Synopsis: The tiny hamlet of Kasoka Village is under attack by a werewolf in their midst. It's already managed to kill and eat all of the village's adult hunters, and the remaining villagers are in despair, wondering what they should do. A young boy named Velou, who lives in the village, proclaims his intent to hunt down the werewolf, but nobody places much hope in him. After all, what can a young kid do against the monstrous power of a werewolf? The mayor of the village, a large bearded man who wields an axe, says that if things keep going the way they are, they'll be left with no choice but to abandon their homes and move. With little choice left, the mayor has sent a request to the Hunters Guild, asking them to send one of their strongest Hunters to save the village. Everyone questions how the mayor managed to pay for this when they're so poor and the Hunters are rumored to be nothing more than money-grubbers, but the man laughs and reveals he sold his house and all of his sheep to pay for it. A week later, the Hunter arrives, and everyone is distressed to see that it's a little girl. The girl introduces herself as Grimm, and demands half of her payment up front. Velou accosts her for only seeming to care about money, and she boldly declares that Hunters aren't trying to be heroes: they simply sell their wares the same as a florist or carpenter, and their wares are their ability to deal with monsters like werewolves. This outrages Velou more, but the mayor holds him back while his wife reveals to Grimm that Velou's parents were eaten by a werewolf years prior. The mayor took in the boy and raised him after killing the werewolf, and now the boy looks up to the mayor and wants to be strong like him, so when someone like her shows up and is seemingly only interested in money, it offends him greatly. The mayor however agrees to her deal, saying that accepting the money is accepting responsibility, and asks Velou to show her to the mountain hut while everyone else packs their things in case they do have to leave. On the way to the hut, Grimm suddenly asks Velou to instead show her a way back to the village that won't let anyone else know they're coming back. She could smell and feel the presence of the werewolf earlier, so she's certain rather than it living in the woods, it's someone in the village. Velou objects saying that once a werewolf eats human flesh they can never be human again, but Grimm says they're capable of transforming to at least look like their old human selves. To werewolves, humans are food and while many try to hide it and fail, eventually retreating into the wilderness, many are able to hide their true nature long enough to devour everyone around them. Velou can't believe one of the villagers could possibly be the werewolf as they're all good people, a notion that gives Grimm pause. Their discussion is interrupted by a loud scream that Velou recognizes as the mayor's voice, coming from the direction of the mountain hut. Grimm tells him to go back, but he says she'll need a guide to get there through all the cliffs and streams. It's all Velou can do to keep up with her and shout directions as they run, and he reiterates his belief that the werewolf can't be one of the villagers because all of them are good people. This time, Grimm calls him out on this thought process. She asks him if he ever feels guilty for eating meat, or even plants? The circle of life is life eating other life, and for werewolves that can only survive by eating people, it's no different. She cautions him that when they get to the source of the scream, he shouldn't expect either heroes or justice there. The pair stops when they come across a puddle of fresh blood on the ground and the mayor's axe. The blood leads towards the mountain hut, but something about the situation seems off to Grimm. She pulls out a Hunter accessory called a Hound's Muzzle, which can determine the scent of blood and bones and tell where they came from. The device picks up the scent of werewolf, and Velou says the mayor must have fought the werewolf with his axe, a theory that Grimm agrees is likely. Either way, they'll find their answers inside the hut. Once inside, they find a pile of human bones, but no werewolf. Suddenly, the voice of the mayor's wife calls out to Velou, and tells him that the mayor is the werewolf. He sensed the pair of them coming and escaped out the window. Grimm says the blood they found must be the mayor's then, and turns to check out the blood and bones further, asking Velou to watch over the mayor's wife. Something doesn't sit right with either Velou or Grimm however, and while Grimm's device discovers that the bones as well as the blood belong to the mayor, Velou asks the mayor's wife how such a large man could have escaped through such a small window, much less one that's still covered in cobwebs. Realizing the ruse is up, the mayor's wife begins transforming into her true werewolf state and attacks Velou. Velou is only saved by Grimm, who now has the form of a tall adult woman, pushing him out of the way. Grimm says it all makes sense now that they know the identity of the werewolf, and why the blood, bones, and axe were all left in such obvious places to distract them. The werewolf turns out to be much larger than she expected however, and she tells Velou to hold his breath as she uses another Hunters tool, a small pipe called a Pocket Chimney, to blow ashes all over the room and create a smokescreen for them to escape. As the pair runs, Grimm says she could use some help to take down such a large werewolf, but Velou balks and suggests they ask back at the hamlet. Grimm says there's nobody left there who could help, only him. Velou is too scared to fight something that even the mayor couldn't kill, but Grimm roughly asks him if he wants to die. She