Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt vol. 13

Vol. 13 starts out with a letter to the reader from mangaka Yasuo Ohtagaki.  In it, he tells us that he has been suffering from tenosynovitis, an inflammation of the tendons, in his left hand which is also his drawing hand.  Ohtagaki tells us that he has had to change his drawing style as a result of this impairment. The mangaka acknowledges that not everyone is going to like his new style, but he goes on to say that it’s the only way that he can continue his work.  “There are many more worlds I want to explore,” he says, “It would be foolish to stop sharing my ideas because of an injured left hand.” As a fan of his work on “Thunderbolt,” I’m glad that Ohtagaki is continuing to press on in spite of his hardship.

As for how his new style looks, it’s understandably rough.  The clean lines that defined Ohtagaki’s work on the series to date are now scratchier and less distinct.  Some characters don’t even get faces in certain scenes. I’d say his art now has the look of something that was bashed out at the last minute to meet deadlines, except that wouldn’t be entirely true.  Ohtagaki’s eye for composition is still keen as ever and he knows how to keep the action flowing on the page. When Io is throwing down with the enemy Gundams inside Taal Base, it’s not hard to get swept up in the battle.  That becomes doubly true when Darryl shows up towards the end.

That’s another reason why the change in the mangaka’s art isn’t a fatal blow for the series:  The drama remains fully intact. While Io and Darryl are still on their collision course, there are other subplots coming to a boil around the edges of that conflict.  The one that resonates most here being the history between Levan and Dr. Humphrey as they fail to work things out in a way that leaves the doctor cursing her own kindness.  There are plenty more moments like that involving the supporting cast, though this volume also lets you know what fate awaits most of the supporting cast in a “Gundam” series:  death — glorious if they’re lucky. No, the Gundams may not look as sharp as they used to, but the drama and action remain as keen as ever in “Thunderbolt.”