Snow White with the Red Hair Volume 6 Review
In the previous volume of Snow White with the Red Hair, Shirayuki was invited by Prince Raj to attend a banquet in Tanbarun. While spending time with Raj, the two began to develop a firm friendship, but behind the scenes, danger was creeping ever closer to our young protagonist. Can Shirayuki return from Tanbarun safely? Let’s find out!
As we begin this volume, Shirayuki’s time in Tanbarun is approaching its end. Finishing off with the banquet she was invited to attend, our hero is ready to prove to Raj and herself that she’s worthy of standing beside someone as high profile as a prince. However, just before the banquet begins, she and Obi (assigned as her guard in the last volume) are ambushed in the castle and Shirayuki is kidnapped.
In the previous volume, we were made aware that a young boy was looking into kidnapping Shirayuki. This boy, known as Kazuki, is just about to capture his target when suddenly both he and Shirayuki are kidnapped by a third party! The two are thrown into a locked room together and Kazuki explains to Shirayuki that he only wanted to make sure she was happy with her current life and that she hadn’t been forced into it because of her beautiful red hair.
As it turns out, Kazuki used to belong to a group of infamous pirates who are the ones behind the kidnapping. If the pirates leave port and make it into the middle of the ocean, Shirayuki will never be saved by Zen, but rather than becoming depressed, she works with Kazuki to plot a desperate escape.
Once word reaches Zen back in the kingdom of Clarines, he rushes out to help in the search for his beloved – but will he make it in time? Even if he does, crossing the borders into Tanbarun with knights in tow could be taken as a declaration of war. As Zen navigates the difficult politics of the two counties he vows to do everything in his power to bring Shirayuki back.
It’s safe to say that, compared to the last few volumes of Snow White with the Red Hair, this instalment is more action-packed. This is nice to see since mangaka Sorata Akiduki’s artwork has improved so much since Volume 1 and the action scenes are a lot easier to follow than they were back then.
Akiduki has a good eye for how to frame battles and she chooses great angles for us to view the action through. Zen and Mitsuhide, in particular, have some heroic scenes that are sure to set your heart aflutter. I also appreciate the introduction of the pirates as villains since they fight differently to the way a knight or general thug would. They’re clever and always have tricks up their sleeves – that and fighting on a pirate ship is a great novelty in my opinion.
With so much happening, there isn’t much time for character development for our main cast, but this volume does carry on with Raj’s redemption. In Volume 5 we saw how hard Raj was working to become someone Shirayuki could respect and that continues here, with him being the first to step up and help support Zen and Obi in their rescue mission.
Ultimately Raj has firmly cemented himself as a likeable member of the extended cast. He’s not perfect, but nor is he the annoying sleaze we remember from Volume 1. After his time spent with Shirayuki leading up to the banquet, he’s become someone who is no longer afraid of her and is more respectful of her as a person. Now Raj is simply a lovable idiot that I’m attached to and look forward to seeing more of in the future.
This volume of Snow White with the Red Hair Volume 6 comes to the West thanks to VIZMedia and continues to be translated by Caleb Cook. The translation reads well, with no errors to speak of.
Snow White with the Red Hair Volume 6 successfully delivers an action-packed instalment. This volume offers us some exhilarating fight scenes, while also further demonstrating how Raj has managed to become a likeable character since his reintroduction.
