Many thanks to Yen Press for providing a review copy of this volume

About the Mangaka

Once again, sadly, I couldn’t find anything on either SeungHee Han, nor on JinSeok Jeon. If you have any info, please use the contact form and let me know.

About the Manga

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I want to say I liked this volume, but cant do so really. I found it made me a bit uncomfortable.

Art wise I still find it a bit off putting, something about it just feels wrong. However at the same time it also seems to fit fairly well with the series.

However I didn’t like the art in the ‘story’ this time. It just doesn’t fit right. I’m also finding that some of the characters no longer really look right. I keep getting the impression that SeungHee is trying to mix modern elements with the classical, and it’s not working well for me.

However the biggest rub for me this volume was the story. Yes I know it is a story and not be taken literally, but as it’s something that has been in the news a great deal it really made me uncomfortable.

In the past volume the stories have all been fables and stuff, this time however JinSeok chose to move to the modern day, more notable I’m guessing the invasion of Iraq or Afghanistan. From the story it’s covering the fight against the Taliban.

I didn’t like how it portrayed the allied forces as gun toting racists simply out to get off killing arabs. Or that they simply open fire on anything or anyone without looking first. And I especially found Bin Laden’s appearance to be in bad taste.

I understood the moral of the story, and in another setting it would have been a good story. However given the current situation, I feel it was in bad taste.

The actual meat of the story, the Tower of Babel, is always a good story when it’s used right. And I think if JinSeok had used either the original setting, or used another historical  setting, it would have been great.

I did like the relationship between Yusuf and Joseph, and felt that it was a good way of telling the story. But as I said, the Taliban/suicide bomber aspect turned me off.

The main story had some interesting twists this volume, and I have to admit that even despite my dislike of this particular volume, I’m still interested in the series as a whole.

Yen Press did a decent job all things considered, a good and smooth translation, with no guttering issues.

This series is on my Essential Read list, but truthfully I’m borderline dropping it from the list. This isn’t due to this volume alone, but rather a cumulative effect from the previous volumes, and this volume as well. Volume eight will probably be the deciding factor I think.

Where to Buy

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