GATE (2018)

[ゲート 自衛隊 彼の地にて、斯く戦えり]

Volume 13

Author: Takumi Yanai
Artist: Satoru Sao
Publisher: Alphapolis

Synopsis:
Lelei prepares to deliver her thesis defense even as there are still threats against her life.

Story/Characters:
We're introduced to Flat, an Elven researcher at Londel and a suitor of Arpeggio. His astronomical research helps highlight that all's not right with the world at present. If you thought only one person would be gunning for Lelei, you'd be wrong. I won't give you the actual count of assassins we encounter, though. Meanwhile, we have both foreign military observers and the press show up at Alnus. Noriko Mochizuki, the sex slave of Zorzal's that Itami's crew rescued, is acting as an interpreter. Less charitable readers will argue that the press is getting strawmanned here, particularly with the slimy Komurazaki, but my opinions of the journalistic profession aren't so different from the author's, so I'll grant that my bias may be keeping me from being too critical. To be fair to Yanai, though, there are some good eggs shown, such as Kuribayashi's sister. Speaking of which, I like how the Kobolds react to the junior Kuribayashi. We close on poor Hamilton trying to argue Piña's side in the Senate, going about as well as you'd imagine, and then.... our cliffhanger.

Art:
The art maintains the standard you've come to expect. The fight scenes are as brutal as ever, but arguably worse are scenes of meatball surgery being performed in the Jade Palace on the wounded members of the Rose Knights.

Other:
We get a bonus chapter about Wolf and a visit to Alnus by his chieftain as well as seven 4-koma. Four of these involve Rory, Tuka and Lelei and their adventures aboard the guided missile patrol boat Umitaka, probably part of a tie-in with the Season 2 spinoff series that centers around the activities of the Maritime Self-Defense Force on the other side of the Gate.

Conclusion:
While this is a solid continuation of the story, this volume mainly serves to set up the next big event and after the powerful moments of the previous volume, it feels like a bit of a let-down. Of course there are ebbs and flows in a story, so I'm sure anyone collecting the series won't regret getting this, but by itself, I don't think it quite rates a must-have. Definitely give it a read, though.

Rating:
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