The Final Stand Against The Oni: ‘Rising Sun #3’ Reviewed
by Josh Davison
Mild Spoilers Ahead
Chiyoko’s line was cut and she fell off the mountainside. This leaves the Takara, Yumiko, Katsuo, and Jun as the final four left to complete their mission and free the Kami. They arrive at the temple and attempt to make a stealthy entrance. Once inside, they immediately find where the Kami are being held and attempt to free them. Unfortunately, an Oni is inside and waiting for our heroes. They have no choice but to fight the Oni, as the fate of the world is on the line. However, they still have a betrayer in their midst and they use this chaos to make their move.
Rising Sun #3 brings the mission of the six–now four–champions of their respective clans to a conclusion. They’ve reached their objective, but a vile Oni and a dangerous traitor still stands between them and victory. It’s an action-packed issue which serves as a nice capstone to this mini-series.
We get to see the champions challenge and question one another again, only to discover that at least some of their doubts were justified. It fleshes out Yumiko and Katsuo a good bit more, which is good. They were the members of the team who hadn’t really had the chance to stand out yet.
The identity of the traitor was genuinely surprising for me, even if it probably shouldn’t have been. It definitely puts the characters’ prior actions in a different context, though you’re also left to wonder how many times they could have had their teammates killed before now.
Martin Coccolo’s artwork once again proves strong, giving a great treatment to this world of antiquity, warriors, and monsters. The Oni looks quite cool and the action scenes are compelling and fun. The characters continue to be expressive and visually interesting and Katrina Mae Hao’s color work strikes the right vibrant balance for the world of Rising Sun.
Rising Sun #3 is an engaging and fun finale for this IDW mini-series. The tale comes to an exciting climax where each of our champions shows their true colors while staring into the face of certain death. It’s a solid read and earns a recommendation. Check it out.
Rising Sun #3 comes to us from writers Ron Marz and David Rodriguez, artist Martin Coccolo, color artist Katrina Mae Hao, letterer Samuel Murray, cover artist Martin Coccolo with Katrina Mae Hao, and variant cover artist Chieh Ying Yu.
Final Score: 8/10
