The beginning of a new week can only mean one thing: time for new Weekly Shonen Jump! This is where Jacob investigates the latest and greatest in the magazine, telling you what’s worth your time and what’s not. You can find coverage of other series under the tag Jump Time. Here’s Hard-Boiled Cop and Dolphin chapter 24.
Hard-Boiled Cop and Dolphin has felt a little stilted for a while. The series’ last major arc, surrounding the disappearance of Yukari Okina, left off inconclusively, and then led into a two-part story that didn’t, to be honest, stick around in my head for T-minus two seconds. Ryuuhei Tamura definitely has a bit of room to maneuver now that the series’ first volume has been selling relatively well, so here’s hoping that Hard-Boiled Cop and Dolphin chapter 24 is the beginning of a better trend.
There’s reason to believe that it will be, too, as Hard-Boiled Cop and Dolphin chapter 24 introduces a bunch of new characters. (Well, technically, they were introduced at the end of last week, but this week sees them in action.) They are the Mobile Marine Investigations Unit: a special branch of the national police force tasked with following up the mysterious fishy goings-on that have occurred throughout the series thus far.
Introducing new characters is always a sign that the author has a bit more confidence, as they’ll need to be fleshed out and incorporated into the narrative. The benefit in doing so is that their interpersonal relationships can give rise to exciting new stories. Hard-Boiled Cop and Dolphin chapter 24 already gives us a little hint of this, as even a short conversation between Orpheus and Tome in the car hints at the dolphin cop’s past, and Samejima’s exchange with Takumi is quite amusing. Things are looking up.
What fills me with even more confidence is the fact that Hard-Boiled Cop and Dolphin chapter 24 follows up on the unresolved plot thread of the last arc, uncovering the ruin where Yukari went missing and saying that it houses a ‘poseitracon’, one of ‘seven calamities that rule the seas.’ Uh, yeah. Whatever that means.
Joking aside, this means that Ryuuhei Tamura is introducing both new characters and new plot elements into Hard-Boiled Cop and Dolphin, which is encouraging. I’d bet my left leg that these ‘calamities’ will become a key part of the narrative going forward, and I’m also looking forward to spending more time with these new characters. All this leaves me a damn sight more positive than I was before.
You can read Hard-Boiled Cop and Dolphin chapter 24 for free via VIZ Media.