while Twilight’s backstory feels a little underbaked, there are some excellent moments in this volume that reminded me of Endo’s skill at juggling tone. he pairs comedy and charm with war, nihilism, and violence without any trouble. it’s reminiscent of Fullmetal Alchemist in that way (extremely high praise). he does a pretty good job here of establishing the moral subjectivity of war and of espionage, particularly, and it is nice to know that while Twilight is an agent of the state he is not really invested in either side. spy media with objective good guys and bad guys is so boring because duplicity and world weariness are some of my favorite characteristics of the genre. this awareness of subjectivity is foolishly withheld from Yor, however, who despite being in a similar position as Twilight in relation to the state is shown to buy into the east v. west mentality.

Melinda Desmond is très chic and I hope we get to see more of her soon! I suspect she is going to turn out to be the power behind the throne. please Mr. Endo do not spoil this intriguing female character you have created by defining her solely based on her relationship with a man!