3×3 Eyes 6
December 15, 2007
The story in this volume is mostly about warring groups trying to get the key to the Sanjiyan homeland, which is in the form of an incense burner with three eyes painted on it. Pai and Yakumo want it for their own reasons, one man also wants it for his own reasons, and there is a third party who is highly organized who wants it in order to smash it so that no one will be able to get to the Sanjiyan homeland.
Pai and Yakumo are separated at one point, and Yakumo is forced to trade the key for Pai. Demon circles are used, and at one point Pai and Yakumo were sucked into an alternate lightening dimension and Yakumo was vaporized, which was kind of awesome. Also, there is a demon who takes an awesome form to lull people into a false sense of security, and I liked that too.
Pai still doesn’t have her memory, but we do keep getting brief flashes of her past which foreshadow a showdown between her and the other surviving Sanjiyan. Which, yeah, isn’t too original, but things aren’t taking the direct route, and all these side trips and random, extremely violent battles are wonderful. I really, really enjoy this series.
November 18, 2008 at 8:00 pm
I liked this volume especially because there were more characters introduced which is something Yuzo Takada should have done earlier. The more the merrier. I always liked long stories that start with one character and it ends up with a whole group of characters traveling toghether. Or course, the weirder and funnier the group is, the better. The best example would be probably Berserk. One Piece also comes to mind. And maybe Lord of the Rings? ;-)
November 19, 2008 at 10:08 pm
I have to admit that One Piece and Berserk both have an awesome cast of characters that gets better with every volume, but I’m always a little split when new people show up in something I’m reading, because there are some series that will introduce new characters all the time and then have a huge cast that I have trouble remembering.
The only thing that’s coming to mind right now is Hoshin Engi, where the plot of the series revolves around the main character drafting all these people and manipulating them into fighting a war for him. There are WAAAAY too many characters in that to keep track of, and they’re the type that pop in with an introduction and then are in and out of the series for the duration, so I always have problems remembering who they are when they reappear. GetBackers is another good example of a series with a ton of characters that get introduced and then stick around with nothing to do. Bleach is sort of like that, but a lot of people don’t have as much a problem as I do with all the Soul Society characters.
I have no idea how One Piece does it. I can’t count high enough to number the characters anymore, but I remember every single one of them. It’s pretty awesome.