Two more Zweilt soldiers join the battle, but the front line is nowhere to be seen.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Hotaru Odagiri
Translation/Adaptation: Melissa Tanaka
What They Say
Finally learning more from Takashiro about the “Sunset of the Underworld” that took place a thousand years past, Yuki finds his thoughts returning once again to his former-friend-turned-nemesis, Kanata…But while in his current incarnation Yuki may be new to picking sides in a centuries-old war, it is nothing new to the collective Zweilt. Kuroto and Senshirou in particular are a pair driven by the seething hatred they harbor for the Duras and one Opast in particular. What happened four years ago to inspire such intense loathing in two otherwise reasonable individuals? As Yuki bears witness to the flames of revenge that burn in the hearts of those around him, how will his own heart respond to the betrayal he cannot forget?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I had high hopes at the end of the last volume that some plot would be forthcoming in this double sized volume of The Betrayal Knows my Name. What little we do discover in this volume is hidden between massive amounts of what feels like filler. There’s an old saying about showing and not telling in writing, and sadly most of the showing in this volume happens in flashbacks.
Takashirou tells Yuki about the origins of the current battle with Reiga. The explanation actually explains very little, and we readers still have no idea why Reiga turned against his clan. Yuki is, of course, moved to tears by the story regardless. The longer the story goes on, the more I distrust Takashirou. The whole battle feels like a blood feud, with the hapless zweilt pawns in some weird revenge tale.
Most of the plot of this volume follows the pattern of the last, as we meet and learn the backstory of what are hopefully the final zweilt pair. Kuroto and Senshirou aren’t very interesting characters. Their motivation and partnership is bonded by a shared desire for revenge against the opast demon that killed their grandfather figure. Beyond that they are as one dimensional as the rest of the cast and I found myself not even bothering to remember their names throughout the course of the volume. Luckily the translation gives them distinct voices because I recognize them more by dialog then how they look. (I stopped remember most of the characters names long ago, and most of the male cast look similar enough that I can tell confusion lies in my future, thankfully the book has a character introduction page.)
None of the established characters gain any sort of character development in this volume. Yuki is just an idle observer, still thrilled to be meeting all these new friends. At one point he learns that Takashirou isn’t his real brother and immediately meets his two real aunts, and the whole situation seems glossed over. Yuki is supposed to be the lead in the story, but he has all the personality of a dish of vanilla ice cream. He’s a sweet kid and that’s it.
There are a few perfunctory fights here and there, featuring female characters that makes the action seem like it exists solely for the purpose of filling some quota. One battle is against a normal girl who just wants revenge against an evil lawyer, set up to give the new zweilt pair something to do to show off their abilities. The other fight is between Luka and an Opast who can’t seem to decide what she wants from him, which is an excuse to have Luka off doing something where he can look cool.
The volume ends with a short side story about Tooko feeling like the odd girl out and a few comic strips and author’s comments on the production process and her sleeping habits. None of it is particularly funny. A page of translation notes rounds it off, and as usual, the volume opened with several color pages.
In Summary
There’s a certain set of fans that are going to love a slow, melodramatic series like Betrayal. Although by this point I’m betting that everyone must be yelling get on with it. Despite Yen releasing the series in nice big chunks, it still feels like nothing is happening and the enemy never feels real or threatening. The attacks on people are so few and far between that the conflict that should be expanding is instead collapsing back in on itself and growing pettier by the moment. The new characters’ backstory and relationship feels like rehash on the other two pairs. Pretty art can only carry this story so far, especially when everyone looks like their just posing for a photo shoot, and I long for a real fight to show up.
Content Grade: C –
Art Grade:B +
Packaging Grade: B +
Text/Translation Grade: A –
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: April 24th, 2012
MSRP: $18.99
