Hoshin Engi 10

Hooray!  I got myself caught up with this series over the weekend, and somehow I was punished with a cliffhanger at the end of volume 11 that really, REALLY made me want to read volume 12.  How is it that I’m not all that into the series when I’m a couple volumes behind (for, like, the last year), and when I catch myself up it’s gotta be in the middle of a story arc I like?

Anyway, the beginnings of the war are dealt with in the first half of this volume.  Since Taikobo is some sort of genius, the army has no problem wiping out Dakki’s forces and the Zhou troops march on to the capital pretty much unopposed.  They’re actually welcome in Yin most everywhere they pass, and Taikobo seems to have forseen the vast neglect and poverty of the citizens, so the army also has a steady supply line set up in its wake.

The only real opposition comes from the princes, Inchi and Inchon.  The elder prince believes he should stand up for Yin no matter what, and he goes so far as to begin to kill humans with his paope when the Yin army loses.  The younger brother wants to side with Taikobo, and things get rather ugly.  I was actually kind of surprised by the outcome of this scene since some generally horrible things happen, along with a few no-nos for this series.  It’s nice to see things get shaken up every once in awhile.

And, I’m sorry for the minor spoiler, but Taikobo’s arm?!  What?!  I didn’t know he lost his arm!  I don’t think it would have caught me so much off guard if I hadn’t just been reading Berserk, one of only two other series I can think of where the main character has only one arm (the other being Trigun).  Losing an arm doesn’t seem to bother Taikobo much, and it shouldn’t since judging by the other two one-arm men (who also weren’t that upset when their arms were severed), shounen heroes shouldn’t worry since there will be prosthetics available, no matter where or when their story takes place, and the prosthetic will be as good or better than the arm it is replacing.

Then the fight with Chokomai starts.  This will be good and also long.  I can only hope the fight that actually involves him won’t take up the entirety of volume 13.  Or maybe I DO want that.