manga has done is shown Charlie to be very logical in his decisions. He hits Gare because that is the quickest way to stop the violence. Though this will create a fallout, I’m curious where it goes from here.
As for Lucy, she still remains a friend of Charlie. Though I might be more connected and more important in this incident than I originally thought. Though curious if her relationship with her mother is dead at this point?