ゴールデンマン(2)

Another highly enjoyable volume, probably even more fun than the first since the introductions are out of the way and Moroboshi can get to the business of superheroing. Lots of hype action setpieces in this one. The first half finishes off his battles with the Oiran Trooper who has a very fun personality, and the second half is sort of a cross between the big train scene from Spider-Man 2 and the movie Speed (the arc is literally titled "Speed"). A new villain/group of villains (he makes robot clones of himself) is introduced and it's the first one that doesn't really have an immediately obvious DC or Marvel character that it's spoofing though I guess power-wise he calls Multiple Man or Dr Doom's Doombots to mind. They guys have a cool design and quirky sense of etiquette.

The broader theme across this volume is really Moroboshi developing his bond with the city and it feels very sincere and heartwarming. A good deal of attention is spent on how the citizens view him and even though the citizens don't realize this isn't the original Golden Man they do say things like "He used to feel more like a theme park mascot" in response to him actually going around meeting people. It's good stuff and there's some nice worldbuilding about how the town rebuilds after a villain attack.

Language-wise it's still a notch or two above what I usually read but approachable as long as I keep Kanjitomo up. The villains occasionally have odd ways of speaking and there's one or two sentences here or there I don't quite get, but it's enjoyable and a good way to stretch my brain, especially as my usual diet of Kirby novels is starting to feel easy. I would peg this higher than L22 but when I graded the first volume it was pitted against fairly low level stuff. I'd imagine it's maybe more of a 24 or 25 but it's accessible. The artwork really goes all out this volume with all the big exciting action scenes and the character work has definitely sunk it's hooks in now that we're into the plot a bit deeper. I think one or two of his teammates are still a bit under-utilized but maybe we'll see more of them in future volumes.