Will Mitsu be able to handle the pressure of being in charge?
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Hisae Iwaoka
Translation: Tomo Kimura
What They Say:
Mitsu’s a window-washer in the Ring System, a civilization constructed after Earth was abandoned and turned into a nature preserve. His father died on the job five years earlier, and Mitsu takes his work seriously. Unfortunately, not all of his coworkers feel the same way, and they begin to resent the care and diligence he puts into clearing a vision of Earth for the residents of the Ring. One day, while staying late to check on his colleague’s work, Mitsu loses radio contact. Will he meet the same fate as his father?
Content:
While walking along one day, Mitsu encounters Haruko, who is trying to buy eggs. However, she seems to be having trouble finding any good ones, so Mitsu invites her to come ask Tamachi. Tamachi in turn takes them back to his house, which they shockingly find decorated with eggshells! There they meet Tamachi’s grandmother Tamao, who has raised him since he was a child. It turns out she likes to make things out of eggshells. After a conversation about the past, Tamao tells Mitsu Tamachi’s first name as he leaves, and it turns out to be rather silly.
In the next chapter, Jin falls ill and decides to leave Mitsu in charge. However, it isn’t long before Mitsu notices that the other workers have been slacking off more than usual. He tries to confront them, but they refuse to listen and simply blow him off. When Yukishima is goofing off and drops a tool, things only get worse as they believe it was Mitsu and that he’s criticizing them when he can’t even do the job himself. They taunt him about washing the lower levels and leave, forcing Mitsu to go back over their work. The excessive amount of work gets to him, and while working on the windows he passes out and falls. When he awakes he realizes that he is dangling without the strength to pull himself up, and everyone begins to worry about him. They find him half frozen to death and drag him back up to safety, causing the others to realize just how wrong they were.
From there, Sohta’s plan to send Mitsu to the surface starts into motion, with a number of key pieces finally falling into place. As things continue, Mitsu learns that Yukishima looks up to him, and he begins to fear the descent. With the book coming to a close and things picking up, Sohta and Jin set aside some time to become even closer to their wives.
In Summary:
In many ways, this volume feels like the calm before the storm. It seems like things are finally getting moving with the descent device, which is an exciting prospect. However, even with that distraction, there’s still plenty of interest presented here. Most importantly, Mitsu seems to be finally taking charge and catching up to his father. There seems to be a real strain between Mitsu’s dream to see the surface and his desire to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a master window washer. Hopefully the rest of the series can capitalize upon this, but either way it’s sure to be an exciting and emotional ride.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A-
Package Rating: A-
Text/Translation Rating: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released by: Viz Media
Release Date: May 15th, 2012
MSRP: $12.99
