GetBackers 24

I’m way, WAY behind on stuff that I need to talk about.  I’ve been trying to do 2 reviews a day, 5 days a week… I’ve kind of been bad about it, though.  There’s really no excuse for me not to have done anything this weekend, but I went back through and read all 14 volumes I have of Skip Beat, which kind of took all my time.

But on to something much less interesting.  I’m glad this series is popular enough to continue, and I’m also kind of glad to see it’s getting a relaunch as “Infinity Fortress,” though that doesn’t bode very well for the setting of the rest of the volumes in the series.  I don’t particularly care for the Infinity Fortress plots.

The beast/bug feud is winding down nicely, though.  The last few spats are worked out, we find out the phenomonal cosmic powers at work in the masters of the beast clans, Ban and Ginji are reunited, Kabuto is confronted, lots of awesoem things happen.  I’m actually kind of surprised by how much I enjoyed this volume, because usually GetBackers is a lot harder to read than this.

The close of the volume was especially great.  It’s hinted that the characters have a traitor in their midst, and it’s almost immediately obvious who it is… until it’s not that person, because that person is dead.  The second candidate is also obvious, because their name is mentioned outright, but when it happens, it’s still pretty shocking.  And what’s even more shocking is what Kabuto winds up doing when… he does what he does to that person.  There’s one volume left of this story, but this is really the climax.  One volume for the aftermath sounds about right.

All the characters are back, though people like Lady Poison and Akabane don’t really play much of a role here.  Actually, almost everyone is left behind except for the beastmasters, Ginji, and Ban, which is sort of nice because then you know you don’t have to sit through a matchup for each of the side characters.  Ginji and Ban’s reunion is pretty awesome, as always.  Their relationship, take it as you will, is pretty interesting, and one of the stronger parts of this series.  To know that Ban and Ginji will always be together is an interesting thing to keep in mind through a lot of these parts, and I would still love to know what it is that draws the two of them together.

I’m a bit behind.  I know volume 25 is out now (but out of stock where I want to get it), and the first volume of Infinity Fortress may be out, too.  Like I said, I’m not really looking forward to anything that takes place at Infinity Fortress, but I’ve been with it this long, what’s 17 or so more volumes?