The Black Dual Swordsman
Creative Staff
Story: Reki Kawahara
Art: Hima
Translation: Jocelyne Allen
What they say
PREPARE FOR A FULL DIVE!
For the sake of opposing the White Legion, Oscillatory Universe, a meeting between the Black and Green Legions has been called. But any longtime player of Brain Burst knows that no meeting is complete without a fight! With negotiations underway and the battle set to begin, everything seems to be progressing smoothly… until a mysterious jet-black avatar falls from the sky and lands between the two parties! The newcomer carries two swords-each as black as his armor—and reveals a piece of information that raises the stakes of the match exponentially! Now it’s all or nothing in the Battle Royale between Nega Nebulus and Great Wall. But these two Legions will have more than just their powerful opponents to worry about because the arena for this high-stakes battle is the newly implemented Space stage!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I remember when I first began reading Accel World. Perhaps it was because of my past as someone who’d been bullied, but Haryuki as a character sort of resonated with me. A young boy being bullied by his peers, he ends up being rescued by a beautiful upperclassman who fell in love with him, and he was given the key to accelerate, a program called Brain Burst that let him become more than what he was. It was a fantastical story that had an odd combination of realism and escapism.
I have enjoyed reading each volume, but I have found that recently, my enjoyment has been waning.
The first and most obvious reason is because of how the story is being dragged out, and I don’t mean Reki Kawahara is adding a lot of excess content. I don’t think I would mind if he had more content. The problem is his volumes are just getting shorter. Volume 18 was only 171 pages long. Volume 1 was 202 pages long. As if the decrease in content wasn’t bad enough, the story is being padded with filler chapters at the end of the volume that has nothing to do with the story. This particular volume’s filler had to do with Pard. While it was interesting, I have to be honest and admit I didn’t care—not because Pard isn’t an interesting character. I just want to read the main story and feel like the series is being purposefully dragged out for no reason.
What makes this worse is that I feel like a lot of good potential for content was cut from the main story. A great example is after the battle against Green Legion, Haruyuki and the rest of Nega Nebulus meet up with the three members of Petit Paquet—except we never see it. What we see is a small interlude with Shihoko Nago, Yume Yuruki, and Satomi Mito—the members of Petit Paquet—as they discuss their upcoming meeting with Nega Nebulus. The actual meeting itself was cut. Why? It honestly doesn’t make sense to me to cut out what could have been a great moment for Haruyuki and the others to bond with their newest members, but add content about Pard that doesn’t have anything to do with the main story.
While the last half of this volume seems to bounce from idea to idea, the first four volumes are dedicated to the match between Nega Nebulus and Great Wall. This is what the description was primarily talking about. I think the battle might be the most interesting aspect of this volume. Reki Kawahara is still a great writer who knows how to create excellent battle scenes with characters that utilize a wide array of abilities, from Ash Roller’s motorcycle to Lignum Vitae’s strange ability to transform into a tree that can replenish a person’s Special Attack Guage through photosynthesis.
The battle ends in Nega Nebulus’ victory, and the story jumps several times at this point. There’s the scene where the members of Petit Paquet are talking about their upcoming meet and greet with Nega Nebulus in the real, Haryuki and Utai battling against Cobalt Blade and Manganese Blade before getting them to help with the plan to find proof that Oscillatory Universe and the Acceleration Research Society are the same, and then Haruyuki and Fuko travel past Suzaku’s bridge and enter the Imperial Palace again, where the volume cuts out just as they learn that Trilead’s—who we were introduced to back in volume 11 or 12—parent is Graphite Edge, a former member of the Element Four of Nega Nebulus.
In Summary
While the writing remains solid, the shortening of each volume makes me feel like the series is being dragged on for the sake of milking a cash cow. It does not help that this volume felt somewhat disjointed as we traveled from scene to scene without anything happening. A lot of scenes felt half-finished, such as the one where Utai and Haruyuki meet with Cobalt Blade and Manganese Blade in real life. I’m not sure how popular this series is in Japan (I know Reki’s other series, Sword Art Online, is exceedingly popular), but I do know that when something is popular, publishers will try to extend a series for as long as possible. This is an issue with American entertainment too. Some series just need to have an end, and I think Reki Kawahara should try to end this one soon before the series becomes too dull.
Content Grade: C
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: June 18, 2019
MSRP: $13.99
