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Reviewed by David Rasmussen If this was the start of the series I'd have an easy place to begin my review. It's the start, things are just rolling, so let's jump in feet first and see what there is to see. However this is anything but a beginning review, far from it, it is (in fact) the end of the road. The final volume. This can only be bad as we are stuck with the age old question of how much is too much to reveal to you this far out (at the end of…) huh? Why so worried? Well if you are as new to this as me there's no worries, but if you've been following this since word one book one then there's lots to worry. This is, after all, the day your investment in VIZ pays out. Otaku payday. When you go into a new series you are not just banking physical money into the publisher (VIZ in this case), you're also banking abit more than that. Your time, interest, hopes, and even dreams (in some cases). When you become a serious reader of a series you bank a bit of yourself into the investment reading the series. So when it's time like this, when it's payday for your long readership, you'd want to get a good turnabout on your reading (and know you invested well). So then when it comes to reviewing how far is telling too much? That, my dear reader, is the question. Let's find out how far is too far. First off, a bit of background. 108 sins in 108 days! …uh, no, this isn't a 2008 Presidential Campaign manga… Once upon a time there was a punk without a care named Tobei. He was a badass from the old Feudal Japan era who ended up getting his ticket punched out of existence, damned to hell for a stint that lasted for 300 years until he ends up getting the heck out of hell with a chance at self redem-- what? You heard this before? Really? Well… OK, yeah, it kinda sounds like Spawn (back when it didn't suck, you remember back that far don't you?)), but it's not Spawn… I think. Anyway after 300 years of burning in hell, rotting for a short eternity, as well as an eternity of watching the spread of Hot Topics outlet stores in damnation… well, somebody let the Tobei out. Now in the present world he is set against the physical form of sin itself called "Toga". Armed with a sin-slaying sword named, yes, Togari, Tobei goes out to hack up evil things. So it's the final volume… where do we stand now? Somewhere on his quest for redemption (or a "Get Out Of Hell Free" card) Tobei discovers that (surprise surprise) the Toga he's hunting are NOT his true enemy, that is a distinction held by a young man named Sena (who wields the power of "white darkness"… "WHITE" darkness?!? Are you kidding me!! With the ability to be the pied piper of the Toga, Sena sets out to throw the city into chaos, which sets him and Tobei on a collision course. Of course it doesn't help that Tobei begins to turn good, only he can't be good now because he draws on darkness to fight the Toga… so his weapon Togari stages a "hostile takeover" of his body and now you're left doubting whether or not the body of Tobei is in Tobei or Togari's control. And that's where we are when this starts. So, quickly, since we're not revealing too much... It's the end of the road, and the last of the sins are handled, the last loose ends are tied up and… then what? Even if things can somehow get done in as much of a satisfactory situation as possible how will it end? Will this be the way you want it to end? Will your investment have paid off for reading this whole series? That I can't say. Why? Because one volume does not an overall understanding of a series make. So I'm going to bow out and give this a score based only on what I see here instead of a total review, as without the first seven volumes I can't do that. So with that said Togari Volume 8 gets a B. Somehow if I was brought in at the start I have a feeling I'd understand more of it, and be more understanding as to why this ended the way it did. But since I am keeping you in the dark as to the end I have to say that my lack of understanding of the series colored my score a little. Just a little. On its own merits, the series is solid. The writing plods a little slowly at times but is still solid even if it is a bit slow to go through. Written well, drawn reasonably well, and overall a promise of greater things if I was in from the beginning, Togari is something of a investment series over a go-out-and-get-now series. Huh? What does that mean? It means if you are getting into Togari, it's the back volume shelf for you instead of the new release shelves. If you think you might be interested in this you should absorb it from the start, one volume at a time, really sinking a suitable investment into it that I didn't with my first introduction to the book at the end of the series. Long story short Togari is over, and I missed too much of it to really give you a solid review past my impressions of this volume. I think it's worth checking out, if you are into this sort of read you should be suitably rewarded by it when you check it out. Buy from the start, buy the run, enjoy. Togari Volume 8 gets a B. Comment on this review of Togari v8 on the Manga Life Forums. |
6 October 2009
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