Following the rejuvenation of the previous instalment,  Chrome and the gang are now stuck with bodyguards who are guiding them to a mythical location that is also trying to kill them all due to a breakdown in their two-party bipartisan government consensus.  Tensions are high but Chrome is more powerless than ever, both because of his physical exhaustion and because he is not the only person Roue can rely on anymore.  He has to accept these strangers are better qualified for his role as protector and that Roue might be better off this way even if it denies him his own reason to keep living.  This is all established in 5 pages and is more meat than entire volumes have had in the past.

It feels like The Donkey Squad’s infectious optimism is even rubbing off on the author.  Giving up on some of his shading tricks in favour of a clearer art style and more relaxed tone.  The jokes are better, the pacing is snappier and it is all moving towards the hourglass-shaped Heaven Land. Speaking of hourglasses, the ghostly Reis is back in the fold finally acting as the primary villain of an arc after only being a background player in the past.  Alongside her newest assistant Mulberry, who looks like he’s on loan from Digimortal by Tsutomu Nihei.  Mulberry gets a decent showcase for his personality, a particularly dower belief that defying his self-preservation programming and seeking a noble death is the only way to give his artificial life value.  Reis gets far less material and she is one of many sacrifices the story is making at this stage.

I’d praised the competently executed but suddenly introduced internal conflict for Chrome last time. Heart Gear really just barrels past that turmoil and blitzs through the introspection stage to get to a point of clarity.  I can’t say I’m opposed to it. Volume 6, What You Want, raises the action higher and increases the tempo.  Everything rocketing faster and faster towards the ultimate finale.  Takaki still feels invested and happy to be here. He is however showing a firm commitment to ending this series sooner than later.  Even opening the book by blunting questioning the difference between man and machine so directly it feels like he is finally ready to reach some type of conclusion, instead of beating around the bush.

Resolving everything in the seventh and final volume will be difficult.  The size of the case has tripled so all of those characters needs resolutions of some kind.  Can Heart Gear pull it off? We’ll find out next time but the previous two volumes have been operating on a higher level so it  feels more likely that the final 8 chapters will pull it off.

Following his weakest instalment with the best of the series, Tsuyoshi Takaki’s Heart Gear returns with palpable excitement and newfound confidence.  Starting with a more controlled and measured short story than any prior example;  Roue summarises the plot so far and highlights her existential dread of living in a world that has moved on and left her behind as the last living human. While her robot companions will endure she is now conscious that she is both the person that will draw danger to them and the only one among them who will not live forever. 

Unbeknownst to Roue, that danger is already on its way. With Heaven Land’s leadership divided on how to handle Roue it’s been decided they will make a game of it. Conservative leading R deploys her special squad to wipe out Roue and her companions while D orders his retrieval team to bring them to Heave Land unharmed. The future of the world is now just a test of strength and luck with Roue trapped in the middle.

My review for Volume 3 noted that Takaki’s approach to Science Fiction was barrelling towards becoming pure fantasy.  Volume 5 shows this does not have to be a bad thing as planting itself firmly in a different sub-genre and moving the action to plains and woodland gives the series a shot in the arm.  Takaki’s newfound freedom allows him to make Ash, the Chrome’s main enemy this go-around, dress like a an JRPG hero complete with sword the length of his body and a dragon (explicitly not a robot, he just has an organic dragon). Followed by the retrieval team’s commander cosplaying a samurai and the suppression unit featuring a mechanical mage.  With more fighters involved and actual strategy in plan the action is improving.  

Chrome has a personality now.  Two as it turns out.  His newfound doubts over his unicorn-themed berserker state do not feel like a natural extension of what has occurred previously, especially was his berserk state is barely more violent than he normally it, but I’ll take it. The combat robot frustrated with his own existence and how he keeps encountering other units who are content to destroy themselves for pleasure instead of finding reasons to live.  It took over 30 chapters but now both lead characters have some type of interiority besides genre cliches. Having an evil dark side threatening to take over your body is a cliche but it is a way of presenting internal conflict. And as sudden as it is Takaki presents it well.  

Time of Your Life makes a fitting title for Heart Gear’s Volume 5.  While the Valhalla arc dragged itself across the finish line out of obligation, this new Heaven Land arc has a real vitality and energy to it. Incongruous with past events, perhaps, but more engaging and exciting than before.