Title: For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams Vol. 5
Author: Kei Sanbe
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Publication Date: July 21, 2020
The Story
Volume five of For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams begins with the aftermath of the fire that was set to the hideout that Senri and Enan found. After returning, Senri goes back on the hunt for Kazuto all while being at odds with Wakazono for his mishandling of the information he confided in him. Meanwhile, there are a couple of murders that take place that looks to have The Rat’s (The “Fire” Man’s) calling card and/or signature method to them. One of those murders is the thug known as Mask Man who Senri was looking to use for information.
Senri pretends to be Three Eyes in order for that information to get spread. The goal was to allow
Kazuto, who is suspected of being three eyes, to escape from the crime scene had he been the one to actually have killed Mask Man. However, Senri and Wakazono both believe that Kazuto is being framed by someone and that was the real reason why Senri pretended to be Three Eyes… to get that information to spread to Three Eyes himself as an indirect message to his brother.
The rest of the volume goes into a bit of Kazuto’s backstory and explains a scar that he has on his forehead. We also learn what that scar means and why he suffers from narcolepsy-like symptoms. As soon as it is explained an event happens with Kazuto that puts him in danger.
There was a LOT of information in this volume. The volume switched back and forth between the main story and Kazuto’s backstory. In addition, it begins to tie things together to the point where the seems to be a copycat killer that could possibly be trying to frame Kazuto for some unknown reason. There is also a bit of unraveling to do with The “Fire” Man as well as Senri suspects that it might be his father’s twin brother; however, Enan’s grandfather confirms that Senri’s father was an only child. The mystery keeps getting deeper and deeper with the volume raising way more questions than providing answers. It’s just the kind of hook that leaves you wanting more!
Characters
The biggest development here is with Kazuto. After Senri was placed in the orphanage, the person known as The “Fire” Man takes Kazuto in. One night, there are people after The “Fire” Man so he decides to “take care of them.” One of them evades him and finds young Kazuto. The “Fire” Man returns but Kazuto ends up in a dire situation because of it. I won’t say what happened but the event explains a few things that we learn about Kazuto in this volume and it also explains a certain plot point from the end of Volume 1 and into Volume 2!
There are still a lot of questions as to why Kazuto is doing what he is doing, though. That hasn’t been explained but we did get some answers as to a couple of other things. Even though we were given a couple of beans, they were rather small and didn’t really do much other than just build another (much-needed) layer on top of Kazuto’s character.
We end up seeing The “Fire” Man in Kazuto’s backstory as well; however, there still isn’t much in the way of known information in regards to his motives or why he’s doing what he’s doing. Also, his interest in Kazuto, outside of protecting him from going into the Red Leaf orphanage alongside Senri, is still a bit clouded as well.
We got a bit of an elaboration on Wakazono’s past but it’s nothing we really didn’t know already. We already knew from previous volumes that his father was murdered by The “Fire” Man. The conversation came up when Koma and Senri were discussing Wakazono and his determination to find Rat aka The “Fire” Man. It was, basically, the same backstory just told through Koma’s point of view.
Final Thoughts
Another great volume of For the Kid I Saw in My Dreams! This didn’t seem like a major info dump but rather the next step towards one. A lot of the mysteries were amped up in this volume and nothing was really resolved; however, the information that you do receive keeps you wanting to turn the pages to find out what happens next.
One thing that they are building up towards is the possibility of having Kazuto and Senri meet. Enan’s grandfather doesn’t think that’s a good idea, initially, but Enan thinks that a bright future will await them both should it happen. Whether or not that meet-up will happen soon remains to be seen or maybe it was a low-key nod as to how the series is going to end. Given what happened at the end of this volume, I’m going to go ahead and bet on the latter rather than the former.
Still, lots of good stuff from Kei Sanbe! This series is getting better and better with every volume! You can definitely tell he learned a lot from Boku Dake ga Inai Machi and is working hard to outdo himself! All I can say is that these efforts are paying off! Now only if Sanbe could draw some of those characters a bit more uniquely…
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This item was provided for review by Yen Press
