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May 27, 2009 by Lori Henderson

Review: Yoko Tsuno Volume 3

May 27, 2009 by Lori Henderson   3 comments

Yoko Tsuno, the girl electrical engineer/amateur detective is back, stumbling into another mystery.  Once again we are treated to a story where brains are more valuable than looks, and where it’s Yoko’s expertise and healthy skepticism that solves the mystery.  And with just a little help from her male friends, saves the day.

Yoko Tsuno Volume 3: The Prey and the Ghost
By Roger Leloup
All Ages
Cinebook Ltd., 2008, ISBN: 978-1-905460-56-4
46 pgs, $11.95

After the strange time travel adventure in Boreno, Yoko, Pol and Vic head to Scotland, researching local legends for a TV show.  While traveling to one of the country’s many castles, a young woman dashes out onto the road in front of Yoko and Pol.  Yoko just barely misses her.  She is Cecile, orphan and heir to a fortune, who lives with her father/uncle, and appears to be losing her mind.  But everything is not what it seems at the castle, and Yoko pokes her nose in to find out the secret behind some ghostly visits, and the sinister reasons behind them.

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In this latest volume of Yoko Tsuno, the mystery isn’t quite as out there as the previous story.  Ghosts, haunted castles, secret passages and curses are the usual fare of young detectives, as is deception and treachery.  This story has it all.  Yoko is mostly on her own for her investigation, as Vic is at another castle, and Pol becomes sick from eating too much.  We get to see her investigation skills alone as she puts together the clues to find the real story not just behind Cecile’s madness, but her parents deaths as well.

Once again, it’s Yoko’s skepticism and knowledge in electrical engineering that puts her on the right track to finding the truth.  Right from the beginning, she is debunking the ghosts she is shown.  In trying to catch the "ghost" of Cecile’s mother, Yoko becomes suspicious of what is behind it.  In Mac Nab’s house, she finds his tools to conjure ghosts; science and chemistry.  Cecile’s mother’s ghost is no different.  It was fun to see Yoko fascinated by the cause of that trick.

As a mystery, the plot of this story is executed very well.  There are lots of twists that keep you from figuring it out quickly, but not in frustrating way.  There aren’t a lot of red herrings.  There’s just a lot more to the story under the surface.  These are a lot more fun to solve than a sudden twist ending.

There is minimal violence in the story.  A gun is brandished (as seen on the cover), but it’s never fired.  There is a death or two, but it is either seen only after the fact, or implied.  No acts of killing are portrayed.

Yoko Tsuno continues to be a great series.  The positive role modeling she can do for girls keeps it high in my rating.  The variety of stories makes it reachable to just about any taste.  Any library that has Nancy Drew or any other young detective stories should add this title to it’s shelves. 

This review is based on a complimentary copy supplied by the publisher. All images copyright © Cinebook Ltd.

Filed under: Reviews, Uncategorized

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About Lori Henderson

Lori Henderson is a mother of two teenage daughters and an avid reader. She blogs about manga at her personal blog Manga Xanadu as well as contributing and editing for Manga Village. She blogs about all things fandom (mainly Doctor Who) at her other personal blog Fangirl Xanadu. She's been at it so for over 5 years now and counting!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. kafani irawan says

    May 28, 2009 at 9:54 pm

    we think that this comic is bad for children growth

  2. Joumana Medlej says

    May 30, 2009 at 10:12 pm

    I grew up with Yoko Tsuno as one of my favorite series, but this is so very old! It may be worth mentioning that this, which is volume 12 of the original series (wonder where the others went) was originally published in
    1982.

  3. Erica says

    June 2, 2009 at 2:12 pm

    Cinebook is publishing this classic series, which (as Lori Henderson’s well-written review above states, features a smart female protagonist) out of order intentionally. The publisher plans to continue to release titles on a regular basis.

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