Saturday, January 22, 2011

Kurogane: Volume 3

by Kei Toume, 256 pages

Solitary cyborg-assassin Jintetsu continues his aimless wandering among the backwater towns of Japan. In this volume, he encounters many different manifestations of tested love--spousal, sibling, unrequited, even the bond between a kind crime boss and his erstwhile loyal underling. The relationships may be imperfect and complicated (or even a bit creepy--especially if the object is a scarily protective automaton built on the original loved one's skeleton), but that doesn't undermine their importance in the hearts of those involved. Nor does it make the participants any less worthy of forgiveness when their diverse transgressions at last come to light.

Even Jintetsu, who does what he can to help the others make amends, has his own issues to deal with. Fellow assassin Makoto has reason to revenge herself on Jintetsu--or so, for her own sake and the sake of the one she loved, he's allowed her to believe. He's prepared to die at any time; and as she watches him repeatedly put himself in harm's way--even for her--will she finally be able to let go of the past?

How is it that a series filled with so much bittersweetness still manages to be hopeful? Dunno. Guess I'll just have to read another and find out.

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