Manga Review: B. Ichi Volume Three

[Jason]

Title: B. Ichi
Volume: Three
Author: Atsushi Ohkubo
Originally serialized in: Shonen Gangan (Square Enix)
Licensed by: Yen Press
Genre: Shonen


Volume three picks up with the cliffhanger through the eyes of Shotaro and Tool as they try to find Mana and rescue Yohei. Shotaro clashes for the first time with one of the Fear Factory’s evil robots, run by No Fix. The ‘king of spin’ is trying to kill Yohei’s friends just to make him suffer. Shotaro and Tool are forced to fall back and regroup and make up a plan, oddly requiring a change of clothing. Shotaro shows up, for some reason (remember I’ve said before this is an odd manga) in a school girl outfit.

Meanwhile, Mana’s unconscious body is dumped down the trash chute by two of the Fear Factory’s low level dokeshi who don’t have the heart to kill her. She meets up with her friends, takes Shotaro’s dress, leaving him for the rest of the volume in dog bone boxers. While all this is going on, No Fix is tormenting Yohei and we get glimpses into the man’s past where he keeps a rather dark secret. No Fix imprisons Yohei only to have the man’s friends rescue him. Yohei, however, isn’t too interested in being rescued, sunk down as he is in his depressive past.

They try to bring down Fear Factory, dividing up to do so. We get to see another side of Shotaro, a stronger side, as the injustices the Factory is inflicting gets him angry. The battles are interesting and wild and occasionally a little unbelievable (mostly in this case the things Mana can do with just hands and feet against metal robots). It ends on another cliffhanger in a three-pronged battle.

The art is distinctive, though occasionally in battle, it becomes a little messy. As I’ve noted before, this story is very odd with so many in-jokes and Japanese word play that I’m not sure it all translates well. The translators do give good notes and explain why they translated things the way they did, which is a help. Yen has finally learned how to handle the sound effects without cluttering up the art panels.

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