Getting the team back together!
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Naoe
Translation: Leighann Harve
What They Say
Haruki’s spirit is broken once again after his battle with his brother, Haruka. Will Tachibana’s offer of assistance reach him in the end? And bewildered Haruka’s choice is… The summer training camp looms ever closer. The members of Toy Gun Gun are trying to overcome their weaknesses in preparation for the next TGC, but even that will bring a tumultuous turn of events…!!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
We begin this time by wrapping up Haruki’s introductory arc. This starts by him being really wrapped up in his own emotions, leading to what should be a serious moment of him flipping from going on about how much he hates everyone else to how the one he really hates himself, which… honestly, made me break out in laughter. It’s just so bluntly and perfectly “moody teen,” and the timing had me cracking up. Anyway, Hotaru gives him the big old speech about just trusting and working with his teammates already, and he opens up to them, bringing everything to a smooth if rather predictable conclusion. But it works well enough, I’d say. Oh, and Haruka rejoins Star White, making things rather parallel between the teams and twins.
Next up, we get a brief little bit of Akabane dealing with Haruka jumping back on her team. It’s kind of weird seeing her act so lovey-dovey and flustered compared to her character on the battlefield (was that already established as a thing, though? Maybe it was, I don’t know.) Still, the interactions aren’t bad, and it at least acts to flesh out Star White as a whole a bit more, which is nice. So all in all, not a horrible little aside, though not an especially great one, either.
The real meat of the book, though, is the back half, in which the team heads off for some training now that Haruki is part of the dynamic again. This starts as some so-so team bonding, but is soon interrupted by another team butting into their practice match. This evolves quickly into a fight for the field they’re on with that team, 11 Dogs. They offer the “kindness” of doing a counter battle so everyone can play, seemingly despite being at a numbers disadvantage, only for the best moment in the volume: an absolute mess of players popping up out of nowhere, showing that our heroes are up against an army rather than just 3 guys! It’s an absurd scenario played just right, and I really do love it. Oh, and we end on a real interesting cliffhanger too, so it looks like we’ll be in for some real fun next time as well.
In Summary
So, with this volume we get some okay enough stuff off the field, including the end of Haruki’s introductory arc, as well as a bit with Star White. It’s not too bad, but it’s nothing too exceptional either, and even gets a bit cheesy at times (to the degree that what was probably supposed to be a big serious moment had me cracking up with laughter). The real meat, though, is on the field of battle, and the series once more brings that well here. I won’t spoil anything about how it plays out, but the opponents this time are seriously great and pull off one of my favorite maneuvers in the series thus far. So while I’d place the first half’s more emotional/comedic bits as a little on the weaker side, I’d say that in the end, the action in the back certainly manages to make up for it.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: Older Teen
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: November 7th, 2017
MSRP: $12.99
