By Dustin Cabeal

There is an unfortunate element of shonen manga that involves the good guys all fighting each other at some point. It’s always a harmless battle, and usually, there’s some magical protection or other dimension excuse so that the character can’t fight without consequences. While this is all well and fun and usually full of backstories and motivation reveals, it also feels lazy. Good guys shouldn’t fight good guys, and yet it’s something that plagues manga, American comics and anything involving fantasy stories with powers. Apparently, the people fighting for our safety can only do so after a pissing competition.

By Dustin Cabeal

The last few volumes of Twin Star Exorcists weren’t great. They were fairly average, but they seemed to mark a new direction in the story in which the battle would be more drawn out and move away from the fast pace storytelling that I had fallen in love with in the earlier volumes of the series. It made me a bit reluctant to return to the series which is why I’m only now getting around to reviewing the 10th volume.

By Dustin Cabeal

While this hasn’t been the best battle, it has proved to reveal a lot of interesting details about the Twin Stars and their supporting cast. Twin Star Exorcists greatest strength is its utter disregard for its character’s safety. It truly feels as if no one is safe and that anyone can and will die. While that may not be true for the Twin Stars, Rokuro and Benio there feels like a countdown clock is looming over their head.

By Dustin Cabeal

There are things to absolutely love about this volume and other things to just get through. The opening is incredibly strong and continued the thrilling cliffhanger from the last volume. We learn a least a part of what makes Rokuro so different. It’s just a taste though so don’t get excited. Whatever this mystery is, it’s the one thing that Yoshiaki Sukeno doesn’t blow through.