GATE (2015)

[ゲート 自衛隊 彼の地にて、斯く戦えり]

Volume 7

Author: Takumi Yanai
Artist: Satoru Sao
Publisher: Alphapolis

Synopsis:
Itami teams up with the Dark Elves for his plan to kill the Fire Dragon.

Story/Characters:
I do like the clever and entirely practical strategy Itami has for taking out the Fire Dragon. I also appreciate how massively Murphy's Law steps in to interfere. Yes, giving rocket launchers to people from a medieval society with all of fifteen minutes of training goes about as well as you'd thing. Backblast area clear, backblast area clear... -_- Another nice note is that the girls get all cammied up to infiltrate the volcano, for however much good it does them. Kitting Tuka out with a flak jacket was also a nice touch. We get not just one but two rather impressive large-scale fights that take up most of the volume. The introduction of Giselle introduces some interesting elements to the story, but we don't get to go into too much depth at this juncture. There's a noteworthy difference in how the volume ends compared to the second season of the anime, to include Yao's significant name change.

Art:
There's a lot of action in this volume. Plenty of explosions, fancy magic and a lot of Dark Elves having a really bad day. And leave it to Giselle to make Rory look downright modest in the costume department. How you can have all those frills and yet so little coverage is the real witchcraft.

Other:
Some of this volume's 4-koma are particularly good. The fun of playing soccer with Kobolds and the fate of Itami's LAM are among my favorites.

Conclusion:
If you like dramatic action, this volume delivers in spades. This entire arc of the story has been building up to this and I'd say the payoff is well worth it. Don't pass this one up.

Rating:
Own It