Creative Staff
Story & Art: Shouji Sato
Translation/Adaptation: Christine Dashiell
What They Say
Oriha’s TV career is just kicking off, and a live performance with a pair of pop-idol rivals will surely boost her popularity to even greater heights! But when the studio and cameras suddenly go dark, Oriha discovers she’s been upstaged by an armed and angry terrorist group whose plan for “reform” involves executing he idols one by one. But Oriha isn’t ready to make her final bow just yet!!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Contains nudity.
Oriha takes center stage in this volume as her TV career blossoms. To promote her TV debut, she and many other idols are gathered at a brand new building housing a TV studio. Only problem is that Oriha has all her competitors in one place, including the fraternal twin sisters that form the pop group Asymmetry. Pretty funny band name considering the sisters differences in physical attributes.
Oriha and her rivalry with the girls from Asymmetry can’t compete with the attention armed terrorists get when they break up the show and lock down the building. This group of terrorists even upstage the idols costumes with their animal masks and TV character costumes. Well that, and the guns they are waving around. The terrorist quickly show that they aren’t afraid to use their guns as they start offing idols and stage hands. Talk about getting the attention of a nation obsessed with their idols.
But what the heck do the terrorists want? They aren’t very clear about it. They spout a bunch of stuff about who their message is for and how they are hunters out to track down those that have killed their brethren. It’s all very obtuse, unless you are a member of the Mochizuki Hospital. Even for our band of pseudo hero’s, this isn’t much to go on considering the terrorists are wearing masks and haven’t disclosed who their brethren killed as Black Labels were. Despite all this as the driving force behind this volume, the history of Oriha’s childhood and how she came to work as an assassin is revealed. While it shows how Oriha is connected to both her manager and the Mochizuki Hospital, it still leaves some things yet to be revealed.
Who are these terrorists and who are they trying to avenge? Why does it seem like there is a lot more going on than what’s on the surface? Arashi and Mikoto are told to wait and see how Oriha handles the situation, but can cute little Oriha take on a whole band of terrorists unarmed?
Despite how dark this story can get, each volume ends with a bonus story that is a playful slice-of-life story about the characters. Always a fun way to leave off Triage X as we wait for the next volume to be released.
In Summary
The packaging for this series continues to exceed expectations with a mini foldout color poster that is just plain awesome and unique. The editing is also back up to par after a poor outing in the previous volume. The story for this volume continues to follow a track that I thoroughly enjoy in series with a large cast of characters; and that is treating the different characters to their own storylines that reveal their character’s motivations. This volume is Oriha’s chance to drive the boat, and it uses her idol status for the setup. Add to that her bomb skills, and this is an explosive volume full of idols, guns, terrorists, blood, and new mysteries!
Triage X continues to be an in-your-face story dripping with bloody action and fanservice. Keep it coming Sato!
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A+
Packaging Grade: A+
Text/Translation Grade: B
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: January 21st, 2014
MSRP: $14.00
