Is it easier to throw your life away if your family is dead?
Creative Staff
Story: Jinsei Kataoka
Art: Kazuma Kondou
Translation: Leighann Harvey
What They Say
Youkou lives in a future where organ transplants are common and available to all, but life’s not as idyllic as it seems–it turns out a nefarious organization is using that technology for their own evil ends! Only the elite squad Jackalope has any chance of stopping them before it’s too late.
The Review! (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Technical:
This is standard-sized release from Yen Press with six glossy color pages. Like I have come to expect from Yen Press, this book has nice production value and clean printing throughout. Good page alignment and I don’t have to bend the spine of the book to read any text too close to the spine. Interestingly, there are no translator notes or the old-school breakdown of Japanese honorifics. Obviously, wasting a page on honorifics at this point is useless, but it is surprising to see no notes from the author or artist or notes from the translator. The original Japanese SFX and sign text remains with smaller English translations alongside.
Kondou’s art is pretty standard fair and nothing jumps out to be different our unique from other recent series. I do like the character designs, however, there are some awkward sequences where too much happens to be captured in as few panels are dedicated to it. Something where fans of this series would benefit from an anime adaptation because there is a lot of action in this first volume of Smokin’ Parade.
Content: (contains some nudity)
In the world of Smokin’ Parade, there is a new medical technology that allows people injured or sick to replace body parts. It is an amazing feat and has drastically changed the lives of hundreds of people. However, there is a dark side to these transplants and 0.2% of all recipients become monsters.
Enter Youkou and his younger handicapped sister, Mirai. Both of their parents are dead or gone and Youkou both cares for his sister and works to pay their bills. Mirai has lost her legs in an accident, but with the advent of the medical technology and transplants, Mirai has regained her ability to walk. She has been a happy child before this, but now she is ecstatic with life. However, on Youkou’s 15th birthday, Mirai becomes part of the 0.2% and becomes a “Spider”. Someone infected with a defect that causes them to become a grotesque monster with a huge bunny head!
Mirai kills her friends in a gruesome fashion and even dismembers her brother under her bizarre “Spider” haze of reality. Just as Youkou is about to expire from blood loss, a band of freaks busts into his house and kills his sister!
Should have been the end for Youkou, but he puts up so much attitude to the freaks that attack his house that they take pity on him and take him back to their secret lab. These freaks are part of a task force called, for better or worse, Jackalopes. All the members have been fitted with crazy weapons made of a unique metal alloy. The Jackalopes tell Youkou he is free to go, but he can stay and fight the “Spiders” with him. But what they don’t know, is that the body of his sister was not recovered from his house!
In Summary:
You need to be prepared for the level of gore in Smokin’ Parade. I would consider it to be almost at the level of a horror series. Personally, it doesn’t bother me but I did chuckle a little at the amount of gore compared to the small amount of nudity. On some levels Smokin’ Parade reminds me of a futuristic Claymore where some people have implants from other people that can cause them to go crazy like Claymores that lose control of their power and become monsters. Then cross that with Deadman Wonderland and you sort of have Smokin’ Parade.
While some aspects of the protagonist Youkou’s trials and tribulations are appealing as it can build a connection to some readers, other aspects like how easily he decides to join the “Jackalopes” is a little forced. Time will tell how the series stands up, but I have to think that just on the level of sheer action, it should be a fun series.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A-
Age Rating: Mature
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: February 21, 2017
MSRP: $13.00