Tomodachi x Monster – Vol. 3 (Manga Series)
April Marie
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Written by Yoshihiko Inui
Illustrated by Yoshihiko Inui
Published by Seven Seas Entertainment
Suitable for ages 16+
For those of you who have been following the gruesome adventures of Narimiya Wataru and his friend Peke, we thank you. However, we have come now to the end. Volume Three marks the finale of Tomodachi x Monster. Yup, Tomodachi x Monster’s story is only three volumes long. While not unheard of, it is unusual for manga series to be so short. Especially one like Tomodachi x Monster. When reviewing Volume Two, we equated it to a filler episode. The series felt like it was ramping up for a rather lengthy run. So you can imagine our surprise when we saw “final volume” in parenthesis at the time of receiving our review copy of Volume Three.
A short recap for those who might not have seen the Volumes One and Two reviews of Tomodachi x Monster. The story follows middle school student Narimiya Wataru who discovers a strange monster in the woods. After dubbing the creature “Peke,” Wataru vows to be friends with the creepily mute yet cute blob. It doesn’t take long for him to find out that things are never that simple. He meets other students who also have “friends” who use theirs to attack him. Apparently that is the purpose of these monsters. However, Wataru does find other students who don’t want to use their friends for violence. By banding with them he hopes to bring down a group he discovers, “Carnival.” The children in Carnival have all killed at least one person before. When they kill, they and their friends change, becoming more ruthless.
Essentially, mix child killers with creepy cute monsters and you’ve got yourself some Tomodachi x Monster. When we left Wataru in Volume Two, he had just been betrayed by one of his previous friends. The girl, Morino Riko, had killed someone not long before, and decided to join Carnival for protection. To join them, the Carnival members required her to lure Wataru to a secluded shrine where they could kill him. In comes an entirely new cast of children who all have one goal, kill Wataru because the “professor” told them to. We’d seen the character of the professor in Volume Two of Tomodachi x Monster, but didn’t know what part he’d play in the future.
A large part of Volume Three of Tomodachi x Monster is very much the same as what we saw in the first two volumes. New characters, new monsters, and new battles. Wataru does whatever he can to defend himself without resorting to killing whoever he is fighting. The other children do whatever they can to try to kill Wataru. This is the meat and potatoes of Tomodachi x Monster and Volume Three keeps it interesting with the new faces. The battles are action-packed and don’t generally seem super one-sided, which brings on the tension. There is also the constant gray area where Wataru tries to save his opponents because he feels it is the right thing to do. This back and forth between who is good or bad makes the story entertaining.
As far as character designs, the new monsters we see in Volume Three of Tomodachi x Monster are just as varied as the previous two. There is one boy whose monster is a pair of boxing gloves. They give him super strength when fighting. Another has a monster that takes the form of a top hat. The hat spits out animal crackers that the child can give to his teammates. Depending on the animal depicted by the cracker, the kids take on one of its characteristics for ten minutes. As an example, a wolf cracker turns one child’s hand into the head of a wolf. He also has super smell for the duration of the cracker’s power. Another girl from the Carnival group has a monster whose spit is acid, burning anything it touches. This monster becomes pivotal to the volume, and is by far the most gruesome. All of the deaths we see this time around (save for one) are because of this monster. In fact, there’s one moment where Wataru is left holding the hand and wrist of another girl when she’s eaten by this acidic monster. So if you’re into horrifying deaths, Tomodachi x Monster will have all you need.
Without giving anything away, the other great part of Tomodachi x Monster has to do with the evolutions we’ve seen Peke do in the previous volumes. Before, Peke could change form depending on how Wataru needed help at the moment. In this volume, it’s much the same but on a much higher level than ever before. All we’ll say to avoid spoiling anything is that the words “ultimate” and “evolution” are important here.
Let’s move on past what was good about Volume Three of Tomodachi x Monster. There’s unfortunately a giant elephant in the room with the words, “The End” painted across its torso. The ending of Tomodachi x Monster Volume Three—and the series as a whole—went way off the deep end, and left much to be desired. BEWARE SPOILERS HERE in case that wasn’t already completely obvious. Within the last two chapters of Tomodachi x Monster, the story takes a hard left, and heads straight for open water.
According to the mysterious professor character that we had been hinted at for a while, the “friends” that everyone had been seeing aren’t really there. He says that the monsters are actually brain parasites that give children special powers. Their brains show them their friends as a way to rationalize and explain said powers. Wataru obviously balks at this explanation, not seeing how it could be true. A twist like this would be killer (in the best way) for the Tomodachi x Monster plot. However, it’s never developed, proven, or explained further in any way because it’s mixed together with the other half of the ending. A revelation like this can’t just be dropped on an audience and walked away from. That’s like a mic drop before the punch line. That’s like asking, “Why did the chicken cross the road?” at an amateur stand-up night, dropping your microphone, and walking away.
The conclusion of Tomodachi x Monster really doesn’t make up for this atrocity either. Wataru discovers that Peke has the power to turn back time. Using this, time reverts back to before Peke and Wataru even became friends. When transported back into his classroom, Wataru feels like he’s forgetting something crucial and runs to the mountains. There he finds Peke again, but as he reaches for him he disappears. As soon as Wataru begins to head back to the school he’s confronted by a member of Carnival who tells Wataru to fight him. And that’s the end! Does Wataru’s opponent still have his friend? How will he fight without Peke? Were they really just figments of their imagination and they’ll battle using the powers they still have? So many unanswered questions! A vague ending like this can be incredibly effective, but coupled with the rest of the finale, it just aggravates more than it appeals.
Another very basic conundrum with Volume Three of Tomodachi x Monster is the absence of all the remaining characters that were alive in Volume Two. Where are Wataru’s friends that he fought so hard to protect? We have no indication of their fate until the very end when Wataru sees them in the past. It’s a mystery as to what they were doing while their friend was fighting for their lives. While this is a minor complaint, it’s still worth mentioning.
HERE BE THE END OF SPOILERS for anyone keeping track at home. Tomodachi x Monster as a series wholly was an interesting take on the pocket monster phenomena. With Pokemon at its arguably highest popularity ever, there couldn’t have been a better time for the release of Tomodachi x Monster. That being said, you can only be successful parodying a popular trope if it’s good. Unfortunately there were a lot of issues with this final volume of Tomodachi x Monster that made us look at it differently than before. Everything is seemingly rushed, much to its detriment, and the ending left us wondering what the point of it all was. Still, if you’re looking for a short series that takes a bloodier look at tiny monsters, Tomodachi x Monster might still be worth your time. Just don’t expect to walk away feeling satisfied.
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