▪	RELEASED BY:		TOKYOPOP
		▪	AUTHOR / ART:		RYO HOSHINO / ARIKO ITOU
		▪	FORMAT:		JAPANESE / BW & COLOR
		▪	PAGES:		180
		▪	RATING:		OT
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		03/11/2008
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		03/10/2008
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		HOLLY ELLINGWOOD

Serving as a prequel to the hit anime series, The Third manga shows readers a Honoka before her days as the famed Sword Dancer, top Dune Runner of the Outlands. Here, a younger less experienced Honoka learns the lessons that will serve her well in the future. Conflicts with the Third, battles for survival in the desert. It’s all a day in the life of one brave and unique young woman living in an unforgiving wasteland.

An excellent sci-fi series, readers are introduced to an Earth made into a desert after a great war. Now the only technology that exists rests in the hands of the three-eyed elite known as The Third. Humans live hard and oppressed lives. Those who are willing to risk the hardships of the Outlands do so for a small taste of freedom from the Third’s stranglehold. Dune Runners make their trade by ferrying people across the dangerous desert and working as couriers and bodyguards. Honoka, an orphan with a compelling secret, strives to become the best of all Dune Runners in the desert she loves so much. In doing so, she will learn many lessons and face numerous adventures.

The first volume sees Honoka during an early job – having to find a lost kitty cat. It will prove to be a lesson in humility for the young woman. Later, she shows her determination and strength of will when she refuses to leave her inured partner out in the desert, despite the risk to both of them dying because of it. From there she faces a combat robot from the Great War who must be put down and her powers from her mysterious third blue eye flare into existence. Then on a lighter note she helps a boy achieve his dream of flying, a first step that could lead to greater things. When she must bodyguard an anti-social violinist, Honoka finds herself having to rescue her client from sinister kidnappers and uncover a plot far more heinous than any she would have imagined.

Each story shows Honoka growing a bit more both as a person and as a Dune Runner. Each story is fairly self-contained while revealing a little bit more in each chapter about the world in which Honoka lives. This way a reader completely unfamiliar with the anime can enjoy this manga on it’s own, while those who are anime fans will be delighted at this early look at Honoka’s life and adventures.

The art work is stellar. It looks like it came right out of the anime. It even features four full color pages at the beginning of the volume.

IN SUMMARY:
The Third the manga is a prequel to the anime featuring Honoka’s early adventures and discovery of the power of her third blue eye. Filled with sci-fi action adventure, it’s an energetic ride.