Battle of Tokyo - Volume 4 (Review and Extra)
EXTRA
These are things that I think are worth mentioning that I couldn't include in the summary
Chapter 0
-The poem Kagura reads from the Book of Chaos Volume two is as follows:
Individuals wear greed, what that person wants representing each individuality;
The power of chaos is born of greed, polished by individual will;
There are various types of power that can be created this way;
For those who want to create a new era, the power of duplication dwells;
For those who want to protect others; the power of protection dwells;
For those who want to change the world; the power of conversion dwells;
For those who want to explore the reason of the world; the power of analysis dwells;
Those with the same individuality are attracted by each other’s attraction, and band together naturally;
But those who have different individualities, collide without waiting for understanding;
Fighting is their destiny; the threads are entwined and finally consolidate/aggregate in one place;
The rims overlap in the city of the desert;
On the night of the festival when the stars flow…
-The poem clearly refers to the four teams with the same goal and their clashes, as well as foreshadows the confrontation that will happen at the Astro Park
Chapter 1
-顔役 Kaoyaku. Kao means ‘face, features, look’ Yaku means ‘role, position, battle, campaign, battle’ Kagura calls King this earlier in the chapter before his identity is revealed.
-King (as CEO) runs things from behind the scenes and only sends instructions via e-mail to the management team.
-The Astro9 could not figure out the part about the power of duplication since they have not encountered the Mad Jesters yet but eventually understand after King shows them the mirror
- After the storm, a citizen ID was created for people in order to ensure food, shelter and other necessities. However, people with criminal records, suspicious backgrounds or relatives and so on were not given these. Most of them ended up in Astro Park or Ikebukuro.
Chapter 2
-Flory used to be a freelance courier in the underworld. This was where he developed his scanning skills.
-X was trained by his grandfather in weaponry. However, after he was murdered, X became a fugitive after killing the culprits and has been in the run with Flory.
-Libra used to be part of the police force but left when they were merged with the Blue Shields.
-Skeet was raised and trained by a mafia group but ran away because he wanted to be free.
-Future mentions that he was supposed to be the next 'King' of Astro Park. King is actually his father.
-Claude's father was the person who made the recordings in the temple. The gold disk he used is called an 'Eternal Disk'.
-The wall with the Lion motif on the wall was created by a skill user. It can read minds. When Claude tried to open it the first time, he couldn't. But as soon as he left the Blue Shields, it opened for him.
Chapter 2.5
-According to Lupus’ investigations, Madame is a widow whose husband died after the IUS storm. She is known as ‘Bloody Madame’ by people because of the repercussions people suffer for opposing or getting in her way.
-Rico is also an orphan like Makina. As ‘government-raised’ children, they have access to copy tech for their food, clothing, cosmetics, games and censored cinema, but they don’t have any personal money of their own. They are required to work for the government after they finish school.
-The silver weapons (bullets, powder e.t.c) are being made by some merchants.
Chapter 3
-Smash can perform simple surgeries because of his knowledge of the human body. He is the one who often does medicals for the Phantom Thieves
-Zero used to be an enemy of the Mad Jesters before officially becoming a member
-The only person who has ever beaten Zero is Smash, with Bailey following closely (since he eventually lost)
-The Mad Jesters figure out that the sealed basement of the Castle Tower Building houses a lot of final facts including the ones they seek specially.
Chapter 4
-Sarutobi used to work for Kisaragi's wealthy family. The two of them grew up together. When Kisaragi decided to leave and join the bouncers, he followed him.
-Skeet has a Military Physical Enhancement device in his body, similar to the mechanized body of Zero.
-Each member of the Rowdy Shogun have specialized fighting skills. For example, Bailey uses kick boxing, Lucas uses Chinese Martial Arts, Kisaragi using Aikido and so on. Lupus however, uses a combination of all their fighting skills making him an all-rounder.
-Sherlock can also use his friends' skills. It is unknown whether he can copy intangible things like Parte.
Chapter 5
-The spell Kane chants is:
The words we spin are spells,
The dancing body is a circle of magic
To access the truth of the world
And reach true magic…
-Kane lost his lover and his family in the IUS storm. He was found wandering around by the Grandmaster who was afraid that he might kill himself too.
There are lots more of this but I can't even begin to write them down 😂😅
REVIEW
First things first, I wasn't expecting things to progress this fast! I was expecting more conflicts and fights (well we still got those) but I didn't expect the teams to band together so soon.
A couple of my questions got answered too. Like why Marduk has this killing instinct (he's a former assassin) and Lupus' obsession with Sherlock (he low-key admires him despite all his big talk 😏).
And we also got to know more about the Jiggy Boyz's past. I didn't see Claude being a Blue Shield at all. And it never occured to me that Kisaragi and Future would have crossed paths in their previous lives (such a small world).
Now we know that Claude's father and the Grandmaster were in the same team. I also suspect that Sherlock's father might have been among them. I use 'might' here because in the previous volume, Sherlock mentions that his father knew about only one book. If he was part of the team, he should have known there were two books of chaos right? But then again, we don't know if the Grandmaster knew there were two books too. Maybe Claude's father hid that from his team?
Can I also mention how much I hate Captain Inui? That guy is such a smarmy, twisted, evil 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 I hope he dies a very painful death when the time comes. From his point of view, we have an idea where he's getting the weapons from. Now, we're not told who they are, but (Spoilers! Spoilers! Spoilers!) I can bet that they're Psychic Fever's BOT counter parts - Dung Beat Posse (I have no idea who came up with this weird name 😂😂😂😂)
I can't remember where I read it, but I did read it somewhere that they're weapon merchants and they would appear in the book (this was before I read volume 4)
Some of the highlights of the novel for me include:
-Sherlock and Lupus fighting on the roof of the Castle Tower. It was so obvious that the two of them like and respect each other. I also like the fact that it took Lupus all his strength to defeat Sherlock (and vice versa sort of since Sherlock lost). It wasn't one-sided.
-Kane using his perfect magic to swallow the storm
-The teams joining together to rescue the people in the Park and celebrating afterwards.
It seems likely that by the next volume, the four teams will team up together to fight the Blue Shields. I'm getting High and Low vibes now; what with the teams behaving like SWORD and the Dung Beat Posse likely being the Mighty Warriors.
That being said, I'm beginning to wonder if we'll ever get any international releases. So far it doesn't seem likely 😩. I do have hope for the anime. I heard that more VA's have been casted, with Sherlock's VA being Tomokazu Seki (the guy who voices Kyo Sohma in Fruits Baskets). We don't have any idea if they've started work on it though.
Anyways, I do hope you enjoyed the summary. Do have a blessed week ahead! 🙂