Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer Vol. 7-8

Where the earlier volumes in the series had the distinct feeling that the fight between the Mage and the Beast Knights was growing more and more serious, here the tale takes on a sense of immanence as the secret war enters its final stages. Where early on the golems would be defeated relatively quickly, between this and the previous omnibus (covering volumes 5 and 6), a handful of golems dominate the fighting of a sizable stretch of the series, but are so truly dangerous that they never feel like they've outstayed their welcome. Meanwhile, the Knights have meshed thoroughly into a cohesive force, fighting with far more trust and coordination than they did before. Their growth together as friends and comrades happens so smoothly it looks effortless on Mizukami's part, most obvious in hindsight. And at the risk of sounding redundant, Seven Seas did a good job with the book overall. Seriously, I'm just repeating myself now. Good translation, good composition. It's a nice volume I'm going to take care to make sure it stays in good shape for a long, long time. By the way, pay close attention to Akane Taiyo. His character development is especially important to this part of the series, but that's not really what I mean. Mizukami pulls a very deft narrative trick with Akane, starting back in volume 6 but carried most strongly forward here in 7 and 8. Akane and Yuuhi are very similar people at different points in life, and their similarities and differences let them borrow from each other's character development for themselves, even while having their own solid story arcs. It's a very slick move that helps get a lot of extra mileage out of a limited page count.

This series is, in essence, everything that makes manga good. It's both larger than life and indescribably human. It's not perfect, but it's a song with all of the right notes. I've read it through maybe a dozen times, and it's still just as good as the second time I read it. I'll never recapture that first time, reading it as it came out, but I am so pleased that it's finally got a physical English release. I've exposed so many other people to this treasure because of that. I get to grant them that first read-through. If you hadn't guessed, this is my favorite manga of all time. While not everyone will share that opinion, I reckon most folks will at least recognize it as something special.

Delivered in two days as promised - on a Sunday! Well done.

Excellent.

Love this series, cant wait for the last book. Just awesome series and I can just recommend if you like action/martial arts/ supernatural series