Review: RESIDENT EVIL: The Marhawa Desire Volume 5

RESIDENT EVIL: THE MARHAWA DESIRE, VOL. 5
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

CARTOONIST: Naoki Serizawa
CONCEPT: Capcom
TRANSLATION: Joe Yamazaki
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Stan!
LETTERING: John Clark
ISBN: 978-1-4215-7376-2; paperback (July 2015); Rated “M” for “Mature”
168pp, B&W, $12.99 U.S., $14.99 CAN, £8.99 UK

VIZ Media's publication of the seinen manga, Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire, has come to an end with the publication of the fifth volume or graphic novel in the series.  An adult horror manga, Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire, serves as a comic book prequel to the story line of CAPCOM’s bestselling video game, Resident Evil® 6.  This iteration of Resident Evil introduces the highly virulent C-virus, and the manga explores the origins of this new outbreak.

The story begins with Doug Wright.  He is a professor in the Department of Sciences and Engineering at Bennett University, and he specializes in bacteriology.  He receives a letter from Mother Gracia, headmistress of Marhawa Academy, Asia's largest and most prestigious school.  Wright, who had a past relationship with Gracia, rushes to the school, with his nephew, 20-year-old Ricky Tozawa, in tow.  Deep in the jungle, Marhawa Academy is located within a giant, self-contained and self-sufficient complex.  There, Prof. Wright and Ricky find themselves caught in a deadly and growing tragedy that is an epidemic of zombie proportions.

Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire, Vol. 5 (Chapters 33 to 39 – Final Chapter) opens as the remaining humans in the Marhawa Academy complex make their last stand against a legion of students, faculty, and staff turned zombies.  Ricky has joined a three-person team from the B.S.A.A. (Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance):  Chris Redfield (team leader), Merah Biji, and Piers Nivens.

They believe that they have found a way to escape the campus, but before they do that, they must fight their way not only through zombies, but also through monsters.  The bio-organic weapon (B.O.W.), Nanan Yoshihara, swings her horrible tentacles when she isn't spewing deadly virus gas, and Bendi Bergara has undergone a horrible transformation.  Meanwhile, the Hooded Woman lurks in the background, carrying the truth behind the Marhawa Incident.

[This volume includes a “Special Epilogue.”]

Sigh.  The Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire manga has come to an end.  I want more.  No, I have never played any Resident Evil video games, nor do I play video games in general.  I have not read previous Resident Evil comics, but I am a fan of the Resident Evil live-action film franchise that began with the 2002 film, Resident Evil.  I enjoyed reading the manga more than I have enjoyed watching the films, which I have, for the most part, found entertaining.

Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire Volume 5 offers a satisfying ending, relatively speaking.  Zombie apocalyptic fiction has to break your heart for every time it gives you a good outcome.  Writer-artist Naoki Serizawa gleefully poured on the gore and violence, and he gave us some attractive characters, so that he could use some of them to break our hearts.  He put the reader right in the middle of the action.  I felt that I had to run every time the heroes did, and I felt like every page was about a fight for my life, just as the heroes were fighting for their lives.

Yeah, you might say that this is “just” a Resident Evil comic, so it can't be that good.  Well, it is just a great Resident Evil comic, and it is that good because it is classic monster comics.  Read it by flashlight, under a bed sheet, while something scratches at your window.  Fans of horror manga and zombie comics will want the VIZ Signature title, Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux (Support Leroy on Patreon)


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire - B.S.A.A. on Site

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Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire - Secrets of a Hooded Woman

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Deadman Wonderland: Ninben

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Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire - A Hooded Lady

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Review: RESIDENT EVIL: The Marhawa Desire Volume 1

RESIDENT EVIL: THE MARHAWA DESIRE, VOL. 1
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

CARTOONIST: Naoki Serizawa
CONCEPT: Capcom
TRANSLATION: Joe Yamazaki
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Stan!
LETTERERS: John Clark
ISBN: 978-1-4215-7372-4; paperback (November 2014); Rated “M” for “Mature”
176pp, B&W, $12.99 U.S., $14.99 CAN, £8.99 UK

Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire is a manga that serves as a prequel to the storyline of CAPCOM’s bestselling Resident Evil® 6 video game.  This manga was originally published in Japan in 2012 by Akita Publishing Co., Inc.; now, VIZ Media is publishing the manga in North America as a 5-volume graphic novel series.

