The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated! Volume 3 Review

At the end of Volume 2 of The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated! our plucky protagonist came face to face with her arch-enemy – the magical girl! Will she be able to defeat this foe? Let’s find out in Volume 3 of the comedy manga. 

As we begin the new instalment, we find Jahy in big trouble as she’s weakened by a cold and the magical girl is trying to steal her all-important mana crystal. Just before she finds herself overpowered, Jahy is saved by the landlady who calls the police on the magical girl but this encounter has left our heroine with quite a trauma… 

In the chapters that follow, Jahy is going about her daily life while being on the lookout for the magical girl. Even the slightest hint of the name sends her running for cover! Eventually, her boss steps in and reassures Jahy that she has friends who are there to support her, so she doesn’t need to face this fear all on her own. 

Later in the book, we meet the magical girl in her everyday form as Kyouko Jingu, a high school student who dreams of saving people from the misfortune incurred from having a mana crystal nearby. She also has incredibly bad luck herself due to collecting so many of the crystals, which works in Jahy’s favour when she encounters the untransformed Kyouko and feels that she has finally defeated her foe (even if temporarily) after finding her in an unfortunate situation. 

Outside of the magical girl storyline, the rest of the book is made up of the usual single-chapter storylines. Compared to Volume 2 we get to spend a lot more time with the boss and landlady, which I appreciate after they had less focus last time. We also get to meet Kokoro Sasaki, an elementary school student who helps Jahy in her quest to find mana crystals (which I confess is quite cute). Because of this, we don’t see Druji or Saurva much, but I think on the whole the characters author Wakame Konbu has chosen to focus on are the ones that work better coupled with Jahy. 

While I found myself a little unsatisfied with the direction of Volume 2 since it didn’t move the plot along, I think Volume 3 is better-paced. The magical girl story moves the main storyline along and then we have all these fun single-chapter adventures happening around it. This is where I hope future books will follow suit with this carefully balanced combination. Even if we’re not technically closer to the Dark Realm being restored, progress toward Jahy’s goals is still being made. 

Another interesting choice in this volume is that we see Jahy largely in her weakened child form instead of the adult form when she’s using the power of her mana crystals. Her younger form is better suited for the more comedic moments and works better with this particular set of characters, but I was surprised we didn’t see her adult form more often. Not a complaint, but an interesting observation! 

The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated! Volume 3 comes to the West thanks to Square Enix Manga and continues to be translated by Amanda Haley. The translation reads well with no issues to note, Volume 4 of the series is scheduled for a release in October so we’ll have a bit of a wait before seeing more of Jahy’s adventures. 

Overall, The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated! Volume 3 proves a better read than the previous outing due to some focus on the main plot and a showdown with the magical girl! If you’ve been enjoying the series so far, this book will surely prove a delight.