Minekura Kazuya - Wild Adapter, vol. 05 (Eng. trans.)
Eeeeeeee! Flashback volume! Unsurprisingly, it is my favorite volume of the series so far.
The art is edging into the awkwardly sharp and pointed faces that shows up in late Saiyuki as well, which is too bad, since the art in this series has been amazing so far. Minekura! Please stop drawing chins sharp enough to cut!
Other than that, I love how Minekura decides to pull back from Kubota and Tokitoh by the introduction of Shouta. I also love how she focuses on negative spaces and the lack of things, the emphasis on the space between Kubota and Tokito (literally and figuratively) in particular. And oh, clearly her buttons are still mine, because I squeed and squeed over Kubota clutching a rapidly-losing-it Tokito to his chest, even though Tokito breaks his arm; Kubota telling Tokito he wouldn't touch him if Tokito didn't want; Kubota's belief that he will break what he touches; Kubota lying bloody in an alley; and that wonderful sequence in which Tokito is writhing in pain at Kubota's feet, and you get the close-up on Kubota's outstretched hand, then his closed fist as he remembers.
Also, so much of Tokito makes sense now that we know he's been socialized by a kid!
Though my heart breaks for Kubota, who is broken and scary and sort of insane, I suspect I will love Tokito best, because he's dorky and doesn't quite get the world and still manages to be strangely practical when you least expect it.
The art is edging into the awkwardly sharp and pointed faces that shows up in late Saiyuki as well, which is too bad, since the art in this series has been amazing so far. Minekura! Please stop drawing chins sharp enough to cut!
Other than that, I love how Minekura decides to pull back from Kubota and Tokitoh by the introduction of Shouta. I also love how she focuses on negative spaces and the lack of things, the emphasis on the space between Kubota and Tokito (literally and figuratively) in particular. And oh, clearly her buttons are still mine, because I squeed and squeed over Kubota clutching a rapidly-losing-it Tokito to his chest, even though Tokito breaks his arm; Kubota telling Tokito he wouldn't touch him if Tokito didn't want; Kubota's belief that he will break what he touches; Kubota lying bloody in an alley; and that wonderful sequence in which Tokito is writhing in pain at Kubota's feet, and you get the close-up on Kubota's outstretched hand, then his closed fist as he remembers.
Also, so much of Tokito makes sense now that we know he's been socialized by a kid!
Though my heart breaks for Kubota, who is broken and scary and sort of insane, I suspect I will love Tokito best, because he's dorky and doesn't quite get the world and still manages to be strangely practical when you least expect it.