All for one, one for all?
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Aya Shouoto
Translation/Adaptation: Su Mon Han
What They Say
“To think that sharing her with you would let me experience such unthinkable highs…!”
At long last, Aki has regained his memory. However, he and Kana are faced with a painful truth–all along, Kana has actually been Eriya’s thrall! Amid the chaos, the final Stigma appears, and the bloodred ties that bind the players in the game tighten to a stranglehold!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Eriya has opened Aki’s mind to remember what Aki had long forgotten. Eriya reminds him that Kana is his and that he shared her with him, even though he clearly knew that Aki loved Kana. Eriya promises Aki that this memory means nothing, because when the stigmas are all theirs, they will be one and share Kana. Aki instinctively takes Kana away from his twin. He manages to get away, but Jin and Eve help him safely get away. Eriya lets them go, convinced that destiny will bind them anyway.
Kana and Aki are reunited with Aki’s memories finally intact. They both are honest about their love for each other, but the fact that Kana belongs to Eriya remains. Aki vows to protect Kana and that at the bottom of all this, she belongs to him. That doesn’t mean Aki hates his twin. In fact, he states he loves him.
However to beat Eriya, he needs more power and asks Jin for his stigma. Jin refuses, because he believes it’s not the right time and he wants to protect Kana in his own way. The three end being summoned back to school for an emergency that has Eriya’s name written all over it.
Hitaki and Isuka join Aki, Kana and Jin at the school to discover that students have been turned into vampires and uncontrollably attacking anyone for their blood. They uncover that the students are not actually students, but under a powerful hypnosis. Eriya’s true aim is to gather the envy stigma for himself, but even that isn’t completely true. What Eriya really wants is Hitaki’s sloth stigma.
Eriya approaches a drained Hitaki and demands for the stigma to be given to him. Hitaki made Isuka promise to kill him and with it the stigma if the stigma was every endangered. Isuka tries to make good on his promise, but instead slices off Hitaki’s arm and give Eriya the stigma. Isuka cannot kill him and promises he will be the support of the arm he lost. The score is now Eriya with two stigmas, Aki with three, Jin with one and the envy stigma remains an unknowned.
Isuka hands over a diary to Aki in hopes that a clue can be found on how to defeat Eriya. The rest of the team is unsure how to proceed, as it seems certain will go for the envy stigma, then consume Aki whole to become the Black Messiah.
They run into Masayuki who brings them to a secure location where Swallow and the healer, Inori are. Inori informs Aki he cannot defeat Eriya as he is and takes them out into the world. While out, Kana feels she is being called to Eriya. The moment is fleeting, but it rattles her.
It comes to light that the diary belongs to Inori. Aki wants to know more about the Eriya of his memories and not the one he is facing now. She tells him that the only way he can beat Eriya is by using a holy relic, such as the one that always hangs around his neck. When Aki goes to see Kana, it turns out the final stigma appears on her.
In Summary
It seems this story is finally crawling towards the end, which made this volume a pretty good one. The story is heating up and it’s full of action and emotions. Which is how I like a story to be. Lots of indecision and excessive backstory gets old, but we’ve made good progress on this beautifully drawn story.
The other component I like is the seductive side to it. Typically, a story such as this, skirts around the sexual side of vampires, but Aki is into Kana and isn’t afraid to let her and everyone else know. It gives what could be a typical shojo-esque vibe, a more adult one. And I’m not complaining at all. I appreciate it very much.
As of right now, there are ten volumes released, so there is at least more to book to potentially wrap up the story. I’d like to see it get done in the next volume, all in one great finale. If that happens, I’d be quite happy. If it gets dragged out even more, that will be unfortunate.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Older Teen
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: December 20, 2016
MSRP: $13.00
