Creative Staff
Story: Dall-Young Lim
Art: Sung-Woo Park
Translation/Adaptation: Christine Dashiell
What They Say
Balancing a normal existence and an unbreakable pact with a divine being is anything but easy. Much to his chagrin, Keita is discovering this the hard way. Try as he might to distance himself from recent events, Keita can’t shake Kuro, the mototsumitama who saved his life. But when the stakes get higher and another human-mototsumitama pair comes looking for a fight-one with Keita’s childhood friend, Akane, as the prize-Keita is forced to reevaluate his attitude and stand by both his old and new friends. Who will emerge victorious?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Given that Black God has great art, an interesting story, character development, and believable characters, we have a great start to a series. This is especially true when the main protagonist, Keita, acts very much like a normal person would in his situation. He’s quick to lash out angrily when things go wrong, he’s obsessed with furthering his career, and yet deep down he really is a nice guy. Whenever things get serious, he always drops his attitude and does everything in his power to protect the ones close to him.
This volume quickly introduces another Mototsumitama, Mikami. She may be the same type of being as Kuro, but Mikami is completely different. Mature, intelligent, smug, and super sexy, Mikami uses her powers for rather nefarious deeds (murder, theft, kidnapping). She could care less about the battles between the Mototsumitama and Shishigami. Mikami lives her own life, by her own rules. It is merely a chance encounter when Kuro and Mikami initially meet, however their subsequent meetings result from Mikami’s ‘job’.
The strange Doppleliner in the background of this series has hired Mikami to kidnap Akane. This is seriously bad news since she could only desire Akane’s death. Remember, of an initial three individuals, the last remaining Doppleliner gains supernatural powers when the other two die. Needless to say, Mikami has a desperate need for money, so her friendship with Kuro won’t last long when push comes to shove over Akane’s well-being. Mikami is an impressive character as this volume introduces her as neutral, quickly shows her to have a mean-streak, and then opens all her personal fears and desires in the matter of a single volume. Add to that an epic battle with Kuro and Keita that sprawls across four chapters, and this volume has it all.
In Summary
Character development a plenty, great art, impressive and well illustrated battles, and the humorous banter between Kuro and Keita. With two volumes down, I feel comfortable recommending this series to anyone that enjoys a good adventure story. But the cool fight scenes are only part of the appeal of this series as the characters draw the reader in and has them choosing sides and picking favorites.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A-
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: February 13th, 2008
MSRP: $10.99
