Title: Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody Vol. 8
Author: Aya Megumu (Art), Hiro Ainana (Story), Shri (Character Art)
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 160
Genre: Shonen, Fantasy
Publication Date: November 26, 2019
The Story
Volume eight of Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody remained on the slow side for the first half of the volume but picked up with some nice action in the back half. Satou takes care of the chimera that ambushed them and ends up cutting up the meat for use later. He shows his full power in front of Liza knowing that she can keep a secret, which she does. After this, it’s more Cooking With Satou lessons before they begin to wander the area in search of information, coming across from starving man trying to sell his granddaughter for rations for his village.
They also come across some children who are thieves and some old-timers who are also starving. Satou feeds them in exchange for information. They learn about a demon that Satou saw on his map earlier and how some of the soldiers seem to be possessed. They also learn of a magic cannon that rained fire down from the sky and wiped out a village long ago to deal with the undead that had invaded it. Satou and the gang decide to look for this magic cannon and end up coming into a dungeon filled with undead and the wraith that was guarding the cannon… and a massive pile of treasure! Just like any RPG, Satou took the magic cannon that was at least ten times his size and conveniently stuffed it into his storage.
Gaming logic, am I right?
Finally, on their journey, they come across a woman on the ground covered by a barrier. Satou dispels is and speaks with the girl’s protector, Raka. The girl is Karina Muno. She says a demon has disguised itself as the magistrate and she asks for Satou’s aid.
The story, once again, moved forward at a snail’s pace for the first half. Even after the battle with the wraith, they went back to more sitting around, gathering, and camping. At this point, it feels like Hiro Ainana is writing these parts just for the sake of artificially extending the story. Every time there is a lull or a break in the action, it’s back to the same old thing. It’s been like this for all eight volumes and it’s getting kind of old.
Still, this volume did some more world-building which is the stuff I am more interested in. Lore is great for any story so to learn about the history of this part of the world was pretty good as it adds to the entire fantasy aspect of it. If they could just cut out all of the cooking and eating and gathering parts, this would make the story seem more meaningful.
Characters
Another thing that really bothered me was that none of the characters received any kind of development whatsoever except for the one moment where Satou trusted Liza with seeing him at full power. That was pretty bold of Satou to do that but he did it knowing that Liza is completely obedient to him. I don’t know if that was a flash of ego or trust but it definitely seemed like a bold thing to do. Then again, given the situation, it was probably just a necessary evil.
Outside of that, we have a new character in Karina Muno, daughter of the Baron. Of course, this series wouldn’t be what it is if they hadn’t pointed out her massive chest. It was kind of hilarious for Satou to gaze in wonder, claiming that this was the first time he’d seen something like that in real life, having only experienced something like that in 2D before. She seems to be a little cautious but mostly quick to trust… especially if anyone says Raka gave approval. With her asking Satou for help, we’ll probably embark on another action-packed arc…. Right after we cook about 14 more meals, of course.
Final Thoughts
Last time, I was hoping that the hydra would receive a big, glorious battle. I was a little disappointed that Satou just killed it with one spell but we did get a slightly interesting plot point out of it. It makes you wonder if there will be a time where he will have to unveil his full power to everyone.
There were some nice callbacks to the world-building that they did in previous volumes… especially when it came to the “other hero” as well as Zen. It’s nice to see that previous story arcs were not forgotten and are serving their purpose here in the later volumes. It shows that all of the world-building isn’t something just for trivial knowledge… that anything and everything explained in the series thus far can come into play later. Those are markings of great storytelling.
A better volume than last time but they REALLY need to cut back on the camping/cooking/gathering filler and just focus on world-building and action. It’s the only thing I really have grown to dislike about this series because overusing that aspect brings the pacing of the series to a screeching halt and makes 160 pages feel more like 400.
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This item was provided for review by Yen Press
