Sometimes the only possible way out of hell is to try charging in at it at full speed.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Peach-Pit
Translation/Adaptation: Christine Dashiell
What They Say
When Kanro, one of the Seven Member Committee seeking to eradicate all contradictions, sniffs out the stragglers from Z-Loan at a rundown motel and attempts to flush them down the data drain like their “deleted” comrades, Chika and Shito end up not in the ether but as characters in a video game!
Now on top of convincing the game’s debugger, Koume (racking up as many part-time gigs as she can following the unfortunate train incident), not to erase them, the 8-bit duo has to team up with an old enemy if they want any chance at saving themselves and their friends in real time!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Still reeling from the assault of the Ferrymen and the loss of the Z-Loan office and their friends, Chika and Shito are hiding thanks to the efforts of Undertaker (Sougiya), though their luck in quality of lodgings hasn’t improved. With the odds looking long at best and closer to hopeless even Chika is having to deal with some doubts about if he wants to continue fighting- though luckily for him Shito is willing to help straighten him out with some timely advice…and a well placed punch.
The two settle their differences just in time as they are interrupted by an unwelcome guest- Shiba has returned but it seems he is not interested in resuming hostilities with the two, though they aren’t in the same mindset. Before the small gathering can come to a resolution they are interrupted by Kanro who expels the remains of the questionable zombie loan program into the either.
Or so it seems. It turns out that the group was actually deleted and sent to a type of universal trash bin where data that has no mass or matter is sent, waiting for the universe to recycle it. Chika and Shito suddenly find themselves trapped in a videogame (and in 8-bit forms to boot) with Shiba as they attempt to piece together what is happening to them and how they can escape. With some (rather unenthusiastic as would be expected) help from Koume they try to piece together their next plan. What sort of reckless abandon will they attempt to rescue their friends and themselves? And what revelations will come to light as to why they are in the position they are and the central role that Michiru unwittingly plays in all the events?
With volume 12 Peach-Pit decides to take an innovative approach and put their own spin on the idea of what the universe is. This concept allows for some interesting visuals and a few videogame jokes to be worked into the mix at the same time. Sadly, a good deal of the danger introduced is of the “large, unstoppable and almost force of nature” type that really is hard to work into a series while giving their characters a really strong opponent that they can play off dramatically. Instead events feel almost like the characters are fighting a typhoon where fighting the seeming inevitability of the threat takes more precedence than letting the characters breathe and carry the story through more of a sense of carefully crafted tension and conflict. The ideas presented are rather clever in part but they feel a little like a kind of pot luck where the ideas don’t mesh terribly well overall. Given the strength that the series has had to this point of strong characters and dramatic storylines it feels a bit too long getting to the resolution and the climax just doesn’t quite cover for it.
In Summary
The twelfth volume of Zombie Loan attempts to ratchet events up and place the characters from Z-Loan in an almost inescapable peril. In as far as it carries over the storyline from previous volumes the volume works, but the semi-disjointed nature of things such as the narrative switches between protagonists slows the pace. Also if the reader doesn’t connect to the computer like environment that the characters spend most of the volume in it will seem like a much longer read than most of the other volumes. With events building to a conclusion (The series was concluded in Japan at volume 13) this volume seems to leave a whole lot of threads in the air for the final volume to tie up and its pacing really doesn’t seem to help building toward that end for a good deal of the book.
Content Grade: B-
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: C+
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Readers Rating: [ratings]
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: September 20th, 2011
MSRP: $11.99
