Genre: Action/Supernatural
Rating: Older Teen
Price: $9.99

When Tobei realizes that his magical sword Togari derives its power from the evil generated by its wielder, he must choose between the unfamiliar world of love and friendship and the savage ways of his past life.  Though the latter will give him greater power to conquer more toga, is it possible to escape from darkness by delving even deeper into it?

Some choices aren't as cut and dry as they seem, as Tobei must figure out how to complete his mission of collecting 108 sins without reverting back to his old ways.  Generating evil without succumbing to it isn't easy, but Tobei shows ingenuity in balancing his need for his evil side, with his newly developing good side.

Tobei has spent 300 years in Hell, unrepentant about his sins.  Now that he has a chance at freedom, he isn't going to give it up easily.  But, the time he has spent in the present day seems to have affected him, and could affect his mission.  Togari needs evil to have power, but Tobei doesn't seem to want to be the person he was 300 years ago.  Tobei is changing, though he won't admit it to anyone.  He is determined to continue his mission and succeed.  As he faces the toga, that are taking over humans with evil in their hearts, Tobei must try to save them, without really saving them so as not to weaken Togari but still defeat the toga.  It puts Tobei into some morally ambiguous situations, where we are left wondering if he really planned it out.  Did he really not care about the little girl he uses as a shield against her toga-possessed brother?  Or did he really think the brother's love for his sister would reject the toga so he could defeat him? 

I really enjoyed this aspect of the volume.  If Tobei had been a hero, his actions wouldn't be questioned.  But as someone who has had no remorse for his past deeds, there is doubt, and that doubt makes for a more interesting story.  I also really enjoyed the way Tobei helps the people defeat their Toga without seeming to be helping.  He plays it up as he's just defeating the toga for himself. One boy he faces takes the toga power to stop from being bullied.  Tobei berates him for using a "fake power" (the toga), and gets him to use his "real power", ie. defend himself.  By doing this, he gets the people to reject the toga so he can defeat it without hurting them.

There was a lot of good action and humor in this volume.  Tobei and his watcher Ose (who appears as a dog) share many funny moments, which kept the over all volume light.  The chapters were very episodic, and felt a little like filler, as the manga-ka was preparing for the next, more serious arc.  The action scenes were well paced, though at time the art was too dark.  Some of the final attacks against toga were so laden with ink, it was difficult to tell what Tobei had done to defeat them.  The art isn't great.  It borders between realistic and cartoonish (in the humorous scenes) but not to the point where it's inappropriate.  In general, it is decent work.

Togari is a good action story for those people who want more from their action than the usual Shonen Jump fare, and their heroes more on the anti side.
 

7.5