Creative Staff
Story/Art: Mohiro Kitoh
Translation: Camellia Nieh
What They Say
Two children remain to fight for Earth’s survival, and one of them isn’t from this Earth at all. Zearth’s next pilot, Yoko Machi, has been possessed by the mind of a refugee from a parallel world. Before she goes into battle, she and her fellow pilot Jun Ushiro face a struggle of a different kind as they confront the many victims left behind in Zearth’s wake.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Unsurprisingly, Machi’s chair appears alongside Ushiro’s, proving that she’s been accepted into the contract. Apparently she couldn’t enter the contract at first because she was still part of the one for her original world. It turns out that she’ll be the next pilot, so she explains to Ushiro that he’ll be the next one to take on Kokopelli’s role, gathering pilots and teaching them the ropes in a new world. Seemingly, a world can also be thrown back into the battle if the space-time culling process doesn’t get far enough away, giving Ushiro a reason to help the new pilots to the best of his ability.
With the exposition out of the way and Kana’s funeral complete, Machi and Ushiro decide to use their remaining time to visit the families of the former pilots, in order to help give them closure. It makes for some interesting sequences, giving a nice retrospective on those characters, as well as giving a new look into their family lives. Watching the ways the families grieve and try to deal with the baggage left behind makes for a nice, somber moment different yet similar to the depressing feeling the series usually gives off.
Once they finish their rounds with the pilots’ families, they decide to visit the family of the fake pilot, Junji Karita. When they see that his little brother has grown bitter at the world they step up to the plate, making the lie into a “truth” and claiming Junji really was a pilot. In the aftermath Machi confesses that she loves Ushiro and even asks him to sleep with her. Before things can get too touchy though, a mysterious assailant appears and guns down Machi with a strange weapon. Koyemshi does what he can for her, but in the end he realizes he has to finish her off himself, as she can’t possibly act as pilot.
The volume then closes with an odd moment, as Koyemshi and Ushiro seem to spend a little time bonding only for Koyemshi to show him a perfectly alive Machi who thinks that it’s still summer.
In Summary
This volume takes a bit of a different tone, using its time to set aside the battles and just look back at all the past characters and explore them a little more thoroughly. We also get some nice bonding and development between the remaining characters, even Koyemshi. It may not have the action that the previous volumes had in spades, but it makes for a nice change of pace. As we approach the finale, it will be interesting to see just how the series comes to a close, but for now this volume makes for a nice aside before the end.
Content Grade: A-
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: February 18th, 2014
MSRP: $12.99
