Lament of the Lamb – Overview

About the Author

Touma Kei is a well known horror/Seinen mangaka in japan, and she is starting to gain popularity over here in the west as well. Largely thanks to the two manga that were licensed, Kurogane (to be reviewed shortly) and this Lament of the Lamb. Though personally I prefer the japanese name, Hitsuji no Uta, just sounds so much better to me lol.

Her first manga Rokujô gekijô led to her wining the Shiki prize from Kodonasha, and the follow up, Mannequin also went on to win a prize. From then on her works have always been well received. All of her works however have been short, usually one or two volumes, only Yesterday wo Utatte and Kurogane are longer at five volumes a piece, and Lament of the Lamb at seven volumes.

About the Manga

While the manga is about modern day vampirism, it takes a different turn. The story focuses on Kazuna and Chizuna, who are brother and sister separated at a young age to protect Kazuna. However Kazuna begins to feel unwell, and the ensuing events lead to him finding his separated family, and the truth about his illness and heritage.

As I said the story is about vampires, however there’s no Dracula or queen of the damned types. The vampires in here a single family, and it’s a disease of the soul. The story focuses less on the vampirism side and more on the psychological and physical challenges they face in dealing with it.

Touma-sensei has a very unique art style that admittedly at first blush looks a bit off, however as I went through the chapters i found that it not only grew on me, but was the perfect art style for this particular story. The story she writes is well scripted and fluid, flowing together really well, and has been excellently translated by Tokyopop who did themselves proud with this release.My only complaint with the release is my age old one, the lack of honorifics. I feel that since japan was and is a highly polite country, with different honorifics for different relationships, its very important to keep them in manga, to help ascertain, and clarify relationships. Lament of the Lamb does include some honorifics, however the sporadic usage of them just highlights the lack of them the rest of the time, and leads to looking and feeling like a half hearted attempt.

The other thing i loved about this series was the characters themselves, no babes or dorky guys. Chizuna is a fairly average girl looks wise, (though she looks awesome in a kimono) but her personality makes her so damned cute at times. Yaegashi the other girl in Kazuna’s life doesn’t get much page time, however she’s a very important character since she’s tied to Kazuna’s attacks and fears. Like Chizuna she’s nothing major looks wise, but she has her moments where Touma-sensei has drawn her in a totally cute way.

When it was first released in the UK there was a bit of an outrage over the content, since there are some subtle incestuous undertones. First between Chizuna and her father, and then Chizuna and Kazuna. While it’s never overtly made an issue, the undertones are pretty obvious. To be honest i actually liked this, it added spice to an already amazing series.

The character development through out the series is just amazing, especially Kazuna who has to deal with finding out about his heritage, his fathers death, and then in coming to terms with the fact that he’s going to be craving blood. His relationship with Chizuna and Yaegashi is amazing. Yaegashi starts off as his friend who he likes, but after dreaming of attacking her he fears for her and pushes her away. Then Chizuna arrives and things get even more confused.

Chizuna’s relationship with Kazuna is just as interesting and convoluted. Initially she wants to keep him at arms length, but when she realises he’s succumbing to the disease as well she starts to open up and accept him more. After they move in together again their relationship deepens as she begins to see her father more and more in him.

The last volume is definitely the best of the series, dealing with Chizuna’s attempts to get Kazuna to return home. She knows she’s dying and has little time left, and tries to get Kazuna to rebuild his life. However the bond between them is to deep, and Kazuna refuses to go. He stays with her through out the night, and then after she dies, commits suicide.

In the anime it ends here, with them holding hands and both dead. Personally i found a lump in my throat over both the manga and anime versions. The manga however carries on past this, where Kazuna has survived, but has lost all of his memories of Chizuna and the events leading to her death. As a result he no longer shows symptoms of the vampire disease. However Yaegashi is there, and declares that if they ever surface again she will be there to feed his craving, and without Chizuna around that he will accept her blood.

While I initially didn’t like the ending, Yaegashi’s statement at the end, her determination and clear show of love for Kazuna made up for it. I got another lump over that declaration lol made me wish a girl would say that for me hehe

Final Thoughts

Overall i love this series, Tokyopop’s mistakes aside. I would love to see a full animated version of this series, rather than just the four episode OVA we have. However, there is a radio drama version (japanese sadly) and Tokyopop announced last year they were planning on making a movie of the manga. Though nothing has been heard since, I’ve written to some people i know in Tokyopop asking for an update and stuff, but nothing yet.

The art takes a bit of getting used to, but if you bear with it, it does grow on you.

One Final note, in the UK the manga was released with an OT (Older Teen) rating, meaning it’s for 16+ year olds. Probably due to the sexual and incestuous undertones.

Where to buy

• Manga – The Book Depository
• Anime – The anime is still unlicensed at the minute.

~ by Tiamat's Disciple on October 27, 2007.