Buso Renkin, Volume 8 Book

This where the decline begins

I'm not going to say that Buso Renkin is a great series. I'm not even going to say it's good. This was kind of the beginning of the end for me. I enjoyed the Ideas. But this was pretty much just an action volume.

Gouta vs Ninja Sword guy, which was great. Watsuki has a great eye sometimes for more utility based fights.

Tokiko vs Bubble Guy Round 2. Boo. This was resolved by Tokiko turning into inch tall based on a miscalculation. She they rips out dudes stomach. Brutal. But kinda meh. Bubble guy could literally solve all our problems.

Kazuki vs Bravo Round 2. Though good, flashy and quite exciting. It didn't hold the same weight as the first one. I kind of knew where this would end and that kind of took away the narrative edge for me. I kind of felt like we could have done more. This was the big climax to the arc, and his sacrifice was done well. But it was inevitiably for nothing as the end the superior shows up and is like "Well, I guess we can use you to help us now....why we didn't do this before is anyone's best guess. It felt cheap and contrived.

Also, the inclusion of a superior this late in comparison to their only being two volumes left was kinda meh to me. In all seriousness, he wasn't ever even hinted at. Bravo's and Tokikos past wasn't explored more in depth here and it NEEDED to be. Overall, a lot of flubs. The beginning of the decline for sure.

Rating 6/10