地獄楽 2

Here, Gabimaru is still amazing in almost everything he does, but Sagiri steals his thunder on this one. And I'm not even mad about it.

You see, when you have a co-protagonist steal the spotlight from the character we started with, this one must be interesting or rather on par with the previously mentioned character. Not only Sagiri fills that role perfectly, but it also allowed both of them to grow as well; Sagiri ditches several of the inferiority layers we could see since the previous volume, and when it's time for her to step up in combat, it leaves you baffled at how incredible and strong her character is.

She doesn't leave her humanity behind, nor the author attempts to make things “easy” for her just to be on par with Gabimaru. Everything she does is due to her own will, courage, merit, and abilities we knew she possessed but that she didn't use. If you think about it, no other character thus far (except for his piece of trash master) has been able to be on par with Gabimaru except for her, which in retrospect is brilliant because it established the strength and tenacity of Sagiri since the beginning and what she was capable of. You know, I've been waiting to read a GREATLY WRITTEN female character for a while now, and I'm glad I found it in Sagiri. Props to the author for knowing how to write female characters.

Also, I love how the narrative keeps giving twist after twist. When you think you figured out something about the world or characters, something else is revealed that surprises you and your entire perception of how the story is going to unfold. Loving this series so far.