Creative Staff
Story/Art: Tow Ubukata / Kiriko Yumeji
What They Say
POET PROBLEM Madame de Pompadour is being held hostage by twin poets, Emma and Ange. King Louis has ordered D’eon to rescue Madame before sunrise, but there’s not much time left! Will D’eon be able to assume the form of the Chevalier while still keeping Lia and the murderous poets’ existence a secret from the Madame?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With Douglas, Robin, and Comte Saint-Germain in tow, Lia battles the twin poets to save Madame de Pompadour from her circular poem prison. The twin poets, Ange and Emma, have achieved the fifth level of poets, so they prove to be quite the handful for Lia. Ange and Emma use their powers to separate Lia and her companions, casting them into poetic prisons similar to the one holding Madame de Pompadour. Ubukata’s writing continues to impress me as the twin’s trap forces their enemies into alternate spaces where the key to escaping lies in solving palindrome riddles.
Things don’t get any easier after Lia solves the riddles and escapes her prison. Ange and Emma merge into a single powerful poet wielding a circular blade with the ability of opening into an ‘S’ shaped weapon. This battle progresses in a cool way as the circle shape of their weapons mirror each other and force Lia’s attacks back onto herself. Can Lia defeat a poet sharing her own position of fifth level poet?
The majority of this volume follows Lia’s battle with Ange and Emma. While interesting, this volume proves to be a let down from the well-balanced battles/political intrigue of earlier volumes. The reader learns relatively little as far as the secret of the Psalms is concerned. While I don’t believe this volume is as good as the first three, the uniqueness of Lia’s battle with the twins, and Madame de Pompadour’s cleavage in her corset are worth the price of admission for me.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Del Rey Manga
Release Date: April 1st, 2008
MSRP: $10.95
