Creative Staff
Story/Art: Kiiro Yumi
Translation: Kinami Watabe
What They Say
The Media Betterment Committee has censored an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in Iku’s hometown! Iku’s top-ranked Library Forces team must train the local troops to defend the freedom of speech using any means necessary… but the librarians there resent her position and aren’t shy about making their feelings known. Soon Iku’s parents catch wind of her secret life as a member of the Library Forces, with disastrous results!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With people finally starting to rally against the MBC, our heroes rejoice in their victory, no matter how small it may be. Iku gets a little pep talk, and Daichi follows up with the group, bringing things to a happy conclusion. Tezuka even manages to get a little closer to Shibazaki in the process.
Things start to heat up again when Iku and company head off to the Ibaraki Library, where they are will help protect a controversial art piece which critiques censorship. Since this means returning to her hometown, Iku is left dreading the possibility of meeting up with her parents. To make matters worse, it turns out that Defense members are the bottom of the totem pole in that library, with librarians on top. Upon arriving, our heroes find themselves confronted by a non-violence group demanding the surrender of their weapons.
Within the library itself, Iku quickly becomes a sort of mentor to the abused young Defense Force members there. However, the librarians decide to respond to this with petty bullying. When Iku stands strong they take things a step further by digging up her weakness and calling her parents. Though her Mom reacts terribly, her father surprisingly steps up to defend his daughter’s decision. Apparently he knew since his last visit, and has even been keeping tabs on how she’s been doing.
As the volume closes down, Iku verbally thrashes her would-be bullies, and the group prepares for combat.
In Summary
This volume actually manages to do a great job of showing character growth, particularly for Iku. After the wrap up of the previous arc, a new arc begins and sets up Iku in a rather familiar situation. And yet, rather than showing her cowering in fear, we’re able to see the way that her previous experiences helped to shape her. The final outburst near the end is particularly impressive, and it’s definitely nice to see. We also get some good development in regards to her parents, and the setup for some serious danger in the next book. It’s great to see a book take what looks at first like the same old story and twist it into something new, which helps to make this volume a surprisingly fresh and enjoyable read.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: August 6th, 2013
MSRP: $9.99
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