Descendants of Darkness:
Yami No Matsuei volume 3
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(quoted from the back of Descendants of Darkness volume 3)
The business of death is never simple. Booked on a cruise ship headed for Hong Kong, Asato Tsuzuki finds himself entangled in yet another one of Dr. Muraki's nefarious schemes.
There's a killer on the loose and corpses are piling up at an alarming rate. Tsuzuki immediately suspects his old nemesis is somehow involved. But his theory falls apart when Muraki unexpectedly becomes one of the murderer's victims.
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Descendants of Darkness volume 3 contains:
The Sword of K Chapter 1
The Sword of K Chapter 2
The Sword of K Chapter 3
The Sword of K Chapter 4
The Sword of K Chapter 5
The Sword of K Chapter 6
The Ministry of Hades: Basic Course
Storyline:
One word: unbelievable. What starts out as a simple story quickly turns into a murder mystery that not only has a twisted ending, but provides numerous scenes that easily make this volume an instant classic. There were a few dull scenes in the volume but the sheer amount of dramatic and touching moments makes this volume breathtaking. Only one warning for this volume: unlike the other two volumes I put this under yaoi instead of shouen-ai because of a rape scene and a lot of references to male on male sex. Anyone who has been trying to look past the shounen-ai elements of previous volumes won't be able to avoid it any longer and probably won't enjoy this volume very much, which is a shame since they'll be missing out on the brilliant storyline.
Artwork:
Like the previous volumes, the art in this volume remains basically the same. The character designs are well detailed in most of the pages, and the artwork fits perfectly within each scene. There were a couple of times during this volume that the art felt a bit rushed but for about 99% of the volume this wasn't the case.
Characters:
Be prepared for a lot of development in Hisoka's character during this volume because, once again, Hisoka is the main attraction. Throughout the volume Hisoka remembers a lot about his dreadful encounter with Dr. Muraki and he also learns the real reason he became a shinigami (Guardian of death). In addition, Hisoka manages to fall in love with a young girl, Camille, on board of the ship. While this doesn't seem that impressive with my amazing descriptions, the author manages to pull all of these scenes together flawlessly which really helps out the story. Tsuzuki, Dr. Muraki, and some of the other characters in the series also get some airtime in this volume, but the majority of this volume is used to help the reader get a better understanding of Hisoka and his twisted connection with the evil Dr. Muraki.
Summary (Warning: May Contain Spoilers)
In chapter 1, Tsuzuki and Hisoka are assigned to board the Queen Camellia, a beautiful cruise ship, and find out what connection the passengers have to the recent amount of unexplained people living when they should have died. Once on board the Queen Camellia, Hisoka and Tsuzuki go undercover. Tsuzuki pretends to be a dealer at one of the poker boards while Hisoka pretends to be Azumi Hibiki, the son of a wealthy businessman.
While Tsuzuki tries to find out information for the case Hisoka starts getting visions about his encounter with Muraki. Hisoka really doesn't have time to investigate, though, because he runs into a young girl named Camille (nicknamed after a prostitute from an old novel). After an introduction Hisoka finds out that Camille has a weak heart and that her physician, Dr. Muraki, was on board the Queen Camellia. Just in time, Muraki runs into Hisoka and Hisoka runs off. At the end of the first chapter Mr. Wakabayashi, one of the first class visitors of the ship, was found murdered in his room.
In chapter 2, Dr. Muraki and a fellow doctor trainee perform an autopsy on Wakabayashi and find out that he was indeed murdered by one of the first class customers on the ship. Strangely enough, a tarot card and a letter addressed to Camille also are found at the scene of the murder. Kanako Hojo, a beautiful actress, immediately suspects Kakyoin, Camille's father and owner of the Queen Camellia, of the murder. After some arguing, Tsuzuki persuades everyone to relax and to continue on with the ships course in order to prevent a riot on board. Later on, Muraki find Tsuzuki and forces him to play poker against him, and if Tsuzuki loses he has to spend the night with Muraki. Tsuzuki quickly gets his ass kicked and Hisoka is forced to step in and beat Muraki with a Royal Flush. At the end of the chapter, Camille wakes up Hisoka and Tsuzuki, the next morning, and later finds that Muraki had been murdered.
In chapter 3, the trainee performs an autopsy on Muraki and finds it to be a similar death to Wakabayashi, with another tarot card (ripped in two) and letter included. Camille couldn't handle the deaths and faints and Hisoka looks after her. The other members of the first class start going berserk and Tsuzuki calms them down. Later on, Tsuzuki and Hisoka have a meeting trying to find out what is going on and they run into Hojo. After Tsuzuki and her talk, Hisoka goes to Camille to try and comfort her. She tells Hisoka about how she loved the doctor more then anything and about how much she misses him. At the end of the chapter Hojo is found dead in her room.
In chapter 4, the crew members find out that not only was Hojo killed but Kakyoin was too. Both murders had tarot cards and letters addressed to Camille. Camille faints, once again, and after Hisoka looks after her for a while the scene switches over to Muraki. Muraki's eyes open in his bed (they left him where he supposedly died) and then the scene switches back to Hisoka and Camille. While Hisoka is looking over Camille he accidentally touches her and is forced to watch all of her memories of Muraki. Suddenly, the vision changes to his encounter with Muraki and a rape scene. Hisoka wakes up to find Tsuzuki watching over him and then after they talk some more Hisoka goes back to find Camille and after they talk for a bit Camille begs Hisoka to tell her why he hates Muraki so much. Hisoka then reveals his true identity and that he is a Guardian of Death.
In chapter 5, Hisoka goes on explaining his hate for Muraki and how he became a Guardian of Death in hopes to seek revenge on Muraki. After Camille comforts him the scene switches over to Tsuzuki checking out a basement for clues and being jumped by a hungry Muraki. After Muraki forcefully feeds on Tsuzuki for a bit, Tsuzuki freaks out and decides he needs Muraki's help on this case. After he explains what has been going on while Muraki has been asleep (faked his death), Tsuzuki leaves Muraki and runs into Hisoka. Hisoka quickly finds out that Muraki is still alive and tells Tsuzuki he isn't mad because Muraki can't die until he gets his revenge. After that, they both go back to the basement where Tsuzuki had previously looked for clues and encounter Camille, only she says she isn't Camille but a girl named Eileen.
In chapter 6,
(major spoilers ahead!!!) Eileen reveals that the true purpose of the Queen Camellia was to gather organs from alive passengers. Eileen used to be Camille's friend, that is until Kakyoin made her Camille's heart donor. Eileen then confessed about being the murderer, and when she is about to announce the true villain she got shot by none other then Muraki! Muraki then talks about how he made Camille believe that Eileen lived inside of her and then he tells Camille that he never loved her. Hisoka argues with Muraki for a bit but then some explosions start going off and Muraki makes his escape. Tsuzuki follows Muraki trying to stop him while Hisoka stays with a dying Camille. She then tells Hisoka about how she knew that Muraki had been messing with her but she still loved him. Then, she asks Hisoka to kill her because she knows Muraki wouldn't waste his own bullet on her. In the end Muraki gets away, Hisoka kills Camille (after a truly touching speech by Camille), and then while escaping Hisoka cries in Tsuzuki's arms. At the end of volume 3, Muraki throws a white flower into the ocean and says, "How very tacky."
Extras:
Not really that much to talk about in this section. Descendants of Darkness 3 manages to provide some author commentaries between chapters, a second introduction to the Ministry of Hades, and some beautiful pictures of the main characters. The author commentaries were pretty dull but the extra pictures and the second introduction to the Ministry of Hades were welcome additions to the volume (a lot better then another Dispatches of Darkness).
Content Warnings:
-Language: Yes
-Violence: Yes
-Nudity: Yes
-Sexual Situations: Yes
Overall:
While the artwork and characters are nice, the thing that made this volume so amazing was the storyline. Descendants of Darkness 3 thrives were so many mangas fail when it comes to bringing a complicated storyline together. The only problem I found with this volume was the fact that it seemed to contain a lot more "adult only material" then its viewer age rating suggests. In fact, I put this under yaoi instead of shounen-ai because of this, but if you can look past the more serious material you will find a story that in unbelievably good.
+ Storyline could be considered a masterpiece and has the artwork and characters to back it up.
- More of a yaoi novel then a shounen-ai one, and there are slight glitches in the artwork.
Score: 10/10
