There was never much hope for this series, and the final installment just can’t maintain its own weight.
Creative Staff
Writer/Artist: Yuya Aoki
Adapted by: Kathy Bridges
What They Say
Back when Kakeru was a hopelessly ordinary fourteen-year-old, he used to dream about being a hero. Then he met Ayano and her friends, all amazing psychics on the run from an organization that exploited their talents. Explosive life-and-death battles to recapture the psychic teens followed, and somehow Kakeru was always there . . . always just in time to save the day. Coincidence, he told everyone.
Kakeru refused to believe the truth until he could no longer escape it. For not only is Kakeru a psychic, but he’s also the most powerful psychic of all: a time rewinder, able to return to the past and change it. But this dream come true is a nightmare because Kakeru’s powers violate the space-time continuum and will destroy it. The deadly process has already begun, and no one knows how to stop it. The time for heroes is now. Kakeru and his friends can either save the world or be snuffed out along with it.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Kakeru is enjoying his summer, mostly unaware that his psychic adventures are about to begin again, and is excited for his father to return from a business trip. We as readers shouldn’t be quite so excited about this; Kakeru’s father is, sadly, no better character than Kakeru himself. Meanwhile, Joi is having strange prescient dreams, and Ikushima, the director of the Farm, is plotting something with Todoroki, a mysterious teen psychic who has an incredibly powerful ability. Much like the previous novels, this plot isn’t given a lot of time to develop before it dives into the action. As a sci-fi fan knows, the issue of Kakeru’s ability to turn back time has to be addressed because of all of the impossibilities of time travel.
Unfortunately (or maybe not, given the potential for disaster), this problem is discussed not in terms of parallel universes, but in general time “slippage” that affects only one portion of the town. The plot holes in this section are gaping, and only occasionally does the author even attempt to address them. The rest of the book follows the same drop in quality, taking what seems like an eternity to get to the conclusion we know is coming. Even the moments that are supposed to be emotionally effecting, such as the death of one major character, fall flat because Kakeru’s power guarantees that they won’t last. It’s no dramatic spoiler to say that time is reset again at the end of the book, just leaving the reader to wonder what the point of the entire series was.
In Summary:
Though I’m an unabashed fan of children’s and young adult literature, the Psycho Busters novels have been a struggle to get through from start to finish. With the slight uptick in quality found in the second volume, I was hoping that this one would manage to keep it together long enough for a decent ending. That could be part of the reason I found it to be so disappointing. The entire book is at once dull, thanks to the cast of flat, unsympathetic characters, and convoluted, which is due to the strange pseudo-science that usually starts out as something understandable but grows more and more incomprehensible as the characters try to explain it. The conclusion will surprise no one; it’s been obvious since Kakeru’s power was introduced. There’s nothing quite so expected and trite as hitting the reset button on an entire cast and then cutting off the narrative, especially when it just invites jokes about turning back time so that I didn’t have to sit through this volume.
Content Grade: D
Packaging Grade: C
Text/Translation Grade: C+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Del Rey Manga
Release Date: October 7th, 2008
MSRP: $9.95
