Title: Choujin X Vol. 5
Author: Sui Ishida
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 263
Genre: Supernatural, Battle
Publication Date: February 20, 2024
The Story
Training on the island would have continued had it not been for the rude interruption by a few choujin! Here, a trio of battles begins as Yubiko, the Mandala Body Choujin, faces off against Azuma, Chandra, The Smoke Choujin faces off against Tokio and Kagomura, and Hiroto Mori, the Death Growl Choujin, who faces off against Ely and Ms. Roja.
Their purpose for showing up is to secure The Beast… by that, they mean Tokio. As the battles wage on, Tokio splits off to go help Azuma with Yubiko; however, Chandra interferes. Ely also splits off and runs into Tokio and assists him in battle. After all, Ely has a personal grudge against Chandra and wants to get her revenge. Just as something unexpected happens in that battle, The Nue Chimara shows up and ends up capturing Azuma, Tokio, and Ely.
He brings them to The Tower of Mourning. After an ascension up a leaning staircase, they are brought before a massive living being with a pair of folded hands for a head. Apparently, this being is the source of all choujin. Her blood becomes the serum that gives ordinary people the powers of a choujin and she is the one who ordered the beast to be brought to her. She shows them a vision and her mortal form… Sora Siruha, Founder of Yamato Mori!
These days, she goes by the name Zora. In short, she wants to give Tokio her powers to prevent the calamity but something feels amiss and Ely sensed it a while ago. The volume ends with Ely blowing away her smokescreen. It seems we have a boss fight on our hands!
Characters
Despite all of the choujin showing up, the characters with the most development were Tokio and our new character Zora.
This volume confirms that Tokio’s beast power is the one that is prophesized to end the upcoming calamity; however, it conflicts with a vision that Tokio had where he was called the cause of the calamity. I believe this is important because even if Ely sensed something was off about Zora, I believe her intuition is both right and wrong. She knew that Zora was probably lying through her teeth but it was Tokio’s past vision which may have been the truth that Ely didn’t realize. Still, this places Tokio and his powers at the forefront as well as the root of this series’ story. Everything is now about him and his powers and how they can either lead to a grim future or one that will prosper. This almost feels like Ishia’s Tokyo Ghoul series with Kaneki wanting to become the bridge between humans and ghouls but with a different twist. Both series have differing methods but the end result in a black and white choice of two different futures is a theme shared between them.
As for Zora (Sora), We just met her but it’s painfully obvious that there is more than meets the eye with her. Whether or not she truly is the mother of all choujin remains to be seen. It could be true; however, it could have also been a ploy just to lure Tokio into a false sense of security. Personally, I think it’s true; however, the intentions for passing on her powers are highly suspicious. This is the part that still remains unanswered but I feel that once the impending battle is over and done with, we’ll have our answers. Then again, maybe not. They could escape without so much as learning about Zora’s true ambitions which would leave things open for discovery further down the line. If anything, it’s pretty obvious that she is the big evil of this series so I can’t see her going down in the next volume… there is way too big of a power gap between her and the trio. Which means… prepare for a deus ex machina ending to this battle.
Final Thoughts
Of course, what would a training on an island arc be without any interruptions to test the skills that they are in the process of learning? That’s what we get here and in classic Sui Ishida fashion, we get a multi-headed battle that sprawls out over a large area; however, I am happy to say that unlike with Tokyo Ghoul, I could actually follow along and not get confused as to who was fighting who. It seems that Ishida has learned that stuffing as many characters as possible into multiple battles is a bad thing and by limiting it to one or two people against one enemy, it works so much better. Plus, when switching between fights, we got a nice little label to tell us what fight was happening now. A much-needed touch over the chaotic fights in his previous series.
Plus, all of the action was easy to follow and understand. It allowed you to sit back, take in the different moves, and enjoy the action as it unfolded without wondering what generic-looking character who may or may not be some other generic-looking character is doing what and getting the names incorrect. This series is still young so I don’t feel as if we need to bust out the spreadsheets to keep track of people… yet… I mean, there is always time for that later as things progress; however, if Ishida can contain himself and keep things as they are now, we should be good.
Once the battles were over and we got to meet Zora, a lot of questions got answered but even more were raised. I love it when a series gives you enough information to have a lot of the things up until that point make sense but then throws a curveball at you and makes you realize that you still truly do not know anything. That’s the feeling I got with Zora and now I’m wondering what her goals are, what about the calamity, what about Tokio’s vision about being the cause of it, and so forth. While we received a big piece of information, it left you wanting more and that’s the sign of a good hook right there. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to Volume 6 to see the fight against Zora; however, we all know it’s too early to end things to we’ll see what deus ex machina plot device they pull out for this one.
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media
