[[File:|thumb|right|300px|Manga]]
Manga[]
- Volume 1
- Previous: Chapter 2, Electric Butterfly
- Current: Chapter 3, Thy Name Is Dorothy
- Next: Chapter 4
Overview[]
Thy Name Is Dorothy (also known as Chapter 3) is the third story in the manga and its own version of the first act of the anime series as well as the final story of Volume 1, where Roger meets Dorothy for the first time after working on a kidnapping case with Miguel Soldano to reclaim his “daughter” from Beck. However, this case is much more complicated than that…
Synopsis[]
Roger’s monologue reveals that in Paradigm City, strange things can occur when lost memories suddenly come back. He cites an example whilst attending a grave with a praying young woman, whom he reveals is a girl with two fathers. We then cut to the past and see an elderly man, Miguel Soldano, begging Beck for his daughter Dorothy, with a megadeus standing in the background. Beck asks him if he remembers their appointment, alleging that he was fine with this. Soldano is visibly bewildered, and can only retort that she’s his daughter. Beck doesn’t quite know how to respond, only for one of his goons to inform him that everything is ready. Beck says to “take the lady away”, albeit gently, much to Soldano’s dismay.
Later, at the Speakeasy bar, Roger fails to catch a date, a woman turning down his advances, whilst a distressed Soldano is drinking. Roger heads back over to talk to Big Ear, who warns Roger he’s gambling with his reputation as the city’s top negotiator with antics like this, but Roger says he doesn’t care much for that reputation. A drunken Soldano overhears this and asks if Roger is a negotiator. When Roger says yes, Soldano exclaims his daughter Dorothy has been kidnapped. Roger asks Soldano to calm down whilst an amused Big Ear notes that although Roger has bad luck with women, he has great luck with clients.
Roger monologues that his new client is Miguel Soldano, the director of Soldano Factories and a man rumored to be working with underground organizations. Even if that is true however, Roger cites every father cares for their child. Roger arrives at a rendezvous point with a suitcase and confronts beck, who demands he put it down whilst flashing a light at him. Roger insists they bring the daughter first. Beck complies, having one of his goons walk a blindfolded Dorothy out of the car as Roger opens the brief case and shows the agreed sum of money for this hostage exchange. Beck notes Soldano had to negotiate for his own daughter, but this doesn’t bother him. Roger asks if something is wrong with the sum, but Beck reassures him everything is fine, letting Dorothy come to Roger. Roger tells Dorothy she can take the blindfold off as Beck bids them farewell, before crashing his car through one of the walls of the building.
Roger sees Soldano’s car from the distance, noting that he couldn’t seem to wait. He barges out of the car, calling her name, but as Roger is about to discuss his fee, Soldano angrily points out this Dorothy isn’t his daughter. Roger is confused, so Soldano bluntly states this Dorothy is just a “doll”. Roger takes another look at the girl and realizes he was given an android instead of the human he was expecting, much to Soldano’s anger. Soldano denounces Roger’s alleged reputation as Paradigm City’s top negotiator, only for Roger to pull out a device with a button and antenna, pressing said button. Soldano sees an explosion from Beck’s car, and asks what Roger has done. Roger states he’s prepared for situations like these. Beck exits his car and sees the case flying away on rocket boosters. His goons try shooting it down, to which Beck tells them to stop. However, before he can explain the cash is inside that case, the suitcase itself bursts open and spills it’s money all over the city. A bunch of homeless people in the local area are ecstatic to see free money flying from the sky, only for Dastun to announce on a loudspeaker that the ransom money belongs to Soldano and possession of it is a criminal offence, before then telling his men that finding the daughter is the main priority.
Back at Roger’s estate, Norman notes that the transfer didn’t go too well, but Roger considers it a catastrophe, being quite upset at the situation. Norman then tells Roger that he has a guest. Roger asks if this guest was unannounced, which Norman confirms, lighting up Roger’s eye. Roger arrives at the visiting room with a woman standing by the window. He says he usually doesn’t receive unannounced guests, but makes an exception for women. He introduces himself, but quickly realizes it’s Dorothy, souring his mood. Dorothy immediately makes a request of Roger, who finds this rude and promptly questions if she had any formal education. Dorothy ignores this and makes the request that he protect her. Roger tells her to go find someone else, only for Dorothy to question if the rumor Roger attending the needs of women is untrue, which leaves him silent.
Meanwhile, Soldano is at his factory and relieved to see his “daughter” again, a megadeus that goes by the name Dorothy 1. However, Beck says he’ll need the megadeus a little bit longer, and states Soldano will have to pay the ransom for both her and her android sister. Soldano angrily demands his daughter back, only for Beck to interrupt him and state all he sees is a giant mech, not a daughter. Soldano retorts that among all his creations, Dorothy 1 is his most precious, practically being a daughter to him. Beck recalls that Soldano wasn’t even the one that designed Dorothy I, and then noted he brought Roger into the situation as well. He says they used to work so well together, but now he’s disappointed, and Soldano must pay the consequences, ending their business together.
Roger later drives to Soldano’s factory to bring R.Dorothy back to him, not wanting to deal with her, only to see Soldano on the floor, covered in bullet holes and dying. Soldano laments he should never have worked with Beck, only to then see R.Dorothy and call her his real daughter, “Dorothy II”. R.Dorothy dismisses this as the phantasms of a dying man, much to Roger’s annoyance. Soldano’s final words however confirm this, saying she’s right , before then passing away. Roger tries praying for Soldano, only to be interrupted by Dorothy asking if he’s praying, and then Norman speaks on The Griffon’s radio, telling Roger a mecha has appears in Dome #5, and that he found in his research he found that Soldano never had a daughter. He asks if he should prepare Big O, which Roger confirms, before then telling R.Dorothy they’re about to meet her big sister.
