Syringe is such a dangerous organization that even Arashi’s mentor enters the fray in hopes of evening things up!
Creative Staff
Story & Art: Shouji Sato
Translation/Adaptation: Christine Dashiell
What They Say
The clash between Black Label and Syringe continues! New deadly information about the potential of D99 draws familiar faces into the fray. Wounded and backed into a corner, Arashi must choose his next action carefully or risk losing, not only this battle but the whole city to the destructive influence of D99!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
After nearly dying in the last volume, Arashi is pissed and ready to crack some skulls. That sentiment is only magnified when the guy responsible is also threatening Mikoto’s life. But the Syringe goons are no joke as they are super humans boasting the benefits of D99. These guys are such dangerous killers that even Arashi’s mentor, Shinichiro, busts into the fray to help out Black Label.
It is cool to see Shinichiro in action as it shines a light on why Arashi wears a bullet-proof metal helmet and fights with a handgun the way he does. But even with as badass as Shinichiro may be, he is no match for the spear-wielder on Syringe’s team. Even Yuuko had to fight the spear-wielder to a draw and escape in her last battle with this man.
Things seem to be going well for Syringe until some of them fall into the hands of Black Label, while others are captured by that perverted pig Yakuza leader Tobishiro. Tobishiro is able to recapture D99, which he calls Platinum Lily and tries to shoot up his favorite girl with it. Only this full-strength version turns the girl into a rampaging monster that escapes into the night. This leads to the revelation that many of the people that had been using Platinum Lily are becoming rage monsters that kill indiscriminately.
Will the victims of Platinum Lily, or watered down D99, rage across the city and turn this story into a zombie-style apocalypse adventure? It is up the author’s wheelhouse after all.
In Summary
Another beautiful color foldout mini-poster with this latest release of Triage X. I love these, it is so nice to have a publisher include a cool and out of the ordinary component to a release like this. Beautiful production aside, this volume of Triage X gives the reader more insight to Arashi’s mentor, Shinichiro and his convoluted relationships with women. It turns out that while Miki is in love with him, Shinichiro is actually married to the doctor that Miki is tasked with protecting from Syringe. It is a love story that gets more convoluted as the true goal of Syringe becomes clearer.
Triage X continues to be a highly entertaining series, especially for fans of great art, beautiful women, and fanservice in the form of motorcycles and guns. I continue to enjoy Sato’s effort to give each of the main Black Label characters a chance to develop by revealing parts of their past that were important moments and then allowing them to undergo a current challenge that grows them as a character. It is a great thing to see with a relatively large cast, considering most series don’t put in this character development effort beyond the protagonist and antagonist, and maybe one other character.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A+
Packaging Grade: A+
Text/Translation Grade: B
Age Rating: Mature
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: September 20th, 2016
MSRP: $14.00
