Revival, revenge, and madness
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Etorouji Shiono
Translation: Caleb D. Cook
What They Say
Lebellond continues to assert his military might over Jebr, sending his sons and daughters to subdue the scattered peoples of Glenn’s former holdings. Lebellond’s youngest son, Guelld, eager to prove himself, has secured the help of the legendary “siege master” Betzegarm to lead his troops. However, when one legend meets another–namely the “Traitorous Lance” Ascheriit-the limits of loyalty and leadership will be tested in the heat of the battle in Ubel Blatt volume 6!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Last time around, we ended on the moment of Koinzell’s triumphant return, but it’s here that things truly get rolling. And strangely enough, after a little flash, we actually see the history of the “undefeated” siege master, Betzegarm. Though he looked like a throwaway villain at first, he actually has a past with our hero and quickly turns sides. With that out of the way, though, our attention turns to Lebellond’s young son, Guelld, who’s been leading the assault. It’s actually pretty great to see him steadily crack and push himself far past what he should be doing, trying to overcome his reputation as the weak son. You can really see his desperation, and it of course all ends in a beautifully disastrous manner.
All of this drives Lebellond to break and focus on killing the “rebel”, while Ischudien continues with some serious machinations behind the scenes. As it turns out, the Dragongrave is constructing a massive castle underground, but things get cut off before we can find the true purpose behind it. Anyway, Koinzell starts his charge, leading to plenty of flash before he at last reaches his foe. And in his madness, Lebellond takes on our hero one on one, wanting to avenge his son. Before that battle ends, though, Ischudien launches his massive flying castle, Himmelsspeer. But the bigger shock is that he’s actually acting under a younger, resurrected Glenn. It’ll remain to be seen how the story is played out for how he came back, but to be perfectly honest, I don’t mind him reviving. Much as Lebellond stepped things up a bit with Glenn’s original death, it’s nice to have the “main” villain back in triumphant fashion. And since our hero resurrected right at the start, it’s at least not like it’s entirely out of nowhere or without precedent here.
Just what will happen when things turn into a struggle between Glenn and Lebellond’s forces, with Koinzell stuck in the middle? And will Glenn be able to regain his position, despite his miraculous revival of course raising doubts?
In Summary
To start off with, the book kicks off with some slightly “smaller” stories that are still well done. They may focus on bit players to some degree, but Guelld’s story in particular packs a real emotional punch, and in a lot of ways drives the progression of the volume. And we of course get plenty of flashy visuals throughout, though it’s hard to say it has any action scenes that stand out as much as a lot of the stuff we’ve seen in the past. All that said, the big question here is the twist and how you take it. For my tastes it’s a bit out of nowhere, but I’d say there’s enough of a precedent from past events in the book to support it, and I’d argue that it’ll have a net positive effect on the series on the whole. But I still certainly wouldn’t blame someone for feeling put off by it, as there’s really no foreshadowing for it, with it rather just popping up all of the sudden for the shock value. Anyway, this all adds up to a solid volume with one potentially controversial element. But even if you don’t like the turn that things take, there’s still enough here for fans to love, so be sure to give it a shot.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: Mature
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: September 27th, 2016
MSRP: $19.99
