Ishura - LN 3

Ishura Volume 3 by Keiso, Illustrations by Kureta. Translated by David Musto. Published by Yen On (Yen Press).

With this volume, we've finally surpassed the anime!

I didn't realize just how far the anime covered Volume 3. Luckily, there's a very conspicuous stopping point in the book. It's almost as if the author planned it that way.

Anyways, we get into the politics of actually running the tournament, as well as the fights that we've been waiting for. There are 16 competitors in total, so presumably there will be 15 matches. 

In this book, there were two matches, which started around the half-way point of the book. I'm somehow impressed and also concerned that they blew through that many. At this pace, we will roughly cover 3-4 matches each book, assuming they all play out "fairly". 

And as we know from this series, that's not necessarily the case. Even with the sabotage, the fights were truly nail-biting, and I had no idea who would come out on top in the end. The author does a great job with the fight scenes, and since no character is truly the "main" character, there isn't any obvious plot armor to give away who is about to win. It's great stuff, I hope there's a continuation for the anime.

I'm curious to see how the existence and death of The True Demon King will play into finding the "True Hero", and whether it really means anything. Honestly, I find the concept of the world to be the biggest mystery of all. Why do Visitors keep getting sent here from the "Beyond"? Why does this world exist at all? 

This truly is a unique series, and I've got the next book lined up.