The Golden Sheep, by Kaori Ozaki, started publishing in Vertical Comics last year in English. Volume 2 of the same series has been released recently and we will be discussing how the continuation of the Volume 1 goes.
Tsugu and Sora are now staying at Tsugu’s Grandfather’s place after running away from Tokyo. Grandfather of Tsugu has given them the permission to work at his shop which had shut down a while ago. Now that the shop has reopened, it has regained its popularity in no time. Tsugu and Sora start spending a lot of their time working at the shop that they forgot abbot everything happened in the past.
In the meantime, Yuushin and Asari have to deal with their dark side. The news about the escape of Sora and Tsugu is spread all over the school. Asari understands that she doesn’t have to worry about Tsugu’s love for Yuushin. She realizes that her jealousy pushed her friend away from her. On the other hand Yuushin is having the same guilty feelings about throwing away all his repressed emotions on Sora. It was nothing but a pointless rage that he throws out on his gang and says that he is leaving school. Depressed, Yuushin returns to his boxing club and request his coach to give him permission for the pro boxing test held in Tokyo.
The volume 2 is clearly focused on all main characters equally which helps in the character development of all four characters. Tsugu and Sora are enjoying their time in Tokyo and their parents seem to be happy with it as they were concerned about their safety. Although, a lot of months have been passed so there is the problem of Tsugu being a year behind at school. They are content and happy for the time being but soon it will all be over
The moments of Asaria and Yuushin are the most powerful moments of this volume. While Tsugu and Sora were the main focus of the series, I was concerned about these two after volume 1 and good to see that theya re finally dealing with their dark feelings and realizing their wrong deeds. Now they are trying to resolve their issues together.
It’s good to see Sari overcoming her jealousy. Hopefully, she will get back together with her friend once they meet each other again. Yuushin is also heading to the better direction as he is not trying to defend his action but facing it and trying to make things right.
Clearly, pro boxing test is not going to solve all problems or Yusshin’s aggressive behavior, but it can be the path to a better solution. Yuushin question his own capability of improving himself as a person. It’s the question that can be applied to everyone in the series. How much effort is needed for a person to change himself? I hope that we get to know the answer to it in the next volume which will be final installment of the series.
Although I am not sure how to feel about the fact that it’s going to end in the next volume because it as there are so many things that are needed to be covered. I just hope that they do not rush towards the end. All characters have quite the story of their own that are needed to be focused equally. I hope that they don’t just wrap it up to end it. The Golden Sheep is too good to have a poor climax that might ruin the first two volumes.
The book is introduced to the West by Vertical Comics and is excellently translated in English by Daniel Komen who has done a great job in conveying everything the way it is. Although I’m not really fond of it matte style cover that isn’t change in this volume too. Volume 3is set to publish in March.
All in all, The Golden Sheep is a though provoking story. Although I’m a bit worried about the final volume and how it is going to conclude the story, I’m still eagerly waiting for the next volume. If you liked Volume 1, you will definitely be amused by Volume 2 of The Golden Sheep.
