Wave: Listen to Me! vol. 6

You know… When I started reading this series, I wasn’t expecting to read a storyline where Minare and a couple of co-workers head out to a rural village for research, fall into an aqueduct via trapdoor, and are recruited by a cult to spread their dogma.  Dogma that happens to come with a side of radiowave brainwashing.  Hiroaki Samura made this title’s irreverent tone clear from the start, but a storyline like this makes you wonder if he was about to push things too far.

I don’t think that happened here as things still manage to stay within the boundary of reality that “Wave, Listen to Me!” has established for itself.  Minare, Mizuho and Katsumi are still very much in character here, they’re just in a situation that’s a little bit “extra” by this title’s standards.  That’s fun, as is seeing their rescuers actually be capable of rescuing while advancing some interesting character development between them and the people they’ve come to rescue.  There’s also some enjoyable goofiness thrown in to keep things from becoming too serious and while this arc does seem like it’d be a good place for Samura to flex his action skills, he decides to ditch that for comedy instead.  Well played, sir!

After this storyline wraps up, things start getting back to normal for the series.  Only now Minare has a bit of notoriety after her cult adventure, and that’s enough to get her a possible slot for her radio station’s inter-station Valentine’s collaboration.  This could be her big break, assuming that her attempt to get a story for it with Mizuho doesn’t break them first.  That said, most of the volume’s second half is dedicated to fleshing out Makie’s backstory.  It’s been hinted at before, but it’s welcome to see how coming to work at Voyager and her affection for a specific radio show has been a social lifesaver for her.  I wish I could say as much for her relationship with Chuuya, but by the logic of this endearingly oddball series it could actually wind up working out for the both of them.  Which would be nice, even if the regularly enjoyable shenanigans of the volume’s back half aren’t quite as entertaining as it’s manic front.