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Story by Ryukishi07; Art by Soichiro. Released in Japan in two separate volumes as “Umineko no Naku Koro ni: Alliance of the Golden Witch” by Square Enix, serialized in the magazine Gangan Online. Released in North America by Yen Press.

This review is a couple of months late, partly as so many others things came out at the same time, but mostly as this particular Umineko arc is so hard to read. Like Higurashi’s third arc, the Curse Killing Chapter, this arc deals extensively with abuse, particularly child abuse. Ange is bullied at school to the point where she wishes out loud for death, and the “magic” that she was once able to manipulate is lost to pure despair. Likewise, Maria can’t simply paper over her relationship with Rosa anymore, and when her mother goes too far, Maria’s wellspring of rage threatens to overwhelm the entire book.

One of the key features in Umineko is ridiculous over-the-top melodrama, and for the most part it’s been well-balanced between ridiculous light-heartedness and Grand Guignol awful violence. This volume, though, like the previous one, alters the original visual novel’s structure. The first omnibus was almost all Ange, with Battler and Beatrice relegated to the very end. Here it’s Ange’s struggles in 1998 that are missing – you’d be forgiven for thinking that she had genuinely been transported to Battler’s game, as we see nothing of her search with Amakusa to find the truth of what happened 12 years earlier. While I realize that these manga are done with the approval and supervision of Ryukishi07 (though not as much as the heavily rewritten 7th and 8th arcs), I wish that they’d kept the timeline of the original work.

Thematically we get more examination of what Magic is and how it can help you… and when it can’t. One of the most important scenes in the book is when Ange, tormented by the constant bullying she gets at school, orders the Stakes to kill all her classmates. It’s up to Mammon to state the obvious – they can’t do it as Ange is unable to commit murder. Magic may be able to hide actions in some other guise, but the responsibility remains with whoever uses it. And this shatters Ange, whose struggle to avoid crushing sadness and loathing is lost here. Likewise, once Maria faces the severed head of Sakutarou, ripped apart by Rosa in one of her angry rages (speaking of which, I wish we had a better look at Maria seeing it as a human severed head Rosa is holding up – censorship, I suspect, but another lost opportunity), there’s nothing left for her but dark magic, the magic of murdering people. And the fact that she kills her mother over and over again in the magical world shows she has the killing intent Ange doesn’t.

The other very important scene here is the one between Ange and Lambdadelta. Lambda has been shown to be cruel when it serves her purpose, and she’s incredibly cruel to Ange here, but she’s also trying to tell her the truth, which Bernkastel is avoiding in order to make Ange the perfect pawn. Nothing Ange does here can affect her own future. This isn’t Higurashi, where everything snaps back each time. Even if Ange somehow arranges it so no one dies in 1986, the her of 1998 can’t go back. This Ange is essentially doomed, something Lambda gleefully points out, before offering her own deal – keep the game going forever, with no winner or loser. It’s a sign of how much Ange has lost that she’s sorely tempted.

Of course, there’s also the problem of October 4th, and Beatrice’s game. We get a new Truth introduced here, the Blue Truth (again, colored ink is expensive, so have a different font). It allows the game to move faster, but I suspect won’t end well for Beatrice. We also get more sacrifices, and a focus on George and Jessica, who have to fight to prove they can be family head, and also for their loved ones. (For those who were expecting a focus on Kyrie, while she does get more attention here, there isn’t nearly as much as there was on the other three mothers in the first three arcs. It’s almost suspicious…) Of course, this whole volume is devoted to cruel reality. And thus, we do not end with Jessica and George being awesome, but rather with their sudden death.

We’ve got one more omnibus to go (well, for this arc – fear not, End is solicited), and at this point it’s all up to Battler. He’s been given a lot of help, things have been made more obvious, but does he really have the desire to win? And does he know what winning will cost him? As for this manga adaptation, I’ve mentioned my reservations with this adaptation, but that’s mostly as I’ve read the visual novel. For new readers, they may not notice. In the end, this is a hard arc to read, but it’s essential to understand what’s going on.

(One last whine: the manga left out the ridiculous parody fight between Krauss and the Goat. I may never forgive it for that.)

By Q Hayashida. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in a Shogakukan magazine to be named later. Released in North America by Viz.

I pretty much had my jaw on the floor through this entire volume, though halfway through it changed from boggling at Nikaido to boggling at Kai and company. As always with Dorohedoro, there’s a lot going on and it’s pretty unforgiving to those who don’t remember previous volumes, but that doesn’t stop it from being a stunning read every time. In addition, we get another reminder that behind all these masks, many of the main characters are female. Gender reveals of Nikaido and Noi occupied Volume 1, but Hayashida still enjoys doing it, so we get two more here (though I think we already knew them and I had forgotten).

