Josh's Reviews > Ryuko, Volume 1

I'm not sure what I just read...

The opening stanza is perfect; a betrayal, mafia connotations, and a cool kick-a$$ female heroine with loads of story potential; the action was intense and the level of urgency off the scale, I couldn't turn the pages quick enough, eating up panel after panel until we hit chapter 3...and then things started to go wayward with the author choosing to introduce a new character with a deep and involved backstory, essentially changing the face of the story in such a way that Ryuko became a second-rate character, almost forgotten in favor of a fresh direction which wasn't warranted.

Whilst the plot threads eventually reconcile, I'm not convinced the direction was the right one. All the early momentum of the story stalled and it felt like I was reading something different to the opening chapters (despite actually enjoying what I was reading).

Additionally, the art, cinematic as it was at times, was more confusing than complementary to the story. On numerous occasions I found myself backtracking and reading/looking at panels over and over to make sure I understood what was actually happening.

My rating: 3/5 stars. I don't think I'll be going back for volume 2 (even though vol 1 is left largely unresolved).