Memories fade, but they never truly disappear.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Yuhki Kamatani
Translation/Adaptation: Alethea Nibley & Athena Nibley
What They Say
The Shinra Banshou now activated, Miharu has finally become the Nabari no Ou, the king of the Hidden World. But at what price? Something has been lost, but no one seems to remember what—or who—it is. All that remains is a hollow in the hearts and minds of Miharu and those around him, Yukimi perhaps most of all. With their world forever changed by the events that have come to pass, the unspoken power of the Shinra Banshou looms, and Tobari, having failed to protect Miharu once already, devotes his energies to finding a way to extract and seal off the secret art for good.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
This volume opens with a decidedly anticlimactic return of Tobari, who hadn’t gone too far to hide from those seeking him out. I expect a far tenser reunion with Miharu, mostly because of Tobari’s threat about stopping the use of the Shinra Banshou at all cost. Apparently, Miharu thought so too from his tense reaction. However, life returns to an almost pre-chase routine of attempting to find a way to rid Miharu from the Shinra Banshou.
The return to normalcy isn’t quite what it appears, especially for Miharu and Yukimi, who are hurting from a loss they can’t fully remember. Yukimi does remember his arm though, and is having nightmarish phantom pain from it’s absence. Miharu’s actions in the last volume caused an interesting aftershock. He chose to remove a person, but to not to change history in the process. The end result was a gap in the memories of everyone who knew Yoite. Even Raikou and Gau feel it, since they were also involved deeply with Yoite.
Tobari leaves Miharu in the care of Yukimi, who hauls Miharu off as his apprentice for the rest of the volume. Thrusting a camera into Miharu’s hands, they travel around to various locations so Yukimi can write articles and Miharu can snap the photos for them. Even though Yukimi uses the excuse of needing someone with two hands to press the shutter button, it’s more off a way for both of them to try to not linger on their missing memories and move on.
It’s interesting how Yukimi has becomes such a central character in the story. When he first appeared he was such an unassuming bad guy he might as well have been an unnamed grunt. Tobari’s girlfriend, Seki, has become more integral to everything as well. She uses an argument for the importance of paleontology to put history into perspective for Miharu, although it just makes Miharu worry more.
Despite the emotional damage, Miharu starts to come out of his shell. He even starts to seriously enjoy being Yukimi’s apprentice, and it looks like life will move on. Things are still complicated for his friends as they attempt to formulate their plan, and it leads to Tobari making a very dangerous overture of mutual assistance to the leader of the Fuuma clan. Tobari is aware of how dangerous the man is, but decides he’ll deal with whatever betrayal may come in the future.
The momentary respite seems to be coming to a close by the end of the volume. The leader of the Kasa has had it with being the lapdogs of the Grey Wolves and wants the Shinra Banshou for their own. Whatever plan they are plotting, it involves preventing Kouichi and Shijima from getting their wish granted by Miharu.
There’s no real extras to speak of for this volume, just a few four-panel strips. Yen includes a color front page like the other volumes in the series, although the paper stock of the cover for my review copy is different from previous volumes, made of a less glossy stock.
In Summary
Nabari no Ou continues down an unusual path, with the happenings in this volume surprisingly low key. There are a lot of reconciliations and some much needed healing for the leads, and that’s just fine with me. This series is at it’s best now that it’s settled away from the stock ninja battles of the earlier volumes in favor of character drama. Of course, they aren’t abandoning the ninja stuff completely. It looks like the next volume is shaping up for more action with the Kasa coming back into the picture, and the finale is a still a few volumes off.
Content Grade: B +
Art Grade: A –
Packaging Grade: B +
Text/Translation Grade: A –
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: August 21st, 2012
MSRP: $11.99
