The series is very much of its time, meaning when the original short stories were written in the 1980s. However, the premise is still interesting and the art in the manga is extraordinary. It's different, it's loose and tight at the same time, it's evocative, and very much evokes the earnestness of the series. And while the series is a bit self-serious, that's okay too because it lends an aura of transcendence that the art beautifully enhances.
All that said, this volume felt weaker than some of the others, looser, and a bit disjointed. We get some new insight into other aspects of her existence and history, meet some important new characters that appear likely to recur, but overall it's just not quite as tight a volume as some of the others. Still interesting.
What is most fascinating to me, is that I was expecting this to the final volume, but it ends with a "to be continued" and some setups that beg to be explored and resolved in future volumes. Here's hoping that we'll get those a bit faster than the time between this and the previous volume.
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Please legitimately purchase or borrow manga and anime. Never read scanlations or watch fansubs. Those rob the creators of the income they need to survive and reduce the chance of manga and anime being legitimately released in English.
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