We are now on the home stretch, with this series penultimate volume.

General Information

Title: Outlanders Vol. 7
Written and Illustrated by Johji Manabe
Translated by Dana Lewis and Toren Smith
Lettering and Touch-Up by Wayne Truman
Originally Serialized by Hakushensha’s ComiComi Magazine.
Currently out-of-print, but originally published in the US by Dark Horse Comics.

The Premise

The Sorceress Jilhilr has destroyed the Earth and teleported our rag-tag group of rebels over the Imperial capital, and is planning to destroy that next. Never-mind stopping the war, can Tetsuya, Kahm and company just manage to survive?

High Points

Being that we’re approaching the end of the series, this is probably the best place for the writer to set up a Wild Bunch ending since the upcoming conclusion means that it’s likely to stick.

Low Points

After Aki gets freed from the spirits of the Yoma clan, she disappears from the story. Unless she’s going to use their power one more time in a Bad Wolf scenario, it’s a rather unfortunate way to slip out of the volume.

Content Notes

Not as much nudity here as prior volumes, but there’s a lot of graphic violence, and a lot of people die.

The Scores

Originality: As executed here, the story’s still fairly original, though it does fall into a few “Reaching The End of the Anime/Manga” tropes (“I’ll handle this groups of guys, you keep going.” “Now, I’ll handle this group of guys, you keep going.” etc.) 5 out of 6.

Artwork: Still great. 6 out of 6.

Story: Very well executed here, and bringing everything up to what will hopefully be one hell of a conclusion. 5 out of 6.

Characterization: Everyone’s character development here has been building up to this, and it all pays off extremely well. 5 out of 6.

Emotional Response: Very good. Lots of people are killed off, or possibly killed off here, and since we’re approaching the end of the series, it’s very likely that lots of these people will die for real. 5 out of 6.

Flow: 6 out of 6.

Overall: I have to admit, my delay for the past few volumes has been, among other things, that I didn’t want to see the ending of this, because of a certain degree of anticipation (in a good way) over what would happen. 5 out of 6.

In total, Outlanders Vol. 7 gets 37 out of 42.