Even though it’s a part of his cover, Juzo might be enjoying the middle school life a little too much as an old colleague arrives from the past in Kill Blue chapter 83 to highlight just how much he’s changed. He might have the body of a teenager, but is he the same Juzo?

Considering that I published a piece last week exploring how Kill Blue manages to leverage series author Tadatoshi Fujimaki’s expertise with the sports genre in a unique way, it’s almost embarrassing that there hasn’t been much in the way of athletic activity in the manga as of late. The last arc was more of a business battle between clubs for sales in the culture festival, but those of you who actually digested the article will understand that it’s not just that Kill Blue is a sports manga in disguise: it’s actually how Fujimaki weaves together sports with hitman tropes that makes the series so unique. Chapter 83 is, in turn, a great example of how this series can rely entirely on the world of assassination when it wants to.

The main objective of Kill Blue chapter 83 is undoubtedly to introduce a new character in the form of Kakeru Inukai. As it turns out, Inukai was trained by Juzo back when he was a child in the ways of the assassin: this gives us a rare glimpse of the old, more grizzled Juzo as he throws water on Inumaki’s face and works him to the bone. Nevertheless, it’s made quite clear that Juzo has something of a soft spot for Inukai when he remarks that both of them share similar origins as orphans who ended up in the care of the Z.O.O assassination syndicate.

All of that was more than ten years ago, however. Not only is Inukai an adult now, Juzo has also reverted back into a child: this drastic role reversal is what drives the core conflict of Kill Blue chapter 83 as Inukai struggles to match his perception of Juzo from the past with the present. To a certain extent, this is played for laughs when Juzo gets far too excited about studying and Inukai overreacts to students disrespecting his old mentor, but it also underscores the drastic character development Juzo has undergone since the start of the series.

Back when he was an assassin, Juzo Ogami never bothered to spend time studying anything apart from mission plans and target movements. Anyone who dared disrespected him would also quickly find out about it, but times have changed. Ever since becoming a middle schooler again, Juzo has found value in education, patience and ways of solving situations that don’t solve violence. He’s even had his perception of gender roles challenged: you might go as far as to say that he’s a better person now.

Does all of this somehow make Juzo weaker or less capable as an assassin? Kill Blue chapter 83 very clearly indicates that this isn’t the case as he ends up saving Inukai from getting his ass beaten by Johnny Takenouchi. Change doesn’t always have to be a bad thing: learning to live with it is how we grow as individuals.

You can read Kill Blue chapter 83 in English for free via VIZ Media's Shonen Jump.