When humans and devils collide!
Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Ryo Hanada
Translation: Jocelyn Allen
Production: Risa Cho, Lorina Mapa
What They Say:
Tsukasa, a college student, is rescued from an attack by a devil, one of many vampires that can blend in among the human population. Anzai, her savior, is a half-devil who expoits his supernatural gifts as a member of a shadowy police task force that specializes in devil-related crime in Tokyo. As Anzai continues to keep guard over Tsukasa, the two quickly forge a tentative bond—one that Anzai fears will test his iron-clad rule over never drinking human blood…
Anzai, suffering badly after a run-in with a sniper, is rescued at the last minute by a mysterious blond devil who gives him enough human blood to heal his wounds. Embarrassed by the way he lost control after tasting human blood, Anzai hides himself away from everyone, especially Tsukasa, until an incident unfolds live on broadcast TV which shines a glaring light on the devils who walk among the populace of Japan…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Devils’ Line takes a little while to get going, but once it does, it seems worth it. I say seems because it’s still getting up to speed in terms of the larger story behind everything that’s happened so far.
It begins with a half-devil, half-human named Anzai who saves full human Tsukasa from her would-be attacker. This develops into what is a fairly juvenile relationship between a 20-something grad student and 21-year-old half-vampire. This gets to the point of wet dreams of each other and overprotectiveness to the point of being controlling. He recognizes his too protective attitude, but they’re also facing off against full vampires who have no control over their mental faculties, so I can see his worry to an extent. Though he can also not control himself sometimes, so…
This storyline thankfully gets largely shoved to the side in favor of an actual antagonist (though the inner turmoil of controlling oneself in the face of blood is interesting in of itself), a group that wants to kill all the vampires and create a human-only society.
Given that this story focuses on a police division whose sole purpose is to hunt and arrest or kill rogue vampires, I feel the perception of the world is skewed toward thinking vampires are always killers. But Anzai himself acts as a foil to that, as well as Hans Lee. But since vampires can blend so well with humans, and the fact that very few actually drink human blood anymore, means a grand majority of vampires live their short lives in peace. Yes, the average lifespan of a male vampire is only 39 years old, instead of the usual immortal that is in traditional lore.
That doesn’t mean vampires aren’t killers, but there are two extremes on each side of this story, and neither one is inherently right or inherently wrong. Which is why the manga got immediately more interesting in the second volume. Even within the group, there’s no real agreement over what to do besides “get rid of all vampires.” The way they want to go about it is vague, and with shades of terrorism.
I can’t say the art is particularly notable in this manga. The backgrounds are sparse when present and blank in a lot of panels. The character designs aren’t particularly noteworthy, although they do favors to the more frenetic action scenes, giving the manga more of an appearance of intense motion.
In Summary:
I heard Devils’ Line wasn’t that great of a manga from twitter dot com slash gokuffy, who had only read the first volume at the time. I’d have to agree with him there, but I think it’s worth delving into the second volume of this one. An omnibus would make the shakier first volume more palatable, but my tiny hands also like holding a book comfortably.
I think this is a good vampire story overall, and a lot can be built upon its foundations. I’ve read stronger manga, but that doesn’t discount this one from getting better, and I think it can. Through one volume, I probably wouldn’t have continued if given the choice, but through two I certainly will.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B-
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Vertical Comics
Release Date: May 24, 2016 and July 26, 2016
MSRP: $12.95 each