A couple of vlumes ago I had discussed Nikaido dealing wht her past and childhood, and how the misuse of her magic led to her best friend being erased from existence. This in turn led to her suppressing her own powers. So now that her power is needed, we have to have some shock therapy to speed things along. I could have done without the attempted rape dream sequence, to be honest, but it is a dream sequence, and ends up being more about Nikaido confronting her own fears and demons. Once that happens, not only is she gaining the abilities (and looks!) of a devil, but her power is now kind of scary. We see this as she returns to her own past, and this time manages to save her childhood friend and set time right (sort of). Nikaido’s abuse of time powers was a powerful message in the earlier books, but it’s now come full circle, and I was stunned.

Meanwhile, most of the second half of the volume deals with Kai’s rampage against sorcerers, who he and his gang have been slowly killing off. Dokuga and company are feeling a bit uncomfortable with this, but “the boss” is still “the boss”. Natsumi has disappeared, though, and just isn’t answering her calls. There’s an air of something about to snap here, and it all comes to a head in Tanba’s restaurant (also providing a good excuse to put him on the cover), with a huge fight that ends with Kai getting his face literally cut off by Kirion… not that this stops him, as several more heads (apparently devil tumors?) arise from the wreckage, and now Kai seems to be Aikawa. The whole Kai/Ai/Caiman/Aikawa thing the series has been playing with is about as close to getting confirmed as possible here.

The remains of En’s merry band don’t get as much to do here, though they do send Fujita off on a reconnaissance mission to find En’s devil tumor. No one is more surprised at this than Fujita himself, but Sho informs him that he is “the one who loves En’s family the most’, which is really sweet. Oh, and in case you were wondering about Ebisu, she provides the best moments of humor, with her puppet conversations, and also a brief moment of heartwarming, as she wishes Fujita good luck after he’s left (because God forbid he should hear her or something).

When Dorohedoro finishes, it’s going to be one of those series that’s amazing to marathon in one whole sitting. Till then, we are grateful for getting these volumes at four-month intervals, and the next one can’t come fast enough.

By Aya Shouoto. Released in Japan as “Junketsu + Kareshi” by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Aria. Released in North America by Yen Press.

In general, when I’m reading a manga I am looking for an entertaining story that draws me in and makes me want to read more. The originality of that story, however, is way down on my list of necessities. I don’t need a title to be different from all those other titles, I just want it to be well-told. So don’t take it the wrong way when I say that there really isn’t much that is original in this series at all. The author is quite familiar to these shores, as Kiss of the Rose Princess, which runs in Asuka, came out a month or so ago. This is a more serious story so far, though there are light-hearted moments. But for the most part, as I went through I was quite happy with what I was reading, even if I kept thinking “This reminds me of Vampire Knight” or “This is just like Millennium Snow”.

Kana is a tomboy-ish heroine, popular at school, who seems to be good at everything, to the point where she joins three clubs a day to help out, then just as swiftly leaves. Of course, this is actually the result of not one but TWO tragic pasts – as a child, she was in a fire that took the life of two twins she was best friends with, and later, while running track, a delinquent’s misfired prank (also involving fire) results in a broken leg AND ligament tear, ending her career. So she’s at a loss in regards to life. The delinquent is still around, trying to make amends as he clearly is starting to fall for her, but that doesn’t seem to be where this story is going. No, instead she runs into one of the twins, now alive – and a vampire!

I frequently joke about titles being licensed only because there are vampires in it, but they’re a popular fictional genre, allowing readers to indulge in forbidden sexuality and darkness. The scenes of Aki (said vampire) biting Kana are drawn sensuously, and you can tell that there’s more pleasure than pain at work here. There’s a certain amount of subservience here – Aki declares Kana is his thrall, and describes her as his “food”. But the narrative starts pushing back against that fairly quickly – he’s clearly acting distant to cover up his feelings, and when he gets into a fight with Jin (the delinquent I mentioned earlier), Kana shows that she will not be content to simply stand there. Actually, the way she stops the fight is really clever, and my favorite part of the book.

There’s a lot of plot hints dropped here that I’m sure will play out in future volumes. Jin transformed into a wolf-man hybrid towards the end (see why I mentioned Millennium Snow?), Aki’s twin Eriya seems to be alive but in some sort of stasis (or perhaps evil?), and we see someone who seems to be either Aki’s boss or enemy clearly dislike what he’s doing (because of course vampires have rules that cannot be broken.) That said, the series (just ended in Japan) is 10 volumes long, so I imagine we’ll get our answers soon. There’s a lot of stuff you’ve seen before in this series, but it’s told well, and for me that’s what matters. Recommended, particularly if you like supernatural romance.