Blank Slate 2
Posted: November 24, 2008 Filed under: Blank Slate Leave a comment »I wound up liking this a lot. The first volume was a pretty decent action series, and this second volume had a bit of a mystery with some satisfying pieces that fit together pretty well.
It took me a bit to get back into the story, but pretty soon I remembered that Zen and his sidekick were trying to save some refugees. Some of what is known about Zen’s past is told through a character who found him in the woods one day, and from there the story goes down the path of military conspiracy you may have picked up on from last volume. Except the characters involved, and what their roles are, were kind of surprising. As was the eventual end of the story. I definitely liked the role the sidekick had to play in it all, and I loved the eventual explanation for what happened to Zen in the prison last volume.
The characters are all pretty decent, and fleshed out just enough for the length of the story. There is no dragging backstory for anybody, and yet all the reasons that anyone had for doing what they did were also adequately explained. I wound up liking Zen a lot despite his role as a homicidal maniac from last volume. That’s toned down quite a bit here, but it’s not clear what his… intentions, or motivations are, at least in the present. It’s easy to forget the slaughter of last volume since a lot of humanity comes through here.
I liked this a lot. The fact that a shoujo action series like this wound up winning me over so much bodes well for Otomen, a story I’m going crazy waiting for by the same author. This is a good, quick read, and it’s probably worth picking up both volumes if you’re in the mood for some insane action, military espionage, or a bizarrely good-looking main character.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
