From the back cover:
Kenshin and his comrades have finally discovered the location of Enishi’s island compound. Woo Heishin, Enishi’s mysterious second-in-command, meets them on the beach and brings his deadly bodyguards, the Su-shin or the “Four Stars,” to serve as a welcoming committee. Part of the gang dives into combats with Woo’s warriors as Kenshin prepares himself for his fateful, climactic duel with Enishi. Each of them a ferocious fighter, the Su-shin are set on stopping Kenshin’s friends dead in their tracks.

Review:
Well, this volume was better than the previous one. Each of Kenshin’s gang gets a chapter to their own as they fight off one of the thugs commanded by Enishi’s second-in-command. This part was okay, but it felt like quite a delay before Kenshin actually stepped forward and did something. It feels like it’s been an extraordinarily long time since we’ve seen the old sort of Kenshin, and I was happy to see him back, but still, there’s just something about these chapters that is not terribly exciting.

I also am rather annoyed with Watsuki for his excessive self-deprecation in his columns. I know modesty is a cultural thing in Japan, but really—some critiques probably wouldn’t have occurred to me until he pointed them out, at which point I was like, “Yeah, actually, those villains really are lame!”

Artwise, there are some panels of various characters that are very well done, probably moreso than I’ve seen in previous volumes. There were also a few panels with weird angels, sometimes prompting one to turn the book to try to get a proper perspective, which was kind of irksome. I guess Watsuki was trying something new, which was mostly successful.

From the back cover:
If there’s one thing tough-as-nails street brawler—and ex-Sekiho Army cadet—Sagara Sanosuke can’t stand, it’s hypocritical, loudmouthed braggarts who talk the talk but are incapable of walking the walk. Finding himsef in the middle of a provincial squabble between an old man and the local yakuza, Sano returns to his old “fight merchant” ways and agrees to do some ad hoc butt kicking for pay. But the old man he’s hired to tangle with might be his strongest foe to date.

Review:
The majority of this volume involves Sanosuke fighting to help protect a town from some yakuza creeps. It’s pretty durn boring. There are a couple of out-of-character references by the characters to the fact that they’re in a manga, which I didn’t find too amusing, and Sano seemed to be going a little haywire with the “giving people nicknames” deal. It does, however, introduce the character of Ota, who is totally lovable, even though he doesn’t say a single word. I’d like to see what becomes of him someday.

Finally, in the last few chapters, we return to Kenshin and the others in Tokyo, with the conflict with Enishi just about to come to fruition. Except, right at the end, it doesn’t happen! In fact, it doesn’t even not happen! What I mean is, something gets in the way between the gang and Enishi, and then we don’t see that fight because it’s going to happen in volume 27. I’d be more frustrated by this if I didn’t already have 27, courtesy of Waldenbooks getting theirs in crazy early.