The calm before the storm
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Cocoa Fujiwara
Translation: Melissa Tanaka
What They Say
At first, the residents of Ayakashi Hall are baffled by the discovery of a time capsule containing letters in their own handwriting, apparently from their future selves. But Natsume’s ability to see beyond confirms the truth, and he is overwhelmed by the future he glimpses. The others aren’t sure they want to know the full extent of what is to come when it has so obviously rattled Natsume and their later selves. Even with that knowledge, what can they do differently to face the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons?!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Continuing on from last time around, the “interlude” short stories keep on trucking, starting with one centered around Soushi when Ririchiyo has left him alone while going on a field trip. It’s nothing terrible, but it’s also nothing too exciting either, as it pretty much just retreads the old ground of Soushi being sad and lonely while pining for Ririchiyo, with the same old emotional hook of the two truly caring for one another as our heroine reciprocates his feelings. Next up, though, we get a look at Zange’s past, which turns out to be the surprise star of the volume. He’s honestly been a bit of an enigma so far, and his story is done quite well and packs a punch, using his talent to see people’s hearts to create an intriguing backstory.
After this, we enter our final interlude, as Renshou and Nobara go out on a mission together again. Thanks to reports of couples being attacked they put on an act, and despite it being terrible they lure out the culprit. And it turns out the one behind everything was a little mermaid boy whose primary gimmick is being super depressing and mildly creepy. Regardless, though, our heroes help him deal with his Christmas crush, bringing things to a happy ending. It’s once more a tad on the bland side, though the mermaid boy does make for a decent gag here and there at least.
Finally, we jump back to the main plot, where the characters from the initial timeline receive the time capsule from their future selves. Ultimately, though, this just leads to some preparations being made for the Night Parade and pretty much all of this segment going to setup and little else. Still, the volume ends on a cliffhanger, as the Night Parade finally makes its move, and Ririchiyo is taken away “for her safety,” promising that things shall heat up once again next time around.
In Summary
While it’s not a terrible read, this volume is very much just something that manages to fill the gaps and little else. The “interlude” short stories continue to retread old ground for the most part, and honestly feel more than a little worn and flat, not really offering anything to get excited about. And while the main plot does recommence here, it feels like little more than set-up so far, though the prospects for the next volume do look good. There is one shining star, though, and that’s the chapter centered around Zange. It takes a character who’s been a bit of a quirky background player for the most part and gives him a fully fleshed out backstory, and the results are quite intriguing. If the rest of this volume were up to this level of quality then it would be an excellent read, but due to the other parts dragging it everything just sort of balances out to okay. Ultimately, this is an entry that will do for tiding fans over, but hopefully things will start to truly pick up again as the series approaches its conclusion.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: A-
Age Rating: Older Teen
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: November 17th, 2015
MSRP: $12.99
