Manga: Dead Mount Death Play 2

Dead Mount Death Play Vol 2
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

Disaster personified has arrived, but his purpose is unknown. One thing is certain-Polka and company are in the presence of raw power. With death upon them, Shinjuku is in frenzy...The true Death Play has begun. 

I've been looking forward to this volume to see what would happen next after a very enjoyable first volume, and volume 2 doesn't disappoint. Picking up right where we left off there's a showdown with Lemmings but no-one seems able to stop him. Arase the shady policeman is powerless and Polka fears revealing his powers in front of the police, he does however, make some interesting observations about Lemmings and the plot thickens when it comes to that character. 

Polka, in a show of character development already, puts his neck out for Misaki who I really thought he was going to abandon and to be fair..he did want to, and I loved the reluctant allies thing they had going on when she returned the favour. This volume also provides a little more background on the Corpse God, how he got in to necromancy and so on, we also get some interesting information on what his power can do. Of course the poor guy realises he knows nothing of our world, and he needs to learn...so you can imagine the hilarity that brought to this volume!  

Just when you thought things couldn't get more interesting...we get to meet Polka's family and are presented with an interesting mystery when it comes to the spirit that's attached itself to two of his family members. I thought it was particularly interesting to see what Polka's family was like, and where he came from and it did provide plenty of intrigue and a sense of distrust when it came to a couple of characters...which I haven't decided on whether it's justified yet or not in one case. 

Volume 2 gives us some nice reveals and twists, as well as some interesting connections as we find out who most likely put the hit on Polka and why, and there's an interesting connection between one of Polka's relations and Lemmings. We get to know Polka's family, who's related to who and how, who's in charge of what and so on...they're definitely interesting, and a little bit creepy at times. We also get a new character in the form of Hosorogi...a spirit inhabiting a pen. 

I do really enjoy the art for this, not just the character designs but the level of detail and the creepier scenes like for instance, when you see Polka hug his niece and nephew and then see it from another angle and it goes from heartwarming to creepy. I enjoy the little clever tricks used, and the creepier drawings mixing with the cute character designs, and the art has stayed strong so far. 

Volume 2 provides us with information, tension and danger, as well as some action and some puzzle pieces falling in to place...along with a new puzzle forming, one that we already thought we'd solved at one point in this volume! 

The final plot twist is one that comes when you think everything's all over, and it's all good, and it throws us in to a rather chilling ending. We still have a lot of questions despite the connections we've managed to make in this volume, and the reveals we've had, maintaining a nice balance between keeping us guessing while feeding us some answers so we don't get too frustrated! The pacing remains good with plenty of action and intrigue to keep you hooked alongside creepy, chilling elements! 

Manga: Dead Mount Death Play

Dead Mount Death Play Vol 1 
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

It's a showdown for the ages as the legendary hero takes on the corpse god necromancer, but when the dust settles, something isn't quite right... In the final moments of their epic confrontation, the corpse god's final gambit shot was wholly unexpected -- reincarnation magic! Across space and time, a boy named Polka Shinoyama awakens feeling...not quite himself...... Who could've expected that the climactic battle between good and evil would turn out like this?? 

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from this manga, but it definitely blew past anything I was even remotely picturing. The colour pages set the tone with the muted and grim scenes, and the opening itself was cinematic and like the stereotypical, cliche good VS evil battle. Complete with their trash talking, but then instead of the bad guy dying like he's supposed to, his spell sends him to another world....ours. 

The first few chapters where a bit of a whirlwind for me, when our MC woke up in Shinjuku, I figured the guy behind the computer and the girl who grabbed him were part of a group or something that would take him in to their organisation, and maybe they look out for guys like him. It seemed kind of innocent in the beginning with that whole bit, but then it twists pretty quickly, and once he gets his magic working he becomes so sinister. Which is really at odds with his cute character design, and the same can be said about the girl at the beginning too! 

We have action from the start as we have said battle between good and evil, and a life and death chase through Shinjuku. We have an organisation of hired killers, AND it turns out our MC can bring the dead back as zombies so we have a zombie running about too. His reaction when he accidentally killed someone because he didn't know how "delicate people are" was hilarious, "the assassin's in my world can go for 20 rounds". I wheezed. 

Polka, our MC, is the necromancer and he's reincarnated in to the body of the real Polka. He just wants to live a life of peace and quiet but he needs money to do so, so he starts working for Clarissa's agency and taking on jobs. He is morally grey as, because he has no problem killing people or at least hurting them a lot, and then he's saving kids the next minute. 

Misaki is an assassin...and a zombie, and she loves killing people. She's pretty psychotic but I find her oddly funny. The third member of our little group is Takumi, the tech guy who uses a drone to assist them on jobs. He's the most level headed of all of them and a little bit judgy too, but I also find him quite shady as well. The interactions between the three of them are interesting to see, and there's a lot to be learned about all of them! 

Volume 1 is nicely paced, a lot happens in just the one volume without feeling too rushed. The art is pleasing if not grim at points, but there's some cuteness provided by Polka. I also enjoyed the way the magic was drawn and the skeletons and so on. 

I just love how I started the volume and it was seemingly like "wow, fun, he's got a fresh start in another world, and it's gonna be cute and he'll join this fun little organisation who's probably out to protect anomalies like himself" and then two seconds later it twists and it's like "oh wow, she killed him! Oh, now she's trying again....aaaand now she's dead....oh wait, she's alive again, no wait she's a zombie...and now he's teaming up with the organisation of hired killers. Okay. Cool". 

Dead Mount Death Play is a little bit creepy, a lot sinister, and darkly funny. Every single character is definitely morally grey, including the cops we meet although I'd say Arase is a lot worse than Iwanome! I'd even go so far as to call him a little bit unhinged. 

I'm loving the vibe to this, the gritty feel with the sinister moments offset by the funny moments. We've got out group of three and their agency, and then the police department who's investigating strange things....and then the creepy killer who makes an appearance too! For a first volume it excellently sets the tone for the series and we cover a hell of a lot of ground in it. I, personally, have a lot of questions after finishing this first volume, to do with Polka, Clarissa, Takumi and who or what Lemmings is?! I'm definitely looking forward to volume 2 and to having a darker series to read!