Without further ado...
Nabari no Ou volume 2
STORY
Not a whole lot happened in this volume, to be very honest. the only real plot progression happened at the very end. Before that, however, we were introduced to the chief of the Fuuma village, which also houses one of the scrolls Miharu needs to control the Shinra Banshou. Unfortunately the scroll was stolen by the Grey Wolves.
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| Chief Fuuma's a weird guy. |
The primary bit of this volume was mainly having the main cast regroup from their clash with the Grey Wolves and introducing a whole slew of new characters. We also have a small side conflict in the middle and learn a bit of back story on Raimei, which is mostly just a teaser for things to come. The final chapter contains a pretty major story element, but I won't spoil it for you here.
ART & PRESENTATION
The art hasn't changed much, but I can tell that the author is getting better the more she draws this series. The yaoi hands are still there, and some proportions still look a bit wonky, but it's still pleasant on the eyes and clear and concise. Below are a couple of standouts from this volume.
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| Bro... Do you even ninja? |
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| Yoite shade. |
As you can see, the art is improving, but it isn't quite fantastic yet.
Yen Press is still doing an excellent job with the presentation. The color page in the front is nice, and the spines line up nicely.
CHARACTERS
Our leads Miharu and Yoite get a bit more development this go round, as do Raimei and Kumohira-Sensei. Speaking of Yoite...
Yoite is a member of the Grey Wolves, and a master of the forbidden art Kira. Kira is, and I'm not joking here, the ability to kill, maim, and otherwise gruesomely dismember and kill people by pointing at them. At one point in volume 1, he legit rips a dude in half by pointing at him. It sounds stupid, but it's pretty scary, actually. He also has a puffy hat.
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| Not only is pointing rude, but it'll also rip others limb from limb. |
Next up is chief Kotarou Fuuma. I talked about him earlier. I'm not sure if I like his character yet. So far all he's done is make trouble for people and generally be an annoyance. We find out that he's quite the womanizer here (what a surprise).
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| Ladies... |
Last is Tojuro Hattori. He's a big TV personality, apparently (Miharu's mom has a big crush on him), but he's secretly the leader of the Grey Wolves. He doesn't really do a whole lot in this volume (along with the rest of the characters), but he'll probably be a big player later on.
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| Hattori unknowingly spawns 50 Shades type fantasies with middle aged housewives over all Japan. |
FINAL VERDICT
This series has a lot of potential, and it's easy to tell, especially with the plot point at the end of the volume, that that potential is about to burst forth. However, this volume didn't really capitalize on that potential. It wasn't bad, but it was mostly just necessary build-up.
+ Consistently improving art
+ Final chapter promises big things to come
- Takes it's sweet time getting to that chapter
- Lots of dialogue and build-up leads to some boredom when reading
- Fuuma is not doing anything except be a twerp at the moment
That's it for this volume. I'll give it a score of...
C - BORROW IT
I want to say buy it, since I can tell this will be a real winner later on, but except for the last chapter, this volume just isn't that compelling.
(I don't own Nabari no Ou. All rights go to the author, Yuhki Kamatani, and the licensing company, Yen Press).
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