Title: Choujin X Vol. 10
Author: Sui Ishida
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 240
Genre: Supernatural, Battle
Publication Date: November 18, 2025
The Story
Last time, I predicted that we were going to head into the decisive battle against Zora and The Tower of Mourning; however, I was only half correct because, as per Sui Ishida’s usual, we must prepare beforehand, and that ate up a good majority of the volume. Strategies were talked about, and ultimately, the day of the attack was decided: December 25. Merry Christmas, all! But that also happens to be Azuma’s birthday as well. Talk about an unforgettable party!
During the preparation, Tokio does a bit of reflecting. He heads to school, where he runs into his old teacher. They catch up a bit, but beforehand, he witnesses regular students talking about their plans. He realizes that’s what normal teenagers are like and begins to reflect on everything he has done up until this point. He’s not the only one doing reflection, as a little later, Azuma psychs them up by reminding them of how far they had come. They remember the day when they awakened as choujin, and how they had grown so much over the past year.
With all of the fluff out of the way, we get into the battle. From the very onset, it proves to be quite the tough endeavor. Their non-choujin forces take a beating as they descend from the planes, getting taken out by simple crossbows. The descent causes their forces to get split up, with Tokio and Ely landing higher up than the others. Azuma creates a distraction that allows the remaining forces to land, but none of that matters because the tower shapeshifts and throws them all off! Tokio is forced to find a new way up; however, when he does, he comes face-to-face with an old nemesis! The first major battle begins… next time!
Characters
There was some great character development all around. Palma and Nude had an interesting conversation about love, but even though it was hinted that Palma was in love with Tokio, there was something she realized about him and herself. This is rather interesting because in most romance series, the third wheel often pursues the main character… but then again… Choujin X is not a romance series, so those laws don’t apply. We have Palma already realizing the conclusion before the pursuit and seemingly steps aside because she knows that Tokio should belong to someone else. Plus, she was made to feel slightly unimportant when she was assigned to the rear guard as backup. Even though she wants to help, she took a couple of mental blows straight out of the gate! It didn’t seem to affect her too much, as we see her make the best of her situation later on. Still, those were some nice building blocks for her.
Tokio reflecting on things was something that he needed. The little reminder that Azuma gave us painted a night-and-day picture of how Tokio was nine volumes ago compared to now. He’s no longer second-guessing things; he grew a spine, but he still has that timid side to him. Plus, with how he was wondering about the calamity, Zora’s power, and what to do with everything, it shows he’s becoming more of a strategist than anything else. That’s a bit surprising since he was so terrible in school. One would think that role would fall to Azuma, but between his thinking on the poppy field arc and his contemplation over everything Zora said, he’s a lot deeper than we gave him credit for. I’m liking the way he has been developing and can’t wait to see where he goes from here.
There is still something hugely shady with Sato. When you read it, you’ll understand. I can’t speak much more about it because we weren’t given any answers whatsoever. We just know that there is more to him than we are being told.
As I thought, we did get a glimpse of Batista. We received a bit more information on his goals and how they tie into his past. I have a feeling that he will only join this fight if it is necessary for him to do so. Whether or not he needs to protect certain resources within the tower will dictate things, but I can see him staying out of the fight only to be discovered by Sandek. When that happens, things will probably get personal, but until then, I honestly don’t see much involvement from him because of the goals he set for himself and made known in this volume.
Final Thoughts
I was a bit surprised at first that we didn’t jump straight into the action. With the way Volume 9 ended, I thought for sure we would open with the raid, but in a way, I’m glad things didn’t end up going in that direction. It allowed our characters to breathe, and in some cases, we got to see their fears of the upcoming raid (Poor Mike). We also received a bit more on Batista’s backstory, which was a good thing, and we received that ominous moment with Sato, which could end up being a huge monkey wrench in the raid.
Also, there was one interesting thing mentioned about Zora during that ominous scene with Sato. Because of that little nugget of information, my thoughts on how the raid will end haven’t changed, but the final battle between the choujin and Zora did. I have a feeling it’s going to feel more anticlimactic than we were anticipating, but I also see a huge opportunity to lay the groundwork for the second half of the series with it, too. It has me more intrigued now, and I can’t wait to see how Ishida wraps up this arc.
But before we get there, we have some fighting to do. I can confidently say that we’re going to hit the ground running in Volume 11. There’s no way we’ll start with another lull based on how this volume ended. It should be straight action from here on out, and this first fight will give me “chills.” You’ll see what I did there once you read it!
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media
