Review - Nabari no Ou Volume 8

I'm back! Not that it really matters to a whole lot of people, but I'm back nonetheless. I apologize in advance if this review seems less in-depth than the previous ones. To do the story section of my review I usually rely heavily on the "story so far" segment at the beginning of the next volume. Well, volume 9 doesn't have one of those. I'll just have to wing it.

STORY

Honestly, this was another volume where not a whole lot happened. We started out with some Chief Fuuma creepiness. Thankfully it was relatively short. Kotarou Fuuma is still what appears to be the only weak link in the story. He just doesn't do anything.

Besides that, Kouichi spills his secret to Tobari-Sensei and Raimei, we find out that Tobari-Sensei knows some things of Miharu's childhood and how he came to possess the Shinra Banshou, and Yukimi continues to act all fatherly towards Miharu and Yoite. Oh, and the Gau bit! Hurray! The final bit of the volume shows that Chief Hattori's secretary lady is having some suspicious activities with members of the Kasa.

If I'm correct, this arc will deal heavily with Yoite's past, and I don't think it's all going to be sunshine and rainbows by the end.

ART & PRESENTATION

Three cheers for Yuhki Kamatani! Her art makes a not-very-interesting volume very engaging. There isn't a whole ton of standout art because of the somewhat dull proceedings story-wise, but it's still very nice to look at. My favorite panel is below.

*cries*

Yen Press' presentation is lovely as usual. My only complaint is that my copy's first page is printed to high, and the very tops of the words in the first sentence are off the page. No biggie, though.

CHARACTERS

There honestly isn't much to say here that hasn't already been said. The characters are all deep and well thought out. We get a few new characters near the end with the introduction of the Kasa, but their names are never revealed, so I'll have to go over them at a later date.

It looks like Tobari-Sensei will be departing the story for a little while as he goes off on his secret mission. I'm sort of okay with this, since Tobari-Sensei has only been holding people back in the recent volumes. Don't get me wrong, he's a well written character, he just seems to do more harm than good.

Also, Fuuma's still annoying. All he does is dick around and laugh maniacally. Here's hoping he actually becomes a player in the end.

FINAL VERDICT

This wasn't the best volume of Nabari, but certainly not the worst. It was predominantly setup, but it was still engaging thanks to the deep characters and fantastic art. Plus/minus below!

+ Great characterization
+ Gorgeous art
+ Gau! (I seem to have a man crush on Gau...)

- Sort of slow
- Fuuma still grates, even when he barely appears

B- - BUY IT

Not the best, but certainly worth buying to keep this series going.

(I don't own Nabari no Ou. All rights go to the author, Yuhki Kamatani, and the licensing company, Yen Press).