MANGA REVIEW | "COSMOS" - Volume Two

When you watch or read something involving aliens, you expect it to be about invasions or intergalactic wars. COSMOS, on the other hand, focuses on insurance claims from UFOs. That’s…certainly something, I guess, but considering it’s from the same guy who brought us Hard-Boiled Cop and Dolphin, I knew there’d be something more to this. And in its second volume, COSMOS brings its readers that something, via a big wave of emotions.

For starters, let’s begin with what most people read COSMOS for: the humor. The first chapter in Volume Two has Rin’s special horns going out of whack, a problem seeing as they’re what helps her conceal her identity and true nature. As a result, Rin finds her high school life becoming all the more exciting, as she winds up transforming into the most popular girl in class! And Kaede sits by watching, wondering whether to intervene on her behalf or sit back and be entertained by the current situation.

It’s a good goofy start to the volume, as we see Rin being great at just about everything from sports to academics. But due to her job, she needs to keep her anonymity in check, in fear of causing too much attention when she needs to quickly take a case. On top of that, we also get a new character: the very tall and very sketchy Quantu Mleep, a technician that specializes in impression management devices. Despite her brains, her means of getting excited during work mode may raise a few eyebrows.

A mission involving a disappearing princess gets underway in the next chapter, as we find out that the woman in question didn’t exactly vanish. Quite the contrary, she’s trying to get out of an arranged marriage, so she faked a kidnapping. It’s a fun and wild misunderstanding…until it legitimately becomes a kidnapping situation. And when you meet the person she’s betrothed to, you’ll fully understand why she wanted to get away from him.

At first, this story starts out on a good funny note, as the princess attempts to force Kaede and Sunagami to tag along at a Shibuya Halloween party. But when her legit kidnapping occurs, the tone changes to a more serious one, as her fiancé shows terrifying psychotic tendencies. It’s a good balance of humor and drama from COSMOS, but it saves its best storytelling for last.

The two-part “Del and the Garden of Stars” starts off being a tale of an alien woman and her human daughter, one that she kidnapped years before. Never once does it go for a joke, instead focusing on what was a very bad situation for the child. And while it’s very understandable why the alien kidnapped her, the story showcases why two wrongs don’t make a right.

However, it’s when it comes time to erase the child’s memory of her time with the alien where we see a real dilemma. Kaede is rightfully concerned that taking out the alien would actually wipe the daughter’s memory entirely. And at first, it seems like that’s what exactly happens. But then, a beacon of hope glimmers down towards the end, as we see the fate of the child and what may be a better future ahead of her.

COSMOS is off to a solid start, and its second volume demonstrates the ability to change its tone on a dime when needed. While readers will come in for the laughs, they‘ll certainly leave with a little heartache thanks to the two-parter. I’m glad that Ryuhei Tamura was given another chance at creating a manga, considering his last one was cancelled unceremoniously. Hopefully, COSMOS won’t see the same fate, and if it keeps telling stories like the ones in Volume Two, it may be safe to say that it’ll be sticking around for much, much longer.

FINAL GRADE:

Promotional consideration provided by Chantelle Sturt of VIZ Media.

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