Psyren, Vol. 5: Visions

An excellent read about a time travel manga involving psychic powers and stand out character designs.

My middle school boys love these books.

The fifth volume of Toshiaki Iwashiro's comic "Psyren" picks up where the previous volume left. Our hero Ageha and the four "Psionist" fighters uncover a disturbing video that suggests the dark future of humans, including deaths of some of their friends. Unlike Volume 4 where the story was slow and the tone quiet, Volume 5 has lots of action, with three groups of characters engaging in individual life-or-death combats.The combat sequences (all in three) are drawn with Iwashiro's powerful artwork, though Hiryu and Oboro's one is too short, I am afraid. The best is the combat sequence between the sword-wielding girl Sakurako and a mean-spirited monster Gizzani (with a little mind game going on between them), for which alone the comic is worth reading.The book concludes with a pack of new characters suddenly introduced into the story. The "Psyren" comic series, which started with a mysterious urban legend about a red telephone card, is now beginning to be something different. As the mystery surrounding the deadly game of "Psyren" is slowly dispelled, the comic is getting somewhat like Tite Kubo's "Bleach" with battles between super-powered fighters.I am not complaining. I am only saying that some of the details of the entire comic (two detectives in Volume 1, or children of the Elmore Wood orphanage, for instance) are more interesting to me. Anyway, it seems the kids will be coming back in the next volume, so I hope they will show what they really can do.

Psyren takes place a carefully constructed world and its overarching plot continually builds chapter by chapter. Don't start here - it really must be read from the beginning.Still reeling from their small glimpse of the near future, Ageha and friends have no time to recover as they've been noticed and surrounded by the agents of W.I.S.E., who expect them to answer some pointed questions... or else.The action reaches a fever pitch in this volume as our heroes are severely overmatched. The way they try to cope and use their powers in unexpected ways is a joy to watch and makes the battle riveting all the way through. Along the way a big revelation comes to light, we learn more about Psi powers and their uses, and further information is supplied about W.I.S.E. and their methods.Another perfectly paced entry in the ongoing story of Psyren. The end of the volume promises interesting developments and an intriguing possible change in tone and/or direction. Looking forward to see where it all leads.

awesome

Great manga for shonen fans, which includes a massive timetravel conspiracy which awesome battles and a unique apocalyptic setting. Highly recommend it, it's my favourite manga series.