A whale of a tale!
Creative Staff
Story: Tappei Nagatsuki
Illustrations: Shinichirou Otsuka
Translation: ZephyrRz
What They Say
After maneuvering through negotiations and avoiding more horrific deaths, Subaru is ready to bring the fight to the White Whale! But will it really all go according to plan when nothing else has?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
This time around, the focal point is firmly fixed on the White Whale. Before the actual battle with it can get rolling, though, Subaru faces the difficult challenge of managing things at the negotiating table. And honestly, in a lot of ways, I honestly may even like this sequence more than the big action scenes for the book. It does a great job of showing Subaru’s growth after all that time he’d spent as a complete mess, and is also a fantastic example of him cleverly putting together everything he’s seen and learned. Plus he doesn’t exactly get let off lightly here and really has to push, making it quite intense in a different sort of manner.
Of course, Subaru naturally does end up enlisting the help he needs, resulting in a large-scale operation to take down the White Whale! This section is where the vast majority of the book’s page count goes, and fortunately, I would say it doesn’t disappoint. There are plenty of turns throughout the course of the fight, including one midway through that I won’t spoil, but I will say is INCREDIBLY effective at eliciting the sense of dread that it aims for. Plus Subaru’s contributions here work out a lot more naturally and land more powerfully than they did in the last arc, which is also greatly appreciated.
Throughout the whole volume, though, there’s another topic constantly touched upon: Wilhelm’s past. And while I have plenty of praise for the rest of the book, I’d still say that this is easily the highlight this time around. We get some tidbits sprinkled throughout that already elevate him quite a bit as a character, but then the book goes and gives us a wonderfully done flashback at exactly the right moment. It’s just a masterful handling of the character, taking him from something of a nobody in past volumes to someone who’s sure to be a fan favorite after the events here.
In Summary
While we have had a number of great, solid moments thus far, I’ve had a hard time saying the series had really come into its own after a rather strong introduction with the first volume. There were certainly things to love, but also a number of little things that bugged me and felt like they were holding things back a bit. While I was loving a lot of the character work being done, there always felt like there were some degree of caveats holding things back. But I have to say that with this volume, the series has finally gone and absolutely nailed it. All the components here are fantastically done and blend well together to make for a great ride. And in particular, what’s done for the character of Wilhelm is simply stunning. This is easily the high point of the series thus far, and I sincerely hope this level of quality can keep up, as if it does, we’re in for a fantastic ride.
Content Grade: A+
Art Grade: N/A
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: June 26th, 2018
MSRP: $14.00
