When I pulled out Love of Kill volume 8, I had only the intention of reading that volume and to save volume 9 for later.
Well, “later” turned out to be “right after” because of how exciting the story and art are!
Chateau and Ryang-Ha consider their next steps, but it’s more about Chateau trying to convince Ryang-Ha to follow along with her wishes. He knows checking on her family and friends is dangerous, but he agrees to be “hired” by Chateau. The pair rendezvous with Indian Guy, who comes along with a surprising guest. Now this makeshift foursome have to avoid Donny’s detection, but it isn’t long before they find themselves in trouble — and soon, even worse trouble.
The gunfire scenes continue to thrill with their big budget film-style visuals, and even in this still, soundless medium, readers can hear the background soundtrack playing as areas around the heroes erupt into a warzone.
But in between the gunplay and Ryang-Ha’s occasional flirting, Chateau’s background is once again thrust into the spotlight. Volume 8 features more action and volume 9 more exposition, but each have their own emotional downtime and moments of crisis. I like how one isn’t just the flashback/info dump volume and the other is the fight for survival. Plus, these two volumes seem to leave little questions about Donny’s motivations, Chateau’s childhood, and how they’re connected. The two volumes don’t complete this storyline (or you could argue it starts a new arc/subarc of this chapter), but there is quite a bit of plot progression and intrigue. The author mentions they’re unsure about how much longer the series will go on, but right now, there is enough to see the story starting to sunset without it needing to be wrapped up in a hurry.
As I’ve alluded to before, there will likely be some criticisms about how Love of Kill features so much violence and death and yet avoids becoming too gory with its main characters. And Nikka, for example, causes problems for the gang all because he’s worried about puke. This is not the first instance of him having skewed priorities (after all, even he admits he prioritizes fun above all else), but this is a case where a reluctant Ryang-Ha and company are obviously going to end in trouble because of this objectively dumb complaint.
Still, while the course of events couldn’t have been more obvious if a “Bad Decision Alert” sign popped up, the occasionally out-of-place humor doesn’t ruin the experience. Fe continues with A-class story and art, and Love of Kill continues to prove it’s a series worth your attention.