Well, it’s taken five volumes to get to this point, but at long last the central characters in Thunder 3 are finally getting involved in the fighting that has been going on around them.

With the rebellion by rebel group Rebellion (yeah, I’m still annoyed by the lack of creativity with the name) fading away as the last surviving members finally succumb to the side-effects of the “Empoweral” drug, the Small Three of Pynotaro, Tsubame and Hiroshi jump into battle – literally. Their new-found powers mean that they can land themselves in Shibuya from miles away, using a standing jump. The opening title page of the manga is a rather cool picture of the trio jumping over a plane as they make their way to the scene.

When the three arrive at the scene, they are able to take down the remaining forces on the ground with ease, as the aliens’ weapons do no damage to them. Even when a spaceship directly above them fires a laser directly at Pynotaro, he manages to survive. Not only that, but he is able to jump up and blast his way through the ship. Once inside, he finally encounters his missing sister Futaba, but then some gigantic mecha get in the way.

Also, the Small Three are reunited with friends from their own world who have managed to crossover. A nearby guy streaming the battle comes up to the Small Three and asks them what they are called. This is when the gang coin the term the “Thunder 3”. It is still not all plain sailing for everyone however, as the aliens have also discovered the portal between worlds, and are now thinking of how they can harness the power themselves.

While I am glad that the main characters in Thunder 3 are finally getting in on the action, it has still been deeply frustrating that we have had to wait until the fifth volume of the manga before they truly get involved in the battle that has been surrounding them. Why Yuki Ikeda – or Gantz creator Hiroya Oku – (debate as to who the creator’s true identity is still ongoing) decided to write this way we’ll probably never know, but at least we have reached this critical point in the story. It has now enlivened what was becoming a rather dull battle story by adding some cartoonish humour and art to the more realistic grimness. Yes, the battles are engrossing and violent, but because of the Thunder 3’s appearance it also adds comedy to the story too.

The fights are not the only key development plot-wise, what with the aliens discovering the portal between worlds meaning they possess a new threat, as well as Pynotaro and Futaba reuniting, which appears to be the focus of the next volume in the series.

Once more, the production on the series is good, with Cat Anderson’s translation and Daniel Joseph’s editing working well. Unlike in previous volumes however, the weird font used by the aliens is not to be found here;  they use a much more normal text instead. Whether this was a change in style by the editors or just because this text is not used in the original Japanese in this single volume I’m unsure, but it is a bit of the shame as the alien font was one of the more interesting touches to the story. Once again no letterer is credited.

This volume has been an improvement on the story and development of past releases, and hopefully it will keep this standard up moving on.

Our review copy from Vertical was supplied by Turnaround Comics (Turnaround Publisher Services).