Underwater combat is the death of us all.
Creative Staff
Story: Keiichi Hikami
Art: Shin Yamamoto
Translation: John Werry
Adaptation: Stan!
What They Say
Keres takes on Muriel as his apprentice, and she has a lot to learn about being a Hunter. Beyond the practical skills of hunting, she also learns more about Keres’ background and her own inspiration for becoming a Hunter. Raiga continues pushing his limits, but will it cost him his friends? Time passes but the hunt goes on!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The party, two years older and two years stronger, find themselves back at Loc Lac. Raiga, Torche, Brad, and Iley have been working as a team for most of that time. It’s not surprising that they’re starting to earn a good reputation after that entire time, although the reputation of Bexel is still growing and spreading. The trail went cold for Raiga on tracking the man who was once his mentor, and he can’t catch up to the feats that Bexel is claimed to have pulled off.
That drive to become better has meant that Raiga is outpacing Brad, even though they should be about the same skill level. I’m surprised that Brad and Iley stuck with Raiga and Torche, and even though it’s shown that sometimes they pair up with other hunters, that core group has remained in place. Brad is starting to feel that it’s time to move on and out from under Raiga’s shadow, and Iley seems to have only stuck around with the hopes that Keres would someday return.
It’s almost immediately clear that the party would have to break at some point. From a reader perspective, Brad is such a downer of a character that I was awaiting Keres triumphant return just so we could be rid of him. However the manner in which Brad is likely getting written out is perhaps crueler than was originally stated, and Raiga and the party have only themselves to blame.
The group, feeling pretty confident, decide to hunt a giant ocean monster. Now, in video games, underwater combat is something of a nightmare. It’s the movement and targeting that is usually hard to deal with, and that carries over to the problems the party faces in print. (Just don’t ask me how they are breathing or even moving in the water with all that armor. It’s completely improbable.) The group is in way over their heads, literally. They attempt an attack and escape only to find themselves in a nest of another monster.
It’s an everything that can go wrong did go wrong scenario, but it gives Keres his moment to reappear to the group. Raiga is appropriately pissed off that his friend never sent word he was alive or attempted to regroup right after. Keres was, as we see at the start of this volume, training a new hunter while his arm healed and restrengthened and while he decided if he wanted to continue down the path of a hunter. His arrival and the reunion means that the old trio is finally back together, but everyone is so beat up that to head back out on the hunt is suicide. The village might not have any other choice in heroes at the moment though.
In Summary
This volume of Flash Hunter sees the group a little older, a little lankier, but still just as confident and cocky attempt to take their skills to the next level. They dive into an impossible fight underwater with a creature that none have faced before to disastrous results. Every moment of underwater combat defies logic and reason, both mechanically and strategically. For every step forward they take we’re treated to the groups greatest mistakes. The art remains as detailed and lively as ever, and we finally get to see some monsters that aren’t built on the same wyvern template. The return of Keres means that we can say goodbye to the obnoxious Brad and Iley, and I won’t miss them.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B +
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: A –
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: April 11th, 2017
MSRP: $10.99