The chaos and gunplay continues as a handful of interesting new maniacs are introduced.
Creative Staff
Writer/Artist: Keitaro Takahashi
Translation: Joe Yamazaki
Adaptation: Stan!
What They Say
In the business of arms dealing, your list of enemies is as long as your list of clients. And if that isn’t enough to make you sleep with a gun under your pillow, the thought of being under government surveillance might! Someone has put a hit on Koko, and a pair of ruthless assassins make their move. But Koko Hekmatyar and her squad are a very hard target – trained pros know, when you get ambushed, the best way out of the killzone is to attack!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As the volume opens, we are immediately introduced to the eccentric pair of assassins known as Orchestra. The pair consists of a middle-aged man called Shisho who considers a gunfight to be “like a concerto” and young girl named Chinatsu who doesn’t wear any panties. Unsurprisingly, the pair soon ends up with an assignment to assassinate Koko and quickly ends up in a confrontation with her group. Things quickly heat up and we’re treated to a very interesting battle. However, eventually Koko’s group manages to turn the tide of the battle and takes down Shisho, causing Chinatsu to snap and declare vengeance before escaping.
Before the group can also make their escape from the scene, a police group appears lead by a “civilian” and brings them in for arrest. Luckily, Koko pulls some strings and manages to leave while the police interrogate the eccentric “civilian,” who we soon find out is a CIA agent calling himself Scarecrow. Before Koko can get away, though, he breaks away from the police, catches up to her, and declares that he will one day hunt her down before the officers manage to catch up and grab him.
As we finish up the volume, Chinatsu returns for revenge only to be quickly disposed of by Koko’s group, and we are introduced to Koko’s brother who seems to have connections to Jonah’s past.
In Summary
This volume isn’t content to just give us a nice little arc with the eccentric assassins Orchestra, as we are also introduced to several other important and crazy characters such as Koko’s brother and the CIA agent known as Scarecrow. And that’s not all, as Jonah’s past is starting to unfold and show us a little bit of what motivates this enigmatic character. Hopefully the series will manage to maintain the frantic pace set in this volume, as the variety of interesting, twisted characters involved is truly a treat.
Content Grade: A+
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: February 9th, 2010
MSRP: $12.99
