It might spell the end for Mikito when a pair of ogre hunters figure out what he is – or it could be his last chance to become human again.
Creative Staff
Story and Art: Yoshinori Natsume
Translation/Adaptation: Camellia Nieh
What They Say
A couple of ogre hunters have discovered Mikito’s dark secret. Instead of being killed, however Mikito is enlisted in a hunt to track down wild gangs of monsters. Hopefully, when the hunt is over, Mikito can find a way to stay alive!
Content: (Please note that the content portion of a review may contain spoilers.)
Mikito is surprised to find the ogre he lied about was real, but sees this as a great opportunity – once Azami kills it, she’ll think the ogre is gone and he’ll be safe. But when it looks like she’s about to lose, there’s a decision he must make – save her and reveal is monster strength, or let the ogre kill her before she can find him out.
Zakuro frets over Mikito as well, scolding the boy-turning-ogre for not acting selfishly enough. But Mikito doesn’t cower from him, declaring that no matter what kind of a monster he’s turning into, he’s going to choose how to live his life. That might not be much longer, however Mikito wasn’t as careful as he thought, and now that Azami has figured him out she brings him to her master, Kugai. A battle assumes that has Mikito dodging more than anything else. When it becomes clear that Mikito has no intention of hurting anyone, Kugai relents. He’ll let Mikito live and help return him to a human, but he must stay with Kugai – which means he has to leave.
Kugai grants Mikito the last request of seeing his family, but before he gets home he realizes how impossible a normal final night will be. Just as he’s turning back his sister Kozue comes up behind him, and refuses to let her big brother go without an explanation. Right on cue, the ogre from earlier reappears, and Mikito has to fight it if he wants to protect his sister. As battle brings out more frightening features, it becomes impossible to hide what he’s becoming from Kozue, but in a tender moment Mikito realizes that, instead of being afraid, Kozue understands his need to leave and understands his need to leave.
As Mikito fights the panels flash to Zakuro, who is surprised, then grinning to find a flower blooming on his tree. This hints that the tree grows healthier as Mikito becomes more like an ogre – but what does the tree mean for Zakuro? Even more questions are raised when he meets with Mikito again, telling him he can’t turn back, and cryptically warning him, “If they find out about you…you’ll die!” Who that “they” is remains mysterious, but suspicions are raised when a new character is introduced: a creature that seems similar to Zakuro, but who creates and kills ogres in order to eat their seeds.
In Summary
Mikito does a lot of emotional dithering during fights; normally this can wear me out in a manga, but he gets over his problems and back in the fight fast, making him more sympathetic than annoying. Fight scenes are quick and clean, and while they’re brutal enough they’d be more interesting to look at if the design for the ogres wasn’t so bland.
It would seem that Natsume has ditched all of his female characters (Kugai states that Azami “isn’t cut out to be a hunter”), leaving the men to go on an adventure. But with the personality he’s laid out for Azami, it might only be a matter of time before at least one of the ladies takes matters into her own hands. Meanwhile the adventure promises to get more intriguing as new villains appear, creating as many questions about what is going on as they will potentially answer.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: C+
Packaging Grade: B
Text Translation Grade: B-
Age Rating: T+
Released By: VIZ Media, LLC
Release Date: January 4, 2011
MSRP: $9.99 US / $12.99 CAN
1 thought on “Kurozakuro Vol. #02 Review”