About the Manga

Fujisawa Tohru is better known for his more famous work, Great Teacher Onizuka. Which has been licensed and released and enjoyed outings as anime. As well as the Rose Hip series, also licensed and fully released.

About the Manga

03

Although technically the third volume of the TOKKO series, I consider it a separate volume and story in it’s own right. As it only shares the core story (Machida Heights, Demons) in common.

I love Phantom Hunter, in a lot of ways more than the original story. Despite how short it is Tohru actually delivers a lot of information, action, and drama.

It’s a lot more violent than it’s predecessors, almost to being overly so. This is one of Tohru’s skills, knowing just how much violence to put into a volume so as it goes right to the edge, but never over it.

This volume also has a lot more of what I suppose could be called humour. While not out and out jokes, they are lines that are used to relieve the dark atmosphere that would otherwise smother the series.

You don’t really need to have read the previous TOKKO volumes (though they help) as it’s really totally unrelated. The only recurring character is Kunikida, who makes a brief cameo appearance. Other than that it’s a completely new cast and story.

Have to admit I like this story a lot more as well, it’s easier to accept a sibling team over the mish mash of one in Devils Awaken. I was also impressed with the way he introduced new elements to make it more interesting. the twists he introduce are rather novel, especially the way he uses them as well.

Art wise it’s the same as Devils Awaken, though I have to admit I don’t like Itto’s design, something about him just looks weird to me. Also I felt Mayu had to many similarities to Saya, and Rokujo. It would have been better if she had been made more distinct as an individual.

While reading the previous two volumes is advisable, it’s not necessary, as the story pretty much gives you all the info you need as you go along. There’s also an omake chapter at the end that goes back to the beginning, and gives you the info on what the core story is about.

Tokyopop once again made a hash of the bleaching, which once again leaves the colour pages looking weird, and a bit bad. Again we got the rewrites, but to be honest I didn’t have a problem with them this time. Where as the ones in Devils Awaken were really bad and didn’t make sense, this time they were palatable. Though I will admit to not liking them, and still feel they were pointless.

The other thing I noticed was that the cover was weak, the original cover was vibrant and glowing. Where as the Tokyopop version is dull, flat and a disappointment.

Where to Buy

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