Suchan and Dohwa managed to escape Breeder’s forced feeding attempt―but that was only the beginning of Pet Shop’s malevolent agenda. Upon learning the rumored whereabouts of one of their bases, NEST professors decide to send a team to investigate. And what better way to determine the most qualified students than through a group tournament?! Suchan, Huijin, Dohwa, and Hyeseong are far from easy pickings, but against opponents who are willing to flout the rules and play dirty, can they still come out on top…?
The art is stunning. The action scenes are intense. I love how the mangaka balanced showing the backstory of the various characters. We learn exactly what we need to know for any given moment. There's never an info dump or unnecessary information. I'm constantly sucked in and waiting for the next twist. I love this series so much.
This story is fun and lively and a bit outta pocket. It’s definitely a lighthearted read I can go to when I just need a good laugh. And I’m learning so much about insects too!
After the escape from last volume. Nest professors question Junhyeong about Breeder's operation, and find out all about the organization known as Pet Shop. One of the secret base locations is on a remote island called Black Rock, so the professors decide to hold a tournament among the students to determine who will go on this away mission. Once the team is decided, the students and a professor travel to Black Rock as undercover tourists to see if they can establish the location of the base.
The tournament serves as a good chance for Eun to introduce more students and showcase new human-insect hybrids, as well as show off more abilities that they have. The outcome of the tournament is fairly predictable since we have three main characters at this point, but the rest of the volume focuses on the fourth member of the main group who we haven't spent a ton of time with. We learn more about Hyeseong's background and why he wants to be the Top Student, as we as increase some of the romantic tensions that started in the previous volumes.
The fight between our protagonists and the second mysterious organization of human-bug hybrids (later deemed "Pet Shop") comes to an abrupt end when Nest sends some heavy hitting backup and the only reason Pet Shop escapes is a giant centipede monster.
Now the objective is to hunt down and stop Pet Shop. Step one, get new gear. Step two, choose the team. Step three, deploy and locate Pet Shop's Breeding Farm. So get ready for some action.
A tournament, AND beach episode! 5 star is mainly bc of the final page bc i can't even argue with the MCs logic there 😂. I love all the little insects facts I get through this series too, it makes my little biologist heart happy.
I rated this accordingly based on + the art is still AMAZING (despite being about BUGGY BUGS haha) + I like a lot of the twists (aww, Grandpa!) + Hyeseong finally coming into his own
EVEN THOUGH - Hana is a FRIGGING SPOTTED LANTERNFLY EUUGHGHHHH I spent all last autumn *NOT* going out of my way and still smashing hordes of them!
...anyway.
I like this part of the story in particular, because it feels progressive, I guess? Like they're finally getting somewhere? vs. "OH, we have agents able to just infiltrate your secret insect-people sanctuary and eat them, because that's a thing we as other-insect-people like to do now" and stuff like that. It does start in the middle of the cliffhanger from the prior volume, so it takes a minute to remember what happened, but on the whole, I enjoyed reading this installment more than the others! Even the first one, since that one has and all.
Still vaguely annoyed it's about creepy-crawlies, but oh well. Cool way to learn some insect/arachnid facts!