Hansen faces off against his beloved brother; Noh-A has to decide between saving her resurrected father and betraying Jack; and Avid has to defeat Jack in a rematch if he hopes to save his beloved in this emotion and blood filled explosive volume.
Creative Staff
Art & Story: JinHo Ko
Translation/Adaptation: JiEun Park
What They Say
With his friends in danger, Hansen puts memories of the past behind him and squares off against his brother. Though long-dead, Der Freischütz is still a gunman to be reckoned with, but Hansen has a secret weapon in store that could turn the tables on the deadly sharpshooter. As Hansen delivers his final blow, Jack decides he’s had enough of sitting on the sidelines and does what Jack Frost does best. But victory is short-lived as the head of the East District moves his final pawns into place! What does the mastermind behind this attack have in store?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As much as I like some of the character designs and battle scenes in this series, the panel layout just grates on my nerves. Generally, the layout is fine and the fight scenes are dynamic (if a bit messy), but the scene transitions can be too jarring. Many times I find myself flipping back a page to figure out if there was a character in the scene I wasn’t aware of or if the scene had actually transitioned to another place and part of the story. Many books have this happen from time to time, but this author seems to have a bigger problem with it, especially the complete repeating of dialogue from chapter to chapter. The chapter transitions are JinHo’s weakest link in his technique.
This volume begins with Hansen still embroiled in a life or death battle against his resurrected brother, something Hansen would do anything to avoid. It is a great story and really made me feel for Hansen as he struggles between defending his companions and letting his brother kill him. It is Hansen’s fault his brother was killed in the first place, so he’s having a difficult time putting his all into this battle. Not to mention the fact his brother is better than him.
The Puppet Master, Ethan, behind resurrecting Hansen’s brother isn’t done there. He wants Noh-A for himself, so he throws her resurrected father into the mix. Ethan is a serious bastard. I can’t fault Noh-A for agreeing to go with Ethan after he tortures her father in front of her. Sure her dad died already, but can anyone turn their back on a loved one in that situation, as they are forced to endure excruciating torture? Hitting characters like Noh-A and Hansen where it emotionally hurts the most is a great angle in the story and does a good job of creating reader attachment to the characters.
The story transitions to the South District where the reader is exposed to the main force against Jack and the North District. Siegfried leads the South District, and he is devilishly devious. After sending his own henchmen on failed missions, he pits Avid in another battle against Jack by taking the only thing important to him. Avid and Siegfried have a distinct hatred for each other after Siegfried betrayed their friendship long ago and left Avid for dead. Avid is still in bad shape since his last fight with Jack, and he knows he has no hope for victory, but Siegfried has kidnapped the only person special to Avid. Considering Jack’s apparent inability to be defeated by anyone (a flaw in this story), I don’t think Avid is going to fair too well. And what about Noh-A? Will her father even be allowed to live now that she has submitted to the North District?
In Summary
Most series fall into three categories for me; series I love, series I like, and series I can’t stand. Jack Frost is one of the few series I’ve spent time with that fall into a fourth category; I want to like it but the author makes it difficult. I like the mystery behind Jack and Helmina, and I really enjoyed the character development for Noh-A and Hansen over the last few volumes. However, the story struggles with where it wants to go and Jack is too strong for there ever to be any real sense of danger. I think Jack needed a battle in the first three volumes that showed he wasn’t always going to be invincible against all his opponents.
Beyond my complaints, I have grown to really like Noh-A and Hansen. They have both had some tough life experiences, and Hansen at least is trying to make up for his past failures. This part of the story, and my general fanboy infatuation with the witch Helmina, keeps me coming back for more. I just never know if the next volume is going to push me away forever or put this into the “series I like” category.
Content Grade: C+
Art Grade: B-
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: April 26th, 2011
MSRP: $11.99
1 thought on “Jack Frost Vol. #05 Manga Review”