Synopsis: As Velou vows to take down Dodou for good this time, the werewolf struggles to find a way out of the smokescreen that Grimm caught him in. He ends up relying on his impressive hearing, the one sense the cloud couldn't take from him, to find her on top of a nearby rooftop. Dodou attacks, but Grimm dodges by jumping to another rooftop. Dodou mocks her for not taking his level of hearing into account, bragging about being able to hear anything and everything that happens in the village – including hearing the sound of Velou pulling the trigger on the gun! Dodou turns around in time to block the shot with his massive arms, and though it claims it hurts, it doesn't seem to do any real damage to him. He mocks them for using Grimm, the bigger and stronger of the pair, as the decoy for the smaller Velou, and says he's the real hunter, they are but his prey. Grimm responds by telling him to come kill her then, though he should try healing his wounds first. Much to Dodou's surprise, the gunshot on his arms isn't healing. Seeing that he's confused, Grimm decides to explain. Due to a werewolf's high healing abilities, there are but two sure ways to kill them: the first is to burn them, which prevents their regeneration; and the second is to injure them with a particular kind of metal. Dodou guesses that she's talking about silver, but Grimm says that's not the real answer. While silver does slow a werewolf's regeneration, it's far too light to pierce a werewolf's hide. So instead, they use a special metal called wolfonium, which has the same properties as silver but is heavier and harder than lead. She continues explaining that this also required a special gun to fire such a bullet, and pulls out her own Chekov series rifle, only for Dodou to reach out and bend it's barrel, rendering it useless. Dodou thanks her for rambling long enough for him to think things out. If all that's special about the bullets is that they're made of wolfonium, then all he has to do is not get hit by any more of them. He thinks Grimm will be more fun to kill, so he decides to turn his attention to the kid first. To his surprise however, Velou has left a decoy at his original position, and Dodou can't smell where he's run off too even though his nose is clearing up. Grimm says there aren't any kids here, and shoots Dodou in the leg with another gun she pulls from her case, though regrets it as she remembers she wasn't supposed to shoot. In a flashback to their previous conversation, Grimm explains to Velou how wolfonium works, while also cautioning him that due to Dodou's large size, it'll be hard to inflict a killing blow on him even with the material. Velou thinks and asks if the gas in her gas shells is flammable. She says it is, though it will sink out of the air very quickly. That's all Velou needed to know to come up with a plan however. Grimm reveals that everything about the plan was designed to distract Dodou from their real plan, and maneuver him over onto the chimneyed roof they're now on. Inside the house, Velou has picked back up his musket, and when he fires it into the gas shell filled chimney, a torrent of fire erupts out of it and engulfs Dodou, burning him alive and even splitting his body in two from the force. Stepping to the ground, Grimm finds Velou lying on the ground, somewhat burned himself, and congratulates him on his plan of using the gas shells to turn the chimney into a cannon. It was a rough plan that almost killed him, but it got the job done without shedding any tears or blood from the villagers. Speaking of, the villagers then arrive and ask Velou if he killed the werewolf. Velou confirms it and apologizes for destroying one of the houses and damaging the others around it, but one of the villagers grabs him in a hug and thanks him profusely. Various other villagers all speak up, thanking him for his warning and his fighting, and apologize for thinking of him as just a kid when he's definitely grown up. Suddenly, two smoky portals appear in the air just above the village. A witch on her broomstick floats out from one, while a gigantic werewolf, far bigger than any of the three so far, steps out from the second. The witch comments that Kasoka Village is way more in the boonies than she thought, but the wolf seems pleased with how fresh the air is. As the witch brandishes her wand and comments about all the bumpkins watching them, narration (presumably of Velou's) comments that they'll never forget what happened that day, when everything they knew was turned to ash and many lives were lost...and the day that they became a Hunter. Review: If I hadn't already been impressed enough with first chapter a few weeks ago to feel like I wanted to review this series, then this would have been the chapter that would have convinced me in the end that I had to. The previous two chapters set the stage for this final encounter perfectly, and it's absolutely paid off in the end. Once again, I have to give Dodou some credit. He's not nearly as dumb as I previously thought he was based on our first meeting with him. He's still not particularly smart, but he does know how to use his werewolf