[Categories: Manga Reviews]
Lament of the Lamb Chapters 7-12: Descent into loneliness
The first volume was quite an intense experience: it introduced virtually the entire cast of the story and the general themes. The second instalment slows the pace down a little to look more closely at Kazuna’s new situation and how his condition affects both him and those around him. Volume 2 of Lament of the Lamb paints a bleak picture.
The first main problem is the condition itself: Kazuna is struck down by painful and terrifying bouts of blood-lust that he can neither control nor understand; the second is that as a result of his mysterious disease he has to keep it secret from his friends and adoptive family.
The Edas are unsurprisingly worried for him and show every bit of concern that you would expect from someone’s real parents; his classmate/would-be romantic interest Yaegashi is taking it badly too. Kazuna is pushing them away but what they can’t possibly know is the reason why: he is afraid of the dark desires and nightmares he is suffering from and the possible repercussions. Suffice to say that there’s plenty of teen angst in this volume, what with our unfortunate hero plunging rapidly into painful isolation as he leaves his loved ones behind in his old life.
Chizuna is turning out to be a very interesting character - she seems to be using Kazuna as a replacement for the company of their departed father; after all, her brother is the only family she has now. As you might expect from a vampire, she is beautiful yet outwardly cold, calculating and dangerous: I can’t help but think that she is using Kazuna and Minase-sensei for her own ends. Still, she does reveal more about their father’s past and his untimely death, which gives plenty of food for thought later on.
Kei Toume won’t win any awards for accuracy or polish in his artwork (at least, he hasn’t received any as far as I know) but the layout of the panels works well in progressing the story even with the ambiguous speech bubbles. What he does excel at though is his flair for character designs: their haunting and almost creepy appearances are vaguely reminiscent of Yoshitoshi ABe’s works. I mean that in a good way.
Lament of the Lamb continues to be an engrossing and powerful drama that takes the viewer down an angst-filled and quite unsettling path. The themes and artwork convey quite strong feelings of isolation and claustrophobia: Fruits Basket it most certainly isn’t. As depressing as it is, I can’t help but continue reading.
Posted on December 4th, 2006 @ 11:50 pm
I like to refer to Kei Toume’s series as the most evident member of the grunge movement in manga. However, in my quest to find a music that “fits” Lament of the Lamb, I found that The last three albums from Soundgarden work the best, in both attitude and general speed. For anyone interested in these books, please don’t watch the anime, for it is rather disappointing, but the mangas are fucking great.