explains that even horses and cows don't sit still and let themselves be eaten, they fight back with their weapons. Humans don't have horns or thick hides, so they have to fight back with their greatest weapon: their minds, a tool Velou has already proven is invaluable when he noticed discrepancies in the old lady's story. While they were busy talking however, the werewolf has caught up with them and viciously attacks, taunting them the whole while as it grabs hold of Grimm. As the monster swallows her whole, Grimm warns Velou to get as far away as he can. Continuing to taunt Velou, the werewolf says she's going to save him for last and make him watch as she eats everyone else in the village. As she picks him up in her mouth, she says that all human efforts to stop them are useless, as they always get eaten in the end. Enraged, Velou uses his musket to prop open the werewolves mouth, and fires upward through it's jaw while proudly declaring that human's resist precisely because it's not useless at all. As Velou falls back out of the monster's mouth, he recalls a conversation he had with the mayor just after he'd sold his house and sheep to hire the Hunter. The mayor told him that possessions can be re-built or re-bought, but people only get one life, and he wanted to use his to protect the village for as long as he lived. Swearing to follow the mayor's example, Velou picks up his discarded axe, and cuts open the werewolf's stomach, freeing the devoured Grimm. Grimm is confused how he managed to pull something like that off, and wonders if the axe is... Velou says they can work together to kill the werewolf now, but Grimm says it's unnecessary as her plan, for the most part, is working out. She uses a grappling hook to get them out of there just before the werewolf discovers the bomb Grimm left behind in it's stomach and explodes. Velou prepares a makeshift grave for the mayor, and Grimm says she's surprised Velou stood his ground rather than running. Though he's crying, Velou proclaims he's never going to run away again, and will instead stand strong, as he was taught by the mayor...and by Grimm. Impressed, Grimm asks Velou if he's ever seen a dragon. Velou says of course not, since dragons only exist in fairy tales, but Grimm objects saying that they did exist long ago. It's been five hundred years since the last dragon was killed by Hunters, and they will continue to fight on until werewolves, witches, vampires, and all sorts of other monsters also become nothing but myth. She then asks Velou if he'd like to become a Hunter himself. Review: First off, apologies for such a long-winded synopsis, but there was a LOT that needed to be detailed here so that I could talk about the chapter, and the beginning of this series, properly. The chapter was also a whopping 55 pages, and much, much denser dialogue wise than what you'll usually find in the likes of Dragon Ball, so it's probably only natural that the summary would run a bit long actually. Right up front, I have to say it: I love werewolves. I've always been fascinated by them more so than any other stock horror movie monster, and it's long been disappointing to me to see them languish in popularity in comparison to the much more bland and over-done vampire archetype. So for a manga to start up, fusing werewolf mythology with the world view of the likes of Red Riding Hood and Grimm fairy tales? It's like it was made for me. Enough gushing about the idea itself though, let's tackle what this opening chapter itself brings us. Admittedly, the opening scene of the series could probably be seen as being pretty basic for the type of story you're expecting. A village under attack by a monster, they have to send away for help from someone stronger, a young boy who's just on the cusp of becoming a man but nobody takes him seriously because he's still a kid: stories of this type truly are a dime a dozen, but part of the reason it keeps cropping up is because, when done well? It truly can be ridiculously engaging. Perhaps it's for this reason though that the artist chose to open the chapter first with a pair of pages that would get elaborated on at the end of the chapter, so as to catch your attention right away rather than waiting until further in to get the story's hooks into us. The series is already clearly planning to set up a stage for all sorts of monsters and creatures to pop up over the course of it's run, as vampires, witches, and dragons are all namedropped as well. The chapter makes it quite clear that dragons are considered a thing of the past, but I can't say I'd be too surprised if we later found out that wasn't 100% the case and there was at least one left somewhere. If the chapter and the world it develops is weak in one area so far, it's that it might be a little too vague on the exact details of how werewolves come to be. It's lore brings up the idea that nobody knows, and even suggests it could be a plague, a curse, or even a witch's hex. Nowhere does it bring up the idea of a werewolf biting someone and the bitten later turning into a werewolf, which is pretty standard werewolf mythology that everyone is familiar with. Between that and our big bad wolf for this chapter turning out to be the mayor's wife, I can't help but wonder if there's some subverting of expectations going on here. I'll get a bit more into why I feel that is shortly. While the character of Velou isn't the strongest draw just yet, it's hard not to immediately be drawn in by the character of the mayor. He seems like an all around good guy, even willing to give up everything he owns and his own comfort to try to save the village he loves. What's not to like? He comes across so likeable in fact that I spent a good portion of the chapter expecting him to turn out to be the werewolf. It seemed like an obvious setup, make us