It’s time for Ruri to put her dragon powers to good use in RuriDragon chapter 23 as a typhoon threatens to ruin all of the work she and her classmates put into organizing the school festival. By calling down a bolt of lightning, the storm is said to dissipate, but can she step up to the task?

Following a fairly long hiatus after its first couple of chapters proved to be a viral hit, RuriDragon is back in the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump on an irregular serialization schedule. Chapter 23 is in and of itself a climax of sorts to the school festival arc, where Ruri was roped into the organizing committee for the event in an effort to get the student body used to her draconic appearance. The theme of how Ruri wants to be seen by her peers has been a constant throughout, and it reaches an explosive climax here.

To start things off, it’s worth explaining just how Ruri and her friends plan to blow away the storm so that they can hold the school festival as planned. Although the ability to call down lightning was explored in previous chapters, RuriDragon chapter 23 adds the stipulation that in order to call generate this lightning, clouds are needed: a dragon can therefore potentially draw a typhoon faster to a particular location by creating clouds for it to form around. The lightning then serves to break up the clouds, therefore dissipating the tempest.

It must be stressed here that this is probably not how typhoons work. Nevertheless, it serves an important narrative purpose for Ruri as a character: up until now, she’s only seen her powers as and inconvenience and something that serves to isolate her from others. By blowing away the storm, however, she’s both doing a favor for her classmates and using her powers for herself for the first time. This arguably marks an important milestone for Ruri as she begins to see her powers in a more positive light, possibly leading to more exciting moments in the future.

Linked to this is how Ruri relates to her regular human classmates. In many ways, Ruri used to wish that she never had any dragon powers, because they mark her as an outsider from the rest of her peers. Even so, RuriDragon chapter 23 showcases an important evolution in her point of view: she’s fine with not being accepted, but she definitely doesn’t want to be feared. As long as those around her don’t see the draconic Ruri as a threat, then that’s fine. After that, they can think what they want.

The broader metaphor here for social isolation in the real world, particularly at school and during adolescence, is so obvious that it’s not even worth writing about. As it stands, RuriDragon chapter 23 is a perfect encapsulation of what this series can do and say when it’s on top form. I, for one, am glad it’s back.

You can read RuriDragon chapter 23 for free via VIZ Media’s Shonen Jump.