Resident Evil 6 introduces the highly virulent C-virus, but where did this new outbreak begin?   Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire, Vol. 1 (Chapters 1 to 6) opens at Bennett University in Singapore.  There, Doug Wright is a professor in the Department of Sciences and Engineering, and he specializes in bacteriology.  He receives a letter from Marhawa Academy, Asia's largest and most prestigious school.  The letter is written by Marhawa's Headmaster, Mother Gracia.

The fact that she had some kind of relationship with Wright in the past is probably the reason that Wright rushes to the school, which is located deep in the jungle, a giant, self-contained and self-sufficient complex.  Wright takes his nephew, 20-year-old Ricky Tozawa, with him because he is failing at Bennett and could use some extra credit work.  Prof. Wright and Ricky find themselves caught in a deadly and growing tragedy and perhaps, epidemic.  Meanwhile, Chris Redfield and his B.S.A.A. ( Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance) is looking for Prof. Wright.

First, I have never played any Resident Evil video games.  I did not read the Resident Evil comics produced by Marvel and Wildstorm a long time ago.  I am a big fan of the Resident Evil live-action film franchise that began back in 2002.  When I received a press release announcing the Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire manga, I was excited by that news.  When my VIZ Media rep sent me a copy of Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire Volume 1 for review, I was thrilled.

I like this manga.   Naoki Serizawa, the writer and artist behind Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire, offers one of those horror stories that starts as a mystery about a conspiracy that a group of people are protecting.  Of course, this eventually leads to a horror bigger and worse than anyone realized.  I tore through this manga in one sitting.

I think Professor Doug Wright and his nephew Ricky Tozawa are good characters.  The reason is because they are two-things necessary in mystery and even horror fiction – open to the mystery, adventurous, and fearless enough/foolish enough to run into the belly of the beast that will eat them or turn them into zombies.  I am surprised that this story can be contained in five volumes.  Once again, I will admit my love of the Resident Evil movies, as I heartily recommend the VIZ Signature title, Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire, to you, dear readers.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

Deadman Wonderland: Scar Chain vs. Undertakers - Round 2

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Deadman Wonderland: Scar Chain's Plot

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Deadman Wonderland: Liar Flower

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Deadman Wonderland: Necro Macro

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Manga Review: DEADMAN WONDERLAND Volume 1

DEADMAN WONDERLAND, VOL. 1
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

STORY: Jinsei Kataoka
ARTIST: Kazuma Kondou
TRANSLATION: Joe Yamazaki
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Stan!
LETTERS: Annaliese Christman
ISBN: 978-1-4215-5548-5; paperback (February 2014); Rated “T+” for Older Teen
216pp, B&W, $9.99 US, $12.99 CAN, £6.99 U.K.

Several years ago, TOKYOPOP sent me a copy of Deadman Wonderland Volume 1 for review.  Now, VIZ Media has the license to publish Deadman Wonderland in North America, and they sent me a copy of Vol. 1 for review.  VIZ Media announced in a press release that they plan to publish Deadman Wonderland as a 13-volume graphic novel series, scheduled to be released bi-monthly.

Deadman Wonderland is a manga from the team of writer Jinsei Kataoka and artist Kazuma Kondou.  A science fiction comic, the series takes place in a near-future world version of Japan.  The story opens ten years after the Great Tokyo Earthquake put 70% of Japan underwater.

The action occurs in Deadman Wonderland, a privately run, carnival-like penitentiary that has risen from the ruins of Tokyo.  It is a bizarre and fatal theme park, where the prison bosses force the inmates to perform in notorious gladiatorial fights to the death.  While the inmates are the performers, the tourists who watch them pay the money that helps to finance the Tokyo reconstruction.

Deadman Wonderland, Vol. 1 (Chapters 1 to 4) introduces 14-year-old Ganta Igarashi, a student at Nagano Prefectural Middle School No. 4.  On the day of a class trip to Deadman Wonderland, Ganta’s 21 classmates are slaughtered before his very eyes.  Ganta is charged with the murders, convicted at trial, and sentenced to death for a crime that he did not commit.

