Earth Expansion Volumes 2-4 Review

When Panini Publishing launched its manga imprint at the end of 2024, Earth Expansion was one of its two debut titles. At the time, this one showed a lot of promise in its first volume. But having concluded in just four volumes, how did the rest fare? Let’s take a look!

Volume 2 picks up right where we left off with the protagonist, Ryusei, his canine partner, Pomukichi, and First-Grade Pioneer, Kohane. The three had been spirited away to Yokohama City in Kanagawa Prefecture, somewhere that no one in Tokyo had seen in a very long time. They need to figure out a way back home so they can report their findings, but that’s easier said than done, considering they were brought there thanks to the enemy’s ability.

To get back, they decide to try and summon the mysterious whale-like monster that brought them There. A dramatic battle ensues, but in the end, they do make it back to Tokyo. Unfortunately, their return is met with the news that Ryusei is having his Pioneer license revoked due to several instances of ignoring Kohane’s orders (who is ranked above him) and for using crystal powers, which is prohibited for all but the First-Grade Pioneers. So, despite the revolutionary news he and Kohane brought back with them, headquarters are still firing him.

However, Ryusei has been left with a loophole that could allow him to continue. The Pioneer exam is happening in a week, and should he pass and gain a First-Grade license, he’ll be allowed to continue his work. So after some intensive training, the stage is set for the exam arc!

It’s the exam section that takes up the majority of Volumes 3 and 4, but this is also where the story takes a turn for the worse. Knowing that the series concluded in #4, I was surprised to see the plot head in this direction and worried about what it meant for the conclusion. This was clearly a manga that had to wrap up before it was ready, which is especially clear from reading artist Hajime Yamamoto’s comment for #4, which states: “At last, I had to admit that the story’s time was up. Even so, I poured everything into this fourth and final volume.”

This is easily the most disappointing final volume I have read in 2025. Not just because of the promise the series showed in the first half, but because it’s clear how much Yamamoto and author Yosshaa! were unprepared and unwilling to finish it. Despite the final volume doing its best to wrap up various parts of the story, it also introduces several new elements that will never see any kind of conclusion.

Now I’m an avid reader of Weekly Shonen Jump, which, of course, has a reputation for ending a lot of its series prematurely. Perhaps because of that, I’m not as disappointed as some readers if a series I’m reading has a rushed conclusion due to underperforming and being told to wrap up. But Earth Expansion feels all the worse because it introduced several key developments right at the end. Was it hope that they may someday come back to it? Yosshaa! is usually a light novelist. Did they hope to continue it in another form? So far, at least, nothing seems to have come of that. But it did only wrap up in Japan in 2024 as well, so perhaps there’s still time for it to reappear.

This situation makes it difficult to recommend the series. Not least because the exam arc also introduces a lot of new characters, who are fun but woefully lacking in development since they were clearly supposed to be a big part of the story going forward. This effectively means half of the series is in this area of being unsatisfactory, and half is a considerable amount.

Still, putting the story aside for a moment, this one did keep up the quality when it came to the artwork, which was fabulous all the way through. The fight scenes were easy to follow and on a grand scale, due to Ryusei’s ability to transform into a kaiju of sorts. Yamamoto regularly made use of two-page spreads to ensure the most impactful moments had room to shine. A lot of the monster designs we got to see as the series went on were really interesting, too! And of course, Pomukichi was adorable until the end.

As mentioned, these three volumes of Earth Expansion come to the UK thanks to Panini Publishing under their manga imprint and have been translated by CCC International LLC. The translation for all of these books reads well. All three are presented in an attractive paperback format with cover flaps. Volume 2 has a colour page, but the other two books don’t. However, they do all include a large variety of profile/information pages between chapters, so it does feel like there’s quite a lot in terms of extras.

Overall, my takeaway from Earth Expansion is that this was a series with a great deal of depth that was prematurely concluded. Once I got to Volume 3, I just had this sense we weren’t going to get the ending I was hoping for, and I’m sad that was the case. One I’ll remember, but not for the right reasons.

Our review copies from Panini Publishing were supplied by Turnaround Comics (Turnaround Publisher Services).