Another touching entry into a wonderful series.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Kou Yaginuma
Translation/Adaptation: Hiroko Mizuno, Tomoe Tsutsumi, Christine Lee, Rina Nakayama
What They Say
When Japan’s first attempt at manned space exploration ended in tragedy, a nation went into mourning, sending any ambitions for many hopeful astronauts crashing. Now, more than 15 years later, a new generation of young space travelers has emerged from the wreckage of the first Lion Program to rekindle mankind’s dream to conquer space. However, a difficult atmosphere re-entry simulation triggers memories the youths had kept under wraps.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As the volume opens, we find Asumi finally finishing her trek to the finish line, thoroughly exhausted. As she gets there, she soon discovers that everyone but her had received a compass, but is quickly distracted by the fact that Marika is missing. Upon hearing this, she quickly rallies her friends and leaves the goal to go look for Marika. However, it turns out that Marika had already been rescued by the teachers, so things turn out okay.
From there, we see more of Marika’s increasingly mysterious background, and Asumi helps Mr. Lion reunite with his former best friend, who had been guilt ridden over his death. We then learn that Shu has been skipping classes for over a week, so the gang goes out to look for him. As it turns out, even though Shu is the first son of a rich family, he’s been disowned and forced to fend for himself because he chose his dreams of going into space over becoming a politician. Thanks to his resources and hard work, he is able to pay off his tuition and return to school.
As the volume comes to a close, we see that Fuchiya has been out of it, and see the group making plans to vacation in Asumi’s hometown. However, as it turns out, Fuchiya’s grandfather recently passed away, bringing things to a somber close. In the bonus chapter, we see Asumi attempt to deal with the bullying of her classmates because she refuses to say that she’s lying about seeing Mr. Lion.
In Summary
Another fantastic volume in a fantastic series, this volume certainly doesn’t fail to impress. Here, a focus is finally given to fleshing out Shu’s character and his motivations, which is very much appreciated as he’s long been something of an enigma. Adding in another touching story related to Mr. Lion, and a little bit more of a look into Marika’s strange past, as well as a rather somber note near the end, and you have yet another amazing book. This series continues to prove itself as something special, so if you have yet to give it a look, do yourself a favor and check it out.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Vertical, Inc
Release Date: January 4th, 2011
MSRP: $10.95
