4 out of 5

This ends on a perfect cliffhanger, with the ‘new’ Cibo – up through Log 20, for those counting.

The same big ol’ pluses as last volume – the represented art looks amazing – and the same price tag minus, with, maybe, an additional “what canya do” minus regarding a huge kaiju battle in one of the series’ many, many, many, many “climactic” moments: despite all the work put in to making Nihei sketchy, blackened-out artwork more legible, this particular scuffle is on such an insane scale that there’s no way to tell, at some points, what the hey is happening.  Also: graviton beams seems to have variable levels of damage… but the lack of consistency there is a trade off for a plot which starts to shape waaay up beyond the silent, “let’s climb the tower” ‘story’ that preceded it.  Nihei, in these logs, started to fully grasp (I think) what he was building, and our protagonists and antagonists become clearer and more interesting as a result.