Title: The King’s Beast Vol. 9
Author: Rei Toma
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 169
Genre: Romance, Fantasy
Publication Date: February 7, 2023
The Story
The ninth volume of The King’s Beast picks up with the emperor having Sougetsu, Rangetsu, and Prince Tenyou captured. The Emperor orders Kyoko to cut off Sougetsu’s head because he wants to see if it will truly grow back. Then, he will know if the divine healing power will truly grant immortality. Rangetsu steps in and keeps Kyoko busy which prompts the Emperor to take matters into his own hands. Right when he is about to slice Sougetsu’s head off, Prince Tenyou steps in front and gets his left hand sliced off instead! Rangetsu has a shot at killing the Emperor but decides against it! Her reasoning causes the Emperor to give up hope and promises he won’t do anything further.
We now turn our attention to Sougetsu’s collar. No normal method of removing it has worked so they bring in an outside consultant. Here, we meet a new character named Ahkiru, a traveling merchant from the country of Ritoaneru. He claims that he knows what metal the collar is made of but states that there is no known method to shape it. His words trip some sort of warning inside of Tenyou’s head and he questions who he really is. When he reveals his true identity, he talks about a premonition of war based on the fact that someone has found a way to smelt and shape the metal known as rechina.
The problem is that Sougetsu came to when the collar was placed on him so he has no memory of how it was applied. Ahkiru suspects it was done using an Arcana and whichever nation holds that ability could use it to build an armor-clad in rechina armor. Doing so would almost guarantee them victory which could pose quite a threat to the nations of great power.
As all of this is going on, Sougetsu is having an inner conflict… one that opens up a new mystery that needs to be solved.
Characters
The biggest focus of this volume was placed on Sougetsu and his inner conflict, There are moments that suggest that Sougetsu is merely a vessel for something or someone else… maybe a true personality or form that he will take. If that’s the case, then what does that make Rangetsu? Does she have an alternate personality laying dormant inside of her as well? Is this the source of their divine healing powers? So many questions to be answered!
Our new character, Ahkiru, is pretty interesting. When you discover his true identity, a lot of what he says begins to make sense but you also wonder if there are some hidden objectives there that he’s not talking about. For now, he seems like an ally and is willing to help find a way to break the rechina and free Sougetsu from his collar. I’m pretty sure if you draw the lines, you can see the collar, the rechina, and Sougetsu’s identity crisis all being linked together. WHEN the collar gets removed (because we all know it’s going to), it’s going to be the spark that might ignite the whole world on fire!
As for the Emperor… I thought that once they subdued (or killed) him, that would be the end of the series but now the focus is on Sougetsu. The Emperor just kind of moved to the side and abandoned all of his ambitions on a dime. That was…. Really odd, if you ask me. Something tells me that we’re not done with him by a long shot!
Final Thoughts
Okay… so… how many times is this manga going to talk about restarting the games to select the new prince only to detour into another story arc? I think this is the third time the next round has been delayed! I had completely forgotten about it until it was mentioned but right when you think volume ten is going to lead into the games, here comes a new character and an identity crisis to distract us… oh.. and possible war, too.
With that, we have a brand-new focus and/or objective to work towards. Now, I don’t really know what to predict. On the surface, it seems we’re going to eventually get a Rangetsu vs Sougetsu battle with Tenyou in the middle of it all. Maybe Rangetsu will find a way to give Tenyou his hand back? Maybe it’s Sougetsu who does it? Maybe a rechina-clad armor will lay waste to everything and the manga will end on a world-domination note? I don’t really know at this point but a brand-new arc has begun and despite an uncertain future, there is one thing we can all bet on…
When this arc is over, the games will get interrupted again.
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
