Mase depicts these two stories in a fairly straight-laced style: no visual shorthand or sudden bursts of cartoonishness, but fairly realistic renderings of place and character that wouldn't look out of place in a classic serialized American comic strip ("Mary Perkins On Stage," for instance). A few flashback sequences can be initially confusing: the artist doesn't always border them as is the convention, and, in a few instances, I found myself having to backtrack just to get what I was reading. But the art generally suits Mase's blend of the dark and the occasionally sentimental.
As a serialized story, Ikigami has had an extended run in its native land — along with the inevitable movie adaptation — so one hopes that Fujimoto, who's essentially treated as a vessel for establishing the house rules in this volume, has a more active role as the storyline progresses. The first volume plants the seeds of Fujimoto's ultimate disillusionment with the system that employs him, though I'm betting that it'll take another four or five volumes before he decides to do anything about it. In the meantime, there's still that intriguing question at the series' center to ponder.
Article comments