Human Club 4
January 7, 2009
I’ve treated myself to a bit more of this series, which, once again, is an online-only release at Netcomics.com that you can read for $1 a volume (or $.25 per chapter, if you like).
Continuing with the plot from last volume, Shinobu is in New York with a case of amnesia after being given an experimental drug engineered for its addictive nature, I think it was a type of heroin. He’s being traded to an old foe from the earlier stories. The plot goes to great lengths to dance around who this mysterious engineer of Shinobu’s downfall is, but it can really only be one person. It’s no surprise, since Li is the only person who we saw Shinobu leave alive and with a fierce grudge.
Shinobu has one ally in this transaction, a girl who decides she’d like to keep the new Shinobu, who has the mentality of a 5-year-old boy. She’s the master apothecary that mixed the bad heroin, so she has no problems easing herself out of a few situations via drugs. There’s some epic chases around New York City that I enjoyed, and in addition to Li and Shinobu’s original capturers, Shinobu’s bodyguard Ron is also on his trail, as well as a possible unknown factor.
The chase goes all the way back to Hong Kong, and is no less epic for it. As much as I liked the depraved nature of the one-shot chapters dealing with Shinobu and a victim, it does not get any less depraved when the depravity is more drawn out and turned back on to Shinobu. Assault, drugs, car crashes, gunplay, explosions, missing persons, just about all the action basics are crammed into this volume. I like that a shoujo series like this can be so hardboiled, and again, it makes me think I ought to go back for Banana Fish.
The plot continues on into the next volume, but there’s not a terrible cliffhanger, and it seems like things are winding down/coming to a climax. I’m more curious to see where the next major story goes after this.
