Many thanks to Yen Press for providing a review copy.
About the Mangaka
Not a lot of info available on either Totsuka Masahiro or Igarashi Aguri, though Igarashi does have a website though its all in japanese.
About the Manga
While this volume is greatly improved over the first, it’s still flat and lacking any sort of strength.
This volume wasn’t anywhere near as bad as the first one, in so much as I actually found myself chuckling over events that played out. However it’s still lacking any sort of personality.
The sad thing is that Igarashi is an excellent artist, which is proven this volume by the cover art and colour insert, which are amazing. However he doesn’t seem to follow through with it.
The volume does have some well drawn moments, but the overall standard of the volume is pretty low. Especially the guys who quite frankly a lot of the time feel as though they’[re a step up from stick men drawings.
Unfortunately the big failing of the volume, and I'm going to guess the series now, is that the characters themselves are flat and lack any sort of strong personality. Several of the characters, especially Tama, are pretty much just robots, and two dimensional ones at that.
Several of the other characters over compensate and end up being hyperactive and don’t really fit in with the story. This sadly effects both sides of the match, meaning I couldn’t get into liking either side.
The other failing is the story, which still feels really weak and lacks any sort of depth, which considering the characters doesn't surprise me. By the halfway mark I'd figured out most of what was going to happen this volume, which is depressing, I like some mystery.
I’m also concerned over how well the series is going to play out, since the initial fights are already done. The next volume will see the end of it all, within the first half. What else is there left to do, unless they’re just going to replay the fight again, the next time in an actual tournament.
However I will compliment it on making me laugh a few times, which is a lot more than the first volume. While I find the story to be as dull and uninteresting as the characters, it does manage to pull out a few moments of hilarity.
Yen Press did a good job, I guess. The translation flows as well as can be expected I guess. But to be honest it doesn't flow very well, though I'm more inclined to say that's the fault of Totsuka rather than Stephen Paul (Yen’s translator for this volume). There was no real guttering issues which always gets a thumbs up from me, and we get plenty of translation notes in the margins to help understand scenes
The fact that I was actually able to laugh at this volume saves it from the Junk Pile, just barely.
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