Meanwhile, Dastun tells the Military Police to open fire on said megadeus, Dorothy I, whilst avoiding causing damage to the local buildings. He notices that she’s heading for the bank, using her arm tendrils to breach the building’s security. Dastun tells the Military Police to stop her, deducing she’s looking for the gold stored in the building. Roger and R.Dorothy arrive to the scene, with Roger sarcastically noting that Dorothy I has bad manners, before then calling upon Big O. Just as Dorothy I was about to steal the gold, she’s hassled by Big O with Roger stating this behavior “doesn’t suit a fine lady”, before proceeding to then have Big O throw her several city blocks away from the bank.
Dastun looks on in horror whilst yelling for the buildings to not be damaged as Dorothy I retracts her tendrils and configures her arms to claws and begins to brawl with Big O. Dastun demands everyone evacuate the whole city area, whilst R.Dorothy looks from atop a nearby city building. As Dastun yells for everyone to remain calm, Dorothy travels back down to street level by jumping off the building and landing on a car, completely crushing it, also damaging a streetlight she grabbed onto to alleviate the force of the fall. Dorothy 1, amidst her barrage of claw attacks on Big O, switches her arms back into tendrils and grabs onto Big O, catching Roger by surprise. She then slams the black megadeus into a city building, with Roger noting he has underestimated her. However, Dorothy 1 is then distracted by R.Dorothy whose now spectating on the street relatively close by, much to Roger’s confusion. Dastun is informed that the evacuation is finished, but then sees R.Dorothy still present on the scene. He runs towards her, yelling that it’s too dangerous here and she needs to flee. Meanwhile, Roger takes advantage of Dorothy 1 being distracted and has Big O use sudden impact to punch a hole through Dorothy 1’s chest, telling her to rest in peace as she is defeated.
R.Dorothy feels the impact her sister experienced, and is barely able to utter her big sister’s name whilst reaching out. Dastun is confused by this, frantically asking what she’s doing standing around here, but can’t even get the android’s attention. Roger sees Dastun and R.Dorothy and questions what they’re doing over there, as Dorothy 1 collapses into a building. The building breaks apart and it’s debris nearly lands on Dastun and R.Dorothy, but Roger uses Big O’s hand to provide a shield that keeps the chunks of rubble from hitting them, much to Dastun’s surprise, wondering why the megadeus protected him. Big O then returns to underground, much to Dastun’s frustration. Back at his estate, Roger monologues that even though his client is dead, the case is still ongoing. Norman then informs Roger that R.Dorothy has gone missing.
The End.
Differences From The Anime[]
- We see more of the events leading to this story, from Dorothy 1 being taken from Soldano and Soldano begging Roger for help at the Speakeasy.
- We don’t get the scene with Dastun telling Roger that Soldano has no daughter and that Roger blew the job.
- R.Dorothy is less blunt and direct with her request of Roger to be her guardian, and their overall conversation is less lengthy.
- We see the moment Beck betrays Soldano
- Soldano’s final moments with Roger and R.Dorothy are slightly different, taking place on the ground floor of the factory and with Soldano neglecting to mention Nightengale in his final words.
- When Norman informs Roger that Dorothy 1 is attacking Dome 5, he is the one who reveals Soldano never had a daughter instead of Dastun.
- The fight between Big O and Dorothy 1 goes slightly differently, being more destructive with much more collateral damage being done to multiple buildings throughout the street.
- R.Dorothy has only one moment of synchronization with Dorothy 1, whereas in the anime she had multiple.
- Although Big O uses Sudden Impact to blow a hole through Dorothy 1’s chest just like in the anime, instead of punching from the back he punches from the front, which R.Dorothy also seems to also feel the shock of.
- We don’t get the scene of Dastun failing to move R.Dorothy, and instead of being protected from the collapsing Dorothy 1 with Big O’s Moby Dick Anchor, they instead are protected from building debris from Big O’s hand. Lastly, Dastun’s reaction to being saved was different too.
- Although Dorothy has disappeared like in the anime, we don’t see her vanishing from Dastun’s grasp, with Norman simply telling Roger she disappeared after the fact.
Trivia[]
- Megadeus: Big O, Dorothy-1
- Paradigm City: Soldano’s Factory, Speakeasy Bar, Roger’s Estate, Paradigm City Bank
- This is the first manga chapter to share a story with the anime, in this case Act 1.
- The mystery of Soldano’s relationship with the Dorothy android and megadeus as their “father” is given a possible explanation, as Soldano seemed to only be concerned with the well-being of Dorothy 1, which he described to Beck as a masterpiece that may as well be his daughter, explaining why he was infuriated when Roger got him the android. However, his final moments imply that he thought R.Dorothy, which he calls Dorothy 2, is his real daughter. However, this is dismissed by R.Dorothy herself as the phantasms of a dying man, which Soldano then acknowledges in his final moments before dying. This is also noted in the anime.
- The one time R.Dorothy truly synchronizes with Dorothy 1 is when Dorothy 1 has a hole punched through her chest, causing an extreme singular reaction from R.Dorothy who appears to feel the impact as if she was the one being hit.