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Yashakiden #3
Yashakiden: The Demon Princess Volume 3 (Novel)
The immortal vampire gang led by Princess ―Kikiou, Ryuuki, and Shuuran ― is slowly but inexorably taking over Demon City Shinjuku. Its citizens and the administration alike are turning into vampires. Mephisto has apparently allied himself with them of his own accord. Setsura Aki stands alone on the brink of extinction, tested by one desperate counterattack after the next. Intending to snuff out his life once and for all, Princess unleashes the self-regenerating Kazikli Bey (better known abroad as Vlad the Impaler, the original Dracula). Meanwhile, concerned about the worsening state of affairs in Shinjuku, a team of foreign legionnaires ― Special Forces Operational Detachment "F" ― is dispatched to Demon City.
540 pages, Paperback
First published October 5, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 29, 2013
Volume 3 (omnibus edition) of 5 UK editions collects together books 3 and 4 in the original Japanese series of 8 books.
The story continues the EPIC battle between the inhabitants of Demon City (led by Demon Dr Mephisto, private eye Setsura Aki, Czech witch Galeen Nurenberg and vampire leader Yakou) and the invasion of foreign vampires led by the demon princess. Basically order vs. chaos.
I adore the demon/wicked city universe and also love the characters used in the Yashikiden version of it. Mephisto in particular, especially now he's become a vampire in this volume! The love hate relationship between him and his almost alter-ego Setsura is wonderfully slashy and their face off is superb: "Had a battle this pretty ever been waged before?"
Other things to commend - this series is particularly interesting because its not vampires vs. humans - it's vampires vs demons & monsters which makes for a level playing ground and some truly breath-taking fights. The characters are individualised interesting and none are black and white - its hard to tell just who the good guys are. I also like the eroticism and freaky weirdness which weaves through the story - we have trees bred by a witch doctor to rape everyone in sight, an ectoplasmic raven, cyborg alchemists, devil dolls, tits, tentacles and all manner of visually arresting freaky weird shit that blows the mind.
I did however really struggle with this in places. Kikuchi's writing is very sparse, often its like he's writing a script - things move at an alarming place often with little build up or explanation. I found myself having to re-read earlier bits to work out what was going on. It doesn't help either that this is translated from the Japanese and feels a little stilted. I'm still not convinced about the use of the term "genie" to describe Setsura either. Not so sure how good the translation is.
As well as the writing the plot is confusing. Character after character appears and since there's no clear line of good and evil - plus various characters defect or get manipulated its hard to know who's on what side. That's just the main character facets. Setsura, Mephisto and some of the others have what appears to be dual personalities - that gets really confusing.
There are various realities as well - Princess' realm exists on an alternate plane. Plus there's this whole middle section "the mollusk's nightmare" from what I can understand there's a giant clam in the middle of the city constantly dreaming. Characters can enter the dream - in places its almost like entering hyper space to travel - you can dream walk and evade enemies, but its hard not to get trapped in the dream state. I really really waded through the dream sections which I found very stilted and confusing.
The book is a series of vignettes, many of which are fights between various characters. At times it almost feels like a computer game, which every character facing each other at some point. Death seems to have little meaning either - characters die and are resurrected or change state with regularity.
Yashikaden is certainly epic, its incredibly visual which doesn't always translate well in the written word. I have to wonder if novel is the right medium. It would be amazing as an anime series.
The story continues the EPIC battle between the inhabitants of Demon City (led by Demon Dr Mephisto, private eye Setsura Aki, Czech witch Galeen Nurenberg and vampire leader Yakou) and the invasion of foreign vampires led by the demon princess. Basically order vs. chaos.
I adore the demon/wicked city universe and also love the characters used in the Yashikiden version of it. Mephisto in particular, especially now he's become a vampire in this volume! The love hate relationship between him and his almost alter-ego Setsura is wonderfully slashy and their face off is superb: "Had a battle this pretty ever been waged before?"
Other things to commend - this series is particularly interesting because its not vampires vs. humans - it's vampires vs demons & monsters which makes for a level playing ground and some truly breath-taking fights. The characters are individualised interesting and none are black and white - its hard to tell just who the good guys are. I also like the eroticism and freaky weirdness which weaves through the story - we have trees bred by a witch doctor to rape everyone in sight, an ectoplasmic raven, cyborg alchemists, devil dolls, tits, tentacles and all manner of visually arresting freaky weird shit that blows the mind.
I did however really struggle with this in places. Kikuchi's writing is very sparse, often its like he's writing a script - things move at an alarming place often with little build up or explanation. I found myself having to re-read earlier bits to work out what was going on. It doesn't help either that this is translated from the Japanese and feels a little stilted. I'm still not convinced about the use of the term "genie" to describe Setsura either. Not so sure how good the translation is.
As well as the writing the plot is confusing. Character after character appears and since there's no clear line of good and evil - plus various characters defect or get manipulated its hard to know who's on what side. That's just the main character facets. Setsura, Mephisto and some of the others have what appears to be dual personalities - that gets really confusing.
There are various realities as well - Princess' realm exists on an alternate plane. Plus there's this whole middle section "the mollusk's nightmare" from what I can understand there's a giant clam in the middle of the city constantly dreaming. Characters can enter the dream - in places its almost like entering hyper space to travel - you can dream walk and evade enemies, but its hard not to get trapped in the dream state. I really really waded through the dream sections which I found very stilted and confusing.
The book is a series of vignettes, many of which are fights between various characters. At times it almost feels like a computer game, which every character facing each other at some point. Death seems to have little meaning either - characters die and are resurrected or change state with regularity.
Yashikaden is certainly epic, its incredibly visual which doesn't always translate well in the written word. I have to wonder if novel is the right medium. It would be amazing as an anime series.
September 7, 2011
I love this story and this charactors for 15 years. It's interesting or troublesome that I lose who is enemy or friend, and what they think about.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews