Assassin’s Creed: Blade of Shao Jun Volume 2 is a continuation of mangaka Minoji Kurata’s manga adaptation of Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China and picks up right where the last volume left off. Like volume 1, volume 2 was originally serialized in Monthly Sunday Gene-X, with the English translation by Caleb Cook and retouches and lettering by Brandon Bovia. It is published in English by VIZ Media.

Assassin’s Creed: Blade of Shao Jun Volume 2 picks up with Shao on the run after the events of the first volume. The fighting and destruction as she makes her escape are incredibly well-presented, and I am a huge fan of the artwork in this series so far. From there we get to what I actually find most interesting about the series so far, the story of Lisa. I am typically really turned off by the transitions from in-animus to real life within the Assassin’s Creed games themselves, but in Assassin’s Creed: Blade of Shao Jun it seems to work in a way that I really enjoyed.

Watching Lisa struggle with her own failures and how they are almost in step with Shao’s is really fascinating to see. Lisa is putting herself in Shao’s shoes both literally and figuratively, and the way she handles that is well written and authentic. In Assassin’s Creed: Blade of Shao Jun Volume 2 we are introduced to Mari, one of Lisa’s friends. As they are catching up, they are met by a man claiming to be an assassin asking Lisa to come meet with him and his group. It’s here that the story begins to really take off. Lisa is presented with the danger she faces, and is even told directly that Dr. Kagami is only using her to find the Precursor Box. Lisa is faced with a difficult choice to make, and wants to be back in Shao’s shoes to see how things panned out for her. This could be dangerous for her, but I won’t spoil that here.



For me, the most interesting thing in this series is the way both Lisa and Shao battle their inner demons. Sure there are outside foes to fight, but both are struggling with the weight of responsibility for things that went bad. Lisa is leaning on Shao’s experience to help her figure out how to deal with her own issues, and the way it is written out just works so well. I think the concept of in-animus and real life stories works better when explored in manga format than in the game, since in the games it just feels like the real life events are taking away from my time in whatever world I’m playing in. Although, I suppose in a way that’s how people like Lisa feel when they are pulled out of the animus too.

Assassin’s Creed: Blade of Shao Jun Volume 2 continues to build the stories of both Lisa and Shao, with several new characters introduced and higher stakes beginning to be set. The story is starting to unravel, and I can’t wait to see how Lisa and the Assassins manage to stop the Templars. I also can’t wait to see how Lisa manages to defeat her own inner turmoil, arguably the most interesting storyline in the series so far.

Assassin’s Creed: Blade of Shao Jun Volume Two continues to follow Lisa as she continues to relive the memories of her ancestor Shao Jun through an experiment.

Assassin’s Creed: Blade of Shao Jun Volume Two
Written by: Minoji Kurata
Publisher: Shogakukan
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: August 17, 2021

Like with the first volume, the second volume opens by following Shao Jun while she’s on a mission. The Templar Knights are trying to smoke her out by burning down a city, but Shao Jun escapes… but not before managing to save a young girl from certain death. But Shao Jun blames herself for the city being set on fire and endangering the people.

We then jump ahead to the present, where Lisa has finished a session in the machine that allows her to experience Shao Jun’s memories. She draws a parallel between the guilt Shao Jun felt to something that happened in Lisa’s life, where she thought she did something right but messed up a friend’s life instead. This then leads us into Lisa encountering Mari, the friend she was referring to. Lisa opens up about the “therapy” she thinks she’s going through, and Mari doesn’t believe Lisa needs this kind of treatment. Even though Lisa feels she’s messed up Mari’s life, Mari doesn’t think she did. A nearby man who comes across as a yakuza interrupts their conversation, saying that he agrees with Mari. The man says he needs to talk to Lisa about this “therapy,” leaving his card and instructions on how to meet him. It turns out this man is part of the assassins fighting against the Templar Knights in our modern world.

At this point, I was glad to start seeing the scenes taking place in the modern world finally start dovetailing with Lisa’s “therapy” and the concepts that have been introduced through Lisa experiencing Shao Jun’s memories. As the volume went on, I found myself becoming more invested in Lisa and the events taking place in the modern world. I think the introduction of Mari, as well as Kiyoshi Takakura (the yakuza man) really helped with this. It’s a good thing that Mari knows about the “therapy,” because she finds herself becoming integral to what’s going on. Lisa doesn’t want to hear what Kiyoshi has to say about the “therapy” and the side effects, because she wants to know what happened to Shao Jun. Lisa still believes that experiencing Shao Jun’s memories will help improve her as a person.

Between a scene of Dr. Kagami talking with another scientist about previous subjects and what happened to them, as well as what Kiyoshi reveals to Mari about the side effects, the audience knows that Lisa could end up in a very bad situation. And while I’m still riveted by Shao Jun’s story, I know that the more we see Lisa go through the “therapy,” the more likely she’ll start to experience significant side effects. In fact, we see Lisa have a hallucination of someone from Shao Jun’s time appearing before her in the real world. But Dr. Kagami tries to downplay the hallucination as a temporary side effect. But from what the audience reads in previous scenes, it’s easy to tell that Dr. Kagami is lying. All she cares about is finally having success in learning where the box that Shao Jun was entrusted with ended up.

I have to admit that I wasn’t sure how much I would enjoy Assassin’s Creed: Blade of Shao Jun Volume Two, since Volume One felt a little on the slow side and didn’t give a lot of focus or explanations for Lisa and her storyline in the modern world. I’m happy to say that Volume Two took care of this problem. I felt as if I finally understood Lisa and her situation a little better after reading this volume. I did also appreciate after hearing from Mari that she doesn’t blame Lisa for what happened, that in the next memory Lisa sees of Shao Jun, her ancestor is being told that the fire that destroyed the village wasn’t her fault.

I’m still impressed by the art style for the series. Since more time was spent in the modern world in this volume, I was better able to pick up on the fact that the look and feel of the modern day scenes have a different feel from Shao Jun’s memories. I can’t explain it very well, but there is some noticeable differences between the style used for the modern world and the style used for the memories. I thought this was a nice touch.

If you enjoyed reading the first volume of Assassin’s Creed: Blade of Shao Jun, I expect that you will continue to enjoy the the story as it progresses in Volume Two.

Thank you to NetGalley, VIZ Media, and Minoji Kurata for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This manga pics up right where volume on left off: with a city on fire all because of assassin Shao Jun. She must save whoever she can, knowing the city is ablaze because the Templar Order is after her.

Back in Japan, Lisa learns a new truth about her "treatment" and the animus in which she experiences Shao Jun's past. When the past world of Shao Jun begins affecting Lisa's life, sanity, and her very perception of reality. she isn't sure what to think, especially when the Templar Order still exists and makes its way after her in present day.

The references to the Ezio trilogy will excite any fan, and the manga really feels like it fits right in to the world of Assassin's Creed. This series will not disappoint!

Shao Jun's adventures continue as she continues her revenge. Shao Jun's ancestor in the present is warned to stop using the machine, but she believes that she needs the "therapy".