Manga Review: Arata: The Legend, Volume 3, by Yuu Watase

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: VIZ Media (Shonen Sunday)

Volumes: 13+

Goodreads Synopsis:

Hinohara manages to escape his captors, and now he must make his way back to the Amawakuni capital. In order to get there, however, he has to first cross the region ruled by the treacherous Kannagi!

Review:

So, the volume started by showing us Arata getting ready and then going to school. He's still confused by things, which is still awesome. He doesn't know a lot of things, and he doesn't know what's going on, and it's great. And he even, a little, beats up the jerks that were mean to Hinohara. It's fantastic, and I want more. Seeing that made me all excited, but it was just a trick. Because we get one chapter of him (and these are short chapters), before it goes back to Hinohara. Which is uncool. (Also, it's mentioned that the people just see them as the person who originally lived there. Is that how it actually works? Because it still kind of bothers me, but that's the best explanation I can come up with.)

The next chapter one continues with Hinohara (I keep wanting to call him Arata, but I have to differentiate them somehow). He's traveling with Kotoha, Ginchi, and Kanate. Their ships quickly breaks apart, though, and they come to an island. Where they meet some traveling villagers, which includes Ginchi's mother, who he was separated from when he was younger. Kanate, at least I first thought, felt that he shouldn't stay with Ginchi anymore, and so he forces them to separate. But we find out that he did it more because he was part of the gang that killed Ginchi's father, and that's part of the reason he's been doing all those things for him. This is all kinds of sad, and I hope that they come upon each other again, because they shouldn't be apart.

And then they travel some more, and some stuff happens, before they meet Ohika, who is one of Kannagi's zokusho, meaning he's a hayagami wielder below him. This seems bad, but he's a very nice guys. He takes them in after Hinohara passes out, and we meet Honi, a girl who works for him, and his wife who's with child. There's a bit of this where some explanations are given, like how everything works, and the whole submitting/entrusting thing that happened with Tsutsuga, which are nice, and we see Kannagi is traveling around, and he's going to places only to find everyone dead. And there are some fun parts between all of the characters.

But then a new Shinsho comes, Akachi, who we find out has been making everyone under Kannagi submit to him, and he does so to Ohika as well. (And when someone submits, and I believe entrusts as well, they are giving their hayagami and soul to them, and dying in the process. It's uncool.) And then he proceeds to kill everyone else in the area. That's when Kannagi shows up, outraged, and they fight. He's almost made to submit after he gets his hayagami taken away (which I'm now unsure if that would be a good or bad thing, because apparently he has some motive we're unaware of for doing all this. But it's still bad, right?), but Hinohara comes out and helps him. There's some more fighting, before they are interrupted by some boulders or something falling. (Some of the fighting scenes are kind of confusing, honestly. There's lots of swirling things and stuff, and sometimes I wasn't totally sure what was happening until it had ended.) Akachi disappears. Hinohara yells at Kannagi, and states that he doesn't care about being king and taking the Princess' place, but he's going to fight. And Honi, who liked Ohika and his family a lot, mourns with Kannagi over them a bit.

Then in the second-to-last chapter, Hinohara is wondering what to do with himself after all of this has happened. A guy that he met at Gatoya appears, who's apparently a teacher for the Hime clan, talks to him and gives some advice. And the name of his weapon is revealed, making it activate completely. We also find out that his weapon is apparently the first, and the one that spawned the others, and it has apparently been waiting forever for another wielder. Everyone on the island sees the light, 'cause it's huge, and Kannagi understands what it means, but he doesn't do anything just yet.

In the last part, Hinohara decides that he's going to leave them all behind, because he doesn't want them to get hurt, so he sneaks off while they're all 'asleep'. (Usually this kind of plot point bothers me, and it still kind of does, but it makes a little sense with his problems, and since it's resolved quickly, I didn't mind too much.) Only Honi hears him go, and she tells Kotoha when she wakes, who goes after him. And we see that Kanate is awake as well. Kotoha catches up to him easily, and he tells her what he was doing, but then she kisses him, and kind of confesses to him. But then Kanate comes up and interrupts them. This was actually a little cute. It doesn't show, so I'm wondering if Honi followed them? I wouldn't think they would leave her behind. And it ends by us seeing Kannagi state that he's going to get the hayagami from Hinohara.

Oh, and there's the little strips of Arata in present time, this one including him wanting muru, an animal we were introduced to in his original time that apparently resembles polar bears, which I am still loving and want more of.

This series is actually getting better the more I read, which is good. Hinohara is getting better and making me like him more, and I already like Kotoha and Kanate. I want more of Arata, but I know that he isn't the main character. I also couldn't help but take notice of the clothes in this volume. All of their outfits, including Kotoha and Ohika's, are very detailed and just neat to look at. And several of the characters just look really cool, like Kanate and Akachi, for example, and all the hayagami are also different and well done.
So, I am kind of looking forward to reading the next one, and a review will probably be coming up, since I already have it.