Title: Choujin X Vol. 6
Author: Sui Ishida
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 231
Genre: Supernatural, Battle
Publication Date: May 21, 2024
The Story
Azuma, Ely, and Tokio are trying their hardest to escape from Zora. They are just about to obtain freedom when Batista when they are re-captured. Just when things are about to become grim, Mr. Sandek and the rest of Yamato Mori show up. In a seven-hour-long battle, they beat Zora back into the tower. The experience makes Tokio think about his future and he comes to the conclusion that the world being in danger is much bigger than the little things in life and decides to quit school. The news doesn’t go over well with this sister; however, his father is more supportive and offers him advice.
Once he quits, Tokio wants to go to Iwato, the most dangerous prefecture for choujins in Japan. Ichiro himself offers to train him so off he goes without telling anyone. When Ely and Azuma find out, they are saddened that Tokio would leave them behind like that; however, we get a montage of them going through their own training.
This brings us to a plan where a couple of choujin are looking to make it crash to awaken everyone on board; however, Ely and Azuma are there to put a stop to it. One of the passengers just happens to be Chandra. Ely chases him down when she is met by the Ice Choujin. Things don’t seem to be going well when…
Characters
Sui Ishida is known for large casts and I thought he would keep this series a bit more contained but we received a HUGE character dump when a lot of keepers from Yamato Mori showed up to battle Zora. Thankfully, they were there for a cup of coffee so there’s no need to go into much detail.
The biggest development in this volume comes with Tokio. After being nearly captured by Zora and being powerless against Batista, he realizes that he has a long way to go before he becomes useful to anyone. Seeing Sandek fight was the catalyst that made him decide to quit school and go to Iwato to get stronger. He had been on the fence this whole time but the entire experience during the Zora incident flipped a switch inside of him. It’ll be interesting to see how his training goes and if he becomes a different person because of it.
Azuma and Ely definitely got stronger during their training at Yamato Mori. It seems as if Ely has completely mastered the smoke power she stole from Chandra… that is until she runs into the Ice Choujin. After all the training she did to get stronger, she still has a way to go but at least she and Azuma were able to put their newfound strength on display during the plane incident. Personality-wise, they seem a little more serious than they were before without losing their unique quirkiness. I like their evolution as it’s not a big step but enough to see that they are making progress.
Final Thoughts
It’s one training arc followed by another; however, it was handled completely off-camera this time. Seeing Tokio wanting to grow was a nice change; however, it took a lot to get him to finally realize that he should have been taking this a bit more seriously from the start but sometimes that’s what is needed in character development. Hearing about a world-ending threat and questioning your own strength is one thing but to be almost killed by that world-ending threat and witnessing it first-hand flipped enough switches in his mind and backed him into a corner with only one escape which was to force himself to become stronger.
While he could have just undergone normal training, he decided to go to Iwato. A bit extreme but that’s the way Tokio’s mind works. He doesn’t think things through and just goes for the most obvious answer even if it’s not the correct one. Ichiro going along with it wasn’t something I completely agreed with. He, of all people, should have known better but, at the same time, letting Tokio have his way perhaps would serve as a different kind of lesson. We’ll know more about whether or not Tokio’s decision was effective in the next volume it seems.
While the fight against Zora is over, nothing was settled. This gave us a nice glimpse at the endgame of this series and puts the characters into a power ranking versus what they are up against. It gives them a goal to reach and now that path can begin with, I’m sure, many challenges along the way. With the way this volume ended, that first challenge will kick off the next volume!
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media
