The Isolator 3: The Trancer Review

by: Gen/Esis

The Isolator 3: The Trancer finally breaks free from the pattern that had been established with the last two volumes of “villain of the week” styled storytelling, making a more dynamic, and frankly, interesting overall book. There are some quite dark subject matters in this book, not that it’s anything new for this series, however, it also felt the most heartfelt.

Released on February 10th, 2016 (November 22nd, 2016 in the US), The Isolator 3 returns to bring a powerhouse of a volume, building upon everything that works from the series, and skimming down the parts that don’t.

Synopsis:

Yen Press has the synopsis as—

Having successfully helped destroy two of the evil Ruby Eyes, Minoru, the Isolator, is recruited by the Syndicate, a secret organization dedicated to their eradication. He teams up with Suu Komura, the Refractor, a young girl said to be the Syndicate’s most powerful member, to attack a secret stronghold of the Ruby Eyes. Their target is the most fearsome opponent they’ve ever faced: the Liquidizer, but their enemy is not what they expected…

Well, without further ado, let’s get to the review:

Review:

As stated before, The Isolator 3 does a fantastic job at becoming its own thing, pushing itself away from the more structured nature of the first two volumes and feeling a loss less constricted because of it. Unlike previous volumes, this one doesn’t have a single “big bad” to defeat, instead, we get a deeper look at the mysterious syndicate of ruby eyes. That being said, we do get to focus on a specific antagonist, The Trancer, who also happens to be the subtitle to this book.

Characters:

As a villain, Trancer is a massive step up from last book’s Igniter. While that one fell flat throughout the story, Trancer almost immediately gives off a personality that by itself made him many times more interesting while still holding mysteries as to what his backstory is. He is clearly being driven by something, and while we aren’t entirely sure what that something is, it is clear that he really does have reasons to be in the syndicate and fight against the jet eyes. He has a likable personality, or at least one that doesn’t feel as flat as Igniter’s, which makes his scenes, and his interactions with other characters, a lot more entertaining.

But adding on to the changes, this volume doesn’t have one antagonist, but two. The second one, Liquidizer, is as terrifying as her name implies. As a leader in the syndicate, Liquidizer quickly establishes herself as someone who isn’t to be messed with and shows off plenty of times why that is the case. She doesn’t get as much time to develop as Trancer, but the time she does get is plenty to root her as one of, if not the, strongest ruby eye we’ve ever seen. Better yet, the relationship between the two antagonists serves as a nice change of pace, and better help to humanize these villains who, due to the parasitic alien attached to them, can sometimes feel like all they do is mindlessly kill people. A night and day comparison to the last volume in the villain department.

As for the jet eyes, Suu Komura is the latest member introduced in this book. While we had a mention of her in volume 2, it’s only now that we really get to know her as a character. From the get-go, her relationship with Minoru is one of the more unique ones in the series. Their personalities, pasts, and fears, while not the same, have similarities that make their quick attachment to each other believable and really nice to see. Every scene with them together shows off their phenomenal chemistry as friends, which is only accentuated when each other’s fears are so readily visible to one another, deepening their connection that much more.

Along with her, we also get deeper looks at almost every other member of the jet eyes. The struggles the professor goes through due to her far-from-human intellect, teases for Olivier’s personal vendetta, and Yumiko’s sense of inferiority, all of it continue to build upon the team evenly throughout, with the only exception being DD, but his personality makes up for it. As a whole, both the protagonists and antagonists are on point this volume, making the entire ride enjoyable from start to finish.

My only complaint would involve the more restraint shown when depicting Minoru. While we do get his thoughts, a lot of the great aspects of his character come from the moments he’s alone, thinking back on what he’d done in the day. The whole aspect of him being the Isolator comes from him wanting people to forget him, which is why he tries not to make an impression on people, but throughout the volume we see him doing just that, without getting to see how he feels about making those contradicting decisions after the fact. There’s enough in the story that tells us he’s doing it mostly because he knows that by the end of his journey, all of it will be forgotten, but it’s still a shame we don’t get to see more of that thought process.

Plot:

Unlike before, the plot doesn’t involve tracking down a ruby eye and defeating them, which already wasn’t working by the second volume. Instead, this volume chooses to go in another direction, making the villain not the main driving force of the plot, but instead having the SFD’s, and by extension Minoru’s, choice to risk their lives to take on an operation pushing it forward. With most of the story hinging on Suu and Minoru’s relationship, the plot continues to be a character-driven one, but it ends up working much better than either of the last two.

It’s a simple premise, but the story doesn’t feel like a one-and-done deal. Instead, this feels like the beginning of something much bigger, introducing characters and plot points that don’t get a conclusion in this volume and instead continue on to the next, something this story definitely needed.

Conclusion:

Hands down, The Isolator 3 is the best in the series so far. Every aspect of the story works, and it helps to tell a story that is both heartwarming and tragic. It’s a different kind of volume for the series, but it’s a change that is both welcomed and needed. 

Overall Score: 9/10