Creative Staff
Story/Art: Hiro Mashima
Translation: Stephen Paul
What They Say
Coming upon a young boy whose kingdom was stolen by monsters from Hell, the Black Airs answer his plea for help and race to the underworld. New enemies awaken old memories, and the Black Airs find themselves in a bind when a ferocious chimera stops them in their tracks. Aki and company must find a way to come together and defeat the monster, but it won’t be easy, as the enemy may not be what he seems…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
After a bevy of their usual antics, the Black Airs head out to intercept some human intruders, of course managing them with very little trouble. In the aftermath, though, they find yet another human, this time a young boy. After being revived, the young boy, Selsh, explains that he’s looking for heroes. And despite the lad’s aversion to monsters, it seems that the Black Airs are the ones he’s seeking out to save his town of Driochram, where three monsters from Hell called the Drei Kommandos appeared and sucked the people into some strange pots. Despite the powerful reputations of their foes, our heroes head out, blasting past the guard dog and through the very gates of Hell themselves!
With that, our heroes find themselves under assault from Blank, an explosive skeleton, Guyna, a rock ogre who can relate to James, and Kiriko, a seductive vampire, the deadly Drei Kommando! In saving Selsh, Mummy ends up getting sucked up into one of their pots, and James gives chase, leaving the others to fight Blank. When James is knocked out of the game by Guyna, things seem to be going downhill. However, Blank goes down with some teamwork and determination, and after hearing that the Kommandos are feeding the souls to an egg called Beluze so it can be born, Mummy bursts free. With her power and some help from James’ ultimate attack, the Kommandos finally go down. However, before they can revel in their victory, Blank reveals that Beluze, a powerful Soul Eater, has already been born!
Faced with this powerful foe, will Aki’s direwolf form prove enough, or will an even greater power be needed? And will our hero be able to withstand the pressure when it turns out that the monster has ties to his past?
In Summary
This volume makes for an explosive finale to the short series, though it’s not without its flaws. The action is great, and it was definitely a nice move to make the book one big arc rather than a collection of small ones. The enemies here also make for a nice, eccentric cast, and they do put up a decent fight. We even get some nice moments for pretty much everyone, giving them more of a past as well as some flashy moments in the present. Ultimately, though, that development feels more than a little rushed. It’s understandable considering the length of the series, but it definitely feels like twists and turns are coming out of nowhere for much of the volume, with the ones surrounding Aki in particular feeling rather forced. It’s still a fun read, and fans of Hiro Mashima should be sure to give the series a look, but ultimately it feels like something that really could’ve used at least another volume or two to get its ideas across.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Kodansha Comics
Release Date: Aug 12, 2014
MSRP: $10.99
