It is fairly common for chapters set just before the (presumed) final battle to be a little dull. The author goes over the stakes, each side’s plan, final farewells, and all that jazz. So as Devils’ Line counts down the hours until Queen’s terrorist attack, I was surprised that volume 12 was a rather engrossing read. It’s even more amazing considering it starts off with an extended flashback and neither Tsukasa nor Anzai are seen until over halfway through the volume.
Speaking of those two, while they are the stars of the manga, they are the least important couple here. Their whole interaction is just a phone call telling each other to be careful. On the other hand, we have:
- The love story between an asexual man (Kanzaki) and a male devil (Eka);
- The continuing awkwardness between Makimura and Mayu;
- Sawazaki’s feelings for Juliana;
- Zero Seven’s crush on Zero Nine.
If you don’t just want to focus on adult romantic love, you could add Megumi’s childhood crush and two parents’ heartbreak to the list. There’s a whole lotta talk about love, and very little of it is fluff. The various individuals agonize over what is love and/or the hole in their hearts.
Out of this list, Kanzaki and Eka’s relationship is the most interesting. It’s also the subject of the aforementioned flashback. The two met while Kanzaki is working as a doctor in a makeshift hospital in a warzone and Eka arrives as a mercenary. That’s a high-pressure environment, and things don’t get any smoother when the doctors become suspicious of one of their own.
Eventually, Kanzaki and Eka’s encounter here shifts into what appears to be the founding of the CCC. I’ve had a hard time understanding the whole organization considering how many people have hidden agendas or have changed sides, but now answers are starting to come out. It’s like the window into the CCC has finally been sprayed with defogger.
Otherwise, Devils’ Line has a few other highlights and lowlights. Tsukasa continues to prove she’s not a helpless damsel-in-distress, but Hans’ gracing the cover is rather odd. I got some religious undertones from the cover, so I thought maybe he was going to be a martyr here, but his minor role can be summed up in two words: hit record. The series hasn’t had a lot of different people on the covers, so this would have been a good one to feature someone new. The two-page bonus funny comic is also an odd way to wrap up the volume on considering the main story is full of tension and the bonus story (starring Kanzaki and Eka again) is full of melancholy.
Either way, no matter if you liked the bonus feature’s lighthearted finish or not, Devils’ Line volume 12 provides a lot of hype for the big showdown between Anzai’s faction and the CCC. Even if the romance aspects haven’t been your favorite part of the series, at least one out of the many different takes on love are likely to appeal to you.