After reading the first two volumes of Asadora! in one sitting, I was excited to read the third volume of Naoki Urasawa’s latest series. It starts exactly where the second volume ends, with Asa finding the picture of the kaiju that she spotted during the typhoon. This first chapter shows Asa meeting the one who dropped the picture, a trainee biologist, whose mentor was looking for the mysterious Kaiju even before the Typhoon. There meeting is short lived as Asa becomes more focused on a new secret mission that she has to undertake with Kasuga.

Like the first two volumes the main story takes a back seat to some of the more grounded and dramatic elements of the story. There’s an entire sub-plot that’s building about Asa’s friends who want to become singers. One of them has been approached by a talent agency, but they only want her and not the friend. You can tell there’s going to be a rift there. The main action of the story is starting to become more prominent in this volume, but the pieces are still being set into place.

What I really like about Asadora! is that it’s a story about family, and what that actually means and the innocence of childhood. After the typhoon hit, Asa loses most of her family and ends up being looked after Kasuga and a store owner. It’s a makeshift family, and at the same time Asa is holding out hopes that her actual family survived the typhoon.

Overall, volume three isn’t as exciting as the first two which were essentially just setting up the story. With this volume the pace is slowed down and the pieces are being put into place. Naoki Urasawa is a master of writing characters, and it’s because of how great the characters are that makes this such an enjoyable read. Even if the kaiju story is taking a backseat, the historical fiction side of the story is still a brilliant read. I can’t wait to to read more of the series.

Thanks for reading and until next time,

Ashley