Just an utterly fantastic volume all around
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Naoe
Translation: Leighann Harvey
What They Say
“I lost everything…I don’t have anything left in this world…”
Toy Gun Gun and Star White team up for the counter battle against 11 DOGs. While fighting alongside Midori as a two-man cell, a glimpse up at the sky brings memories rushing back to Matsuoka.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
We start off in the midst of the flashback to Matsuoka and Midori’s past. And it turns out Midori’s sadistic side dates back quite a bit, as when he takes Matsuoka to his first ever survival game… he doesn’t mention that it isn’t real. It’s a pretty crazy scene, but it actually makes for something pretty interesting, in that Midori actually seems to have a point, bringing up how Matsuoka feels to realize he’s still alive. The book continues on into Matsuoka’s first real encounter with survival games, and it’s all just really well paced and constructed, with Midori just subtly pushing him to find the will to live. It’s the best kind of flashback, honestly, in that you come out of it feeling like you understand and appreciate the characters a whole lot more than you did going in.
Anyway, we rejoin the battle only to find Matsuoka in a funk over things with Midori as Hotaru wanders up to him. And it’s then that our heroine points out something important: survival games are supposed to be fun, and they’re an important activity to the group, bonding them together. It’s a good speech that just kind of cuts right through the melodrama that has built up, and I really appreciate it. And Matsuoka sure seems to as well, as it causes him to realize what he has and that he shouldn’t get bogged down with all that stuff. It’s just a nice, potent, powerful bit of character development.
After the match though, our team moves on to some bonding off the field of battle. This starts by an amusing exercise in cooking, but soon they move on to an inn where they intend to stay for the night. But when this inevitably leads them to the topic of bathing in hot springs, will Hotaru be able to possibly keep her secret, or is she essentially trapped?
In Summary
I have to say, I really loved this volume, from start to finish. The flashback taking up half the volume is probably the star of the show this time around, and it does a fantastic job of fleshing out both Matsuoka and Midori’s characters. But that doesn’t stop there, as when we return to the present, we get some really nicely done character development for Matsuoka, too. And heck, even after all that, when we go to some more comedic matters in the aftermath, the book seriously nails those too. It just really is a great volume all around that seriously nails what it aims to do.
Content Grade: A+
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: Older Teen
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: February 20th, 2018
MSRP: $12.99
