The clash comes to a close!
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Gamon Sakurai
Translation: Ko Ransom
What They Say
Sato’s bitten. Samuel T. Owen is in the building. The Battle of Forge Safety, which began when demi-humans who aim to upend Japanese society waltzed into an ambush set by those who would deny them the pleasure, it reaches its crescendo and conclusion in this volume.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The first half of the book is more or less pure chaotic action, as Sato (and to a much lesser degree Tanaka) go on a rampage through the building. Outside of the surprise element of Sato’s IBM being able activate autonomously, there’s not much particularly new for this part. But it’s still a solid enough bundle of action, using the sort of tactical fighting that’s been the bread and butter of the series to great effect.
The “big moment” of the book this time, though, is when Sato at last makes it to the CEO, who has locked himself up in a panic room. He’s totally confident that he’s secure, only for Sato’s arm to pop through the wall all of the sudden and shoot him! As it turns out, demi-human regeneration also has a sort of erasing effect to it as well, which is explained fair enough based on past evidence. It’s probably on the weaker side as far as such revelations have gone for the series, but it’s not a bad trick to pull at this point, to be fair.
Finally, we end on the big escape for Kei and Ko, which is a solid enough sequence in its own right. Though to be honest, the confrontation between the two in the aftermath feels just a tad hollow. Perhaps because there just hasn’t been enough time for real, proper bonding between the characters, it just doesn’t have the punch that it needs to really, fully work, which is a shame.
In Summary
Last volume was an insane, high action rollercoaster, and this one looks to follow in its footsteps, with almost all of its pages being given to combat. It still is fortunately put together quite well, making for quite an exciting read. And yet, it’s sadly not quite as great as what last volume gave us. That’s fortunately not a damning evaluation, as the previous book was over the top exceptional, but I still can’t help but feel that it’s a bit of a shame that that entry used up most of the best tricks, leaving this one with the scraps. They’re still plenty solid scraps, but it does feel like just a bit of a letdown, sadly. Oh, and the emotional scene at the end doesn’t land as firmly as it wants to either, which is a bit disappointing. Still, despite those minor issues, this is still a ton of fun, and is more than worth picking up.
Content Grade: A-
Art Grade: A
Package Rating: B+
Text/Translation Rating: B+
Released by: Vertical
Release Date: April 4th, 2017
MSRP: $12.95
