Title: Queen’s Quality Vol. 11
Author: Kyousuke Motomi
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 168
Genre: Sci-Fi, Romance
Publication Date: March 2, 2021
The Story
Volume 11 of Queen’s Quality picks up with Kyutaro and Fumi heading to the Seiryu headquarters where they are looking to infiltrate the building in order to meet their acting leader Aoi. After Kyutaro and Fumi battled the snake within Kyutaro’s mind vault, they struck a deal with him to where he would be under Kyutaro’s control on the condition that he would bring him to meet the Seiryu snake. This mission was to both confirm that Aoi was possessed by the snake as well as granting Kyutaro’s snake’s wishes.
Once they arrive, they soon learn that Aoi is, indeed, possessed but their little escapade is discovered and they have to abort the mission. Kyutaro’s snake then makes a proposition to him that if he helps him grow in power, he will make Kyutaro a God. Kyutaro begins to wrestle with this decision while the Genbu and Seiyru clans strengthen their friendship… especially after they wish nothing more than to try and kill Aoi’s snake and save him, if possible.
The volume ends when Kyutaro comes to a decision and confronts his snake.
This arc began in the last volume and already the intrigue is pretty high, although it seems as if that they are going with the “if the snake dies, the vessel dies, too, BUT WAIT… there might be a way to circumvent that” angle that we’ve seen in so many other stories. Make the consequences seem dire and then come up with a solution that negates said consequences. I have a feeling that this is where things will head and that everyone (or at least our main characters) will end up just fine at the end of this arc. While interesting, the story seems to be taking a bit of a cliché turn and I’m not sure if I care for it yet or not.
Characters
Kyutaro was the main focus of this volume. Having a snake awakened inside of him, he has a whole new set of responsibilities to the clan as well as to Fumi. He wants to do everything he can to keep her safe and, at the same time, try to figure out a way to kill the snake inside of him without dying in the process… although, in the beginning, Kyutaro was ready to throw away his life and order Fumi to kill the snake. Whether or not that was an intended bluff or not… it was a pretty bold move to do something like that!
The other big development we got was Itsuki. I don’t really want to spoil things here but let’s just say that Fumi accidentally discovers something about Itsuki; however, even though there is a big reveal, there are some other aspects that remain a mystery…, such as the Sasuke Uchiha-style curse mark on Itsuki’s shoulder that mysteriously began to grow when their emotions reached a fever pitch!
Finally, there is Aoi who is confirmed to have a snake inside of him. The difference between Aoi and Kyutaro’s snake is that Aoi’s wasn’t detected at first. Even when the snake took over Aoi’s body, nobody realized it until it was almost too late! The ability to hide a presence like that is a bit of an issue that they will have to contend with. On the other hand, Aoi’s snake was far more powerful than Kyutaro’s. In fact, the difference in power is almost worlds apart. This is going to make tackling Aoi’s snake that much more problematic!
Final Thoughts
Aside from the cliché turn for the story, I still rather enjoyed everything. Not sure if they are hyping up Aoi’s snake to be the final boss but there is definitely a big fight looming on the horizon. The patch that Kyutaro chose for himself and his snake is a dangerous tightrope walk for him to traverse but we will have to see if his plan ends up paying off in the long run.
Fumi kind of felt like the odd person out here. Other than discovering a big facet about Itsuki, she really didn’t do much of anything. When she tried to kill Kyutaro’s snake, she was just idly standing by waiting for orders from Kyutaro. Afterward, she just sat by Kyutaro’s side. She didn’t do much of anything when they confronted Aoi’s snake, and then she just sat back and let Kyutaro enact his plan with his own snake. As someone who is supposed to be the True Queen, she sure doesn’t get much say in things. I would think that they would be trying to nurture and grow Fumi’s power more than making deals with snakes but, then again, what do I know? I’m just a meek little manga reader!
All-in-all, still an interesting volume and I am highly interested in seeing where things go from here in Volume 12!
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
