Zel stands on the edge of losing it all or winning it all back.
Creative Staff
Story: Ryukishi07
Art: Nana Natsunishi
Translation/Adaptation: Caleb. D. Cook
What They Say
While the Wandering Dogs suffer a break up at the reveal of Zel’s true identity, District 23 is on the cusp of falling under the Golden Dragons’ thumb. Primavera refuses to give in, staunchly standing off against the Chinese, but they need all the help they can get. Will Oliver, Nina, and Charles be able to pull together and help save Zel and Primavera, or will it be the end of District 23 as they know it?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As this volume opens Zel is found out to be a traitor. She doesn’t attempt to explain her situation, her motivations, or what she’s been forced into. She knows that no matter what she tells her friends and Wayne that she won’t be believed. She was caught red-handed trying to poison Rose, after all.
The Wandering Dogs are distraught. Only Oliver isn’t ready to give up on Zel. Salvation comes from an unusual but not unexpected source, Meijiu Lee. Lee is still a questionable ally of Rose’s, and while he is brimming with compassion for Zel’s situation, he’s still doing this because it suits his own needs. He’s attempting to remove Wang from the Golden Dragon’s leadership.
To that end, Lee makes the kids an offer that they can’t refuse. He proposes a plan to rescue Zel’s father and for the Golden Dragon’s under the current leadership to loose face. The plan is complex and requires perfect timing and all of the skills that the quartet possesses. The scenes that follow break down into planning, training, and then finally executing their heist. As far as heists go it’s pretty good. Like mot heists, not everything goes according to plan, which is where the ending to this arc falters a bit.
I do think the ending ends up being far tidier than it has any right to be. First, the reveal that several characters whom I was certain had perished in the end of season one are shown to not only be alive but to be aligned with Primavera. After the lengths the first season went to in order to show that Rose was willing to kill, that’s a huge step back. The fact Wang knew about Hotarubi but didn’t know what she looked like, even after everything happening all around, felt odd. We’re left in the dark as to how Rose was able to work everything out in her favor. However, since the focus was only on the kids and their lives I can excuse the easy landing. The behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing do nothing to further their story, after all.
The kids manage to come out on top, for once. Yet despite the victory, Zel has to flee. She and her father simply have too many enemies and have to go lay low for awhile someplace safe. The quartet splits up, one and all. The fact that each one of them seems to have plans which don’t involve the others, and do involve the seedy underbelly of society, doesn’t exactly give me much hope for their futures. Even if they all depart with smiles.
The extra for this volume is another interview with Ryukishi07, who tries to explain in 500 words or less what he wanted to convey with his setting. You can take it or leave it, and he does seem to be partially aware of the problems of it, but it’s still a slightly unsettling take. More importantly, it hints at where the story is going in the future for the last two arcs, which he promises will be more violent.
In Summary
Season 2 of the Rose Guns Days adaptation of the visual novels of the same name improves over the first arc tremendously. Their’s less emphasis on the illogical alternate history setting and more focus on the characters, their relationships, and their hopes and dreams. While we don’t get much time with these characters they are more interesting and enjoyable to watch. Zel in particular, I could read several more volumes of her adventures before her run in with Rose’s crew. Likewise, Natsunishi is a strong artist that really elevates the lackluster visual novel character designs into something fun and dynamic. It’s unfortunate that the story is moving on without these characters.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B +
Packaging Grade: B +
Text/Translation Grade: A –
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: May 23rd, 2017
MSRP: $14.00
