Title: Dimension W Vol. 16
Author: Yuji Iwahara
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 286
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action
Publication Date: March 31, 2020
The Story
It has been a long seven months waiting for this moment but the final volume of Dimension W is finally here and, in short, that was the most sci-fi ending I think this series could have conjured up. Still, when dealing with a series where the premise was about anything being possible thanks to the energy from Dimension W and coils to harness it, it doesn’t really come as a shock as to what happened in this final volume.
In short, we learn of Dr. Shidou Yurizaki’s true plan, how that involved Mira, and how it could save the entire planet from falling into Nothingness. Of course, the you-know-what hits the fan thanks to Drake Horton and Syndicate’s plans which don’t exactly align with Yurizaki’s. The world is completely endangered and the ark has been activated. A successful test of the power of Genesis is carried out and, with that, Horton’s plan to eliminate the weak in the world and transport the strong to a distant planet called Sophia 2 is put into action.
Of course, the Beast of Grendel, Mabuchi, will be our white knight in shining armor. He isn’t really interested in saving the world, though. He only cares about getting his Bolts back… aka Mira… who has merged with the sisters and became the controller of Genesis. I won’t go any further because it will end up ruining the entire ending to the series but hopefully that’s enough information to get you wondering just how everything comes to an end. I will say, though, that there were a few plot points in here that seemed a bit ‘Deus Ex Machina’ even for a manga series where ‘anything is possible.’
I feared that some of the solutions would come off as a little too convenient but it still didn’t really stop the final volume from being highly entertaining.
Characters
Without really going into spoilers, Dr. Yurizaki ended up getting a bulk of the development through Mira’s memories. She encounters those memories when she fuses with the sisters and she learns about the one human emotion that she couldn’t feel as a robot: love. We also learn about Yurizaki’s true plan and how he set everything up from the beginning. The fact that he did so much and so intricately makes you question just how much of a genius he really was. We also learned about his true relationship with New Tesla and his dealings with the Syndicate. All of it was part of his carefully-laid plans. It seemed a bit far-fetched for someone to think that many steps ahead but he had been revered throughout this entire series for his intelligence so is it really that far-fetched to believe what is explained in this volume?
The President of New Tesla gets a big reveal. I won’t say what it is but I will make the comment that if the President was about to do the things that he can from the very start, then why did it take him 16 volumes of a manga to do anything at all!? I guess it was because of his own beliefs about Dimension W and the coils themselves but, still… once you discover The President’s true nature, you’re just going to be left sitting there asking yourself the same questions I am.
Mira and Kyouma have a nice pseudo end to their story although it’s kind of left open-ended. Not sure how I really feel about that, though. When it comes to a series’ end, I kind of like full-definitive closure when it comes to main characters. There are certain times where leaving it up to the reader’s imagination is the best decision but, in this case, I just don’t think it works. I really wanted to see a definitive conclusion here and we really don’t get that, sadly.
Final Thoughts
I’ve said it in past reviews of this series and I will say it again. Dimension W is one of the best sci-fi manga I have personally read in quite some time. After reading the conclusion to this series, my opinions haven’t changed. I feared that there would be too many plot devices in the finale and while there were some, there was enough there that aligned with the main story to make everything believable. I did like the fact that the situation got more and more desperate as we raced to the conclusion but the more desperate the situation got, the more you knew that something had to give in order to bring about the happy ending.
Still, it has been a blast reading and reviewing this series. If you need a sci-fi series that will entertain you and make you think, this is a great series for that. It is intelligently written and there is great action throughout to keep you entertained. The characters are vast and vivid with unique personalities and it is easy to get attached to all of them. After reading the manga, I’m really hoping that the anime gets a second season to finish the story.
Maybe we can tap into our own personal Dimension W’s and make that… a possibility!
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This item was provided for review by Yen Press
