Peeling back the layers of history.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Jun Mochizuki
Translation/Adaptation: Taylor Engel
What They Say
On the trail of the Beast of Gévaudan, Vanitas and Noé are led to the heart of the incident and the noble house of d’Apchier. There, they discover that a brave, heartrending wish to save a daughter from a vampire’s fate became the haunting first cry of the Beast itself…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Vanitas and Noé are separated with Noé being rescued by Chloé, the silver witch or the Beast of Gévaudan. Vanitas learns about the fate of the d’Apchier family and their attempt to alter the world formula while en route to get Noé back.
Meanwhile, at Chloe’s castle, which is full of unusual residents, Noé finds out that Naenia is hanging around Chloe. Noé asks why it is there, but it seems everything has gone according to Chloe’s wishes. Noê is outraged with Naenia, who takes a vampire’s true names, even if permission is given. Chloe won’t take Noé’s behavior and slaps him forcefully. Afterward, Noé learns Chloe’s story, including that she is the last of the d’Apchier family, and watched the d’Apchier family go from trying to turn her back to humans to focus on the world formula. She experienced friendship with another vampire, August, and later introduced to Jeanne. She lived through a war and reveals the reason she gave into Naenia.
Vanitas finds Chloe’s castle and Noé learns that Chloe’s butler is the true Beast of Gévaudan. Vanitas finds Noé, but just as they were about to go out together to try to save Chloe and her butler, they run into the military.
In Summary:
With nearly a year gap since the last volume, I had to reacquaint myself to the story quite a bit. This volume continues from the last one, and a lot of information thrown out. With the large gap between volumes and how packed this one is with story; I find it is a bit tedious to get through. I still like this series quite a bit, but these two elements together make it slightly less enjoyable. The story is deep and clever, but still manages to pull common and familiar action pieces to make the story a tense, but fun read. I still feel the art is simply beautiful as a whole. Each page is packed with character details and so much imaginative scenery.
Yen Press continues to do a nice job with packaging. There is a nice finish to the cover, color insert and an extra printed on the inside covers. I also always appreciate that there is no advertisement at the end of the book for other Yen Press titles. It gives it a very polished feeling.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Older Teen
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: December 24th, 2019
MSRP: $13.00
