Hyunckel and Maam: Too Good To Be True
The powerful couple with an unbreakable bond. A relationship that seems almost too good to be true.
Hyunckel and Maam is one of my favorite pairs in the manga world, and one that I never expected to find in a shonen manga. Throughout the entire series, (almost) all of their interactions are positive and show that they care deeply about each other. Thinking about them gives me warm and fuzzy feelings.
Maam the progressive fighter
Born in an early 90’s shonen manga, Maam is a progressive character when compared with other series that were popular at the time. Back then, you just don’t see many ladies that are actually part of the main fighting force; most of them are supporting characters that sit on the sideline.
I actually really like Maam. Ever since she showed up, she is always helpful to the group and pithes in whenever she can. She is not annoying, has human flaws, and surprises readers with not one but two transformations in the series. Sadly, right after we see her latest and coolest outfit change in Vearn Palace, her role in the story pretty much falls off a cliff (I blame this on having too many spectators at the end).
Hyunckel and Maam, aka Hyunma
Knight in shining armor
From the pair’s first meeting, readers see that Maam cares a whole lot about Hyunckel. She picks up the necklace that he intentionally drops, finds and reveals his father’s dying words, and is the primary reason that Hyunckel becomes a valuable ally to the group.
Then Hyunckel disappears into boiling lava, waving goodbye to Maam.
When he reappears to help the group, he does so in the most flashy way - a literal shining armor princess-carrying an unconscious Maam.
Hyunckel gets a new armor
The two part for a bit, and during that time we get a first glimpse into her honest feelings about him - she is unsure.
Later in Papnica, they reunite, and this time Hyunckel brings a new weapon and shows off his remastered techniques. However, he is still not strong enough to face off Myst-Vearn, and the two share some memorable moments here.
Maam runs to catch a falling Hyunckel, princess-carry style:
Maam insists on Hyunckel staying on the side of justice, allowing him to unlock a powerful technique. In return, he promises her that he will remain on the bright side until he dies:
Five-way relationship
At one point, Aimi enters the picture as Hyunckel’s secret admirer. When Aimi publicly declares her love for him (albeit Hyunckel absent), Maam runs off to the forest and narrates “my heart is pounding but I don’t know how I feel” - girl, you clearly have feelings for Hyunckel! Your heart doesn’t pound for someone you don’t care about.
Things escalate from here on.
After Hyunckel is magically renewed from Myst-Vearn’s dark water, the two look at each other warmly, as Hyunckel keeps his earlier promise to Maam:
Then, at the crucial moment before entering Vearn Palace, Merle takes a lethal hit for Popp and Popp ends up confessing to Maam to the entire world.
Up until this point, I think that Hyunckel is the only one that Maam has feelings for. But after this series of whirlwind events (with Aimi and Merle in the picture), Popp’s presence shoots up like a rocket and levels with Hyunckel in her heart.
Hyunckel’s feelings
After defeating Annabis, she conveniently crosses paths with Hyunckel. It is here that we get a rare glimpse of Hyunckel’s feelings for her. He holds her close, advises her on love (ironically as someone who was raised and grew up with a bunch of demons), and proceeds to encourage her to answer Popp’s confession. My heart shatters.
As she leaves, Hyunckel’s inner voice says that she is his angel of love, and that he cannot give her happiness.
I struggled a lot with this. Why did he act this way? Why can’t these lovely people just be together?
I did some soul searching online, and agree with this evaluation: what precedes “I can’t give you happiness” is “I want to give you happiness”. So here, Hyunckel is actually saying that he has feelings for her.
All in all, these two are definitely attracted to each other, but Hyunckel’s insecurities about his past is holding him back big time.
After pushing her away
Maam goes to see Popp and Popp confesses properly this time. Maam says a bunch of things that can be summed up as “I don’t know how I really feel”. So, no conclusion for these two either. We resume normal programming.
Much to my amusement, even after all this, Hyunckel and Maam continue to show how much they care for each other, now in front of everybody. When Hyunckel rejoins the rest of the gang (shirtless and weaponless), Maam becomes very protective of him and holds onto his arm for a long time, even when he is shown to be capable of standing by himself.
Also, as Hyunckel saves Hym from falling off the edge while under the King Maximum’s attacks, Hyunckel remarks that his saving of an ally’s life is the same thing that Maam did to him early on. Looks like he may be slowly stepping out of his dark shadow.
Then, after suggesting the way to save Maam from Myst-Vearn’s occupation and cleaning up Myst-Vearn for good, we specifically see that he gestures to Avan to hide his ordeal with Myst-Vearn from Maam, because “she is clearly very important to him”.
The last interaction we see of these two are in the cave where Vearn traps the gang and Hyunckel suggests that they get out with his Grand Cruss. Maam steps in and tells him that he will die if does this, and the two share a last moment of PDA (if you can call it that):
The end… for now
The series ends with Hyunckel and Maam traveling in different groups. Despite not seeing them together on the last few pages, the whole Dai Adventure series doesn’t feel like it’s ended, so it also doesn’t feel like last few pages have the final say. Since the ending is inconclusive as far as relationships go, my soul feeds off of fan art.
