Seimaden 2
Posted: April 18, 2010 Filed under: Seimaden 1 Comment »You Higuri – CMX – 2005 – 10 volumes
I was surprised by how much more I enjoyed the story in this volume. I think that’s due in large part to the fact the plot moved away from two lovers fighting over a beautiful girl and towards psychopaths bent on destruction, with a nice little love story thrown in. The romance elements are too generic to stand on their own, so a little chaos does the story good.
Strangely, after the first few pages, the warrior of the Azelle disappears, though the deities of the Azelle hang around to play a little more havoc. Hilda is still a major player, though it becomes more about her struggle against the bad guys and Laures being the demon king than it does about anything romantic. Hilda has to struggle against various bad guys, including an insane count that likes to collect “beautiful” things, apparently to gut them and hang them from his ceiling. He has his sights set on Hilda, but changes his mind when he sees Laures. Conveniently, Laures’ arch-rival has been released from hell, and he and the count team up in an unholy alliance to destroy the city and collect Laures.
Zadei literally comes from nowhere, and the spiteful reason for his release had me laughing. He’s really coarse and doesn’t fit at all with all the other ladies and gentlemen, which makes all the horrible things he does that much more absurd. I was happy to see the count, who only gets more and more genuinely disturbing the more he appears, and I was happy to see him take an interest in Laures. As it stands now, it seems like he has no chance of “collecting” the supreme ruler of Hell or whatever, but I’d like to think that somehow happens down the road, only because I need to see more of that count work his creepy magic. The hilarious union of the count and Zadei is a huge plus story-wise, too.
Basically, things that are a whole lot more interesting than Laures’ love for Hilda happen in this volume, and I am much pleased. Again, I am easily pleased by demons and any story having to do with them, and I’ll admit that this still isn’t anywhere near an A+ story, but it is more entertaining in this volume… in a shallow way, at least. I am looking forward to more at this point.
hurrah!!