Manga Review: Arata: The Legend, Volume 2, by Yuu Watase

Rating (Out of 5): 3

Publisher: VIZ Media (Shonen Sunday)

Volumes: 13+

Goodreads Synopsis:

Framed for the assassination of Princess Kikuri, Hinohara is sent to prison island Gatoya, where the fearsome warden Tsutsuga awaits him. Will Hinohara be able to awaken his Hayagami in time to escape?

Review:

This, also, is just alright. It's not any worse than the last one, but it's not particularly better.

Hinohara and Kotoha are just arriving in Gatoya, and most of the volume is set and focuses on it. They're all criminals, of some kind, and they have a dynamic and are afraid of Tsutsuga, the person who runs the place and twice every day captures a person, and they've never seen him or see the person taken again. Apparently he also has a Hayagami, so Hinohara decides that he has to find him.

Hinohara and Kotoha get separated near the beginning, and Kotoha ends up with these two boys that Hinohara clashed with, Ginchi and Kanate who are pretty cool, while Hinohara looks for her and meets some other neat people along the way.

Hinohara finally finds them, and then they get taken by Tsutsuga. Hinohara decides to go after them, and follows the tube things that sucks them in, all the way to the fight scene. Where we find out that Tsutsuga makes the two people he captures fight to the death, claiming that he's going to set the living one free, only to kill that one as well. Ginchi and Kanate are set against each other, which is completely terrible since they're like brothers, and have grown closer since they're the only people they really have now. It's a sad scene, and I don't really agree with what they decide. And then Hinohara makes a big scene and is kind to Tsutsuga, who has the same kind of thoughts towards people that Hinohara is currently in the making of (with the not trusting them, and everyone is completely terrible and all that, only with years worth of building), so this is a big step for him. He's reconsidering his feelings, and it's a big dramatic scene, which I guess is kind of nice. And then he gets Tsutsuga's Hayagami, or it merges with Hinohara's, or something? I'm a little confused with how that worked. But it was nice, I guess. Also, the island of Gatoya goes back to how it originally looked before all of this corruption, I guess, and it's looks rather nice.

And Kannagi is just arriving at Gatoya for Hinohara, finding what is going on absurd, while Hinohara is running away in Ginchi and Kanate's newly released ship, heading to the Princess.

So this is mostly just alright. I'm not really feeling it, but I'm not particularly minding it, either. I like Ginchi and Kanate, though. And Kotoha, and am interested in her and Arata and Hinohara's relationship, as she serves him and I'm wondering how that's going to develop. Hinohara is getting better, I guess.

But the volume ended with Arata being woken up with the alarm, having to go to school. I hope that means that he's going to be the main focus of the next book, since I already have it and hope that I like him more. And I really hope that some things happen between him and the people that were bullying Hinohara. I wouldn't mind a big scene between them, as some justice would be nice. If not, then there better be a good reason.

Oh, also. I enjoyed the bits at the end like in the last volume, with Arata and technology. Those are just really funny to me.