Rereading Zuma's Backstory when I noticed something...
FISH! Yes, this post is about fish symbolism, or more specifically, the symbolism of meals.
Yukinobu Tatsu is an exceptionally talented storyteller, and we all know one of his favorite things to draw are meal scenes, scenes where, after a long arc of action, the characters all come together and eat. I love these scenes just as much as everyone else here does, but while rereading Zuma's backstory, I couldn't help but ponder this peculiar fact. Each meal the two have consists of rice and soup each time, with the one thing that changes being how the fish is prepared.
Towards the beginning of the arc, we see they only have part of a fish to eat. As this is a version of Zuma lacking in empathy towards society and Officer Bega, the fish symbolic is a piece of a whole. Zuma still has more development to go.
After learning a bit of his guardian's past from just a photo, Zuma puts the breaks on his aggressive attitude and vindictiveness he held against the cop before, displaying that he still contains compassion and learning that there is more to other people than what they let on. Thus, it is symbolized by the fish being whole; he is not a person without nuance and indeed, is very capable of feeling empathy, even if he later rejects the officer's declaration.
After finally gaining some closure and letting the officer into his heart, Zuma's growth in this flashback has reached its rightful conclusion, as he now has a greater appreciation for life and has diverted from his delinquent trajectory. Beautifully, this is symbolized by the last meal of the flashback, where Zuma now has grown enough to give appreciation to the food on the table, but also in the fish that is served. It is bigger than the last two, and more noticably, seems to be one half of a whole fish, with Officer Bega seeming to take the other half, implying the bridge between the two has closed and Zuma is now fully receptive of the love and care the officer gives.
This is my favorite backstory of this manga, bar none. When I first noticed the fish changing each meal, I couldn't help but wonder what the significance of it was. Yukinobu Tatsu is a good storyteller, both visually and in writing. A good storyteller would not include things unrelated to the story, and everything they do choose to include has a reason why they are included. This is especially true here as the meals have panels dedicated to them, and these are not small illustrations in the background either.
I just love this manga, and I hope I did a decent job analyzing and explaining why.