The high school survivors continue their journey to find their relatives, but find a darker and more dangerous place to be when they find their first ones.
Creative Staff
Story: Daisuke Sato
Art: Shoujo Sato
Translation/Adaptation: Christine Dashiell
What They Say
The high school escapees are joined by elementary-schooler Alice and a brave little dog as they make their way to the next safe house, not a soul (or corpse) in sight. The Alice’s presence eases the tension, but as Marikawa-sensei drives farther into the neighborhood, “they” seem to be out in greater numbers. The car struggles to shake the relentless zombies while Takashi and Rei cling perilously to the roof. The group has been lucky so far, but will their determination and makeshift arsenal be enough to make it to safety alive?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With the short span of time that has past since the start of the disaster, the gang has been through a lot and survived it well as none of the core group has fallen at this stage. They’ve seen others die, they’ve killed a lot themselves and they finished out events in the previous volume by saving Alice and the dog Zeke that was helping to protect her. Surviving that second night was very difficult and it put some moral choices in front of them that they had to contend with while coping with the larger problem of the world ending around them. Making it across the river safely, if not quietly, is definitely a major victory for them. And it’s a psychological one too, as the girls all change after they get on shore again and gear up to face what’s ahead. They’re changing at different rates, but they’re all getting it right to deal with this new, deadly world.
Their main goal is still the same, to find any of their parents and families that they can, and because of where they landed, it’s off to Saya’s next since it’s the closest. That makes sense but it puts them into the most danger once they get further into the city as streets are barricaded off and they actually crash into one of them due to the sheer amount of blood on the streets that caused the brakes to lock up. What it does reveal to them though is that Takagi’s parents really moved fast when things went down as they secured the area, started stockpiling new essentials and essentially kidnapped a lot of people to do the work as many there on their estate haven’t realized what’s happen in the outside world yet. Which does lead to some neat tension after they see Takagai’s father behead a man that they didn’t realize was one of the dead.
The time spent at the estate is definitely useful as the group gets to recover some, especially after some of the hilarious moves used to protect themselves when things went to hell quickly, and to get the Hummer repaired. But they also start to realize something else; while the majority of those wielding weapons here have fought the dead and understand what’s happened, they don’t view the way the world has changed in general as they still treat Komuro and the others as kids still. It turns into a couple of tense flashpoints that could go off easily as Komuro and especially Hirano really dislike being treated this way after what they’ve done. And the acts they’ve had to commit. Surviving like they did when so many others did not makes them realize how they’ll be treated here, which is why it’s little surprise that Saya is trying to make a play for the group to break off again and find their own way rather than be absorbed by her father’s right wing group.
There are a lot of good character driven developments here, and watching how Rei is dealing with the situation and her feelings for Komuro is well done since the drive to survive is both a thrill and very sexual. Even her competition with Busejima feels right because she’s looking for safety and protection but also the intention to show Komuro that she can defend herself. We also get a brief look at what’s to come as we go back to see how Shido has been working his group since Komuro and the others left. His little sex cult is definitely going as he’d hoped and the guys are mostly into it, but we do see how those that aren’t behind it completely are dealt with and it fits in with his mindset as a cult leader. It’ll reach a new point soon enough as they close in on the Takagi estate and it’s easy to imagine how it will all conflict with what they’re like.
In Summary
Reading this after watching the anime series again is definitely interesting since you can see how they change the pacing of events, especially as the manga feels more rushed at times and the anime feels like it slows things down well to explore the quiet moments of living in this new world. But there’s a lot to like here as it gets closer to getting to the end of the anime, presumably with the next volume, as it has its small differences but largely follows the feel and intentions of it all. The characters are the same, the action is good and the artwork is very appealing. The fanservice here is a bit less for the most part, but it’s still very much a part of it all which is a huge plus in my eyes. There’s a lot to like here as the cast deals with different issues this time around in their journey to survive and it leaves you wanting to see more and how it’ll all be warped and twisted by what’s to come. Especially with that whole launching of nuclear weapons things going on here.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: July 19th, 2011
MSRP: $13.99