A whole that’s less than some of its parts.
Creative Staff
Story: Kazuma Kamachi
Art: Kiyotaka Haimura
Translation: Andrew Prowse
What They Say
In the shadows of Academy City, the special team known only as Group is hard at work to solve yet another incident. The Level 5 esper Accelerator and the man who controls both supernatural and magic powers, Tsuchimikado, are investigating a case where their only clue is the word “dragon.” While they struggle to find a way to make progress, a member of Academy City’s board of directors bears a terrible grudge against them. Once again, Group finds themselves on the business end of a fearsome weapon!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With this volume, we return once again to focusing in on the special team Group and the former members of Item. Fortunately, though, this time around we don’t quite have the sprawl of all the other teams getting involved, plus it’s honestly primarily centered squarely on Accelerator and Hamazura in particular. Though even with all those mitigating factors, unfortunately, it still feels more like a pile of assorted story beats jumbled together, rather than a cohesive whole. And ultimately, what we’re given really is a mixed bag.
Out of the various bits of story, I would say that in the end, Hamazura’s the one who probably makes out best. Whether he’s getting chased by an attack helicopter, trying to pull off a daring but ill-planned rescue, or facing off against an insanely more powerful foe, it’s all handled pretty well and makes for an enjoyable read. But when the other random characters come into play, things definitely drift a bit worse. It’s really hard to get invested when Kinuhata faces off against the questionably named mercenary with a big gun, Stephanie Gorgeouspalace, as the latter tries to get revenge for Sunazara. And that goes doubly so when the big climax swerves into Unabara dealing with a foe from his past in a battle that feels just plain malnourished it’s so underdeveloped.
There’s still the other main lead, though, in the form of Accelerator. For the first part of the book, he’s just sort of wandering around beating folks up and doing his usual shtick, and that’s fine if not particularly impressive. Sadly, though, he also has the biggest stumbling block in the book, in that he gets the final climactic bit and… I’d frankly say it just plain doesn’t work. After all this buildup about tracking down the enigmatic “dragon,” the guy just sort of walks into the scene and says “yup, that’s me.” And then we get a “showdown” of this “dragon” nonchalantly saying Accelerator can kill him if he wishes and is able, while our hero throws himself at the being’s defenses. I get the idea is to present the readers with a character who’s so mysterious and powerful that he just doesn’t care, but as a scene, it’s a horrible anticlimax that just flows super poorly, and that’s a shame.
In Summary
This volume is very much the definition of a mixed bag, and a poorly stitched together one at that, as it comes across more as a pile of roughly tied together stories of vastly varying quality. At times, that gives us some very strong bits that are up there with the better moments in the series, with Hamazura, in particular, having some great scenes. But on the other hand, there’s a lot of the book that feels mediocre at best, and it has what may well be the most poorly handled climax of any entry in the series yet. It’s a real shame as there absolutely are good bits of writing throughout, and perhaps with some more focus, this volume could’ve been something special… But as is, it balances out to another middling read.
Content Grade: B-
Art Grade: N/A
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: June 18th, 2019
MSRP: $14.00
