Infinite Dendrogram Volume 11 Review

Last time on Infinite Dendrogram, Shu Starling recently became a Superior-tier player on the titular VRMMO. Now, with his newfound powers, he must defeat the new Superboss, Tri-Zenith Gl- “Hey, hang on a hot minute!” you cut in, interrupting my recap. “We already know that Shu beat Gloria! They brought that up, like, eight times already! That happened BEFORE volume 1 of Infinite Dendrogram!” Yeah, exactly. This volume is a prequel to volume 1. “But what about the crap in volume 10?! There was gonna be a mass Gaolbreak, led by the King of Crime!” Yeah, I know, I know… but this is what we have instead. Filler volumes definitely have a bit of a reputation, but Dendro has had a good track record with filler. Let’s look at this volume objectively, and see how it measures up.

So, as established (or what WOULD’VE been established if you didn’t cut me off), good ol’ Jabberwock summons Tri-Zenith Gloria, a Superboss of Infinite Dendrogram. As teased throughout the whole series, this is the strongest monster that has ever been in Dendro. 

The worst part of the volume is at the beginning. It starts with a guy named Foltesla (who I’m not sure we’ve actually seen up to this point? This series has so many characters, man), who is the first to challenge Gloria. Since we already know the outcome, he loses spectacularly, and the battle feels long-winded as a result. Fortunately, the volume wastes no time actually getting to the people we care about: Figaro, Tsukuyo, and Shu.

Unfortunately, this volume of Dendro does little to develop any of those characters besides Figaro. Shu is already a Superior at this point, and all it does for Tsukuyo is give context as to why her cult is allowed to run rampant in Altar (which may or may not have already been explained earlier in the series anyway). While the Figaro backstory is nice, it doesn’t really change the way I look at him. In fact, as much as it looks like it’s going to show a rare case of him fighting in a team, it doesn’t work out that way at all; what really happens is that each person fights part of the boss one at a time.

If this volume does anything long-term with Dendro, besides a number of new ominous developments at the end, it’s Gloria. “Why does an already defeated Superboss matter?” you ask. Well, we’ve been seeing Ray kick ass after ass after ass since the very beginning. He’s evolved his Embryo to have some amazing utility: counterattacking, reversing debuffs, range… and not to mention the crap from his many unique equipment pieces. But what Gloria does is remind us that he’s still got a long way to go. I mean, he’d literally die instantly just by being near Gloria. 

But even when knowing the outcome of this battle, it’s still pretty darn intense. It doesn’t just show you how powerful Gloria is, but how powerful Shu is. This volume really made me hope that Ray ends up fighting Shu later, just to see how amazing it could be.

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Verdict: 8.5/10

Once again, Dendro comes out with a filler volume that’s better than a good volume of Log Horizon (and yet that’s the one that’s considered the indisputable best). I’m still stoked for more antics next volume, as well as the potential start of an intense new arc!