I highly advise everyone to reread at least volume 22 before picking this one up, because you'll be completely lost if you don't. Even so, some of the plot points are still nearly incomprehensible. I liked this volume a lot - it's hilarious, of course - but I couldn't figure out what was happening in much of the second half. Anyway, some spoiler-free observations (I'll post my full thoughts once everyone has a copy):
- Missions 4 & 5 are seriously amazing
- Excel and Watanabe are straight-up awesome in this book
- Some of the plot progression happens in cryptic scenes like the weird foreshadowing from the earlier volumes
- Hyatt and Iwata have cameo appearances only, but Sumiyoshi has a surprisingly large (hurr) amount of dialogue
- Shiouji is creepy as phuk
- I don't know if I can handle another year's wait...
All in all, a very good volume, but not as good as the last four. Someday soon I'll have to spend tens of hours poring over series details to try and make sense out of what the hell happened in this one, though.
Thank you Based CGH for continuing your brilliant English localization of Excel Saga!