Title: Queen’s Quality Vol. 3
Author: Kyousuke Motomi
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Genre: Sci-Fi, Romance
Publication Date: March 6, 2018
The Story
The aftermath of Ms. Hayashi’s infection is felt throughout the school. The photography club dwindles down to one single member and it’s up to Kyutaro and Fumi to clean the room to prevent re-infestation. Kind of an odd/funny moment with Kyutaro explaining how to clean windows with such an in-depth method only to say you can do the same job with a squeegee instead. Then the manga turns into a squeegee sales pitch for the reader to go out and buy one!
After that, we get to the more serious part of the manga where they explain that there are other clan members who protect the different gates. This is explained after Kyutaro’s sister Mutsumi creepily returns for a surprise visit. She has a bad habit where her expression turns into something that looks a bit crazed when she talks to new people. It was so bad that Fumi mistook her for an urban legend and freaked out in a hilarious way! After the different clans are explained, it is noted that they may come after Fumi because they all have a desire to do something with a queen.
Of course, this was foreshadowing to when Fumi and Miyako went out shopping and ended up getting kidnapped by members of the Higashi clan. The two that kidnapped them are named Ranmaru and Itsuki. Their methods to provoke the queen into surfacing are rather aggressive. Kyutaro comes to the rescue but is overpowered. Fumi loses control and comes face to face with the black queen inside of her mind. She accepts the black queen’s twisted appearance and becomes one with her. Needless to say, it’s a no contest after the black queen awakens. The Black Queen and Kyutaro rescue Mutsumi and head back to the mansion. After reverting back, Fumi is scared of falling asleep so she opts to sleep with Kyutaro. I’ll let you guys read what happens in the morning. It was cute and hilarious at the same time!
The rival clans’ story was kind of rushed, in my opinion. We only got told about the clans and in the very next chapter, one of them orchestrates a kidnapping. I would have liked to have seen more backstory on the clans or even a few chapters where to take a break from the main story to focus on them. This would help us understand their ways a lot better and even peer into each of their desires for why they want the queen to themselves, rather than the overview we were given amidst casual discussion.
Characters
Ranmaru and Itsuki are our new characters and the two of them are vastly similar both to each other and as a character archetype. If you’ve seen the holier than thou and “using light for justice” type character before, you’ve seen these two already. Although they don’t come off as religious, their beliefs that they are doing things for the greater good is just a common trope and, at the point, just a pointless excuse for an enemy type. At least Ranmaru was self-aware of his actions and was willing to accept full responsibility should anything tragic happen during the process of drawing out the queen. There was SOME nobility in his character albeit not much.
The other developments happened with Fumi. I’m surprised that she caved in and accepted the black queen so easily. After all that she feared and all that she was told about it, she seemed eerily calm about accepting her. I wonder it Mutsumi’s words about relating herself to her mind had anything to do with that decision. Outside of that, Fumi finally admitted to herself that she’s in love with Kyutaro, but she doesn’t want to tell him because she feels that it would be making things really complicated between the two of them and for the Genbu group as a whole.
Kyutaro himself is starting to show more and more signs of loving Fumi so we know that the interest is now mutual between them. Outside of this new revelation, there’s really nothing new about Kyurato as a character.
Final Thoughts
I’m really loving this series thus far. Between QQ Sweeper and Queen’s Quality, Kyousuke Motomi is weaving a really solid story. I’m still a bit baffled why he decided to change the name of the series, but from beginning to end, these past six volumes have really surprised me. What seemed like a romance story about cleaning at first, morphed into a story about killing parasitic bugs and the powers of a queen. It’s a romance story that has shonen battle written all over it coupled with cleaning tips and squeegee sales pitches!
I believe that this is a very underrated series that deserves a lot more attention!
Be sure to follow me on Twitter @TheAnimePulse
You can also check out other The Outerhaven reviews on your favorite social media networks:
Subscribe to us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theouterhaven
Subscribe to us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheOuterHaven
Subscribe to us on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/theouterhavennet
This item was provided for review by Viz Media
