Title: Platinum End Vol. 5
Author: Tsugumi Ohba (Story), Takeshi Obata (Art)
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Genre: Thriller
Publication Date: April 3, 2018
The Story
Saki has determined that she wants to acquire wings of her own so she can help Mr. Mukaido and Mirai fight Metropoliman. There are four ways for an angel to acquire wings which are to kill a God candidate that has them, pierce a God candidate with a red arrow right before death so they get credit for the kill, have a God candidate pass them onto you willingly upon death and lastly receive them as a gift from a God candidate that has acquired them from the other three methods. Saki’s angel Revel interrupts and mentions that there is a fifth method and that’s for an angel to get promoted to special rank. Revel vows to absorb all of Baret’s knowledge and become the new Angel of Knowledge. Revel accepts this task and begins to learn all the information about everything since the beginning of time… you know… just some light afternoon reading and such.
Meanwhile, a sudden twist comes when a new God candidate emerges! Hajime Sokotani is his name and he has become enthralled with Metropoliman. He wants to become his servant and witness the world he creates when he becomes God. The two of them team up by kidnapping Mukaido’s family, luring him and Mirai to an amusement park. Hajime traps Mukaido inside of a house of mirrors with his family leaving Mirai to battle Hajime and Metropolimen in a two-on-one scenario. Mirai finally finds the resolve to shoot his arrows and while it looks like he escapes at first, he merely changes location and prepares to stand his ground against the two of them!
The addition of Hajime is an interesting choice. It adds a new dynamic to the story, but I just have this feeling that he will be short-lived. There was a lot of character development in this volume so let’s just jump to that section.
Characters
Right off the bat, we get the results of Mirai and Saki’s heart to heart in the last volume. Saki has become more proactive and determined to help Mirai and Mukaido out. The fact that she wants a set of wings and is determined to no longer be some useless bystander shows nice progress in her character, but something about this feels off. Even though her heart is in the right place, I don’t think she carries the mentality to truly do what is necessary. Something about her tone when she speaks, her facial expressions. None of it seem really serious. Even though she is aware of the seriousness of the situation, she doesn’t seem like the type that will keep it together under stressful situations. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong, but she seems like she’d be clumsy or in the way during a battle.
Our new character was fully explained upon introduction! Hajime grew up as a hideous-looking child that not even his parents could love. He was constantly teased and as such became so introverted, he couldn’t even speak to anyone. After his mother committed suicide, he felt the end had come and he attempted to kill himself. That’s when his angel, Balta, appeared and saved him by making him a God candidate. He used his red arrows to steal money and get plastic surgery and while he became handsome, he still couldn’t speak to people properly. Through his healing process, he would watch the news and see Metropoliman. Of course, with him being a God candidate, he could see him use the arrows. The more and more he saw of Metropoliman, the more he became infatuated with him. He decided that he wanted to dedicate his life to be his servant and began a search to track him down.
I find it kind of funny that a whack job like Hajime tracked him down so easily, yet the combined wits of 3 God candidates and their angels couldn’t amount to jack squat in their search. Be that as it may, Hajime is exactly what I labeled him as just now: a whack job. Years upon years of mental torment made him this way so can you actually blame him?
Final Thoughts
This was a really good entry into the Platinum End series. I still have my reservations about Hajime, though. Metropoliman takes very calculated risks and he’s not exactly bad at math. I can’t see him taking on Hajime as his servant. If he does, it’s not going to be for very long. He’s either going to dispose of Hajime when this plan fails or he’s going to get as much use out of him before he cons him into falling for one of his own traps and eliminate him there. Either way, I don’t see Hajime lasting long as a character.
Saki is still a mixed bag for me at this point. I feel she will be a clumsy addition to the team, but I’m hoping that I can be proven wrong. Watch her turn out to be the most skilled out of the three of them, making me season up my foot with salt and pepper in preparation for consumption. I like how each side is getting a new dynamic with them. It’s still a bit lopsided in a three on two scenario, but that’s the whole reason why I think Saki isn’t going to cut it. She’s that balance where, yes, she’s a third member of the team, but she might as well not even be there. We’ll see though. Again, I could be proven completely wrong. Knowing my luck, I’d better go buy some extra salt and pepper.
Hmm.. maybe some hot sauce, too? Oh, the choices I face! While I face those difficult choices, this one is an easy one for the rest of you. Add this one to your collection and if you haven’t started on Platinum End yet, then I suggest you act like Teron Gorefiend from World of Warcraft. You’ve got a lot of catching up to do!
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
