Lusty bunnies, revelations, and more abound in this latest volume.
Creative Staff
Writer/Artist: Stan Lee and Hiroyuki Takei
Translation/English Adaptation: John Werry
What They Say
Ultimo and Vice are Karakuri Doji, the mechanical embodiment of pure good and pure evil, devoid of human emotions that can cloud one’s judgment. Their purpose: to battle to the death to prove once and for all whether good or evil is the most powerful force in the universe. Just when Jealousy and Rune get Yamato in their nasty clutches, his ancient self awakens to save the day. But does the bandit Yamato from nine-hundred years ago have the same priorities and desires as our modern-day hero Yamato? Even if he can keep his mind on the business of stopping the Hundred Machine Funeral, Desir – now with a comely human accomplice – has a plan to sidetrack him yet again!
The Review!
Yamato soon realizes that visiting Rune’s house may not have been such a good idea when he is abruptly assaulted by Jealousy and tied down to a bed. As this is occurring, the girls, who were apparently Doji Masters in the past, Yamato, and several others regain the memories from their past lives. It turns out that this is a result of Regula’s greatest power, Engrave, which allows him to ingrain memories into targets in exchange for his life. This allows Yamato to turn the tables on Rune’s acts of sexual deviancy, by pretending to be his past self and ordering Lady Gekko to untie him. From there, Yamato kidnaps Rune and escapes with the aid of police officer Darumada Masami, who was a follower of Yamato in a past life.
However, this escape isn’t allowed to go off without a hitch: the rabbit like Desir of the Seven Deadly Sins and his master Miyoshi Sumako soon appear hot on their tail. An exciting chase ensues, and along the way Yamato remembers that Ultimo’s immature good led him to cruelly murder Lady Gekko. Just when Desir thinks he has our hero captured, his Doji Combination unexpectedly fails on him. This is due to the ability of Power Manipulation belonging to Service of the Six Perfections, who arrives just in time. The sudden turn of events perplexes Desir, as he believes his ability, Power Kill, should negate Service’s Power Manipulation. Unfortunately for Desir, though, the Perfections are built to slightly higher specs, as there are only six to the Seven Deadly Sins. On top of that, Desir’s powers are weakened because his master’s feelings are not the lust he needs to power his abilities, but the positive emotion of love. Desir panics and attacks blindly, only to be crushed in a surprisingly manly display from the otherwise girly Service.
Seeing this, Rune steps in and, with the aid of Jealousy, escapes with Desir and his master to head for a meeting of the evil Doji. First to this meeting of vile villains is the bandaged high school girl Mizho and her Doji Paresse. When a gaggle of guys show up to hassle her, she proves that she isn’t just a helpless little girl, absolutely destroying them with advanced combat techniques and announcing that she was previously the WWI French soldier Michel Dubois. When Paresse enters into the fray and the other Doji/master combos appear, needless to say things end poorly for the nameless hooligans. Finally, as the volume closes, Yamato meets with Tokorozawa Hyoe, another of his men from 900 years ago, and learns of the existence of backup masters meant to replace those who fall in battle. As it turns out, Sayama and her friends are backup masters, putting them in immediate danger. Will Yamato reach the girls in time to save them?
In Summary:
Once more, we receive a volume that takes small steps in fleshing out the rest of the cast. Rune continues to be a somewhat eerie threat to Yamato in more ways than one, and Desir gets to step onto the center stage and bring with him an interesting new dilemma in regards to master/Doji relations. On top of that, characters such as Service and Mizho manage to absolutely steal the show, proving themselves to each be unexpectedly hardcore in their own ways. Add in a bit of explanation of the details of the Doji system, and you have a volume that may not blow you away, but is certainly solid in its own right.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B+
Package Rating: B+
Text/Translation Rating: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: September 6th, 2011
MSRP: $9.99
