Arpeggio of Blue Steel Vol. 4 (Arpeggio of Blue Steel, 4) Paperback – April 7, 2015

My daughter and I watched the anime together and she liked it enough that I've been buying the mangas for her. There's much more to the story in the mangas (of course) and my daughter has a lot of fun pointing out the differences to me (knowing full well that I read the mangas too). I find it interesting that there's more character development of the non-human side characters than there is of the human main characters. It's kind of refreshing in a way. These are not very violent mangas, most of it being naval battles where unmanned ships are sunk. I think it's a good series for my tween, yet interesting enough for her adults to stay engaged.

very good

excellent series

Note: There are so many Big Reveals in this volume, that I find it impossible to discuss the events without spoilers so be ye warned.The encounter with the mysterious Fog submarine that Iona cannot identify continues from  Arpeggio of Blue Steel Vol. 3 . It turns out to be the U-2501, only the third Fog vessel known to have operated with a human crew, the others being Musashi and 401. Clearly these are the "children" that Musashi and "Admiral" Shouzou Chihaya were talking about in the previous book, the ones they hadn't bothered to inform Nagato or Kongou about. To the extent that Zordan Stark is a reliable narrator (He is clearly oozing with the resentment of the non-prodigal son over his father's interest in the prodigal.), this is also confirmation of Shouzou's defection from the side of humanity. What exactly he's defected to is another matter.401 continues on to their real home port, Iwo Jima, where a couple of surprises await. The first, a surprise to them as well, is the presence of rogue Fog heavy cruiser Takao who is oblivious to their arrival as she is wearing skimpy lingerie and cuddling with her homemade Gunzou hugging pillow on a circular bed on her foredeck, in lust fueled daydreams. The second is Hyuga's mental model who it turns out survived her sinking and defected to the human cause, in her case because of unrequited lust for Iona.Meanwhile, what Makie Osakabe has discovered are the surviving mental models of Haruna and  Kirishima , though the latter only survives as a core, and invites them back to her home, and gradually, we get the story of Professor Osakabe,...and the Design Children....Meanwhile, having heard the Saga of the Student Who Left, Maruri Hibiki, over the last couple of books, this book introduced us to the Saga of the Student Who Died, Amaha Kotono, the only student Gunzou couldn't beat,...the only girl he ever loved.... Intrigued by the story, Hyuga and Takao decide to do a little research on this late wunderkind,...and make a jaw-dropping discovery.Next, as Northern Administration Prime Minister (and former Design Child himself) Makoto had warned they would, the Central Administration has sent troops after Haruna...and Makie. So Professor Osakabe asks Haruna to look after Makie and protect her,...and Haruna, quite sincerely and to her own surprise, agrees.Finally, Kongou and Nagato, believing themselves deliberately kept in the dark by their superiors, decide to launch a scheme intended to flush out Shouzou Chihaya's intentions.The  Amok Time  continues in  Arpeggio of Blue Steel Vol. 5 .

great