Thunder 3 Volume 4 Review
At the beginning of my review of the previous volume of Thunder 3, I wrote that while there was little attention paid to the main heroes, there was plenty of action to keep the reader entertained. In this fourth volume, even the action starts to feel a bit of a drag.
Most of this edition concerns the ongoing rebellion being organised by a group of humans called Rebellion (unimaginatively). The majority of the humans have ended up resorting to using a drug called “Empoweral” in order to give them the advantage over their alien occupiers. This takes on a different range of forms: after taking the drug, one woman becomes a giant, one guy gets super speed, another can spawn trucks out of thin air and drop them on the enemy, and so on. The fight gets streamed by eyewitnesses, which the Small Three witness, and finally decide to join in on the action.
Not that we actually see Pynotaro, Tsubame and Hiroshi fight yet, we just see them making their minds up, and at the end of the volume literally leaping into action. In terms of anything really developing plot-wise, this happens back in the cartoonish home world of the Small Three, where a month has passed since the gang left. Their teacher who lent them the PS5 disc which opened the portal into the realistic world asks for the disc back. Getting it, he plays it at home with some friends, who in turn discover the portal and enter into it. Thus the mixing of worlds is beginning to increase.
Despite this, it does feel there is little substance in this edition. The vast majority of this volume is just fighting, fighting and more fighting. While there is nothing generally wrong with a fight scene, and yes the use of the drug does add an extra dimension to things, the fact this is all we are really getting at the moment results in the story actually feeling a bit boring. In the end, you just flick through the pages going, “Oh another fight, right.” Yes, the quality of Yuki Ikeda’s artwork is good, with the mixture of styles adding to things (including the debate as to whether it is a pen name for Gantz creator Hiroya Oku, although this is still speculation), but it doesn’t feel enough to make it really enjoyable.
Regarding the production, the lack of credit to the letterer continues to frustrate, as arguably the mixture of fonts being used is one of the more interesting aspects of the series. Translator Cat Anderson and editor Daniel Joseph continue to do good work, including an up-to-date at the time of publication exchange rate conversion at one point.
However, the general vibe coming from this fourth volume is that it is just padding. The Small Three are only just joining the fight; more characters are crossing over which will hopefully make things more interesting as we progress. Indeed, a preview given of the fifth volume seems to indicate the crossing of worlds is only going to escalate. Let’s see if this will improve things.
Our review copy from Vertical was supplied by Turnaround Publisher Services.
