Title: Psyren vol. 14
Author/Artist: Toshiaki Iwashiro
Distributor: Viz Media
American Release Date: Jan. 7th, 2014
Format: Manga
Genre: Action, Supernatural, Comedy
Publisher Age Rating: T+ for older teen
Overall Personal Rating: B+
Synopisis:
Ageha and the others battle the Scourge, an experimental elite battle corps engineered by W.I.S.E. Ageha must now learn Nova, a new power that enables him to manipulate gravity, if he’s got any hope of saving his friends and his world. At the same time they have figured out a way to open the cloud deck that just might give them an edge. Or will it?
Meanwhile, the ailing Elmore sees a vision of the future that terrifies her and leaves her more fragile than ever. The thing is that Elmore passes on some additional words of wisdom and the other seem to take the words to heart. Will her vision of the future end up coming true or will these youngsters that she helped raise and train find a way to divert any potential doom?
Commentary:
As we approach the ultimate battle things are starting to heat up. This volume of Psyren not only aids in moving the series along, but it also help solidify the characters and give more meaning to who they are and what they have become. This not only gives the series a little more meaning, but also helps bring things together. I found that this volume has taken a series that could have been very confusing and started to focus us on the final battle. Of course there is the obligatory final power training mode that the hero must go through in order to take on the bad guys.
The writing in the volume of Psyren falls into the classic shonen archetype. There are moments that it would be easy to transpose Psyren with almost any other shonen manga. The way that the protagonists are pushed to their limit just to pull something extra out of thin air to stop the onslaught. The super secret hidden power that is now a technique that the hero must learn. And of course the antagonist who is about to change the world in a way that spells an end to humanity as it is known. Although things feel rather stereotypical there are other aspects to the this volume that helps to give hope to a newer vision on an old storyline. I would be more direct, but I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone. I do love to see some of these guys fight, their powers have come a long way and things are looking good.
There are a few twist to this typical archetype that help Psyren move forward and feel too stale. I think that is what helped this volume take a step in the right direction.
Overall Grade: B+
Psyren 14 is action packed and full of interesting infomation. Things manage to take some rather typical turns but there are a couple twist that just might be the big difference in the end. If feels like things are starting to move quickly toward the end and the final battle. If the remaining volumes follow this path they will be very entertaining and make the entire series worth while. So for things look very good and volume 14 does a fine job setting things up. I ready bring it on.
