The Asterisk War Vol 5
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!
Ayato Amagiri, the chosen wielder of the Ser-Veresta, has made it into the Phoenix tournament with his tag-team partner, Julis. As they fight their way through the preliminaries, trouble is lurking in the shadows...and heading straight for Ayato!
The Phoenix tournament beeeegiiiiiiiinnnnnnssss! *crowd roars* Ayato and Julis spend most of this volume kicking all kinds of ass and it's awesome. This volume has such a good pace to it, we get plenty of action and some brilliant character work. There's a nice balance between the two. I feel like this volume was building character relationships and setting up some plot threads for the future more than anything, which has piqued my interest.
We get two new characters this volume, Irene and her sister Priscilla. They're fighting in the tournament too and it's all a bit vampire-y. Irene appears to want something from Ayato, and when we find out the motive behind it all...it provides another source of intrigue for coming volumes. I'm curious to see if the sisters will pop up again, they where a lot of fun and didn't hold back when it came to the fight.
Along with all the excitement of the tournament, Toudou and Sasamiya are trying to deepen their rapport ahead of their own battle! They need to improve their team work which means they need to bond a little bit! We get a nice look at the dynamic between the two of them which I'm hoping means we'll get to see them battling next volume!
There's some really great clues in this volume about Ayato's sister, plus whatever threat a certain character thinks Ayato is. I'm intrigued to see what the link is between the two! His Lux could prove interesting, because theirs obviously a secret to it and I want to know NOW! All of that, plus the information Irene revealed has me super excited for the next volume, and hopefully some more clues!
Volume Five of The Asterisk War moves us forward both plot-wise and character-wise, as well as sowing the seeds of intrigue for further volumes and I'm excited to get some more clues and see how it all unfolds!
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The Asterisk War Vol 4
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!
Kirin Toudou is the top-ranked student at Seidoukan Academy despite her young age, but there's one enemy she cannot face--her controlling, abusive uncle! After witnessing the man's cruelty toward his niece, Ayato steps in to help, but he soon finds himself facing her in a duel! With the Festa just around the corner, can he really afford to reveal his dueling style in front of the whole school, or will he have to accept defeat?
Okaaayyy I'm getting more and more excited for the Festa with each volume, and this definitely ramps that up. I'm so excited to see everyone in action and learn more about everyone and I'm getting so impatient like "come ooooon is it time for the Festa yet?!"
In this volume we meet Kirin and her douchebag uncle. Kirin is going to be an interesting new addition to the group as she's the top ranked fighter in the school. I'm liking how we're meeting Festa contestants in each volume, and it's piquing your curiosity about them and what exactly they can really do. It's going to be interesting to see Kirin training with the others. I actually really liked her.
This volume starts straight off with some action and intrigue and you know...some tension. I liked the little time skip forward and then backward, it kept it fresh. We learn more about the world of the manga and how things work in every day life not just at the Academy, which made for interesting reading.
There's plenty of action in this fast paced volume, we get to see some duelling and some monster fighting. Which also goes a long way to helping us get to know Kirin. We also see certain members of another Academy who appear to be up to no good, which this volume made pretty clear actually. I'm curious as to what their motive is, if it's anything other than the usual rivalry and such. This volume has made me more intrigued by Claudia and Ayato in particular, I'm not going to lie, I'm hoping to learn more about them in upcoming volumes.
Volume 4 is another fast paced, action packed offering from this series, and it provides plenty of intrigue too with an ending that makes you impatient for the next volume. It also makes it pretty clear that there's some form of plot and/or treachery afoot from a certain party. We get more and more information about the world and the characters with each volume but there's still more to find out, as we discover with Claudia and Ayato. Volume 4 also see's the introduction of a new character to the team who I think is going to be an interesting addition. Bring on the Festa!
The Asterisk War Vol 3
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy!
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!
The traitor revealed!
The one behind the recent "accidents" has finally been unmasked--but Julis alone isn't strong enough to beat him! It'll take a team of unlikely allies to bring this fiend to justice. Those in the shadows know this is only the first of many threats to come. Things will heat up even more as the Festa draws near...!
I'm actually really liking this manga more and more, the more volumes I read! I love the bright and colourful pages that grace the beginning of each volume....I'm a sucker for bright colours! (That's totally why I ended up watching Nanbaka, not going to lie). The little sketches give me life, they're so cute! And the plot is moving at a nice pace, and in this volume we get a new character! You can see her right there on the cover, Kirin Toudou. I'm curious about her. We meet her for like a minute and then she runs off, but she's on the cover of this volume so I'm assuming/hoping that means we're going to see her again because I'm definitely intrigued!
Also in this volume, as you can tell from the synopsis, the mystery is solved! We have our culprit and it's not at all who I was expecting! Although as expected, said culprit was working with one of the other academies, which makes the ending of the book all the more intriguing as I wouldn't be trusting Ernesta and Camilla all that much. I'm guessing Claudia's going with the 'friends close, enemies closer' way of life.
Speaking of Claudia, we totally get to see her in action this volume, and learn about the shadowy organisation Shadowstar. I actually didn't mean to pun...my fingers typed before my brain caught up! I'm intrigued by what and who they are, and their role in everything, and I'm assuming we'll get to see more of them in the future! It's another part of the world of the book that's been uncovered! We also get to venture in to the world a smidge more in this volume too!
Guys....now...I'm actually starting to quite like Lester. He really surprised me this volume, and he's kinda becoming part of our little group! I'm excited to get to know him better and see more of his power. Speaking of surprises, Eishirou is more than he seems too. I'm not going to lie...I'd kind of dismissed him a little bit in the other volumes, which was probably the point, but I'm eager to know what the fudge he's up to!
The thing we've all been expecting to happen finally happens and Julis finally takes on Ayato as a partner as they enter training for the Festa. I'm getting quite excited for the Festa, I love competitions like this in manga, when we get to see a tonne of new characters and everyones power/magic! We also got a sneak peek at some potential opponents in the Festa which has me even more excited! Although I'm totally rooting for Julis, how could you not after that backstory!?
I have to say, at the end of this volume, Saya's called out as being the daughter of the professor, and we get a close up of her and she has kind of a strange look on her face....I'm intrigued to see what that's all about in the next volume, and I'm hoping we might get some backstory on her and her family!
All in all, volume 3 brings one arc to a swift close while sprinkling some intrigue around, and is starting to gear up for another and I'm assuming bigger, arc...the Festa! Which I'm really excited for, like I've said many, many times! I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm actually finding this to be a lot of fun!
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