Title: Queen’s Quality Vol. 9
Author: Kyousuke Motomi
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 168
Genre: Sci-Fi, Romance
Publication Date: June 2, 2020
The Story
It has been a while since we have seen a volume of Queen’s Quality but the ninth volume is finally upon us! The Seichi arc is officially over and WOW… there was a LOT of development happening here. Without spoiling too much, the battle with The Snake had concluded and it left Fumi with a dire choice… a choice that was decided upon ten years ago by The White Queen as her compensation. She gave Fumi until dawn to make her choice and told her to choose wisely. The choice weighed heavily on Fumi’s mind because she knew that no matter what she chose, she would have to sacrifice something or someone’s happiness.
In the end, Fumi made her choice and we learned just what the consequences were if the wrong choice were made. Once the choice was made, it was time for everyone to head back home. It wasn’t just a simple straight shot back to headquarters, though. The ride back saw some great development between Fumi and Kyutaro that gave us, yet, another definitive answer on a question that we had been asking since the prequel series QQ Sweeper.
Again, LOTS of development happening here. The volume ends with them arriving back home but there’s no real cliffhanger there. They just arrive and that’s it… the volume ends. I don’t think a cliffhanger was needed here because this brought a definitive end to this arc. The “cliffhanger” or “hook” to get you to read Volume 10 is the question of “what happens next?” There were some clues left throughout the volume such as The White Queen’s true intention and the fact that The Snake can and will possibly return at some point. The White Queen and The Silver Snake have been at odds for countless years so this struggle is one that keeps coming around again and again and again.
Things are a bit different this time for various reasons. No doubt we will see The Silver Snake return in the future but with the way things played out… maybe it will be for the final time?
Characters
The bulk of the development here has been with Fumi. It’s hard to talk about this as it would spoil the major moments in the volume but I will say that Fumi’s decision on her compensation was something that hadn’t been seen before with another other White Queen vessel and, as such, everyone is entering a brand-new future of uncertainty. They say the other vessels made a different choice and that choice led to an expected cycle.
Kyutaro seemed to have a bit of a personality change here… especially when it came to Fumi. However, all of that was squashed when they helped clean up Seichi before leaving. The demon cleaner that is Kyutaro reared his head once again. He even made it a point that he will continue to train Fumi in a strict manner as well. Despite everything that happened, it’s nice to see that his core character remained intact!
Ataru finding his spot amongst the Genbu sweepers was hilarious… especially when he made mistakes and got yelled at by Kyutaro! It reminded me of a lot of Fumi when she first started out as a Sweeper. Still, after everything that he did in previous volumes, this was some nice payback… even if it was for comical relief.
Final Thoughts
This arc was a long one but there was so much development that came out of it that it makes you wonder just where the series is going to go from here? We received a lot of answers to the bigger questions posed with the only remaining unresolved item is that of The White Queen and The Silver Snake. There will be more to this story, no doubt; however, I don’t expect the manga to rush into it. With Fumi’s journey to becoming a Queen taking that next step, I would assume we may run into another Bug Handler that will test Fumi’s new abilities.
I don’t know for sure as the story could go in any direction. Without a cliffhanger ending to lead you, that question of “what’s next?” makes you sit and wonder about all of the possibilities! That’s the exciting part and I can’t wait until Volume 10 to see what path the story ends up choosing!
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
