Thanks to barnesandnoble.com for the image.

O-PARTS, VOL. 4

VIZ MEDIA
CARTOONIST: Seishi Kishimoto
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Tetsuichiro Miyaki
ISBN: 978-1-4215-0858-0; paperback; Rated “‘T+’ for Older Teen”
200 pp., B&W, $9.99

The manga series O-Parts (known as “666 Satan” in Japan) is a shounen manga for older teens.  Drawing from Judeo-Christian angelic and demonic traditions, Japanese folklore, and Kabbalah, it takes place in an indeterminate future in which mankind battles over “O-Parts,” artifacts from an ancient civilization that contain mystical powers.

An O.P.T. or O-Parts Tactician has the ability to release and use the power within an O-Part.  The “Spirit” is the special energy force inside an O.P.T. that allows him to release the power or “effect” of an O-Part.  An O.P.T named Jio Freed and a treasure hunter named Ruby Crescent travel the world trying to acquire as many O-Parts as they can.

O-Parts, Vol. 4, Kirin, a mysterious and frightening O-Parts appraiser in Entotsu City, puts Jio and his new pal, Ball, through the paces, and Ball makes a surprising discovery about himself.  Meanwhile, the monstrous (and insane) Governor Jaga forces his scientists to activate, Mexis, the gigantic O-Part that they’d been excavating from beneath Entotsu.

THE LOWDOWN:  O-Parts appears to be a massive, epic sci-fi/fantasy serial, in which the author, Seishi Kishimoto, seems to be taking on a task usually reserved for writers of high fantasy who fill volumes of novels with their mythology.  Here, rich characters populate a world abundant with story possibilities, and Kishimoto’s fertile imagination has only scratched the surface.

FOR READERS OF:  Seishi is the twin brother of Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, and O-Parts is proving itself worthy of the same kind of love and fan attention.

B+