An action-packed adventure based on the popular video game, Honkai Impact 3rd!

When a research lab in Siberia known as the Tower of Babylon goes mysteriously dark, members of both Schicksal and Anti-Entropy converge on the site to investigate the cause. While their suspicions of a Honkai presence are correct, they discover an even greater threat: Sirin, the 2nd Herrscher, is on a quest of vengeance that threatens the safety of the whole world. Unable to face Sirin alone, Schicksal and Anti-Entropy set aside their differences to forge an uneasy alliance against her — but even their joined forces may prove to not be enough.

I…have never played this game before. I came in blind to the story and characters, so there was a little bit of a learning curve here. However, I was grateful for the opening pages which named characters and gave short bios for them–that really helped. (You need to completely ignore the fact that characters are named Nikola Tesla or Einstein or Shubb-Niggurath. Don’t try to find meaning in the names. Just roll with the fact that characters share names with famous people from fiction and real life).

Anyway!

The major events of the story take place in an alternate year 2000, and there are different factions known as the Shicksal and the Anti-Entropy group. I don’t quite undertand their origins, but both deal with Honkai, which consists of monstrous creatures, but can also be a form of energy or substance. They are rivals but given the Tower of Babylon in Siberia has fallen, the two teams decide to work together to recover a mysterious girl who had been imprisoned in the Tower, but escaped. When they find her hiding place, she reveals her monstrous side as the 2nd Herrscher (I don’t know what that means) and vows to kill everyone, particularly for vengeance since she and other girls were treated horrifically as test subject in the Tower.

The rest of the manga largely consists of massive battle scenes that are beautifully rendered. The characters are gorgeous, too. In fact, the whole comic is full-color which helps make its contents look absolutely lovely. When it comes to characters using magic/Honkai/special abilities, they will have the name of the “spell” appear, which I think is to appeal to those who play the game. It’s a neat little addition to the manga that I think will feel like an Easter egg for them.

While I had a great time reading this, I couldn’t help but wish I had played the game, or found other material to look at before starting the manga. I couldn’t keep up with some of it. The pace is fast, and information is revealed to you quickly– there is no worldbuilding/exposition dump here. Things are revealed to you as they need to be revealed. To be honest, as a writer, I like doing things that way, but for some reason with this reading I couldn’t quite get what I was supposed to get.

I think the ideal reader for Honkai Impact 3rd: Second Eruption would be fans who know the lore, or at least have played the games. I think this book would absolutely enrich the experience for you. For those who aren’t so familiar with the game, I don’t think this book shuts you out of a good experience, but it just may be a little bit of a challenge keeping up.

There are a lot of interesting things set up that don’t get clearly addressed as the resolutions, or at least answers, are meant to be revealed in future volumes. I’m curious enough I’ll keep following this series.

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Honkai Impact 3rd: Second Eruption Vol. 1 will release in just a few days, on April 7th! You can preorder now from TOKYOPOP or wait until release day to buy from the publisher or other major booksellers online.