WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Choujin X, Chapter 17 by Sui Ishida, Jan Cash and Snir Aharon, available in English now from Viz Media and Manga Plus.
It's still a little unclear where Choujin X's story is going, which makes it all the more fun to read. Is it going for a parody genre or will it veer off into darker psychological themes? Perhaps, as Chapter 17 has hinted, it will be a combination of the two. Much of the humor is attributed to the story's hero, Tokio, who hasn't demonstrated any particularly heroic qualities so far. He hasn't changed much since the beginning, except for the ability to change into a choujin resembling a vulture. Otherwise he remains just as weak and, frankly, pathetic as before.
The tension felt in Choujin X comes from the world, characters who are deemed as bad choujin and other characters like Azuma -- even though the latter has taken a backseat from the action. Part of that tension is also due to Tokio wanting to be stronger despite being a less than ideal hero. And judging from how Chapter 17 ended, it looks like he'll have to find some way to power himself up, and fast.
Choujin X delves into slightly darker territory at the start of Chapter 17. After capturing Nari, the Beast Choujin who can turn into a snake, she gets interrogated by Seiko Kiira, who can detect whether Nari is lying or not. However, this proves fruitless so another choujin steps in -- Ichiro Sato. Although he doesn't have the same powers as Seiko, he's not to be underestimated.
Ichiro's powers allow him to transmit mental images, which means he can make a victim see things that aren't actually happening. He forced Nari to imagine larvae eating her, and the images were horrible enough to imagine that the manga even mosaic-ed it. It's unclear right now how big of a role Ichiro will have later, but his introduction seems to hint that Choujin X might later go down a darker psychological route -- similar to what happened with Tokyo Ghoul.
Tokio was first introduced as having a meek demeanor, especially when compared to the brave and snarky Azuma. Although he's now a choujin, not much has changed. Despite being stronger and faster than before, Tokio is still just as incapable of saving anyone. What makes things worse is that he has all the capabilities but hasn't managed to unlock his potential.
Although Tokio hasn't quite figured out his powers yet, something else seems to have unlocked inside him. He's much more open with his emotions, silly and carefree, lending itself to a more lighthearted tone in scenes that involve him. There's an intriguing dichotomy that's happening in Chapter 17 of Choujin X, particularly when Tokio and Ely are confronted by the Package Choujin.
This choujin is far from a formidable enemy with his appearance and his power of packaging people into cardboard boxes. He's clearly not to be taken seriously yet readers can't help but root for him, especially as he's clearly anti-capitalist. Package Choujin is also entirely relatable, having turned into a choujin because he was overworked to the point that the stress simply broke him.
Even though Tokio theoretically should have been able to beat Package Choujin easily once he was in his full beastification mode, he hilariously just finds himself in the same predicament as his opponent's other victims. Luckily Ely is able to save Tokio by literally setting the choujin's pants on fire.
Tokio knows he was useless during this fight and had to rely on Ely to save the day, yet he doesn't seem too motivated to actually get better as he muses that he'll try working out when he gets home. It's a very nonchalant approach he's taking, yet Choujin X masterfully integrates a thread of tension in the last panel. As Tokio sits on the train with Ely nodding off beside him, another choujin sits just two seats away from him with a guitar leaning on her. It's Ririka Umezawa, who uses paper cutouts of dogs to trace the scents of the injections to make choujins. And it looks like one of her dogs has sniffed out Tokio.
