At least they finally look like 12-year-olds.
Dodekain #5
Antarctic Press (March, 1995)
“Counter Attack Of The Black Giant” part 1 WRITER/ARTIST: Masayuki Fujiwara TRANSLATION: Kuni F. Kimura ENGLISH ADAPTATION; Elin Winkler TOUCH-UP ART: Pat Kelley COVER COLORIST: ARNie LETTERER: Shon Howell
Six months have passed since the Zogelian invasion. Takuma is trying to help fix the damage using the Dodekain but he’s still a hothead and the US President is a jerk (because it’s a comedy written in Japan). It doesn’t help that the ugliest girls he could draw is trying to talk him into conquering the world himself. Then a new student, Dan Kovel, transfers in, who is very tall and looking to embarrass Takuma whenever he can. Koyori goes along with it because she thinks Dodekain is going to Takuma’s head, but Dan appears to have a more sinister agenda.
What they got right: While I’m not sure the story needed to continue, we do see what life is like for Takuma and Koyori I’m not against it, either. We get some more characters for our heroes to mingle with and you see the effect of what happens when a robot bigger than the Earth just chased off an alien invasion.
What they got wrong: That said, there’s a tone shift that I don’t think works as well. The new characters break the fourth wall by talking about how cute Koyori is drawn. The teacher (created by adult comic creator Bang Ipyongi) wears a corset under her long jacket. The President is jerk as I mentioned. And I’m still having trouble seeing these kids as 12-years-old, and I don’t mean Takuma being even more easy-going with the swears.
Recommendation: I enjoyed the first storyline, but I’m struggling with the second one. Hopefully things will turn around by the end but otherwise I can’t really recommend this issue as I did the first four.
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