Assassin’s Creed: Blade of Shao Jun Volume 3 continues the tale of Shao Jun in the wonderful adaptation by Minoji Kurata of the Assassin’s Creed: China video game. It is 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 3 contains chapters 9-13 of the series and leads off with Shao still in Nan-an. Shao’s mentor, Wang Yangming, is also in Nan-an and Shao discovers he is in grave danger. After springing the trap set for them Shao has to act swiftly in order to try to save her mentor. I won’t spoil what happens, but I thought the action here was incredibly well-drawn. The character writing here too, both for the heroes and the villains, was top notch. I have been impressed about how much I care about even the smallest side characters, which is a testament to Kurata’s writing.

One of the biggest highlights of the series so far has been the beautiful artwork, specifically in the fighting scenes. The Assassin’s Creed series is well known for the fighting and killing techniques of the Assassins, and Kurata brings them to life with excellent detail. Each battle feels authentic, and the physical and emotional toll it takes on the characters involved is felt on every page. Blade of Shao Jun is easily one of the most underrated manga series when it comes to the visual aspect. It is up there with more popular franchises like My Hero Academia and Demon Slayer.

Outside of the Animus is where the story is really starting to hit its stride. Lisa continues to suffer from the Bleeding Effect, and the true intentions behind Dr Kagami are revealed. The real world climax is quickly approaching, and it has arguably been the best part of the entire story so far. I was initially disappointed that this part of the story was barely focused on in this volume, but I understand why. The development of Lisa has been really well handled even in such a short period of time, so it makes sense that more time is focused on the development of Shao.

Assassin’s Creed: Blade of Shao Jun Volume 3 feels like the perfect final setup before a magnificent ending. The characters on both sides of the conflicts, both inside and outside the Animus, have been introduced and their motives explained. Volume 3 finishes giving most of the background information that is needed to really make readers care about how the conflicts will play out. Will Shao and Lisa both be successful in their endeavors, or will they fail horrifically? While the latter is assumed, I can’t wait to see how Volume 4 wraps up what has been such a fascinating story so far.

Assassin’s Creed: Blade of Shao Jun Volume Three begins answering questions surrounding both the Assassin Brotherhood and the Templar Order.

Assassin’s Creed: Blade of Shao Jun Volume Three
Written by: Minoji Kurata
Publisher: Shogakukan
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: January 18, 2022

Volume Three has a much stronger focus on Shao Jun’s story than it does on what’s going on in the modern world with Lisa. We follow Shao Jun as she tries to locate Wei Bin, and she learns that he has put out an order for his men to hunt her down. Shao Jun finds her target, and there’s a confrontation between the two. It looks like Wei Bin has her trapped, but Shao Jun uses her cunning as an assassin to find a way to kill him without him even realizing what she had done. But as Wei Bin lays dying, Shao Jun learns that her master is in combat with his men and is likely going to die.

While Shao Jun makes it to where her master is and he’s still alive, he jumps in the way when she is shot at. Before anything else can happen, the monks from a nearby temple appear, and they are ready to fight if any more violence is incited. The attackers leave, but Shao Jun’s master dies, leaving her as the sole assassin remaining. It turns out the monk at this temple knows about the box that Shao Jun had retrieved, and then lost, earlier in the series. And with this knowledge, the monk is also able to help Shao Jun make sense of something that happened in her childhood that she couldn’t explain. While it’s great for both Shao Jun and the reader to start learning these facts, it’s unfortunate that the current incarnation of the Templar Order is able to see this as well through their experiment with Lisa.

At this point, the story shifts its focus to Lisa in the modern world. Her friend, Mari, sees her and says that they need to have a serious talk. It turns out that during the previous volume, after Shao Jun left Mari with Kiyoshi, he revealed a lot of information to her about the Assassin Brotherhood and the Templar Order still being around and fighting today, as well as the truth behind the therapy that Kagami is performing on Lisa. When we see Mari’s flashback of Kiyoshi was telling her about how the Templar Order is collecting information on everyone on the planet, I couldn’t help but think it sounded a lot like some of the various conspiracy theories we’ve been hearing in recent years. Which, quite frankly, would make it easier for the Templar Order to pull off what they’re doing in the modern world, since enough people would think these actions sound like conspiracy theories and not likely to actually be happening.

Mari and Lisa remember an incident that happened when they were younger, right before Mari had changed schools. During this incident, Lisa stood up to Mari’s father, and Lisa always felt guilty for doing what she did because she thought she had destroyed Mari’s life. But Mari thanks her, because this allowed her to get away from her controlling father, and she learned to gain confidence in herself. With this confidence, Mari asks Lisa to stop going through Kagami’s therapy so she’s no longer giving away information to the Templar Order. However, Lisa says she’ll go on for just a little bit longer. It’s not so she can reveal facts to the Templar Order, though… she wants to keep going so she can find out what they’re really after.

After this, we return to Shao Jun, who sets out to find the box that was stolen by the Templar Order. This leads her back to a place that she’s all too familiar with, and it’s where her friend, Qixie, who is now the empress, is. Shao Jun finds someone in the palace who knows her and can be trusted. Shao Jun is given a note, telling her where to go to find Qixie. Shao Jun has been racked with guilt, because she had to leave Qixie behind when her master snuck her out when the previous emperor passed away. I thought this was an interesting parallel with Lisa, who had been racked with guilt over what happened to her friend Mari when they were younger. The volume ends with Shao Jun heading on her way to find Qixie. I should point out that I really liked the last two panels in this volume, due in large part to how expressive Qixie and Shao Jun both look. It’s obvious that Kurata made sure to put in a little more detail into the drawings, especially for the panel featuring Qixie, because it really jumps out at the reader.

Even though a lot of the focus is on Shao Jun’s story in Assassin’s Creed: Blade of Shao Jun Volume Three, it contains several important events that allow Lisa and the reader to start learning the truth about a lot of elements that have been presented in the series up to this point. Between this and Lisa’s determination to continue with the therapy but not reveal where the box is hidden to the Templar Order, it definitely feels as if the story is heading toward its climax. At this point, what we seem to have left for the story is Shao Jun locating Qixie and the box, and whatever happens to Lisa in the modern world once we reach that point in Shao Jun’s story.

I thought this volume ended at the perfect spot, and with all of the information I’ve learned throughout it, I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to read more of the story in Assassin’s Creed: Blade of Shao Jun Volume Four. I honestly believe that readers who have read and invested the time into the first two volumes of the series won’t be disappointed by what happens in Volume Three.

Shao Jun attempts to rescue a friend. Lisa learns more about the Assassins and the Brotherhood. #AssassinsCreedBladeofShaoJunVol3 #NetGalley