Slaughter without death.
Creative Staff
Story: Hiroshi Takashige
Art: DOUBLE-S
Translation/Adaptation: Stephen Paul
What They Say
Mamoru has surrendered himself to the elite seven-man unit the Trumps. Tied up and unarmed except for an explosive implanted in his molar, Mamoru’s odds of survival are looking grim. In spite of this, Mamoru stubbornly holds up under the enemy’s interrogation…until Haruka herself is captured in the middle of his torment! Under the most desperate circumstances imaginable, the battle erupts: Mamoru vs. the Trumps!!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I was so excited at the end of the previous volume when the girls had managed to capture Zelm and were on their way to get Mamoru back. That excitement was short lived when we quickly discover that all is not what it seems and the girls have fallen into Zelms trap instead. What started as a rescue mission for Mamoru quickly turns in to a hostage situation where the girls are now the ones in trouble. Ho hum.
To make matters worse, Igawa is a complete idiot early on in this volume. At one point he panics and crashed the van through the wall attempting to… hell, I don’t even know. It’s like everyone went full on stupid between this volume and the last. Igawa is supposed to be the cautious one, and yet the author had him do something incredibly stupid. I hope he somehow pays for that mistake in the next volume because that’s a ‘turn in your hanging out with badasses’ card and Igawa hasn’t done anything useful in ages. That flamboyant mob guy was more useful than him!
Mamoru is being put through his paces for the entertainment of Zelm. They tell him to defeat everyone they send his way, friend or foe. If he doesn’t, Haruka and Kitagama (or Ana, or whatever her name is) will presumably meet a bad end. Well, probably not Haruka because she’s worth far more alive than dead. Ash manages to escape but has a hard time hunting down the sniper on the roof. To add to the challenge, Aegis and Jesus are lured out to the warehouse to face off against Mamoru as well. Why is it always warehouses?
When Haruka finally looses it in the middle of the volume due to no longer being able to foresee a way out of the situation we’re reminded how young she actually is. They bring up that only four months have passed since the story began, although it seems like it should have been far more. Weren’t they in hiding for a while in the woods? Then Mamoru has to make her the creepiest promise yet which reminds me, sadly, of why the story is called Until Death do us Part. Thanks author, I was trying to forget that part. Is Mamoru even being genuine or just trying to shut her up and calm her down? This whole time I can’t help but feel that if those people truly wanted to protect Haruka they would have done a better job of it with alternate identities. Zelm himself almost shares her ability to figure out situations, a computer in their world could probably do the same. Mamoru hasn’t been so much protecting her as using her for bait to improve his sword skills.
Once the good guys start winning things begin to look up. At least the action starts to become less one sided, even though everyone is still overanalyzing all of their attacks. The turning point comes when Mamoru finally faces off against Zelm. The older man is completely confident in his gimmicks, and in true samurai fashion the match is decided in one strike. The head games are sound, and it’s funny to watch the long string of Zelm’s train of thought compared to Mamoru’s terse mental calculations. Mamoru is clever, but also acting far more instinctually than the rest of the crew.
Despite the mind numbing stupidity of a large number of the cast, at least the fights look cool. There are some amazing full page attacks and dramatic posing scattered throughout the volume. Mamoru’s final strike on Zelm is fantastic. Ashford, who up until now has been floundering while trying to achieve some sort of proving herself moment, manages a single shot which was both accurate and quick thinking. Even Genda somehow gets involved and manages to hold his own in a fight that has nothing to do with him. The most ridiculous thing about this whole bloody scene is that despite what are definitely life threatening and normally life ending injuries, everyone survives. Yes, even Zelm.
The volume closes out with more side comics from artist Double-S, who was deep into the Olympics during the time of the original publication of this volume. He’s still a funny dude.
In Summary
One step forward one step back for Until Death do us Part. Just when I thought that the rest of the cast was stepping up their game everyone walks in to the largest trap ever set. The frustration over the entirely squandered opportunity was almost made up for by the eventual utter dismantling of the Trumps and the full page glorious final attacks. Sadly all of the cool action in the world doesn’t improve the characters themselves beyond their tragically one note existences. I feel like my complaints remain the same for this series, volume after volume. Cool action, slightly squicky premise, borrowed and boring characters, and that doesn’t look to be changing anytime soon. I doubt Mamoru’s deal with Zelm is going to be a game changer, although I am curious to see what the deal is.
Content Grade: B –
Art Grade: A –
Packaging Grade: B +
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: May 19th, 2015
MSRP: $25.00