Now, Ganta is Prisoner #5580 at Deadman Wonderland.  The other inmates are strange, and the guards are brutal.  And the real killer of his classmates, the mysterious “Red Man,” has also found his way to Deadman Wonderland.

Just the fact that Deadman Wonderland was set in a prison was enough to give me the chills back when I first read it.  I liked it, then, and I may like it even more, now.  The characters were what really interested me the first time I read the series.  Now, I find myself intrigued by the setting.

Deadman Wonderland is like a co-lead character with Ganta Igarashi, and it is good that the authors make Ganta both a prisoner and an explorer of his new home.  I think this prison drives the characters to act the way they do.  If they were someplace else, they might still be bad guys, but they would likely do things differently.  Readers who like the venerable future-prison science fiction subgenre will want to try Deadman Wonderland.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: SLAM DUNK Volume 31

SLAM DUNK, VOL. 31
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

CARTOONIST: Takehiko Inoue
TRANSLATION: Joe Yamazaki
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Stan!
LETTERS: James Gaubatz
COVER: Takehiko Inoue with Matt Hinrichs
ISBN: 978-1-4215-3338-4; paperback (December 2013); Rated “T” for “Teen”
192pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN

Takehiko Inoue is an acclaimed manga artist and creator and also illustrator.  His most famous work is Slam Dunk, a shonen manga which focuses on the Shohoku Prefecture High School boys basketball team and their pursuit of victory.  Slam Dunk was originally serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan from 1990 to 1996.  Slam Dunk was so popular that it apparently helped popularize basketball in Japan and East Asia.

The spirit of the series is defined by the view that winning isn’t everything in the game of basketball, but who really wants to come in second?  Shohoku High School basketball team does not want to come in second, and they believe that they have the dedication and discipline it takes to be the best.  Captain and starting center, Takenori Akagi, dreams of making it to the finals of Nationals, and this season is his last chance.  Hotshot freshmen, like superstar Kaede Rukawa and basketball novice, Hanamichi Sakuragi, could make Akagi’s dream come true.

Slam Dunk, Vol. 31 (entitled Shohoku High School Basketball Team; Chapters 270 to 276) is the final volume of the series.  Shohoku made it through the Prefectural Tournament to Nationals to play for the national championship of Japan.  In the second round of the tournament, they face the defending national champions, Sannoh Kogyo (of Akita Prefecture).

After a good start, underdog Shohoku falls behind Sannoh by 24 points, before a furious rally cuts the deficit to eight points.  Sannoh eventually returns the lead to 18, but another rally brings Shohoku within eight of tying the game.  Hanamichi Sakuragi drives his team to fight back, and Kaede Rukawa’s talent brings the points.  Then, Sakuragi severely injures his back diving for a loose ball.

After a free throw, early in this volume, Shohoku has the lead down to five points with a little over a minute left in the game.  Both teams know that they have to give their all, because only one of them is leaving the court victorious.

So the Slam Dunk manga has come to an end with Slam Dunk Volume 31.  I’m not ready for it to be over.  Because it apparently helped popularize the sport of basketball in Japan, Slam Dunk is obviously a classic manga.  It makes one ask, “Is there a better sports comic book?”  Is there another sports manga doing for a sport what Slam Dunk did for hoops in Japan?  Could there ever be a basketball comic book or manga better than Slam Dunk?

Much of Vol. 31 has no dialogue or exposition.  Takehiko Inoue uses graphical storytelling – illustrations and lettered sound effects as graphics.  Inoue captures all that is grand and exciting about basketball as well as (if not better than) the best sports photographers.  Reading Slam Dunk is as invigorating as watching a real, live basketball game, and I don’t know if I’m ready to give that up.  I guess this isn’t really a goodbye, as VIZ Media will keep this iteration of Slam Dunk in print.  I hope so; Slam Dunk is basketball depicted as art.

A+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

Slam Dunk: Career

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Slam Dunk: Talent

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Slam Dunk: Two Years

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Jormungand: The Final Volume

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Slam Dunk: Shohoku in Trouble

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Slam Dunk: Power Match

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Jormungand: SEAL Team 9 – “the Night Nine”

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Slam Dunk: Greatest Challenge

I read Slam Dunk, Vol. 25

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