Many thanks to Yen Press for providing a review copy
About the Mangaka
The story is written by Dall-Young Lim, with the art being drawn by Sung-Woo Park. Very little info is available on their other works, but they have worked on several other projects, Zero: The Beginning and UnballanceX2. Both of which are also licensed and being released.
About the Manga
HELL YES!!!! What a totally killer volume!! One of, if not the best volume I’ve read in this series so far. Everything a manga needs is in this volume.
Well, you already know I’m going to sing this series praises, I mean I’m a huge almost fanatical fan of the series. But this volume really does make my praise of this worth while.
Nekkid Kuro on the cover, and she just looks so damned cute on it, and the inside colour page is just as dreamy, with Excel and Steiner looking rather sassy with her sword hehe.
Art wise we get some really awesome panoramic scenes in this volume, mostly of Kuro’s home. Park is without a doubt am awesome artist, and in this volume we get to see his skills at his best.
Where this volume really got me though was the story. We finally get into the root cause of Kuro looking for her brother, and why she’s out to kill him. What I especially loved about this volume was that Lim doesn’t drop the information on us, rather he slowly unveils the history.
I really like this slow, but steady approach. I was expecting Kuro’s brother to be insanely evil from the outset, but he’s not. The way that he changes, and the causes of it, and the path he chooses to follow are really amazing, and Lim handles it really amazingly.
However it’s made all the more powerful by Park’s art, which is soft, beautiful and stunning initially. Finally ending up dark and sinister, and the scene with him and his mother is just mind blowing, followed up by the dark and sinister solo shot.
Lim and Park are without a doubt one of the best partnerships to hit either manga or manhwa.
However we don’t just get story development, we get some action in the form of Steiner and Excel’s battle, which I have to say was just awesome. I’m really loving how Park draws seals and stuff for his fight scenes.
The ending of that fight was totally out of the dark though, when I finished it my chin went straight through the floor and I now need more volumes just to find out what the hell is happening!!
The cliff-hanger ending was the perfect ending to the volume, and as you’d expect it’s involving Akane, who seems to have a knack for getting into weird situations.
The omake chapter this time is when Keita moved to Tokyo, and we once again get to see Akane’s stalker level go through the roof yet again. Though thankfully it’s not as bad as the last volume.
As always Yen Press did a stellar job with the release, a smooth and consistent translation that flows awesomely. And no guttering problems for me. But then my goddess Christine did the translation, so I never worry about that.
This series easily maintains it’s place on my Essential Read list, frankly it’s one of the best series I’ve ever read and think everyone should read it at least once.
Where to Buy
