Noh-A’s father may have been more deadly than Jack Frost, but why did Jack kill the man?
Creative Staff
Story & Art: JinHo Ko
Translation: JiEun Park
Adaptation: Arthur Dela Cruz
What They Say
Her father killed before her eyes, Noh-A flies into a rage, unleashing her true power as the mirror image. Can her father’s words have meant what she suspects? Was Jack Frost responsible for her father’s grisly demise in the human world? As Jack squares off against the vengeful Mirror Image, the truth of Noh-A’s father’s past and his relationship with the former Mirror Image is revealed . . . Whether Noh-A is prepared to face it or not!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Noh-A has finally awakened her powers as the Mirror Image, and she is pissed. She has learned that Jack Frost killed her father and she wants to know why and she’s willing to beat the truth out of him. This puts the battles between the Districts on hold and throws the story into an epic flashback that lasts the entire volume. It is true that Jack Frost killed Noh-A’s father, but who was he and why did Jack do it?
Noh-A’s father was Jack the Ripper. Yep, two Jack’s in this story, so I’ll refer to them as Frost and Ripper moving forward. Ripper used to work with Frost and Helmina and was hanging out one day when the last Mirror Image before Noh-A suddenly appeared out of nowhere. That Mirror Image ultimately caused the last Great War. But leading up to that war, Helmina put Ripper in charge of protecting the Mirror Image. Seems like a weird choice on Helmina’s part, I mean, if the Mirror Image is so important, why didn’t Helmina assign Frost to protect her. And why does Ripper and the Mirror Image enter battles against the other Districts when the Mirror Image doesn’t know how to use her powers and is ultimately indifferent to everything around her. She could care less if she lives or dies.
Just more mysteries to explore, however, we do finally learn why King Solomon is trapped in the Pillar and who trapped him there. We also learn the Ripper is more than meets the eye. He is quick to kill and enjoys it, but he also seems to have a soft side, even if he won’t admit it. So at this point, it is tough to decide if he’s a likeable guy because he is Noh-A’s father or if he is as dastardly a guy as his name implies. And now that we know more about Frost, can we still side with him in this story or does this make him an unforgivable villain? An anti-hero maybe?
In Summary
Finally, the various connections between multiple characters are revealed. Thanks to that, things are starting to make a lot more sense, at least as far as why Jack Frost is teamed up with Helmina, who the previous Mirror Image was before Noh-A, the kind of person Noh-A’s dad really was, and who King Solomon is and why he’s trapped in another dimension. Whew, it is a lot of revelations to absorb, but the best part may be learning about Noh-A’s father and mother from before she was born. This is one of the better story arcs of this series for me because it explains so much about the story and what happened leading up to volume one and the main storyline. However, there are also some new mysterious thrown at the reader to keep our interest in future volumes.
Content Grade: C+
Art Grade: B-
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: March 26th, 2013
MSRP: $11.99
