Spiral, Vol. 2: The Bonds of Reasoning (v. 2) Paperback – January 8, 2008

Volume 2 does something that surprised me. It became good. While it still has a few issues, it actually greatly improved on the first volume. A large part of this is that it dropped the "mystery of the week" style stories, and instead moved its focus onto the central mystery, the "Blade Children". Doing this gives the story a greater focus, and also allows for the chapters to flow better. It also introduces two new antagonists to the series, who both turn out to be very entertaining, and interesting characters.The art is still on the cute side, but it feels cleaner, and more of a fit for the story being told. These are children, albeit murderous children, and the cute character designs keep the story from feeling too dark. The pacing is also better handled in this volume, with all the stories moving at a strong clip. I honestly have to say that I am looking forward to volume 3 now. Hopefully the series keeps up the momentum that it creates in this volume.There two issues that keep me from giving this volume five stars. First, the layout of the translated dialogue can be a bit sloppy at times, with the text actually breaking from the word balloons and bleeding onto the image itself. There are also a few (very few) grammatical errors in the translation. It makes the book feel a tad bit sloppy. My final issue has to do with the added omake at the end of the book. This was something that happened in the last volume as well. Spiral, while at times violent, is really not a series that pushes the envelope content wise. The characters, during the story at least, do not curse at all. In the omake in this volume (and in the last volume) a character drops a big ol' F bomb. I'm normally not one to care about stuff like this, but Spiral seems like a series that is aimed at fairly young audience, and the inclusion of that specific curse word seemed unneeded, and inappropriate.Still, I have to recommend Spiral now. The series if very entertaining, moves at a good pace, and has finally found it's footing. Yes, you have to suffer through volume 1 to get there, but it's worth it.

Love this series

it is in JAPANESE!!!

Want an example of something deeply unfair? The first volume of "Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning" ended on a cliffhanger in MID-MYSTERY.But after a wobbly first volume, Kyo Shirodaira and Eita Mizuno's manga gets its footing in the second. We find out quite a bit more about these mysterious Blade Children, and Shirodaira successfully spins up suspense and a bit of fear in the latter chapters.Ayumu reveals how the mysterious locked-room murder was committed, and the only person who could have done it. But things only get more confusing when they find that Sayoko Shiranagatani is somehow connected to the Blade Children -- and the terrible event that led to her amnesia.Then famous piano prodigy Eyes Rutherford demands to see "Kiyotaka Narumi's little brother." But after meeting with Eyes, Ayumu finds himself sitting next to a smart bomb with a talking turtle interface, a blank keypad, and over 40,000 possible combinations. And Ayumu is the only one who can disarm it.... with Hiyono's help, of course.Unfortunately, this only increases the Blade Childrens' interest in him. Ayumu is lured into a lethal game with one of the Blade Children, a mysterious boy who is determined to outwit him -- and then kill him. Worse, they seem to be connected to his missing brother -- and they know exactly how to sabotage Ayumu's self-confidence.The first volume of "Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning" was kind of confusing and disjointed, especially since there's no hint of what the Blade Children are. Well, in this volume Shirodaira makes up for that -- even Eita Mizuno's spare, strong artwork seems better.In fact, there's an entire chapter devoted to that -- they're missing a rib, they're in pain, and apparently they are compelled to kill. Shirodaira infuses the story -- such as Eyes' interview -- with a sense of dark, creeping foreboding, as well as the scenes where Ayumu and Kousuke Asazuki match wits in an abandoned, booby-trapped elementary school.This volume also introduces two important characters -- Eyes and Asazuki, who are both ruthless Blade Children. And Shirodaira doesn't bust his butt to make you like them: Eyes is rather cold and bizarre, and Asazuki seems relaxed playful until Ayumu defeats him at his card game.Ayumu isn't as much the focus in this volume, but we get to see more of how he feels overshadowed by his brother, as well as his relationship with his sister-in-law. Hint: not all feelings are platonic. And Hiyono is here mostly to provide goofy comic relief, and help Ayumu with the bomb.The second volume of "Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning" is much darker and more intricate than the first one, and promises to only get better.

I saw the anime , but the manga it's alot of times better and the anime doesn't solve all the answers !