Who can you trust when you don’t even know which side is telling the truth?
Creative Staff:
Art/Story: Hajime Segawa
Translation: Kumar Sivasubramanian
What They Say:
The True Wire-Pullers
The Macabre Lady and the rest of the major players in Ares Security, a global PMSC, set their sights on Kozuki, who has squirreled away the Ark, and Ren, whose ESP is the key to unlocking the Ark itself. Rinka teams up with her old frenemy Kobushi (and even forms a tentative alliance with Minami) to take down Ares from the inside. And Murasaki’s ESP may turn out to be just the thing they need to win the battle, before the Messiah is reawakened…
Content (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
After Rinka faced off against a flamboyantly dressed woman and easily lost, she finds herself defeated and teleported to the middle of Tokyo Bay. Once her panicked friends find and escort the White Girl to the hospital, they soon decide that with Minami and Kozuki still on the loose and the Ark in their possession, they need to plan their next move; however since everyone is now after Ren, due to her power to unlock the Ark, they need someplace secure and what better location than Murasaki’s home – the headquarters for a Yakuza boss? Now that they are relative safe, Rinka’s father Rindo begins to relate the truth behind recent events, especially his daughter’s new playmate – a strange woman known only as the Macabre Lady. She works for Ares Security, a PMSC or private military security company, whose main goal is to work behind the scenes for anyone who will hire them. While their main front is to reduce war casualties by using their own personnel to minimize a country’s soldier losses, what they don’t want to the world to realize is that they too are seeking the Ark, and will do anything to find the artifact.
Even as the allies are trying to resolve their next step, Ares themselves have proceeded to capture their prize – the Ark. Although they may not know where it may be, their information indicates Minami and Kozuki are guarding it, so the duo will be the primary targets. While the pair themselves are unsure of their next move, the mercenaries hunting them know where they have been hiding and launch a preemptive strike. Stun grenades phased into the room announce their arrival, but the Professor’s daughter is ill prepared for such an assault, leaving her vulnerable to pacification. But thankfully, Kozuki was taking a shower and hears the disruption, allowing for a counter attack; not shy about her modesty, the naked girl storms into the room as she pulls a machine gun from her hidden cache, raining a storm of bullets upon the men caught unawares. While it appears she is holding her own by protecting her friend, a sudden eruption of pain sears through her thigh, leaving a massive gunshot wound in its wake. A sniper has equalized the situation, but he is cruelly massacred as she teleports a few grenades in his vicinity. Now wounded and bleeding heavily, the brave girl has no choice other than to retreat, taking the still unconscious Minami under her arm, she transports them to a nearby alley. But even as they arrive in this new hideout, the soldiers are still on their trail, not knowing when to quit. So who will be the first to surrender … or will this end in a bloody massacre with neither side winning?
In Summary:
This volume has one of the most convoluted narratives from the entire series and as such, it is difficult to follow what is happening or understand this new story arc. While Segawa-sensei has once again given us amazing artwork in an attempt to communicate his tale, even with this outstanding visual display, the introduction of new characters and organizations plus their political intrigue as they attempt to settle an internal power struggle makes understanding the opening chapters very confusing; then add old factions trying to vie for old glory slipped within all of this chaos, the police attempting to stop every side from destroying the city and then arresting anyone who is not a friend, and you end up with a confusing mess. And since no one is wearing any type of identifying insignia to show which side they are on, the reader has no idea what is happening unless they take the time to reread and dissect the story, which breaks the spontaneity of the action. This is a great shame since it does get better, but to have slog through this morass of confusion almost makes it not worth the time to enjoy the outcome.
Loyal fans to the Tokyo ESP franchise will embrace the new tangent which Rinka now finds herself embracing, but it may test them to find the diamond within this rough. With so many new elements introduced within such a limited space there is of course confusion, and with complexity of some backgrounds and the unrivaled action which has satisfied us in the past, you may attempt to overlook this chaos. However, if you are new to the series and hoped to jump into this world via this volume, that may be an unwise decision. While you may gradually understand what is happening, it would be better to start from the beginning than to tax your patience while sinking into this bog of bewilderment.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: C
Age Rating: Teen
Released By: Vertical Comics
Release Date: November 15, 2016
MSRP: $15.95
