This is one of the hardest volume reviews I have had to write in my time with Ragna Crimson. It's not that the chapters themselves are challenging to talk about. It's not even that I didn't enjoy what was on offer here – far from it! But there was a lingering sense after I finished the volume that something was off and I could not quite put my finger on it. After chewing on it for a while, I think I've figured out what my issue was: Ragna Crimson Volume 7 is a whole lot of fighting and not much else.

To be sure, the fighting is superb. There is a huge array of conceptual creativity in the types of combat in each of the battle spheres. The sheer breadth of conflict types is astounding; you've got close-quarters battles between individual warriors and large beasts, aerial dogfights between silverine air-surfers and entire flights of draconic beasties, and you've got mind-bending magical duels between beings of power beyond human comprehension. If you can dream it, there's a scene in this volume of a dragon being killed by it, and that's pretty incredible to see again and again.

All of this is buoyed by the art, which should not be a surprise if you have been following along up until this point. Ragna Crimson has had terrific action with jaw-dropping line work from the very beginning and that's more evident here than ever. I was not familiar with Daiki Kobayashi's work before starting this series but consider me a lifelong fan at this stage. He's got both the relentless creativity demanded of the scope of what he's doing and a strong skill set for executing on these ideas, and at no point does Ragna Crimson feel like anything other than the best stuff you could put in print. It's just gorgeous, while also demonstrating a deep understanding of the art form and how to use the medium's strengths to pace and deliver a story.

The stakes also feel as high as they have ever been. Mankind has been teetering on the edge of extinction since the beginning of the series, but the ante is really upped here as the greatest warriors of the age are pushed to their breaking point. Furthermore, the sense that the dragons could lose too is becoming more apparent with each chapter. Ragna is driven to wipe them from existence and it looks like he might just do it, given the intensity he shows in this volume. This is quickly devolving into a battle to the death between two apex predators and one of them is not walking away from this struggle. These are exactly the sorts of stakes you want, and it has progressed very naturally to this point.

So what is the problem then? If everything is so good, why did I have any issues at all reviewing it? Everything sounds like a win thus far.

The issue, I think, is that the action is too much and all at once.

This volume is basically one big fight scene. Sure, there are smaller battles within, and there is plenty of variety in setting and substance. But it's all just one giant fight sequence with hardly a moment to catch your breath. No matter the quality and excitement of the action, there is only so much the reader can take before it all starts to blur together. Spells are cast, shots are fired, swords are swung, dragons explode, people explode, and on and on and on until it all starts to lose meaning.

In fact, I think the breadth of conflict types is actually part of the problem. We never really get an “overhead” sense of how the battle is progressing, like the exact locations of conflict zones or numbers involved. We know that there is fierce fighting in the air, on the ground, and even underneath the surface, but other than characters going “We're winning!” or “What's this!?” as the tide shifts, we don't have much indication of exactly where anything is happening in relation to anything else. There are certainly a lot of cool moments and exciting attacks, don't get me wrong. But it all feels sort of all over the place, and the lack of any sense of space or positioning starts to wear on the reader as the fighting goes on.

Ragna Crimson Volume 7 is basically like listening to an eight-minute long guitar solo in a song without verses or a chorus. Despite the technical skill and the creative energy on display, a bit more structure might have helped break up the relentless delivery. But despite that, it is a strong entry in a series that has quickly become one of my favorites. I only hope volume 8 has a bit more variety on offer.