Anticlimactic climax!

Creative Staff
Story/Art: Akira Itou
Translation: Satsuki and Shizuki Yamashita

What They Say
There is something that appears to set apart the elite card fighters from the rest. Beyond strong decks, skill, and passion may hide an innate force that grants a few the ability to “read the flow of the cards.” Those who have experienced this call it “PSY Qualia!” Three card fighters – Ren, Kai, and Aichi – will compete to measure the true strength of this mysterious ability. Is PSY Qualia useful for nothing more than power or are the ties fighters have with their cards key to this unique talent?

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As the volume opens, Kai and Ren spend way too long talking tough at one another. In the midst of this Kai learns that Aichi can use PSY Qualia and tells him to turn his back on Vanguard, but of course he can’t do that. Finally, when this showboating reaches its climax, a match between Ren and Kai kicks off. In the midst of all this, we get a flashback showing Ren’s backstory, though it’s not terribly in depth. The battle is an intense slugfest, and it looks like Kai is going to win at one point, but thanks to PSY Qualia allowing him to cheat and not waste a single move, the villain comes out on top.

Though he’s won against his rival, Ren’s perfectionist nature that was drilled into him since childhood won’t let him rest until he’s crushed Aichi as well. In the erupting battle of light and shadow, will our hero come out on top? Or will the more experienced PSY Qualia user prove too formidable a foe?

In Summary
With this volume, we’re granted a book that feels incredibly hollow. Most of the volume is spent on the two fights contained within, and yet there’s no real attempt to make them interesting. There’s no unique gimmick or anything to set them apart. Most of the focus is instead on the lame power of PSY Qualia, which is effectively just straight forward cheating wrapped in a fancy package. Add in a ton of talking that goes in circles, and you end up with a slog of a book, even if it is supposed to be “climactic.” Hopefully the series can still right itself, but for now that seems doubtful, as this volume is made up of nothing but the worst parts of card battling manga.

Content Grade: C-
Art Grade: B
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+

Age Rating: 10+
Released By: Vertical
Release Date: November 25th, 2014
MSRP: $10.95