Creative Staff
Story/Art: Ryo Hanada
Translation/Adaptation: Jocelyne Allen
What They Say
Dr. Kano sets up a “chance meeting” between the unsuspecting Anzai and his mother. Lee visits a blood donor as we catch a glimpse into his past at ONLO. Anzai’s breach of the stand-down order has repercussions for F Squad, which gets a new leader, Ishimaru, who makes a surprising suggestion on how to handle the rogue Seven and Nine…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Anzai and Tsukasa move from her kidnapping and return back to Bar Sakaki. Dr. Kano convinces that Anzai and Tsukasa should accompany as a driver and companion to a ONLO conference he is attending. For a free meal they tag along, but little do they know Dr. Kano sets up the whole thing, so that Anzai’s mother, Midori Sako, gets a surprise chance to see her son.
While Anzai is out with Tsukasa, Lee goes and sees someone, Feng, who supplies blood to him. He admits he has a friend and he’s going to help get used to blood and Feng encourages him to work hard to be a friend and find a place in his new family. Lee flashbacks to the days when he was part of an experiment until the time he finally escaped.
It’s then revealed that Anzai’s mother still is in contact and on good terms with Anzai’s father, Tamaki, who is a devil and imprisoned. He appears to be in a constant state of transformation. Meanwhile, Tsukasa moves into Bar Sakaki and Anzai starts his bloodlust training under supervision of Dr. Kano. With nail protectors and handcuffs, Anzai and Tsukasa become intimate, but do not progress far due to Anzai starting to transform.
There is then a transition of Sawazaki’s youth and how learned about devils and got involved with them on the police force and Division 1. Sawazaki initially got to know another devil, Yukimori, who was his equal on the police force. Yukimori’s girlfriend, also a devil, is missing and possibly mixed up into something. Yukimori wants to go with, but is ordered to stay away. Sawazaki promised Yukimori that he would save his girlfriend, but in the end she transformed and he had to kill her. Yukimori arrives on the scene anyway and finds out what happens. Before he fully transforms and acts, he is shot. Sawazaki never once felt that it was a devil’s fault for their transformation. He then spearheads the process to tranquilize a devil before shooting it.
Sawazaki is no longer in charge of Squad F and is faced to introduce everyone to the new leader. Ishimaru, the new leader, sets a temporary rule down that the devils in Squad F cannot go out without a human chaperone for two months. No one trusts Ishimaru, but he informs they are free to investigate him as much as they want until they do trust him.
Jill and Sawazaki get closer because of the new chaperone rule. Tsukasa and Anzai work on figuring whom Zero Five and Six and the CCC. Ishimaru overhears them and pulls everyone together for a strategy meeting. In no time, Ishimaru and Squad F, have a plan of action, including contacting Zero Seven and Nine. The volume ends with revealing who the Queen is and alluding to possibility that Ishimaru is actually named Jason and is in the CC.
In Summary
Okay, Devils’ Line, you’ve got my attention. I’m finally starting to feel invested in this story and my curiosity is building. I really like that this story is an adult story. Not just for violence in the content, but for potential sexual situations and thoughts. It initially struck me as odd when Anzai’s inner thoughts were authentic about his yearning to have sex with Tsukasa, but I was delighted by the straightforwardness that is not usually seen in Japanese stories.
From my many years of reading manga, it seems that sex in stories is either overly explicit as it is in hentai, glossed over like in shoujo or made out to be a joke with blood exploding from someone’s nose. Anzai is honest in a very human way about his basic desires regarding Tsukasa. I applaud the mangaka for straying off the beaten path and not shying away from topics like sex and masturbation. I also appreciate the consistent underlying them of normalized discrimination and the nice edition of LGBT characters.
I have hopes for Devils’ Line and how the story unravels on many levels. For the first time, I’m eagerly awaiting the next volume.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: B-
Packaging Grade: C
Text/Translation Grade: B-
Age Rating: Age 13+
Released By: Vertical Comics
Release Date: February 21, 2017
MSRP: $12.95