Creative Staff
Story/Art: Akihisa Ikeda
Translation: Tetsuichiro Miyaki
What They Say
Test 12
When villains’ true identities turn out to be nested like Russian dolls…
A. Dance the squat dance
B. Find a new body to inhabit yourself
C. Count your blessings
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Faced with a powerful foe and impending doom, Tsukune decides to go for broke and releases his second seal. An intense battle erupts, and the opponents seem to be evenly matched until Gyokuro decides to release her seal as well. It turns out she has the ability to analyze and duplicate attacks, making her an enemy as versatile as she is deadly. Even so Tsukune manages to strike what appears to be a decisive blow, but unfortunately his body begins to fall apart soon afterwards. To make matters worse, Gyokuro stands once again and reveals that she’s set the fortress to crash down into a human city, Alucard and all. Gyokuro then fuses with Alucard, but fortunately everyone manages to rejoin the battle, seemingly healed from their previous fights.
Meanwhile, Koko’s fight with Kahlua takes a turn towards hopeless when the elder vampire removes her seals. Even with the help of Kurumu and Mizore, Kahlua’s ability to liquefy her body proves too powerful for our heroic harem! However, thanks to some truly impressive teamwork, the girls are able to finally take her down. Tohofuhai then appears, revealing both that the man he was fighting was a fake, and that the Rosario is actually linked to Akasha, not Alucard. With this revelation Moka is able to reclaim her Rosario and Gyokuro is dealt a final blow. Moka and Tsukune hug, and Koko says her final goodbyes to her sister, seemingly bringing things to a happy close, only for the mysterious “Masked King” to appear as a final villain.
This villain reveals himself as Miyabi Fujisaki, and furthermore Alucard himself. Seeing how much trouble Gyokuro gave them, will our heroes be able to take down this impossibly powerful enemy? Or are they doomed to fall to the scheming mastermind?
In Summary
With this volume we get a climactic rush towards the ending. It’s absolutely fantastic to see the heroes pushed to their limits, displaying some amazing teamwork along the way. The fight with Kahlua in particular is one of the best in the series, and is an absolute sight to behold. And of course it’s stunning to see just how far Tsukune in particular has come. Even the big twist near the end, ridiculous as it may feel at first, has been seeded enough in previous entries that it doesn’t feel like it came completely out of nowhere. Add in some fantastic and emotional moments between the characters, and you get a lovely entry into the series that does a great job of setting up for the finale.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: August 5th, 2014
MSRP: $9.99
