Dragon Eye Vol. #3
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January 30, 2008
by: Adam Beck
How can so much action be packed into one volume?
Manga Description: SECRET PAST
Captain Issa and his squad have been deployed on a dangerous mission to investigate a slighting of bloodthirsty Dracules just outside the city. But when a surprise attack from a mysterious villain threatens the very future of Mikuni City, Issa is forced to make a terrible choice: To save his home, he must reveal a dark secret from his past.
Includes special extras after the story!
Manga Review
Content: (This section may contain spoilers.)
Having been separated from the group, Issa and Sôsei find themselves in a pinch, with something stewing ahead. They aren’t the only ones in trouble though, Leila and Hibiki’s group seems to have run into a bit of trouble on their quest in relocating their comrades. The basic premises of the third volume are to have these two groups split off from one another and fight their own battles. The biggest change from the series is that this is a non-stop action volume; in the past, the series has had many battles, but nothing that hadn’t lasted a couple chapters. This, on the other hand, not only lasts for the entire volume, but will continue and offer more in the next volume too. That said though, there is little character development - besides that of Issa's - as a consequence. Issa’s back story that is told is by far one of the most interesting hints I’ve witnessed from the series; we know he possesses superior power from most, but his past indicates a darker and more violent history. This also makes me question how old Issa really is.
The perspective in the third volume switches between each group continuously as each is confronted by many violent encounters. Having found a massive meeting of the dracules, Issa and Sôsei stay to see what is going down only to have possibly compromise their position. Sôsei’s arrogant actions towards Issa are still in tact and nearly get him killed. The seventh chapter of the series – or first of the volume – is pretty much an explanation and setup for what is going to happen in the upcoming chapters. This is by far the least action packed or interesting chapter, but that isn’t actually putting it down becayse I enjoyed every minute while reading the graphic novel. We also get to witness a little more of Issa’s fighting before planning ability as he doesn’t want to see people become hurt, but he also doesn’t want to be exiled from Mikuni City for unleashing his Dragon Eye. On the other side of the cavern, Leila and Hibiki’s group run blindly into a dark area that is inhabited by many small dracules and few large ones. But the fact that they would run so blatantly into a dark area such as this when they know what awaits them is a bit of an unrealistic move on their part.
Moving to the eighth chapter, this is when things begin to really heat up as Issa and Sôsei, as well as Leila’s team begin their assault on the dracules. We’ve seen a bit of Hibiki’s actions in the past volume, but this is the first time we truly see what he is capable of and it all points to a blood crazy being. Hibiki is nothing like any of the characters in the series; he seems a lot more like dracules than anything only because during his fights it seems like he enjoys it a bit too much. That said though, his skills become a pleasant view because he performs some amazing and unrealistic moves. The other members of the squad also shows off their abilities to an even more extent, with the exception of Kajiyama who only contributes with a light to the group for six minutes. Getting back to Issa and Sôsei, while both teams contain mainly hack and slash scenes, their plans have a more strategic approach in disposing their outnumbered dracules by collapsing the tunnel.
The last chapter is my favorite chapter in the entire graphic novel because it not only contains tons of action, but it also provides a deeper look into Issa’s history. This, like I mentioned before, makes me confused on Issa’s age because he looks pretty close to his current self even in his far past. This is by far one of the biggest aspects of Issa’s designm with his history being one of the bigger twists to the series - maybe even larger than the fact our lead hero has a Dragon Eye. What changes drastically in this chapter of the series is Issa’s stance and combat abilities; while we knww him as the sword swinging punk from before, he now takes on a hand to hand (or claw in this case) approach, having the ability to slice his opponents just with his arm guards.
Getting back to the other group, we get a better taste on how short tempered Hibiki is after a dracule lands a blow on him. Hibiki is one badass character, he ultimately reminds me of a dual sword swinging Gaara (from Naruto) with a short temper and a psychotic appearance when in the heat of battle. He is far from a well-rounded character, but he does contribute to the storyline and action greatly. He is far more interesting than any of the other members who are assisting the squad and offers a darker, more chaotic look into the series. Leila, sadly, doesn’t contribute for much but she does leave the volume off with a bit of a cliffhanger and what’s more she calls for Issa during her last moments of consciousness.
