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Iwanaga Ryotaro - Pumpkin Scissors, vol. 02-03 (Eng. trans.)
This is not a very flashy series, and although it isn't extremely memorable, I like it.
Volumes 2 and 3 get a little more into Randel's secret past, but not as much as I was afraid of. Don't get me wrong; I very much want to know what happened to him to make him a scary killing machine (metaphorically), but I also want to get to know the unit more. I get so tired of how single heroes' angst always ends up overtaking things. While the class issues are still not great, we at least get to see some more of it. It's still from the POV of the Pumpkin Scissors team, but I like that the situation is getting more complicated.
Spoilers
I continue to love Alice. That said, I wish the unit had more women in combat, as opposed to the girl with the dog (I forgot her name). I'm especially looking forward to vol. 4 and what Alice does to fight her way out of the ball, because I think she can get out of there without help.
Some of the other underlings remind me very much of Fullmetal Alchemist, especially the blond guy. I was very annoyed by the fake rape threat to get the underground girl's father to admit he cared, or something stupid like that. It was unnecessary and felt cheap.
I am really creeped out by the hints we're getting of Randel's old unit; the guy in the flame suit? Gah! Freaky! And although it'd be nice to have another powerful non-evil woman, it's interesting seeing the role of the mad scientist being played by a woman. I forgot who said it, but someone pointed out while discussing Sarah Connor Chronicles that the scientists tend to be portrayed as male, with the more practical and less theoretical women there to ground them. That's obviously not the case here.
And we get an explanation as to the unit's name! See, one thing I would like to know is if the name is in katakana or translated from Japanese (I'm guessing katakana), but sadly, that was not included in the back notes.
As a side note, although Del Rey's notes in the back tend to be good, the ones for this series are trite and boring. I can't remember, since I read these a while ago, but they either state the obvious or, at one point, make ambiguities clear in case the reader misses it. I was particularly annoyed with the latter.
Volumes 2 and 3 get a little more into Randel's secret past, but not as much as I was afraid of. Don't get me wrong; I very much want to know what happened to him to make him a scary killing machine (metaphorically), but I also want to get to know the unit more. I get so tired of how single heroes' angst always ends up overtaking things. While the class issues are still not great, we at least get to see some more of it. It's still from the POV of the Pumpkin Scissors team, but I like that the situation is getting more complicated.
Spoilers
I continue to love Alice. That said, I wish the unit had more women in combat, as opposed to the girl with the dog (I forgot her name). I'm especially looking forward to vol. 4 and what Alice does to fight her way out of the ball, because I think she can get out of there without help.
Some of the other underlings remind me very much of Fullmetal Alchemist, especially the blond guy. I was very annoyed by the fake rape threat to get the underground girl's father to admit he cared, or something stupid like that. It was unnecessary and felt cheap.
I am really creeped out by the hints we're getting of Randel's old unit; the guy in the flame suit? Gah! Freaky! And although it'd be nice to have another powerful non-evil woman, it's interesting seeing the role of the mad scientist being played by a woman. I forgot who said it, but someone pointed out while discussing Sarah Connor Chronicles that the scientists tend to be portrayed as male, with the more practical and less theoretical women there to ground them. That's obviously not the case here.
And we get an explanation as to the unit's name! See, one thing I would like to know is if the name is in katakana or translated from Japanese (I'm guessing katakana), but sadly, that was not included in the back notes.
As a side note, although Del Rey's notes in the back tend to be good, the ones for this series are trite and boring. I can't remember, since I read these a while ago, but they either state the obvious or, at one point, make ambiguities clear in case the reader misses it. I was particularly annoyed with the latter.