GATE (2015)

[ゲート 自衛隊 彼の地にて、斯く戦えり]

Volume 8

Author: Takumi Yanai
Artist: Satoru Sao
Publisher: Alphapolis

Synopsis:
With the Fire Dragon defeated, the Japanese diplomatic mission makes inroads toward striking a peace agreement with the Empire.

Story/Characters:
The first part of this volume focuses on the political situation, with the Japanese delegation trying to move peace negotiations forward while Zorzal advances his own plot. The second half took me by surprise as it's an entire subplot that was omitted from the anime, where Itami and the girls come across a desert town where young women have been dying of an epidemic and coming back as zombies. It's actually a shame it didn't make it to the screen because it does a good job of developing Itami and Yao's relationship.

Art:
The art continues to be as good as ever with occasional instances of gratuity I could do without, such as the imagine spot of what the Minotaur might be doing to Rory. It comes with the territory. Anyone who's gotten this far in the series knows what to expect. There are some pretty good expressive shots of Yao and I really dig the "Necombat" shirt a beastman is seen wearing.

Other:
We get another amusing assortment of 4-koma. The proposed cavalry unit is particularly good.

Conclusion:
As we move into the latest arc of the story, there's some new material for people introduced to the series via the anime. There are some good character moments and it's definitely worth reading at the very least, though serious fans will probably want to add it to their collection.

Rating:
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