Three groups, one war.
Creative Staff
Story: Kafka Asagiri
Art: Sango Harukawa
Translation/Adaptation: Kevin Gifford
What They Say
As Ryuunousuke Akutagawa and Nathaniel Hawthorne engage in a life-or-death battle, Chuuya Nakahara has information about The Guild’s plot to destroy the Armed Detective Agency. H.P. Lovecraft and John Steinbeck also reveal their powerful abilities!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Akutagawa and Hawthorne enter all-out battle with both realizing their skills are similar. Hawthorne discovers he has underestimated Akutagawa and that he has been battle with wound. Hawthorne admires Akutagawa’s resolve and decides to fight at his full strength. They both fight at full strength, but it’s Akutagawa who comes out on top.
The Armed Detective Agency may be in hiding, but Chuuya from the Port Mafia has found them. Two of the agents approach him, but he claims he is not there to attack them. He has information he wants to give them on the guild, but it’s a little hard to believe he is there for that reason. They attack first and realize it’s better to question him, doing so leads them to the answer they are looking for. The Mafia leaked information about the Agency’s clerk’s location to the Guild and now the Mafia is hoping that they will take each other out.
The clerks think they’ve gotten away from the Guild, but Lovecraft and Steinbeck track them done with Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath skill. Two agents from the Armed Detective Agency arrive before the clerks are crushed. The clerks escape, but the agents aren’t faring well. However, the agents are underestimated, and they escape as well and since they called the police in advance, the Guild’s hand is temporarily tied.
Atsushi and Dazai are waiting for the clerks to arrive when Dazai notice that they are being watching. He gets away from Atsushi in his usual strange way and confronts the Port Mafia that he knows so well. The message is from the Port Mafia’s boss and he wants Dazai to return to the Mafia.
In Summary:
So many good things packed into this volume from a packaging standpoint. There two beautiful color inserts, comic panels on in the inside the front and back covers about Atsushi’s strange hairstyle, a bonus comic and illustrations, translation notes, “Bungo Episodes” about the characters and short story by the creator’s author. As always, no ads at the back of the volume. It’s really nice to get all these extras and delve deeper into the characters and the story. It gives the reader a fuller experience.
From a story standpoint, it’s smooth flowing, yet has a lot depth to the story with the multiple groups in the three-way war and the varied characters and their abilities. The volumes also tend to leave the read at a cliffhanger of sort, which makes a reader always crave that next chapter or volume. There is definitely enough to keep a reader interested and inpatient for more.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Older Teen
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: April 10, 2018
MSRP: $13.00
