Ajin, vol. 14 review

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Image from Amazon.jp used here for review purposes only.)

Ajin, vol. 14 (Good Afternoon, 2017), by Gamon Sakurai. Grade: A-.

Just a short write-up this time, since most of the story has everyone running around a lot. We left off with the heroes trying to figure out where Satou has his arm hidden. He's flying out on SDF fighter jets and ramming them into various targets (buildings containing people from the Ajin Research project), and then resurrecting back somewhere at the base only to have his arm amputated again and then run to the next jet. Izumi and Tanaka check one location that has a young punk Ajin capable of controlling two black smoke ghosts. However, the guy is really weak and Izumi knocks him off the roof. He lands on a corrugated metal fence that cuts him in two. Tanaka leaves him there, so that when he recovers, he's embedded in the wall.

Kou and the fireman locate an older guy in a building. The guy triggers the sprinkler system so the fireman can't use his ghost, and he's also equipped with a tranq gun and a regular pistol. The fireman pulls loose a section of wall and uses that as an umbrella to protect his ghost with, and they subdue this guy too, leaving him locked up in a store room. Kei and the Anti-Ajin forces eliminate the last of Satou's human minions, and Kei realizes that the two cokeheads and the arm have to be in an underground bunker beneath the airstrip. They split up, with the soldiers going down into the facility, and Kei trying to find an unlocked car in the parking lot. The idea now is to wait for Satou to pick a target far enough away that he can't suicide and get back to the arm in less than 5 minutes.

As all of this other stuff is going on, Tosaki calls a news conference and publicly announces the existence of the Ajin Research group, who the members are, and the fact that it's headed by the politician that was last seen surrounded by dead bodyguards out by the airfield. Tosaki has mailed ALL of the records from the research HQ to a reporter at a newspaper (a small mountain of boxes of materials), saying that the proof of his allegations will be made public soon. He then goes out to a hallway to slump on a bench against the wall, and apparently bleeds to death (he'd left his engagement ring on the dash of his car in the parking lot of the building).

Time goes by, and Satou blows up the TV studio that has one woman news anchor who is in the middle of another of her famous anti-Ajin diatribes. The building collapses, and rescue workers swarm the rubble for survivors. They find the woman, her arm pinned under the wreckage, and she's being repaired with black smoke (yes, the irony is that she's become an Ajin). Finally, Satou picks a target using the jet's planning system that alerts the Anti-Ajin soldiers that he'll be just barely over the time limit away. Kei agonizes for a few seconds, then barks the order to "do it." The soldiers kill the one cokehead (ending the flashback started in the previous volume), and tranq the other one. Tanaka has his ghost race into the bunker to grab the arm and a bomb belt and take them outside to Kou. Kou's job is to find a hole that's "just the right size" to put the arm in. Too narrow and it won't fall in deep enough to contain Satou when he resurrects. Too wide, and Satou will eventually be able to escape. The plan is to embed him in a concrete coffin underground that he'll never get out of. Kou eventually realizes that Japanese concrete telephone poles are hollow, and they fit all the requirements. He uses the bomb pack from the ghost to blow the nearest utility pole in half, and drops the arm into it as the seconds tick down. The chapter ends with the arm disappearing into the darkness, and Satou noticing that something seems "off" about this last target.

Summary: Lots of action and suspense this time, mixed in with a little gallows humor. The artwork has come a long way from volume 1, too. Great stuff if you like thrillers. Recommended.