Prepare to be confused.
Creative Staff
Author/Artist: Kumiko Suekane
Translation/Adaptation: Camellia Nieh
What They Say
(Interestingly, there’s no blurb for this volume… just the standard refrain from the first.)
St. Kleio Academy is a very exclusive school. To enroll, a student must be the clone of a famous historical figure. Wolfgang Mozart, Queen Elizabeth, Sigmund Freud, Marie Curie, Adolf Hitler–with such a combustible student body, it’s only a matter of time before the campus explodes!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
After the events of Shiro’s father’s life became known in the previous volume, you can sort of understand why no one was going to tell Shiro this information earlier. He’s been born into a vicious circle of lunatics who seem to have no control over their own destiny.
At this point nothing could surprise Shiro. He has one goal and only one goal, to stop clones from dying because they’re clones. When Kuroe tells him he believes Shiro is the only hope for the clones he might be right, but telling Shiro that it’s his duty as Kamiya’s son and the holder of his DNA, well, Shiro rightly tells Kuroe that DNA means nothing.
Shiro returns to St. Kleio’s and to his friends that remain there. He’s far calmer now, and his friends even wonder at his change. He’s not the only one to return, both Elizabeths are there as well, the younger who ran off with Shiro and the one from the previous generation who was locked away. Rockswell asks who Shiro’s going to kill, Kai or his father? Shiro finally, FINALLY, points out the obvious about clones. They might share the same DNA, but everyone is an individual with their own personality and lives.
However, Hitler has gone off the deep end, who wants to destroy the school yet save the clones. He’s being used as a tool by the group he’s in, and despite his charisma he’s starting to come apart around the edges. Shiro decides to fight the PR war with PR, and brings in a (gay-stereotype) photographer to start the process. They pick Napolean as their poster boy and dress him up (or down) and send him out to make sure the public doesn’t think of them as monsters. Oh hey, the title of this series finally makes sense!
While that is going on Ikkyu steps out to have a night on the town incognito and is mugged after partying a bit too much. The academy kids really have no idea about how some things in the real world work, like assholes that might be taking advantage of the guy who they think is some spoiled rich kid. This could have ended far worse than it did, but Ikkyu shrugs the whole thing off.
While the dog and pony show is going on in public there are those in the government, and gambling circles, taking sides and placing bets. The clone’s struggle isn’t going unnoticed by a few interesting people, including the first generation’s Joan of Arc. Long ago she stepped away from her past, changed her name, and lead a normal life. She muses that she lived longer than her original, and probably most of her colleagues, and just wants to see the younger generation break free of the death stalking them.
The students still at the school going along with Shiro’s publicity plan question if they’re doing the right thing, stooping to Hitler’s level. Shiro tries to explain to them that he’s giving them a choice, that they can live as clones with all that baggage or choose to become whomever they want. After Ikkyu’s experience outside the school some of them wonder if that’s a good idea at all, since they were raised as clones. Shiro is frustrated, and so is Hitler… they echo each other saying they want to save everyone but they stand apart.
This volume ends with a short gag comic with the boy characters complaining about the lack of fanservice as of late. Somehow that ends with the boys in drag and Freud making the usual jokes.
In Summary
Shiro offers the clones a freedom of choice, but Ikkyu realizes that even those who aren’t clones don’t have a choice about the situations they were born in to. Between the multiple versions of clones and the multiple instances of asides and time shifted scenes, not to mention the wait between volumes, following the action in this volume is a little challenging. I could see it loosing some readers in the shuffle. The sheer number of clones involved begs for a flowchart of some sort for the casual reader. The battle between Shiro and Hitler has just begun, but if Himeko’s visions are accurate it could all end badly for both.
Content Grade: B –
Art Grade: B +
Packaging Grade: B +
Text/Translation Grade: B
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: December 16th, 2014
MSRP: $12.99