like the guy, only for him to either A) turn out to be the monster himself, and he only calls in a Hunter to he can keep up the act a bit longer; or B) he's realized he's the monster and wants a Hunter to come in and put him down for good before he kills again. Either option seemed pretty likely, just depending on if the author wanted him to be a complete monster or a tragic heroic figure. The latter turned out to be true, just not in the way I'd been thinking at all. Velou might be a little bit bland at first, but Grimm is immediately interesting, and I'm looking forward to learning more about her and the Red Hood guild as the series progresses. Are more of the members little kids by appearance but actually adults like her? Or is she not actually an adult at all, and merely has some ability to make her body take on it's peak performance form (ala Genkai from Yu Yu Hakusho)? Is it something else entirely? The chapter doesn't give us any answers just yet, but for now that's a good thing. It keeps us wondering, which will hopefully keep people reading. It'll also be interesting to see what lead Grimm to have the outlook on life that she does. While she raises good points about how, for monsters like werewolves that can only survive by eating humans (a curious point is brought up saying that they can't process other foods, something that's new to werewolf mythology as far as I'm aware), it's not inherently evil for them to do what's need to survive, I can't really say I agree fully with her ideal of only doing what's right for money. She's not wrong in that people should be paid for their services, but in the case that this service is literally saving lives, it can definitely come across a bit scummy to focus on the money first and foremost. Given how she seemed to be impressed with Velou's urge to protect people though, maybe she has her reasons for believing the way she does, or perhaps she doesn't believe it completely herself? Only time will tell. When Velou and Grimm find the axe and the pile of human bones, I expected it to be a set up, but not for what setup it really was. I was expecting the axe to have been left behind to make it look like the mayor had been attacked and killed; I even expected the blood they found to truly be his, but perhaps he'd bitten himself to leave behind blood to fool them with as well. It all still fit with my working theory that he was the monster all along. But that all went flying out of the window the second they get inside the hut and find the mayor's wife. Even without an eerie panel of her voice saying 'Belleau' in an attempt to say 'Velou', the minute I saw her I realized that, much like the villagers, we the readers had been deceived all along. Once the reveal of the mayor's wife being the werewolf is made, it all makes sense...but also doesn't, but intentionally so for the latter I'm thinking. You're probably asking the same thing I am, how did the mayor not notice his wife getting bit by a werewolf? But again, a bite causing a werewolf is distinctly not mentioned in the lore here. It's either something that the world, seemingly even the Hunters, don't seem to know about; or that's not how it works at all in this world. This fact alone threw a wrench into my earlier theory, without my ever truly realizing it at all: I assumed the mayor had been bitten back when he slayed the werewolf that killed Velou's parents. But if the source of a werewolf isn't a bite at all, if it's something else entirely, then there goes one of the easiest ways to check if someone's infected or not. It's an interesting, and horrifying, notion, and one I'm looking forward to seeing developed further. That said, there is one little wrinkle in this logic: the mention that werewolves can't eat anything but people. It's easy enough to explain why the mayor, a man who's killed at least one werewolf himself, hasn't noticed his wife's change into a monster, but how in the heck did he not notice her suddenly not eating dinner anymore? Weird. Finally, we come to the werewolf itself in this chapter, and woo boy, is it weird looking. Some people will probably be turned off by the look of the monster in this series, as it fits neither the standard wolf-man design or a bigger wolf-beast lycan design, nor is it simply a big wolf. It's...really, really weird looking. It's jaw unhinges, it's body contorts, it's gangly, it has googly eyes that are almost cute yet remain horrifying when coupled with the rest of it's body – it's unlike any werewolf design I've ever seen, and puts me more in the mind of the weird, abomination like creatures you'd see in the likes of Stranger Things or something. It takes some getting used to, but there's enough creepiness to the overall effect of it that I can't help but be excited to see some other mythological monsters re-imagined by this artist. I'm almost hesitant to start reviewing a series that's just started right out of the gate, because as anyone that's been a fan of Shonen Jump for a time knows, it's a crapshoot whether a series will last and be successful, if it'll be dead on arrival, or if it'll last a while and either fizzle out or just never really catch on the way the author hopes it will. Series that you like end too quickly, while series that you don't like somehow go on to become major flagship titles – it's a constant process. I'd like to think this series' premise holds ample room for growth and exploration that will make it sure to be a hit, but I guess we'll have to wait and see. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: Chapter 2
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About the AuthorAspiring author and big anime/manga fan, just trying to do my best in the world. For more details, go to About Me. Archives
September 2022
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