Creative Staff
Story: Yusuke Kishi
Art: Toru Oikawa
Production: Grace Lu, Anthony Quintessenza
What They Say
Saki and friends finally learn many of the troubling secrets of their brave new world. Whether the harsh facts can be altered or not is another matter altogether.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Though Saki just had her tearful and dramatic goodbye with Shun mere days ago, thanks to the adults she’s once again back to her normal life, believing herself to be in love with a boy named Ryo. However, whenever she tries to remember the summer camp, her memories end up murky. As a result she ends up going to the summer festival with Maria. The two go at it again, but eventually Maria leaves our heroine all alone. Meanwhile, the head of the BOE questions the decision to not weed out Saki’s group, but the chairwoman of the Ethics Committee, Lady Tomiko, simply claims that she has her reasons. As the fireworks explode forth, everyone from the group suddenly reclaims their lost memories, shaking off the adults’ manipulations.
With that delay dealt with, our heroes finally head out to find the False White Cape. It turns out that behind this urban legend is actually a virtual library that responds to inquiries. Through it they learn, much as Maria may fear it, that magick was originally called psychokinesis, and it was both this power and the fear of it that caused the “past civilization,” that of our present day, to fall into ruin. Along the way we also learn that human DNA was recoded such that murderous attempts towards other humans would result in death. However, what really causes Maria to break down is the knowledge that they were also coded to encourage homosexual behavior as children, causing her to view her relationship with Saki as manufactured. Before Saki can finish asking questions, Maria absolutely collapses, feeling completely betrayed by the world.
As the volume wraps down, an attempt is made on Maria’s life, we learn that the adults’ cruelty stems from the need to prevent a “glitch” in the system that will lead to disaster, and Saki is told that Tomiko wants her to succeed the post of chairwoman. Will our heroes be able to pull out of this tragic spiral, or are they doomed to come crashing down further and further into heartbreak?
In Summary
With this volume, we finally start to get a glimpse at what’s going on in the terrifying world of the series. Though it’s hard to truly sympathize with the adults, we finally get to see just why they’re acting so cruelly. We also get a rather nice glimpse at what makes Maria tick, and it actually helps draw the “fanservice” from previous volumes into perspective. Add in some great moments for Saki and Mamoru, as well as a fantastic look into the world’s past, and you have a volume that truly adds a lot to the series. Fortunately there’s still some nice hooks left for more surprises, but for now this volume really makes for a great turning point.
Content Grade: A-
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Vertical
Release Date: March 4th, 2014
MSRP: $10.95
