After the surprising, last page reveal in the first volume that Jean’s friend Nino is actually a member of ACCA who is spying on him, ACCA returns to its more laid back and leisurely pacing. It’s hard to believe there even is a coup in the works and at least Jean does know now, but he had to be told about it twice: once by the Director-General when she asked for his help and then once by one of the Chief Officers of ACCA, who also informs Jean that he is apparently involved in this coup.
It’s curious that anyone would ever believe this rumor since Jean Otus is a laid-back young man who isn’t even particularly fond of his position within ACCA. Sure he performs his job in the Inspection Department well, and it appears that many of the people who work under him in ACCA’s branch offices have a lot of respect for him. But Jean’s sister Lotte has heard him complain so many times about how he plans to transfer out that she even asks Nino to find out why Jean just hasn’t left ACCA yet.
Nino seems more interested in getting Jean to tell him other things instead as he plies Jean with wine and shows up wherever Jean’s assignments are. That includes when Jean visits the capital to celebrate the country’s royal heir being formally invested. Although, for that trip, Nino even brings Lotte along and Nino never asks Jean any questions along any shape or form like “say, are you planning a coup?” He does mention that he’s been watching Jean for 30 years so perhaps he, like the reader, sees the silliness in thinking that Jean is somehow involved in a coup, even as just a go-between.
I must confess, after bringing it up in my review of the first volume, that the art in ACCA still isn’t quite gelling with me. Like I said previously, Natsume Ono’s art has evolved from her earliest works and I do like her current style more, but I’m still not very fond of it. The lines are so loose that they look sloppy and half the time the eyes have this wide, dead fish look to them. It’s certainly not enough to keep me from continuing with the manga but it’s enough to jolt me out of the story a few times in each volume so far.
While I’m still enjoying having another chance to visit with these characters, I feel that the anime adaptation of this story might be a tad more accessible, if only for the fact that it’s more snappily paced. So far I can’t think of any scenes that the anime left out and yet episode three of the anime covered up to the end of this second volume. I’m not sure if Ono intentionally paced this story slowly so as to further underscore how odd it seems that Jean is involved in rumors of a coup, and yet in-story Jean is rushing from district to district to complete all of his audits. It’s an odd mix indeed, although not an unpleasant one, and I will be waiting around for the next volume as well.