Zatch Bell Volume 21 by Makoto Raiku

Zatch, Kiyo, Folgore and Kanchomé continue to fight the Mamudo known as Keith. When Folgore is injured, nearly killed by Keith's attack. Kiyo tells Kachomé to drag Folgore off and save him. He does, but soon comes back to help Zatch and Kiyo, offering even to be a distraction for them while they fight Keith. But Folgore soon returns and Kanchomé's determination not to see Folgore die gives them a new spell in his book.

They use the new spell against Keith, and when it finishes, it reveals many, many copies of Kanchomé. While they are all just as cowardly as the original, they soon band together to fight Keith along with Kiyo and Zatch. While they are unable to defeat Keith completely, they fight him to a standstill, causing him to go off with the owner of his book to eat potato dumplings. As the others are too injured to resist or continue fighting, they cannot stop Keith from leaving.

Meanwhile, Kafk Sunbeam, Ponygon, Megumi, Tia, Momon and Sister Elle are defeating the Mamudo they were matched with, but before they can truly defeat them, another Mamudo appears and helps the losers from the field. Tia can barely believe what she is seeing, because the Mamudo that helps the aggressors is Wonrei, the Mamudo of their friend, Li-en.

When they meet the others, they discuss this information. They know of no reason why Wonrei would help Mamudo who are so evil, and are very confused by it, as he seems to regard them as his enemies now. But Kiyo knows that by defeating Buzarai, they prevented the curse on Li-en from being lifted, so Wonrei blames them for her being still cursed.

They are interrupted by the arrival of another Mamudo and his owner, Riku, a horned Mamudo, and a man named Aleshie. They confirm that the giant mountain is really a Mamudo, but present Zatch with a choice. He can choose to save Li-en, and thereby destroy the world, for Faudo, the Giant Mamudo must be awakened to let that happen. Or, he can prevent the Giant from being awakened, in which case, Li-en will die. He cautions the others that Zatch alone must make this choice, and that it is a test.

Zatch doesn't want anyone to die, but finally comes to the conclusion that he cannot let Li-en die. He will release Faudo to save her, but right afterwords, work to send Faudo back to the Mamudo world so that no one else is hurt. Aleshie tells him he made the right choice and offers to help them gain access to Faudo. To awaken and stop him, they must find his control center.

Kiyo concludes that the control center is probably in Faudo's head, but there is no quick path there. And Faudo is beginning to awaken, thanks to the efforts of the other Mamudo trying to awaken him. Can they survive the traps and menaces inside the giant Mamudo, or will they all die before they can either save Li-en or send Faudo back?

This was an exciting volume, full of conflict and adventure. Even the parts that weren't battles were tense, as when Zatch struggled between two horrible choices that he had to make to win Aleshie's regard and support. Though many of the battles in the book are physical, some are also mental or based on will, allowing even weak Mamudo like Kanchomé to assist and keep up, or even to triumph.

Humor is also strong in this volume, between the cowardice of Kanchomé's clones, the being, Poosophagous, asking questions that even he can't answer, and his making Megumi say his name (which she finds humiliating), as well as Momon's continual lecherousness and hunger for looking at panties... well, the list goes on. This is a series meant for teens, but even older children will find it funny and interesting to read, perhaps more so than even teens.

This is an overly cute series, but the themes that make it up are more than worthy of inspiring thoughtfulness. Would Zatch make a good King, and why? What sort of things do they consider necessary and admirable in a leader? All the sorts of thoughts that reading this series is sure to bring on after a volume is finished. Or they can just enjoy the story. Either way, except for a hint of lecherousness and some fascination with poop-themes, parents will find little to object to in this series.