Manga Review: Black Torch, Volume 2, by Tsuyoshi Takaki

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Shonen Jump (VIZ Media)

Release Date: November 2018

Volumes: 5.

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 3.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Ninja and animal lover Jiro Azuma’s life is changed forever when he finds himself in the middle of a war of ninjas vs. demons.

Jiro Azuma is descended from of a long line of shinobi, and he also can talk to animals. One day, he rescues a very unique black cat named Rago, a supernatural being, and is dragged into a secret supernatural war.

There’s a new squad at the Bureau of Espionage—code name: Black Torch. The squad, run by Shiba, consists of Jiro, Ichika and one more rookie named Reiji Kirihara. However, Reiji has no intent of working with a guy who fused together with a demon! Will this squad ever be able to work together?

Review:

 Now that Jiro has officially agreed to be part of the Black Torch squad, he gets to meet his new teammates. Mainly, Reiji, who he instantly dislikes. They get to fight it out, and they're pretty evenly matched.

We meet a couple of other mononoke in this volume. I'm intrigued by both of them—one bad, and one good. The good one gives the three a test; a hallucination/mental test that they have to get past to wake up. We get to learn a bit about Reiji and Ichika during this, as the test features something bothering them from their past. It looks like Jiro might have a tougher one, though.

I haven't read a good action shonen series in a while, like this one. I'm enjoying it. I like the banter, and I'm enjoying the characters; I'm even intrigued by where the plot is going. And the artwork is very nice.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!