Title: Psyren vol. 16

Author/Artist: Toshiaki Iwashiro

Distributor: Viz Media

American Release Date: May 6th, 2014

Format: Manga

Genre: Action, Supernatural, Shonen

Publisher Age Rating: T+ for older teen

Overall Personal Rating: A-

Synopsis:

Miroku Amagi is in the habit of using his powers to toy with the lives of other humans, but Ageha isn’t going to stand for it anymore. What will happen when the two foes pit their incredible powers against each other?

Ageha’s fellow Psionists and the Elmore Wood gang attack W.I.S.E’s capital to rescue their friends, and Kyle and the others find themselves in a desperate struggle for their lives against the Star Commanders. Fortunately, the long-lost Oboro appears just in time, as do Matsuri and Kagetora, who have finally made it to Psyren. As the melee intensifies, Ageha confronts Miroku Amagi alone to settle the score once and for all.

This is it, the final volume. Don’t miss the action.

Commentary:

Psyren 16 does something that very few series manage pull off with their final volumes and that is the ability to bring it home and have it all make sense. The story unfolds and an action packed battle that reveals everything but at the same time leaves the door open for more interpretations to come. I’m not saying that you will walk away not feeling satisfied or left feeling like something is missing. Rather, I believe you will find this volume very well developed and properly completed.

I love the way Ageha manages to take on Miroku Amagi and unravel his entire plan. The others do their best and are able to stand their found, but it all comes down to Ageha and how well he can do. I can say that the way this final battle is put together comes across well and compared the rest of the series it stands out as the best so far and of course it should be.

Overall Grade: A-

Psyren has been a tail of two cites for me. I found the early volumes to be rather slow to develop and the pacing was way off. As the story developed things really came together. This brings us to the final volume where everything needs to come together and sure enough they do. The pacing was just right and the way it is wrapped up was done in a rather nice job, even if it could have been a little cleaner I still really enjoyed it. Toshaki Iwashiro managed to create a rich and action packed world. For anyone thinking about taking on this series all I can say is stick with it the final product stands along side other series like FMA or even Bleach with it only being shorter. This is truly a top notch shonen series and worth a try.