Descendants of Darkness:
Yami No Matsuei volume 2
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(quoted from the back of Descendants of Darkness volume 2)
The business of death continues. Working at the Ministry of Hades, Asato Tsuzuki is responsible for escorting the dead to their final resting place...wherever that may be.
Hisae is a fatally ill dancer who is stubbornly clinging to life for the chance to compete in one final dance contest.
Tsuzuki arrives just in time to witness the aftermath of a horrific crime-Hisae's house is splattered with blood! Who is responsible for the glory graffiti?
Alas, it looks like there's going to be overtime on Tsuzuki's timecard this week. |
Descendants of Darkness volume 2 contains:
The Last Waltz
The Devil's Trill part 1
The Devil's Trill part 2
The Devil's Trill part 3
The Devil's Trill part 4
Adaptation Notes
Dispatches of Darkness v02
Storyline:
The two main stories of this volume are great. They help develop the characters and present more of Tsuzuki's background to the reader. Still, the author toys with us and refuses to give the reader more information other then the then very broad statements about Tsuzuki's past. Sadly, the two stories aren't as good as the first volume's, but they do a great job developing the characters and toying the reader about Tsuzuki's past.
Artwork:
Just like the first volume, the artwork does an excellent job connecting with the overall feel of the series. The darker shades and the excellent character scetches are perfect for the series.
Characters:
The characters of Descendants of Darkness are very well developed; Tsuzuki and Hisoka both have very dark pasts and the author uses this to engage the reader. In this volume Hisoka shows that he is starting to care for Tsuzuki not only by opening his heart to him but by saving his ass from a demon. Hisoka is probably the quickest developing character in the second volume(which will also be the case for volume 3). Hisoka's role in the volume isn't even that large, but he manages to steal the spotlight simply by the few scenes he participates in. But Hisoka isn't the only character getting a face lift in this volume, Tsuzuki has a quite a few engaging scenes as well. In the Devil's Trill, Matsushita taunts the reader with more refrences to Tsuzuki's horrible past and death. The author really hasn't stated what they are yet, but they give you something to look for in future volumes (specifically volumes 7 and 8).
Summary (Warning: May Contain Spoilers)
(Note: Summary isn't exactly in order of the book's layout, this is a semi detailed description of what happened. If you want more specific then this, buy the damn book)
In the first chapter of volume 2, Hisoka and Tsuzuki are assigned on a case to find out why a woman named Hisae hasn't died even though she was suppose to have kicked the bucket months ago. Tsuzuki goes ahead of Hisoka in an attempt to scout the grounds of Hisae's house and finds Hisae fighting with Shiori, one of her previous students. Hisae later spots Tsuzuki after Shiori leaves and he lies saying that he is one of her dead brother's old friends. Hisea comments on how he seemed so much like her older brother, and when Hisoka shows up he states politely that he is Tsuzuki's younger brother.
They find out that Hisae has been fighting off a fatal illness for months now so that she could win a waltz competetion for her dead brother. Even though she was going to die she wanted to accomplish this one last goal before her death. Hisae also tells Tsuzuki that she needs him to be her partner and then they perform a practice dance. She comments on how he did pretty good and that they may have a chance at winning. Tsuzuki simply replies that in order to truly waltz you need to love your partner.
Hisae eventually falls in love with Tsuzuki during their two weeks before the competition. Just before they get to perform Hisae's body gives out and it seems like she won't be able to compete even though she fought death for so long. Tsuzuki immediately travels to the Hall of Candels to have the Count (the Hall of Candels head man) extend her life. The Count allows her to live until she finishes the competition and then Hisae immediately gets her energy back. When Tsuzuki returns they waltz and then Hisae dies. After that the case ends and even though Tsuzuki never says so directly, they won the waltzing competition.
In the Devil's Trill, Hijiri (a violin player) recieved an eye transplant and goes to thank the dead donor's daughter, Kazusa. Hijiri goes back to school the next day and immediately all his friends greet him. They state that they were being picked on by the preps (rich kids) while he was gone. At that moment one of the preps walk up to Hijiri and tries to make fun of him. Hijiri easily reverses the rude comments back on the guy. Later that day the muscial room is burned down by that prep and Hijiri's violin is lost. Desperate for a violin, he goes to Kazusa and she gives him her dead father's violin.
The next day, Hijiri is forced to play in front of the muscial class and he starts to play the song, The Devil's Trill. He starts to go insane and then later that day he tries to commit suicide. He wakes up later and finds himself in the Ministry of Hades, under Hisoka and Tsuzuki's care. They tell him that the previous owner of his left eye had made a contract with a demon and that the violin that Kazusa gave him made him want to commit suicide. The demon had given the violin to Kazusa's father which he later killed himself, but the eye with the contract in it stayed active long enough for the contract to carry over to Hijiri. The reason the demon wants Hijiri dead is to be able to kill Kazusa if the contract fails. Hisoka and Tsuzuki find out who the Demon is and to lure him out by trying to destroy Kazusa's violin. The demon immediately appears and Tsuzuki and the demon fight. Tsuzuki ends up getting bitten by the demon and later gets possessed by him.
Hisoka finds out that Tsuzuki has been possessed by the demon and tricks him into revealing that he broke the contract by trying to kill Hijiri. The demon states that he doesn't care anymore and asks why is Hisoka trying to help a man who has been forsaken by God. The Demon possessing Tsuzuki breaks into the Ministry of Hades and starts looking around for Kazusa, who is hiding somewhere in there. Hisoka manages to expel the demon from Tsuzuki along with Hijiri's help, and then Tsuzuki finishes the demon off. In all the confusion Kazusa died protecting Hijiri when falling rubbel fell from the ceiling.
In the end of the chapter Hijiri tells Tsuzuki that he doesn't blame him for anything that had happened because Tsuzuki never had to try and help him in the first place. He asks Tsukuzi to please go to his concert and watch him play. On the concert night Tsuzuki, Hisoka, and the Kazusa's ghost watch Hijiri play the real Devil's Trill, and later on Hijiri recieves a bouquet from Tsuzuki and Hisoka.
Extras:
Not many extras were included in this volume. The very few author notes throughout the volume were disappointing and the one pages of Dispatches of Darkness v02 and English Adaptations were pretty dull. Maybe the next few volumes will have some more interesting stuff (oh well, this isn't one of my favorite series because of the extras).
Content Warnings:
-Language: Yes
-Violence: Yes
-Nudity: Partially
-Sexual Situations: Yes
Overall:
I still prefer the first volume compared to this one, simply because there was more action and the second chapter of volume 1 was stronger then any of the chapters in this volume. Still, that doesn't mean this wasn't a great addition to the series. All in all, it added a ton of important background info to the characters and helped move their stories along.
+ This volume added much needed character development along with a great storyline.
- This series is getting a little more yaoish for anyone who can't handle these types of novels. Although it is still more of a shounen-ai then a yaoi novel.
Score: 9/10
