Splatoon: Volume 7 manga review

Splatoon Graphic Novel Volume 7 cover image

Splatoon the manga is based on Splatoon, the third-person shooter video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii U.  Released worldwide in May 2015, Splatoon centers around characters known as Inklings, beings that can transform between humanoid and squid forms.  They hide or swim through colored ink sprayed on surfaces using guns, buckets, or brush-based weaponry.

VIZ Media is currently publishing the Splatoon manga produced by creator, Sankichi Hinodeya, in English as a series of graphic novels.  Hinodeya's manga focuses on Team Blue, which is comprised of the Inklings:  Goggles, Bobble Hat, Head Phones, and Specs.

As Splatoon, Vol. 7 (Chapters 24 to 27) opens, Goggles finds himself beneath Inkopolis.  There, he meets an “Octoling” wearing a wristband with the number “10,008,” emblazoned on it.  Thus Goggles names the Octoling, “Agent 8,” but 8 remembers little about himself and his past.

The new friends here a voice they name “Phone,” that insists that the duo and 8's colleague, “Old Man Cuttlefish,” must find four objects called “thangs.”  These “thangs” are the key to returning to the surface.  Now, Goggles and “Team Blue” have to past tests and win battles to help 8 and themselves find their way to the “Promised Land.”

[This volume includes a bonus story, “Glasses,” an “Illustration Gallery,” and “Inking Almanac.”]

THE LOWDOWN:  I review the Splatoon manga because my VIZ Media rep sends copies of this graphic novel series to me.  I dutifully read them, but this series is not something I would usually read.

Splatoon Graphic Novel Volume 7 is one of those volumes that pays off my efforts at reading the series.  I thought Vol. 5, the previous volume I read, was the series' best to date, but Vol. 7 is a really fun read.  For one thing, it offers hints about Splatoon's larger internal mythology.  Plus, the quest for the “thangs” is fun, especially because the prize at the end of each quest is called a “thang.”

I still think that this manga would look better printed in color and on a coated paper stock.  However, even in black and white, this a good graphic novel for elementary school children who can read comic books and graphic novels.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Splatoon may want to try the Splatoon graphic novels.

B+
7 out of 10