This is one action-packed volume of Dragon Eye that rarely takes any time away from the sword swinging or teeth gripping violence the series has to offer. While previous volumes has offered quite a bit of action, this is the first time that the series has truly delivered it all throughout the entire volume. That said though, the only character that was explored upon and developed was Issa, which provided us a nice juicy taste of his past. And also consequently, there really isn’t much of a story other than, stop the monster from killing the innocent, and then get the hell out of there, but overall, the amount of action and satisfaction the third volume displays is outstanding and lends its hand in a wonderful read.
Art: I’m overly impressed with the visuals that Dragon Eye has to offer. Because this is an action-packed volume, there is a lot going on; thankfully, while the visuals do get crowded from time to time, I didn’t find at any point that it had became a serious problem. This may be because the series contains a clean slate and contains a bold lining for every character. The bolding styke can easily be compared to CG images from visual novels, containing a strong outline and focusing around that specific point. Dark areas rarely contain any graining of sorts and are pitch black, something some of the other manga titles lack. There are some areas of graining of shade from time to time located on the special effects – such as monsters splitting apart – but it isn’t serious enough to be an eyesore. The character models are excellently done, and as I said, contain a strong amount of detail and outlining. What’s more, there is a ton of variety when it comes down to each character design and dracules; there has to be tens of uniquely styled monsters helping the series never to become boring. The environments also look great; unfortunately, because the teams are located in underground caverns, there is very little variety when it comes to different areas. Still, the visuals shine brightly and even though panels can become crowded from time to time, it’s obvious that there was lots of time and effort that went into it.
Translation: The English-translation is pretty much perfect; there are no apparent sound effects that are untranslated nor are there any mistakes in the dialogue. Sound effects are presented in the original Japanese lettering with an English-translation of the effect placed nearby. There are never any of the original sound effects that are deleted, and when they are placed in dialogue bubbles, Del Rey just opted to place the English translation outside the bubbles. The honorifics are only sometimes intact: for example, Leila adds “-kun” when calling out for Issa, but pretty much everyone else just calls the other person by their first name without any honorifics attached. And actually, Leila’s last calling for Issa actually felt out of place because of that honorific. The dialogue, for the most part, is well done with only a couple out of the ordinary phrases. Each character is portrayed perfectly and contains some, while not really emotional, handful of strong dialogue that will set the violent mood well.
Extras include seven four-panel comics, two pages of translation notes, a four-page preview into the next volume. The short comic strips always seem to tickles my funny bone as it takes a specific situation in the storyline and creates an alternate outcome to make some funnier events. But overall, however, the back cover is a bit misleading as it says it contains “special extras” and the extras included are far from special, but they do offer some comical relief.
The Bottom Line: Dragon Eye Volume 3 offers some well plotted out action and a terrific back story of Issa. The visuals are down right beautiful and contain strong outlines for each character or monster, and the English-translation is done with grace. I look forward seeing what will occur next as the series is pretty good at leaving off cliffhangers. I did think there could have been a little more character development for other characters besides Issa, but this volume offers enough action-packed scenarios to fill an entire series - and that more than makes up for it.
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Content |
A truly action-packed thrill ride that rarely takes a breather. And not only that, but there is an interesting look into Issa’s past as well. |
9.0 |
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Art |
The artwork in the series is superb. There is strong bolding and detail that goes into each character along with a ton of variety to each dracule monster and vius member. |
9.0 |
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Translation |
An immersive experience with some excellent dialogue and no overlooked translation issues. There are a couple honorifics in place, but they feel a bit out of place when they are used. |
9.0 |
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Verdict
Dragon Eye is one of those series that can easily appeal to a wide audience, both in comedy and action. While there isn’t a lot of character development and only a couple jokes to go around, the deeper look into Issa’s background and overall extreme amount of action-packed scenes create an enjoyable experience that should not be missed.
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9.0
[not an average]
+ Gripping action scenes.
+ Beautiful visuals.
+ New twist in Issa’s background.
- More character development would be nice.
- Only a few jokes.
- Not a lot of extras.
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