Manga Review: Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning Volumes Four-Six

[Jason]

Title: Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning
Volumes: Four-Six
Author: Kyo Shirodaira
Mangaka: Eita Mizuno
Genre: Shonen, Mystery
Originally Serialized in: Monthly Shonen Gangan
Published by: Yen Press
Price: $10.99/US

In Volume Four, Ayumu has seemingly been defeated by Rio and Kousuke, two of the Blade Children, and is in an instantaneous depression. Not content to let a boy she considers brilliant to be beaten by a trick (see volume three), the school newspaper reporter, Hiyono, finagles him a rematch. Rio is agreeable, hoping for another chance to humiliate Ayumu, not to mention Hiyono taped Rio confessing to murder last volume and Ayumu does escape with the tape.

Hiyono becomes the prisoner of the Blade Children but unlucky for her, Ayumu is in a downward spiral and completely off his game because he thinks he’ll never be as smart as his missing brother. If that weren't enough, Ayumu is dealing with the idea that his brother has betrayed his family and the police force he loved.

While Hiyono is slowly digging up information from the Blade Children, Ayumu seems almost immobilized by his self-doubts until he speaks to his sister-in-law. Ayumu has to rescue Hiyono and keep the tape from the Blade Children, all the while they have a bomb attached to him.

Volume Five picks up with Ayumu wired to explode. Things turn around once Ayumu gets his game back then everything rachets up a notch. However, it turns out that Ayumu isn’t the only one hunting the Blade Children. The Hunters are coming and first up is Kanon Hilbert, a Blade Child himself and a friend to Eyes, the de facto leader of the Blade Children. He doesn’t want to just arrest them but rather, eradicate them all. The bulk of this volume follows the Blade Children as they fight to survive.

Volume Six has Kanon taking down a major player for the Blade Children. Afterward, he moves into Ayumu’s school as a student, mostly because that’s where the other Blade Children attend. Kanon wants to recruit Ayumu to his side, at gun point if need be. The volume becomes mostly about these three questions: Will Ayumu help Kanon? Will Ayumu turn them all over to justice? Or will he find himself siding with the other Blade Children against Kanon?

The art remands consistent over the volumes, typical huge eyes and ambiguous physical ages but pretty enough, if a bit retro in style. As typical of Yen Press style, the sound effects are left intact along with phonetic pronunciation and English translations with them. There is a short translator note and a nice author’s note that does explain some of the unevenness of the earlier issues.

Reviewer: D.M. Evans
Proofed and Edited By: Jason Punda