GetBackers 26 (Infinity Fortress 1)
Posted: October 12, 2008 Filed under: GetBackers 7 Comments »Holy crap! This volume was amazing! If anyone was thinking about picking up GetBackers, this is actually a really good place to start. This does away with all the stuff that has happened so far in the series and starts things over with Ban and Ginji’s first couple missions. At the time, the two still don’t really like each other, but even in these few stories, you can see their friendship developing fast. By the end, they’ve (or at least Ginji) have nicknames already.
This is the stuff I’ve been waiting for. Instead of delving into a story that introduces a bunch of new characters and incorporates 10 other characters that I don’t care about, this is just Ban and Ginji solving their cases rather quickly. Some of the series early jokes come back (the two not having any money, Ban’s fondness for breasts), but the jokes are used infrequently, and I don’t mind them so much. There’s one long case that I feel went unresolved since they had to cheat a little to finish it, but was good anyway. I was surprised by how touching it was since it was only a few chapters long. Later, the two turn down a case from what appears to be a really important client, and instead take the same case from a little girl that walks in right after them. That leads into the next volume, and I desperately need to know what it is that makes the little dachsund so important.
I can’t stress enough how much of a new beginning this is. It just feels like all the crap that’s accumulated for the length of the series has been swept away, and we’re just left with Ban and Ginji. The two are discovering what it is each other can do as far as their powers go, they get to know each other… it’s just a nice thing.
I loved this volume. I haven’t loved the series like this in a long time, but I really, REALLY liked this volume. It’s a good place to jump back in if you haven’t been reading the series, or gave up on it awhile ago.
This was a review copy provided by Tokyopop.
What an encouraging review! I’ve been meaning to get back into reading this.
Yeah, I was really surprised how much more I liked it without all the other characters. I really do like Ban and Ginji best, and I am really excited about the rest of the origin story.
Yeah, I like them best, too. Akabane and Kazuki are my favorites of the others, but I really don’t care a flying flip for Shido, for example.
[...] less excited about vol. 7 of Kitchen Princess. Connie reviews vol. 3 of Two Flowers for the Dragon, vol. 26 of GetBackers, vol. 22 of Astro Boy, Make Love and Peace, vol. 5 of Monster, vol. 8 of After School Nightmare, and [...]
I like Akabane a lot, and I like Himiko and Kazuki for their respective roles as links to the past for Ban and Ginji, but I feel like all the other reoccurring secondary characters only show up as fanservice. It was ridiculous in the last story arc… I think Ban and Ginji went in with around 12 other people to infiltrate the enemy territory, and pretty much every single one of them got left behind by the time they reached the enemy base, anyway.
I’m pretty sure Volume 26 is a separate book from the prequel/sequel Infinity Fortress volume 1. But what happened to volume 26? Not one store online or not, has it…
Hm. I thought that Infinity Fortress 1 was originally solicited as volume 26, then they just changed the name. I can’t find any trace of volume 26 at Tokyopop’s website or at Right Stuf, and the websites I can pull it up on (Amazon and JustManga, right now) seem to have cancelled the listing. The timing for the releases works out so that Infinity Fortress follows volume 25. Plus, the editor of the series was the one that contacted me and sent me the review copies, and I’m pretty sure he would have mentioned if one in between was missing.
Unfortunately, the Wikipedia chapter guide stops on volume 26, so I can’t check that way.
If you can find anything else out about whether or not volume 26 is floating around out there somewhere, let me know, I’d have to track it down if it does exist.