Kei X Yaku Bound by Law Volume 3 Review
Ichiro Kunishito (Public Security Inspector) is living with Shiro Hanabusa (lieutenant of the Minegami family) and pretending to be in a relationship. What really binds the two together is their desperate search for Rion Nakaba, Ichiro’s mentor and Shiro’s ‘older sister’ from their time growing up in an orphanage, Rion went missing three years ago and the case has gone cold. But Ichiro and Shiro have uncovered the identities of four people who are all grown-up children of prominent politicians, and who seem to be linked to the terrorist bomb blast twenty years ago that killed Ichiro’s parents and other innocent bystanders. Unfortunately, just as they catch up with a possible informant, he’s shot by a sniper – a mysterious woman wearing dark glasses who makes good her escape before they can catch up with her. However, the death is reported as a possible suicide which leaves the two men frustrated, speculating that someone higher-up is manipulating the news. What’s more, the female suspect has seen them and identified who they are. And then Shiro comes down with a fever which leaves Ichiro the one to go to the police to seek out the detective who investigated Rion’s case. “Can’t you ask your boss?” the detective asks irritably. “Superintendent Taguchi was there. He was assigned to oversee our investigation.” This is news to Ichiro – but when he meets up with Taguchi, the superintendent tells him bluntly that the mission is over. Ichiro is determined not to give up. But how far can he trust Taguchi?
Meanwhile, Shiro has been contacted by his yakuza underlings who have cornered a man who’s been helping himself to their funds. Still recovering from the fever, he goes to join them, but when the mission is over, he suffers a momentary lapse in concentration – and is kidnapped at gunpoint by a woman in dark glasses.
The pace is speeding up in Volume 3 of Yoshie Kaoruhara’s exciting page-turner Kei X Yaku Bound by Law. Which makes it a great read – but not so easy for the reviewer who doesn’t want to give away too much of what happens! And because the mangaka has made us care about the odd couple playing at cohabiting, it really ups the plot stakes when Shiro lets his guard down and is captured by a vicious and remorseless enemy. Of course, it also teases – gently but usually with humour – the Boys’ Love aspects of this ‘relationship’. The mangaka is good at pacing and panelling; key reveals are timed on page-turns, and she’s not averse to using a sequence of panels without dialogue to convey a tense moment in the action. She also treats us to more Bonus comics between chapters, as well as two at the end entitled ‘A Comic to Relieve Stress Over the Fact That There Were Few Scenes Between These Two in the Main Story’ (in response to everyone’s comments on the authors’ “Whose team are you on?” poll.) Her chibi versions of the two main characters are genuinely cute; not all mangaka are so skilled at devising and drawing successful chibi versions, mentioning no names, so another plus.
The slick translation for Kodansha is again by Leo McDonagh who also offers a page of helpful translation notes, and the lettering is again by Dietrich Premier which helps make this an effortless read. No colour illustrations but another stylish cover design by miche (original cover) and Phil Balsman (for Kodansha) which helps to give the whole series a very cool, sophisticated look on the shelf (grey and crimson work well together). Volume 4 is due in January and #5 in March 2025; the series is ongoing at eleven volumes in Japan.
If you’re enjoying this slick-paced thriller/mystery with the two chalk-and-cheese, ‘will they, won’t they?’ heroes, you won’t want to miss this latest volume!
Our review copy from Kodansha was provided by Diamond Book Distributors.
