Title: 7th Garden Vol. 8
Author: Mitsu Izumi
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 202
Genre: Fantasy, Battle, Isekai
Publication Date: April 3, 2018
The Story
Okay, this series has become a complete and total mess. In the last volume, we were introduced to the notion that the world we have been reading has been the product of humans on a planet that has succumbed to the apocalypse. These humans are creating this world so that the surviving humans can become data and live in this world.
This volume opens up with Loki taking on Vul in a battle over the right to use the Arka… a program that can erase all of the gnomes from the Garden that they have created. This is a bit of an odd scenario because I was under the impression that Loki was killed in his previous battle with Vyrde aka Marianne. Apparently, that wasn’t the case. Within the 7th Garden, Loki’s insects are running rampant throughout the world and hunting down gnomes as monsters. Vul is a bit upset over that and refuses to answer Loki’s question about what his true plans for 7th Garden actually are. Vul wins the battle and imprisons Loki in a room where he cannot kill himself. His only option to escape is to find the door and hack its programming, setting up a very obvious return for his character in the future.
The manga then shifts focus to Isaac, Awyn’s friend, as he gets some time to shine. He’s supposed to be enjoying a day off when the monsters appear and he’s drawn into battle. Meanwhile, Levi ends up arguing with an A.I. over what it means to be human. Through this, we get a bit of a background on how the real world ended. Suddenly, their conversation is interrupted because Vyrde awakens and immediately “accesses” Awyn. She claims that they finally have a shot at bringing down Vul and our volume comes to an end.
At least, that’s what I gathered from reading this “story.” The story was all over the place in this volume. Switching between both worlds, going backward and forwards in time. Given the fact that we were introduced to the same characters on both sides of the fence doesn’t make this any easier to understand… especially when most of the characters have multiple names. I’ve honestly tried to keep track of everything, but this is just insanely complicated.
Characters
I’m, honestly, not even going to try and touch this section. If I can’t even get the story straight at this point, what makes you think I understand anything about any individual characters?
The only thing I know is Vul has something planned with the 7th Garden, Loki wanted to erase all the gnomes, there are others who want to rule over it. It’s just a power struggle that’s getting lost in the shuffle.
Final Thoughts
In my last review, I stated that I had lost all hope for this series, but morbid curiosity kept me plunging forward, but after this volume, I honestly, just don’t care anymore. How can anyone lead a reader on for six and a half volumes and then just suddenly change the entire genre that the manga was based around? It went from fantasy to a highly confusing isekai series in the span of half a chapter. Now, in volume eight, there is just so much jumping around between both worlds, time periods, memories, etc that if the confusion from the last volume didn’t stump you then this certainly didn’t do you any favors.
Was it really so hard to establish this as an isekai from volume one? Was it so hard to start off in the real world and explain that the end of the world came and that humans created this seventh garden to try and save themselves? Is it really that hard to introduce the characters in the real world and then show who they are in the seventh garden world? Is it really that hard to just give each character one, single name?
I guess it really is. Had this been an established notion from the very beginning it would have been much easier to digest. 7th Garden is a shining example of how NOT to tell a story. Because of this, I have decided to completely drop this series. I will no longer be reviewing this one any further. Maybe my own mental capacity is disabling my ability to comprehend what is laid out in front of me in black and white, but I’ve watched/read many complex series before and have never felt this lost. Add in the fact that some of the manga communities are not even discussing this beyond chapter sixteen shows that I’m making the right choice here.
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
