Title: City Hunter Complete Edition 18
Series: City Hunter
Author: Tsukasa Hojo
Read copy: Paperback
Published: March 8, 2012
Publisher: Panini Comics Planet Manga
ISBN: 8865896108
ISBN-13: 9788865896105
Ryo è deciso ad aiutare Kasumi a non dover sposare Takashi, l’uomo che la sua famiglia ha scelto come futuro marito della ragazza! Takashi è però è un osso davvero molto duro e, grazie all’ipnosi che padroneggia come pochi altri, sta per infliggere il peggiore dei colpi allo stallone di Shinjuku!
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Title: City Hunter Complete Edition 19
Series: City Hunter
Author: Tsukasa Hojo
Read copy: Paperback
Published: April 12, 2012
Publisher: Panini Comics Planet Manga
ISBN: 8865896418
ISBN-13: 9788865896419
Ignorando che la cliente è sua sorella, Kaori continua a proteggere Sayuri Tachiki dai piccoli e grandi attacchi che lei e la redazione ricevono. Tra le due donne c’è una grande affinità… Ryo deve forse cominciare a temere di perdere la sua violenta assistente?!
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Title: City Hunter Complete Edition 20
Series: City Hunter
Author: Tsukasa Hojo
Read copy: Paperback
Published: May 17, 2012
Publisher: Panini Comics Planet Manga
ISBN: 886589783X
ISBN-13: 9788865897836
Un numero chiave nella splendida saga di City Hunter, che prosegue senza sosta! Una famosa e bellissima modella arriva in Giappone e Ryo… cerca di scappare? Come mai proprio lui, lo stallone di Shinjuku, l’uomo più arrapato del mondo in assoluto, vuole stare lontano da una donna da sogno? C’è sicuramente qualche mistero losco dietro...
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Title: City Hunter Complete Edition 21
Series: City Hunter
Author: Tsukasa Hojo
Read copy: Paperback
Published: June 21, 2012
Publisher: Panini Comics Planet Manga
ISBN: 8865898070
ISBN-13: 9788865898079
Quale segreto, mistero, potere o valore può nascondere il cane (peraltro piuttosto bruttino…) scomparso che Aiko Kamimura sta cercando? Ryo deve assolutamente riuscire a scoprirlo prima che succeda qualcosa di brutto alla giovane investigatrice privata!
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Title: City Hunter Complete Edition 22
Series: City Hunter
Author: Tsukasa Hojo
Read copy: Paperback
Published: July 19, 2012
Publisher: Panini Comics Planet Manga
ISBN: 8865899069
ISBN-13: 9788865899069
Ryo è abituato ad avere a che fare con persone terribili: rapitori, assassini, ladri e maniaci (oltre alla più manesca delle assistenti...). Ma c’è qualcuno con cui non sa davvero come comportarsi: si tratta della piccola Shiori, una dolce bambina che gli è stata affidata.
My rating:
VOLUME 18:
In the first chapter (which sees the conclusion to Kasumi's problem), we see Ryo the idiot (with his whining after his lost Mokkori-power), in the second chapter, we see the kinder side of him as he keeps company to a lonely little girl (even though he makes everyone believe Kaori is in fact his brother Kaoru), and then there is the little tidbit of what truly goes on in the Saeba household when Kaori isn't there (turns out he spends his time keeping in shape instead of perusing his magazines), but it's again the last chapter (that begins in this volume, but will end in the next) that will see him face his biggest fear.
Sayuri Tachiki has only recently learned her little sister is alive—and working as Ryo's partner. She wants to get to know Kaori and, if she has a say, she'll make sure to get Kaori out of Ryo's dangerous life for good. (It also turns out, she really needs protection; but that news comes after Ryo tasks Kaori with acting as bodyguard.)
It's a serious theme, and Sayuri is very serious in "saving" her sister from her current life, so the story is filled with serious-faced Ryo. These glimpses into his true self (and his one true fear) are cut through by vignettes of his face melting, since he supposedly cannot stay serious for more than three minutes. It provides levity and yet another proof that the "idiot" is just a mask.
