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Bakuten Angels' Adolescence Vol.3

The final volume of this series. Bakablonde has got some nice scans over at the Bakuten Bordello.

Act 12. Sei picks up jo and drops her off. However the halberd guy confronts Jo and a battle ensues. Meg angsts over one of Jo's guns at home but pulls herself together when she hears an explosion, rushing towards the scene.

Act 13. Jo is proving outmatched by her former fellow test subject but with the innovative use of her top, her extra gun and her presence, Meg decisively helps Jo to win the fight. Erica has got dibs on how halberd guy realizes that Meg is the one who has changed Jo and given her humanity. However the touching scene is interrupted by corporate goons who gun down Jo.

Act 14. Evil doctor Magus, who practises what he experiments, downs halberd guy. Meg is taken away, leaving a now spine-extracted Jo in a pool of blood. Sei arrives and gives chase with her super-zhng car - Jo somehow is still alive. Halberd guy uses his chi kungfu to give them a last helping hand.

Bakuten Angels' Adolescence Vol.2

The first chapter of Vol.2, Act 6, is my favourite. Erica has already done a terrific summary and review of it at Okazu - though to nitpick, I don't think Amy asks Sei what Meg and Jo are doing (Meg has launched a flying glomp of Jo and they are probably making out on the living room floor) but "is there a purpose to record this kind of stuff?" (??????????????) More on the Jo x Meg dynamics of this chapter later.

Act 7. Jo apprehends a snatch thief. The brat kid of the grateful housewife pesters Jo about how she learnt her l33t skillz but she can't remember. "You so poor thing." Aw shucks, brats say the darnest things. Jo is shaken by this. Meanwhile a Skeletor wannabe is plotting Jo's downfall. Jo has a nightmare about being in a dome surrounded by bloodied corpses and her wearing military-style fatigues and having long hair. She awakens and then meets Skeletor by the sea for a duel. Despite him having the draw on her, she manages to shoot him down but finds herself surrounded by a zombie army.

Act 8. Jo is holding her own against the zombies but her odds look bleak. Meg rides to the rescue on a bicycle and a gift of an ultimate weapon - an iron pipe. LOL Skeletor guy (Fundingu) is actually either a tentacle monster or a Quintizon scientist! As the battle continues to rage, Sei and Amy decide to intervene.

Act 9. Sei becomes a hot chick in a tentacle flick, captured by Fundingu. However h4xx0r Amy saves the day by disabling the zombie army's control circuits. Fundingu is later sliced into half by yet another Jo hater.

Act 10. A burlgar, who resembles one of the mangakas, makes the mistake of trying to burgle the Jo x Meg household. After slashing his pride to shreds with her razor wit and malicious humour, Meg subdues him with a pistol draw and hands him over to the police. Meanwhile Jo has slept through the whole Meg vs Burglar confrontation. LOL

Act 11. A man with a similar make to Jo wanders the streets as if ill. He transforms into a monster and attacks the local populace. Jo grabs his second intended victim, a very young girl, and fights him with her under one arm. She kills it but it jogs memories and she sees similarities in herself. On top of that, the frightened girl's father expresses his gratitude by calling Jo a monster and the hitherto fleeing crowd joins in demanding for the safe return of the girl while looking generally threatening. Meg finds Jo in the rain but Jo pushes Meg away, telling her not to touch her. Classic miscommunication scenario. Jo feels that she doesn't deserve Meg but Meg thinks that Jo has dumped her.

Art/scene personal favourites:

Bakuten Angels' Adolescence Vol.1

Was inspired to take up this manga by Erica even if it was by GONZO. And it didn't hurt that it was just three volumes.

Act 1. Meg supports an injured Jo, fleeing pursuers. Ordinary (if much bullied) boy Takeru find them in his room and tends to them. Pursuers eventually catch up but Jo has recovered by then. She kicks ass, to Takeru's amazement.

Act 2. Jo and Meg are hired, with the promise of a blank cheque, to recover a ring from a gang in time for a rich girl's wedding. Jo tanks while Meg distracts a sniper with her charms. Jo fills out the cheque for the princely sum of JPY 50,000 (about USD 500), shattering Meg's dream of living happily ever after as Jo's tai-tai wife. "Jo no baka-!!" LOL

Act 3. While giving out advertising leaflets (part-time jobs), Jo and Meg befriend a little girl. A gang tries to kidnap said girl but ends up grabbing Meg instead. Said girl's mom gives chase in her car with Jo on top of it. After Meg is rescued, she shares a tender moment with Meg.

Act 4. There's a bounty on Jo's head. Takeru comes to warn them but a trio of bounty hunters attack. Jo defeats a very swift dagger bounty hunter but has taken major damage.

Act 5. Meg has been captured by the remaining two bounty hunters. Jo seems over-matched by the Spider Tank guy. Takeru manages to free Meg from Manta Guy but takes a bullet in the chest. Jo limit breaks and pwns them, manifesting a feather fall. Takeru has survived because the bullet struck something Meg had given him earlier. He, in turn, beats up the bullies.

Overall, a good read. For me, Bakuten is about Jo and Meg's relationship so the manga delivers on this much more effectively thant the anime. Takeru wasn't annoying at all and he grows into a more independent spirit by the end of the volume (and doesn't appear again). Meg is extremely funny with her flights of fantasy and random silliness - enhanced by SD art. Also while she gets captured twice in this volume (and has to be rescued by Jo), it wasn't half as annoying as in the anime. In the specifics, she's much less helpless and shows some cunning as well. Crucially Jo and Meg are shown to be very close and Gonzo's manga team has gotten the feel for them just right - the yuri's left a bit ambiguous for this volume (except on p.111) but generally it's still clear that they are very fond of each other. Also Jo's platinum blonde seems to work much better than the blue hair of her anime incarnation.

Art/scene personal favourites: