Title: The King’s Beast Vol. 12
Author: Rei Toma
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 169
Genre: Romance, Fantasy
Publication Date: March 5, 2024
The Story
We open up with Prince Taihaku visiting Rangetsu out on her farm. She cooks him a rather unimpressive vegetable dish which leads Taihaku to buy her some spices; however, when Taihaku tries to head back to the palace, Rangetsu does everything she can to get him to stay. Obviously, she’s lonely, so Taihaku offers to take a walk with her. When they get to the town, they notice that the Emperor put out a new law stating that anyone can aim for any profession that they choose… even Ajin! Taihaku reveals that it was the princes who got together and used the name of the Emperor to decree this new law!
With this in mind, Rangetsu’s mind is made up. She is going to take the military exam and return to the palace. Of course, being a former beast servant and with a little cheating, she passes and returns much to Prince Tenyou’s delight. Her new post, obviously, is to protect Prince Tenyou; however, Tenyou has other plans. The mere sight of seeing Rangetsu back overjoys him to where he makes a pretty bold move that throws Rangetsu for a loop.
While Rangetsu deals with this, we learn that the Emperor stepped down and a new Emperor was installed. With the changes to the equality between humans and Ajin, several nations are having a difficult time accepting it. An uprising is on the horizon!
Characters
Let’s be honest here… we knew that it wasn’t going to last long with Rangetsu out on her own; however, despite it being a rather short time page-wise between the last volume and this, it was two full years that Rangetsu had been away. Even though she returned and is now a military officer, nothing has really changed with her. She still loves Prince Tenyou, she still wants to be by his side, and as his new guard, it’s like the life she had before was restored. The only difference is that she’s a guard versus a beast servant. She’s not alone, either as Tenyou’s other guard is a human. This is going to test Rangetsu as he’s one of those who still can’t wrap his head around humans and Ajin working together on an equal status.
Nothing has changed with Tenyou, either. He’s still head over heels for Rangetsu; however, he has begun his plan of making humans and Ajin equals. He kept his promise and is doing what he can with the other princes to transform the world. It’s not going to be easy; however, he is filled with a strong resolve so I’m sure he’ll get it done.
Outside of that, aside from the new Emperor that I’ll leave you to discover, no one else truly had any real development. Situations changed but the people mainly stayed the same.
Final Thoughts
I like how the manga didn’t waste any time with bringing Rangetsu back to the palace. From the moment she left, it was painfully obvious that it wouldn’t work out and she would be back. There was no reason to extend that arc so a time skip was the right call here. The only gripe I have with it is that the time skip made it feel as if Rangetsu leaving was unnecessary; however, that is also due to the fact that she didn’t really do anything when she left. She grew some vegetables and that’s about it. If anything, I would have loved to see her struggle a bit on her own to drive home the fact that she needed Prince Tenyou. Sure, that could make her come off as a bit weak and counteractive to everything she had done and how strong she was portrayed; however, you have to realize that Ajin doesn’t have a lot of the same skills as humans.
Having her struggle would have made her realize this. That would have also made the new law much more impactful since it could have offered inspiration for her to become stronger and that could have led her back to the palace instead of “I miss the prince, let me cheat on this military exam.” I just think there was a missed opportunity here.
With this volume’s ending, it seems as if we are headed for turmoil. I’m not sure if we’ll get to it right away but there were some seeds planted before the turmoil was revealed… such as Tenyou warning Rangetsu that there may come a day where he sends her out to fight. Well, that day seems to be coming so what will the prince do? I guess we’ll find out in Vol. 13! Looking forward to it!
You can also check out other The Outerhaven reviews on your favorite social media networks:
Subscribe to us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theouterhaven
Subscribe to us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheOuterHaven
Subscribe to us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/theouterhavennet
This item was provided for review by VIZ Media