VOLUME 19:
This volume sees the end of the chapter involving Sayuri Tachiki, Kaori's sister, that tries to "save" Kaori from the life she currently leads.
Ryo is once again all serious faces, offering the reader (and Sayuri) a deeper glimpse into what he truly feels for his partner and into the fear of her leaving. We also learn more about what he's prepared to do to keep Kaori save and "pure"—he follows them everywhere, saves them when they're kidnapped (although he pretended to hit on a woman as the two were snatched)...But the true punch comes in the end, when he reveals why Kaori keeps missing her targets; he's sabotaged her gun so she would never be able to kill anyone. If that ain't love, I don't know what is. 😀
To balance it all out, the second part of the volume is al about laughs once more.
VOLUME 20:
It's finally time for truth about Ryo's past. And it's not pretty (I'm not going to spoil it, though). Let me just say, Kaori has no idea (no one does, in fact, only Umi a little bit), but then Ryo's ex partner comes to Tokyo and spills the beans in hopes of splitting City Hunter up. After all, Kaori isn't made for life at Ryo's side, right?
Thanks to Umi knocking some sense into the girl, Kaori does the opposite and the partnership is strengthened even more.
If there were still any doubts as to Ryo's true nature and the fact the Mokkori faces, chasing after women, and idiotic behavior are just masks he uses to hide his pain, this volume puts them to rest.
In just a few vignettes, from the moment he comes into Cat's Eye to the moment he exists (apparently chasing after a skirt), the picture is crystal clear.
Whenever he's serious, it's usually because he's either working, thinking dark thoughts and/or scared shitless (this time, he's scared shitless about the possibility of Kaori leaving him after learning of his past; that's why he never told her), and whenever that happens, out comes the mask of the Stallion complete with drool and melt-y face. He even comes out and says it aloud in one of previous vignettes, something along the lines of "why do I keep making obscene jokes, when I'm alone".
He doesn't want to think about his past, he doesn't want to talk about his past, the guy obviously has PTSD (which results in his one phobia in the next volume), so he acts the ass. The only person he could probably talk to is Kaori, but he's too scared shitless to do it. And they're at an impasse.
I loved the resolution to the little obstacle in their partnership with her offering a little "amends" for his past and him pretending not to have any idea of the meaning of the date she set for his birthday, only to explain to Mary that it's the date he and Kaori met for the first time.
And the kiss on the forehead was precious. 😃
VOLUME 21:
In this volume the reader (alongside Kaori and Ryo himself) discovers a new tidbit of information about the sweeper; a remnant of the beginning of his rather tragic story we came to learn about in the previous volume.
Saeba Ryo is afraid of flying.
Of course it takes a Cessna crashing into their apartment and him taking on the job of protecting the female pilot that has crashed the plane, for him to find that out.
And of course, it takes a special someone to be kidnapped and flown away, for his phobia to disappear. Unfortunately, only momentarily. Once Kaori is out of danger, he once more turns grin around the gills when he's in a plane...Only for the female pilot to use the opportunity to grill him about his feelings for Kaori. Which are apparently very strong, or so she says.
VOLUME 22:
The first of the two CH cases involves a little baby girl Kaori finds one day in Ryo's bed (after one of his usual drunken nights out on the town), and convinces herself that little Shiori is Ryo's daughter.
Turns out, she isn't, but someone is after the mother, daughter of a famous gunsmith, determined to hurt the daughter to convince the mother to cooperate.
The case doesn't really progress the main storyline, consisting of yet another female client falling for our kindhearted sweeper (and him gently rebuffing her as is his usual, since his heart is already taken), some good action, and even better humor with Ryo posing as a "spring roll" to keep the little tyke happy.
The second case is "even worse" with a young lady possessed by her murdered twin's spirit. It provides much more humor than anything else, especially with Kaori all out of sorts trying to protect herself from evil spirits...And provides one of my favorite Ryo/Kaori scenes as they wake up from a drugged sleep. 😃
3 stars, 4 stars, 5 stars, bodyguard/military/merc/gov/cop/spy, favorites, manga/comics/graphic novels, suspense/mystery/adventure/thriller, Tsukasa Hojo
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