Keita may just be a lowly human, but is he the key to helping Kuro and the Mototsumitama survive Reishin’s onslaught?
Creative Staff
Story: Dall-Young Lim
Art: Sung-Woo Park
Translation/Adaptation: Christine Dashiell
What They Say
Despite Kuro and Mana’s best efforts, the two high Mototsumitama are no match for Shion, one of the Reishin Shishigami’s top generals. Amused by Mana’s arrogance, Shion reveals that the proud purebloods are actually an impure breed descended from the original Mototsumitama, who gave up the purity of their race in order to survive. Without the powerful battle genes of her ancestors, Kuro cannot hope to defeat Shion, let alone Reishin. Filled with rage, Kuro launches a ferocious attack unlike anything the others have ever seen. Has Kuro unlocked some hidden power of her own, or will this sudden surge of bloodlust take her out of commission for good?!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
My fear that this series was nearing the final battle and series end appears to be unfounded as Kuro and her friends take a thorough ass-kicking from Shion, one of Reishin’s top generals. No matter what Kuro and Mana try, Shion is just too strong for them, especially considering they have activated their contracts to boost their powers and Shion doesn’t appear to have done the same. Shion only adds insult to injury as she spouts a Mototsumitama history lesson that no one recognizes. Shion claims Mototsumitamas are not the original protectors of earth, that they are paltry, bastard copies of some sort. Supposedly, the original Mototsumitama no longer exist, and all the beings currently calling themselves Mototsumitama are just fooling themselves.
Unfortunately, the Shiryuu leader (being the only old dude around) admits that there is an oral tradition of “Genuine Beings”, or original Mototsumitama that were truly all powerful. If this is true, not only is it a huge blow to the psyche of Kuro’s gang, but Reishin must have figured this out before he killed everyone in his clan, leaving only Kuro alive. The plot thickens even more when Shion admits she can’t be beat because Reishin unlocked some inner power known as the Battle Gene, which all Mototsumitama supposedly have. All of this fuels Kuro’s rage. A rage that takes her to the brink of death before Shion and Reishin withdraw, leaving a bleak future for Kuro and the Shiryuu clan. It can only be assumed that Reishin will use his forces to completely wipe out the Shiryuu after their failed attempt on his life. Considering the strength of Shion, only one of Reishin’s top generals, I don’t see how the Shiryuu could possible survive after this.
Keita has more pressing matters to worry about. Kuro can’t seem to recover from her fight. She is burning up with fever symptoms, and even Namu, the Tera Guardian from Korea, doesn’t know how to help Kuro. But when Ghost offers to help Keita cure Kuro if they meet alone, will Keita take the bait? Will Keita risk his life at the only chance he might have to save Kuro? It’s not like Reishin’s people have been very helpful so far.
In Summary
While the story gets more complicated with the revelations of beings older and more powerful than the Mototsumitama, it also reveals some of the Mototsumitama history. Some readers might complain that it took too long to reveal this aspect of the story, but I didn’t find it bothered me. There has been so much action and character development for the last 16 volumes that the secrets about the Mototsumitama origins and Reishin’s true plans hasn’t been needed. However, I felt the way the history was revealed was awkward and somewhat unsatisfying. It seemed short and didn’t quite explain things enough. Regardless of that, it was still a good volume and the bonus story about Excel and Mikami competing to see who can attract the most men to win a bet was playful and fun.
The very low Packaging grade is a result of the printing for this volume. Yen Press is an awesome publisher, and I give them huge props for still printing color pages and cranking out a good number of manga every month. Unfortunately, the color page in my copy was barely glued in and cut at odd angles. Many pages are off-centered, showing white borders at the bottom of the pages. I hope Yen Press got a discount from their printers, because this is the worst manga copy I’ve seen in a long time. Then again, maybe I was just unlucky enough to get one of the bad books from this print run?
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: C-
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: April 24th, 2012
MSRP: $11.99
