Asadora! vol. 4

The monster finally made another appearance at the end of the previous volume, and it capsizes a ship at the beginning of this one.  It’s on its way to Tokyo and that means it’s time for Asa, Kasuga, Keiichi and their shady government friends to spring into action, right?  Well, it would be if everyday life wasn’t determined to butt right in.  It starts when Asa’s friend Yone comes to her one morning to tell her that she’s going to meet with the entertainment agency to make her debut.  She still hasn’t told her friend Miyako about it, though.  Then there’s Asa’s observer/chauffer A-kura who has to deal with how his car was impounded by the local police after their pre-Olympic opening ceremony crackdown.  Kasuga also has his own drama to deal with when he finds out that someone has been snooping around the aircraft hangar.  

With all that’s going on, it looks like the monster’s appearance is going to provide a welcome distraction from everyone’s issues.  However, in loading everyone down with these problems, mangaka Naoki Urasawa runs the risk of piling on too much drama and squeezing out all of the tension from a suspenseful setup.  It’s a testament to how well he’s able to pace all of these little incidents that this doesn’t happen.  For the most part, these are all inconveniences and most of them are resolved with the characters in question employing their own cleverness or by those around them being willing to compromise or lend a helping hand.  It all leads to Asa finally getting what she wants as the mangaka brings the curtain down on this latest volume at just the right point to leave you wanting more.