abilities to their greatest potential, whether that's the ability to heal, or even just his god-level hearing. You'd almost wonder if his hearing is that good though, why didn't he overhear them talking and making the plan on the roof – they weren't even that far away from him! I guess the idea is that he's easily enough distracted to not always be paying attention to what he's hearing though, a fact supported by how easily Velou is able to escape from him while Grimm has his attention. Again, he's just LESS stupid than I initially thought. I don't know if burning a werewolf is traditionally one of the ways you can deal with them, but it's believable enough that that would work considering burning anything alive is liable to kill it, so sure, that checks out. I was admittedly caught off guard by the wolfonium reveal though! Ever since chapter one, I've been expecting a big reveal that silver is a werewolf's weakness, but now this chapter comes up with it's own new element to somewhat discredit silver. I feel played, but in the best way possible. It's likely Kawaguchi knew everyone was expecting silver, so he went against our expectations while also broaching the matter of silver itself in the same explanation. It might feel needless, but it shows off what sort of tricks they might have up their sleeves as a writer, so for that I give them kudos. I suppose there is something to the notion of 'was wolfonium needed when silver bullets are already a classic staple?' though. Just because the misdirection works well for me, I can see it not meriting the creation of a brand new element to do basically the same thing for others. I'd be willing to bet another reason it was done is probably because the description of silver as too light and weak to be used as a weapon is somewhat accurate, but I'm not a scientist, so I wouldn't know for sure. Someone call Senku, we need his expertise here. Misdirection really is the main theme of this chapter when I break it down. Immediately following Grimm's wolfonium exposition dump, things turn right back around to looking like they're still in danger, and that it was all for nothing. And in a way, it sort of is – the wolfonium, despite having all of the focus in the explanation, isn't what's going to save the day here. It's the other method, of burning, and to be more precise, it's exactly what Grimm told Velou their greatest weapon against the werewolves were, their minds. At the end of the day, it's Velou's brain that kills the beast. I'm definitely getting the feeling that this is going to be a major theme for his character moving forward. There is one thing I have to kind of criticize the chapter for though - Velou's brains are all well and good, but we're treated to yet another flashback scene, this time to something that had JUST happened moments prior. While narratively it works better to show us it this way so we're just as surprised as Dodou when it's explanation time, it doesn't change the fact that this is at least the third chapter to give us a flashback like this. Hell, the first chapter may have had one too and I'm forgetting it at the moment. Now with the chapter's end implicating that this entire story may itself be a flashback, it's looking like the author might be relying on them just a little too much. Hopefully they don't become distracting over time. Going back to the silver/wolfonium debacle briefly though? We still don't know if one of those is what the axe is made out of and that's why it's special. We also still don't know what was up with Grimm's child form in the first chapter, a form we haven't seen her in since. Given the extended amount of time she's seemingly spent in her adult form rather than reverting, I'm beginning to think the adult body really is her true form. If that's the case though, what was the point of the child form? There has to be something. The villagers finally accepting that Velou's grown up now is a nice sentimental moment, but once again that misdirection rears it's ugly head, and HOW. The series' opening narration told us that witches existed, but I didn't think we'd be seeing one so soon. I also didn't figure we'd be seeing a werewolf that towers over buildings. This thing is MASSIVE folks, we're talking something straight out of Attack on Titan or something. I'm almost more interested in it than I am the witch, between it's size, the scar it has over one eye, and the fact that it's wearing clothes (where do you find a tailor willing to make clothes that big?). The witch definitely changes things the most though as there's nothing in Velou's arsenal that Grimm has introduced him to so far that will help him combat a threat like this. Based on that narration though? I don't think they're winning this fight either way. Talk about a time for Shonen Jump to go on break for a week, huh? Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: Chapter 5
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About the AuthorAspiring author and big anime/manga fan, just trying to do my best in the world. For more details, go to About Me. Archives
September 2022
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