Break through despair.
Creative Staff:
Story: Reki Kawahara
Art: Hima
What They Say:
“I will never forgive you. I will kill you. I will continue to kill you until all your Burst Points are gone and you vanish from the accelerated world.”
Having turned into Chrome Disaster once more, Haruyuki slaughters with the force of a vengeful god the avatars who made Ash Roller suffer. And then he fuses completely with the Armor of Catastrophe, down to his deepest depths. Silver Crow soars above the accelerated world, seeking out enemies to destroy. For his next target, he turns the spearhead of his hatred toward the creators of the ISS kit, the Acceleration Research Society.
A berserker no one can control. Before this raging figure, a long avatar stands to block his way. His name: Green Grandé. The absolute defense of the Green King, bearer of the most powerful shield, the Strife, collides fiercely with the madness of the cursed avatar! The conclusion to the Armor of Catastrophe arc!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Wrapping up arcs are never easy. It requires pushing characters to go beyond their limits. It also requires the authors to tie up most loose ends while satisifying readers. Reki Kawahara had a major task to do, and he with Hima accomplishes this task in the ninth volume of Accel World.
On the last volume of Accel World, Haruyuki put himself in a bind. Consumed by the emotions of fallen friends and the dangers of the ISS kits, he attempted to equip The Destiny. Attempted, because instead he summons Chrome Disaster. Now, with Chrome Disaster slowly melding with his body and mind, Haruyuki must find a way to remove the amour and purify it, else be destroyed.
The depths of the misery for Chrome Disaster get resolved in a mostly metaphorical sense with closure reconciled for the armor. Haru wrestles with the beast succumbing to the armor. During this time, he, contrary to what he told Taku, tried to go it alone before Kuroyukihime stops him. They come up with a plan to break the armor curse through a simulated battle. However, this battle goes wrong as a new person from the Accelerated Research Group shows up and tries to take out Haruyuki. Before the beast of Chrome Disaster thoroughly consumes him, Haru conquers the armor by meeting the original creator and breaking through the despair wall with his hands.
We even get reveals of characters we never saw coming, such as Ash Roller being a girl. It seems quite convenient for the series for Haru to have yet another girl pine over him. However, the story for Ash Roller works well for the series and even has a good explanation for how Chrome Disaster’s imprinting maybe a more common occurrence in the Accelerated World. With that said, we end up seeing two different development ends with Haruyuki and Kuroyukihime.
Interesting, something stands about Kuroyukihime’s character: She’s very reactionary. We’ve seen this reaction in multiple volumes. With her doing things for Haru after other people do so. It’s apparent after this volume. While some may find it cute, it does indicate that there is a bigger plotline involved with Kuroyukihime. It is assuamble one would ask why she reacts and if Kawahara will take time to discuss it. Instead, like many volumes previously, he pushes it to the side.
It’s hard to say if Haru matured in this volume and arc. He’s prone to the “do as I say not as I do syndrome”. His actions of wanting Taku to rely on them while going on his own doesn’t handle well. It’s good that his friends calm out on it, but at the same time we would expect by now that he would follow through with his ideas. At the exact same time however, it is shown that he can control his emotions. This control pays off when he meets the original Chrome Disaster and breaks through the despair to destroy the beast that controls the chrome disaster armor. Showing that anyone can overcome misery and despair and negative emotions, especially for Haruyuki makes for a salient point in the conclusion of this arch. The idea mostly plays well albeit with some dings from the previous “do as I say” attitude.
Hima’s art is still going strong. The details of the various fight scenes still are here with great scenes selected for the chapters that contain them. What seems to be good is that the fan service is all but absent. Sure, there’s a couple tongue-in-cheek moments but overall, we finally have a volume the overall focuses more on characters and less on trying to please certain audience members. It overall makes the reading experience better flows a lot more smoothly and just makes it a pleasure overall to read.
In Summary:
This volume of Accel World Wraps up the Chrome Disaster Arc, and does so with a bang. With great action, good development, it shows that Kawahara planned and executed the arc properly. We get to see characters pushed to their limits emotionally and physically. Loose ends on certain aspects are tied up but more mysteries remain luring the reader in. With great art included, Hima and Kawahara have made Accel World stronger as a series by pursing this arch to its extent and accelerating Haruyuki into a better main character.
Grade: A-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date:March 21st, 2017
MSRP: $14.00
