Tragedy and death continues to plague our young heroes in this newest volume.
Creative Staff
Writer/Author: Mohiro Kitoh
Translation: Camilla Nieh
Editor: Chris Mackenzie
What They Say
Having no interest in boys her own age, young Chizu develops a crush on her schoolteacher. After a few tentative secret dates, her relationship with the older man takes an unexpected and violent twist. When Chizu finally takes control of Zearth, she’s got two things on her mind: save the planet and exact her revenge on her ex-lover.
The Review!
Chizu’s murderous revenge from last volume is finally brought to a screeching halt, as she finds her own sister with the teacher who betrayed her so cruelly. Heartbroken but wishing to continue on, Chizu appears before her sister and tells her that the man she is dating impregnated her and is a horrible person, and demands that she moves away so she can kill him. However, Chizu’s sister holds fast and tells Chizu that no matter the circumstances, she must never say she will kill someone. Realizing she can’t go through with it and murder them both, Chizu enters into a complete and utter breakdown, unable to so much as respond to the enemy attacks. The other children try desperately to reach her and get her to fight back, but nothing gets through to her until she catches a glimpse of her sister fleeing in the streets. With this, Chizu is whipped up into a blind fury in which she realizes that she is killing both herself and her child in taking down the enemy, proving quite the emotional ending to her dark, twisted tale.
In the aftermath of the battle, we learn in a rather surprising twist that Chizu’s baby was part of the contract, meaning that even excluding Kana, one of the children isn’t part of the contract. Afterwards, we are treated to a flashback chapter in which we learn a little more about Chizu’s personality before her teacher completely and utterly broke her, making her already known fate all the more depressing.
As the group is now two pilots short thanks to the previous battle, there are no longer enough to fight the nine remaining enemies. As such, Tanaka and Seki from the military make the difficult decision to become part of the contract, thus knowingly signing away their own lives. This presents an interesting change in the dynamics of the cast, and is sure to have quite a few repercussions down the line. From a conversation between Koyemshi and a mysterious unseen individual inside Zearth, we then learn that Moji is the next pilot, and that he has made a request as to where his body should be sent. We also see him making a request that the military allow his heart to be transplanted into the body of his friend once he is dead. With this, we are treated to Moji’s intriguing backstory, in which we learn that he was close friends with both a boy named Nagi and a girl named Tsubasa for a long time.
Upon entering sixth grade, however, Nagi fell ill, needing a heart transplant to keep on living, and Moji turned out to be a perfect match. At first Moji thought this meant he had won over Nagi, and that Tsubasa would be his, but soon realizes Nagi was the one with the advantage, even if he were to die. With that realization came a sick little thought, one that was only furthered by the appearance of Zearth; if Nagi were to die of unnatural causes, his advantage would disappear. Ironically, upon learning that he will die, Moji decides to repent for his dark thoughts and plots to save Nagi by giving up his heart, only to hear that Nagi wishes Zearth would appear and kill him so that Tsubasa could live happily with Moji.
When the time of battle finally arrives, Moji is desperate to end the fight as quickly as possible and save his friend. However, by a cruel twist of fate, the enemy manages to grab Moji and lock him in an unbreakable hold. Even with the military rushing to their aid, will Moji be able to end the battle and save not only his friend, but the Earth as well?
In Summary:
With this volume we’re given closure on the tale of Chizu, as well as most of Moji’s story. As with the characters before them, they each have a plenty twisted past behind them, which comes forth brilliantly in an explosion of emotion during combat. While each character may only be given a few chapters in order to really make their mark, this series continues to make you truly feel for each and every one of them more than most other series manage over whole volumes. The emotion and fantastic little details that come out in every little action remain this series strongest asset (along with the twisted depths to which the story is willing to sink), and those are certainly fully displayed in this volume. Add in a few new twists and tweaks to the dynamics between the cast, and you have a book that is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: B+
Package Rating: A-
Text/Translation Rating: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: August 16th, 2011
MSRP: $12.99