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Descendants of Darkness: Volume
1 all reviews by alison |
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Ever wonder if there is a way to escape government regulation and red tape? Don't waste your time – even after you're dead the Ministry of Hades will see to it that your soul is sorted, catalogued, and properly assigned in the afterworld. Hades is as full of disorganized offices as any underfunded government human services department, however, and plenty of the dead still fall through the cracks in the system. This is where Asato Tsuzuki comes in. Employed by the Summons Department, working for 70 years after his own death without a pay raise, Tsuzuki is in charge of rounding up the souls of those who were scheduled for death and somehow managed to miss their appointments. This is hardly the Department of Motor Vehicles – if you want a comparison to the living world above, the Summons Department is not so different from the busy police precincts of Fake or Top Ten, with a hefty share of practical joking, inappropriate sexual overtures, griping, and politics. Tsuzuki himself certainly seems like a bit of a buffoon to his newly assigned partner Masaki Asuka, but this veteran of the Department is no idiot, despite his devil-may-care antics. Tsuzuki and Asuka head out on their first mission together, and it soon becomes apparent that recently dead, baby-faced recruit Asuka has plenty of secrets he'd rather not share with his senior partner. As magic crackles in the air and a young girl's life hangs in the balance, Tsuzuki must puzzle out Asuka's hidden agenda in time to complete his case, bag a bonus, and keep his own skin intact! |
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It's another Monday and another hangover for Asato Tsuzuki, Shinigami of the Hades Summons Department. Tsuzuki's plan to keep a low profile until the effects of last night's drunken revelry wear off is scuttled bright and early by his new partner Hisoka who is all too ready to get to work, model employee that he is. Hisoka died and became a Department employee at the tender age of 16, but in terms of experience and expertise in the field he's no kid. Tsuzuki's boss is hoping Hisoka can keep his partner focused on work, but Tsuzuki himself wants nothing more than to be left alone to pursue his cases in whatever haphazard way seems best. Arguing all the way, our mismatched couple set out to investigate the non-death of Hisae Tojyo, a young woman who was supposed to die during heart surgery several months ago. Somehow Hisae, a beautiful dancer who wants Tsuzuki for a partner, manages to sidetrack the investigation leaving Hisoka on the sidelines cooling his heels. The second half of the book finds our heroes investigating the grisly past of an apparently haunted violin that has taken over the soul of a young musician, threatening mayhem to innocent bystanders, Shinigami, and the Ministry itself. Tsuzuki has to call on all of his hidden skills to battle this mysterious new enemy, but even his occult powers and fantastic inner strength may not be enough if he can't first defeat his own inner demons. While the first half of the book is a reasonably lighthearted romp through the streets and dancehalls of Kyushu, the second story is a grim descent into perversity and emotional turmoil. Don't let Matsushita's slapstick sense of humor fool you into thinking this series will be light reading. |
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It's 1997, an important moment in Chinese history as Hong Kong is scheduled to reunite with China. This political and administrative switchover naturally must take place in the realms of the dead as well as in the land of the living, leaving the Ministry of Hades scrambling to update its records and account for a group of missing files apparently lost in the transfer. People who are supposed to die in Hong King are disappearing instead, leaving no record of their lives or deaths. The Ministry has traced the source of these vanishings to a cruise ship, the Queen Camellia, owned by the wealthy Kakyoin family. Tsuzuki and Hisoka, both in disguise, are sent on a first-class business trip to investigate the Queen Camellia and her VIP passengers. As Hisoka, playing the part of the reclusive son of one of Japan's wealthiest business men, probes the dark secrets of the ship's wealthiest passengers, Tsuzuki is detailed to work as a lowly casino dealer, nosing into the ship's seamier characters and hidden cargoes. Neither of our heroes is counting on the sudden reappearance of their old nemesis Dr. Muraki, a smiling and urbane gentleman who seems to embody the very essence of evil. As secrets and sins pile up on board the Queen Camellia, Hisoka and Tsuzuki must battle their own grudges and bad memories before they can hope to stand up to Muraki, a rogue as dangerous and hard to kill as he is beautiful. Book 3 of the series is the most graphic so far, venturing into outright horror as the crimes aboard Queen Camellia multiply and Muraki's perfidy is revealed. Some readers may feel squeamish over graphic illustrations of violence and mayhem as well as Muraki's sexualized manipulation of everyone around him. The dangers and tribulations of the story are fascinating, however, as is the deepening bond of trust and friendship (that's all, I swear!) between Hisoka and Tsuzuki. As our two heroes mature, the story's complexity and emotional depth increase. |
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No matter how arduous their cases or stingy their salaries, even the employees of the Summons Department are entitled to a vacation. This year Hisoka, Tsuzuki, Chief Konoe, and the rest of the office will be wintering in Hokkaido, famed for its hot springs, crab dumplings, and luxury hotels. A perfect snowy week in the lap of luxury is just getting off to a good start when Tatsumi stumbles across a gathering of talking animals and discovers that the mythical Queen of Snow has vanished from her castle. Always up for a little excitement, the whole staff of the Summons Department takes off in different directions to look for the Queen, encountering a fascinating menagerie of mythical beasts and spirits in their travels. Tsuzuki and Hisoka make it back to the office just in time for the yearly inter-departmental archery contests giving Tsuzuki yet another chance to either embarrass himself, impress his friends, or manage a little of both. After all this romping around in the more pleasant neighborhoods of the underworld, Tsuzuki is due to be assigned another hard case. Sure enough, he and Hisoka are detailed to go undercover as a student and teacher at an exclusive boarding school for boys to investigate a gruesome murder. At first glance the spoiled students of St. Michael's seem like any other group of teenagers – jockeying for position with empty threats and promises of favors. Hisoka and Tsuzuki both sense deeper and more sinister undercurrents in this isolated spot, fueling jealous rages, sexual violence, and a desire of secrecy. As accusations fly and one scene of death follows another the school's entire population seems to be implicated in a game of forbidden desire, disguise, and control. In fact, the explanation is even more complicated, forcing Tsuzuki face to face with old enemies and an unexpected ally from another Department. This volume's second story leads to bit more explicit sexuality and violence than present in previous volumes, but the series remains appropriate for older teens. |
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Tsuzuki just can't keep from butting in where he's not wanted, and this time it looks like his curiosity may have landed our dashing Shinigami in serious trouble. During an elegant tea in the mansion of the Count of Hades Tsuzuki wanders away from the table and discovers the Count's magical library of books that are enchanted to write themselves. Peopled with characters from the Count's fertile (and often salacious!) imagination, the stories play out across endless blank pages to amuse the master of the house. Incautiously reaching out to touch one of these fascinating pages, Tsuzuki falls headlong into the story, waking up to find himself trapped in a parallel, fairytale universe peopled by characters based on his friends and coworkers. Almost immediately Tsuzuki runs afoul of the Count in the story, and befriends a young girl modeled on Tsuzuki himself. Meeting a cute female doppleganger is weird enough, but helping her fend off the amorous advances of the Count is stranger still! Tsuzuki is up to the challenge, devising a series of tricks and stunts foil the Count and to attract as much attention as possible. Back at the Ministry Hisoka and Tatsumi are dismayed to find Tsuzuki apparently permanently trapped in the Count's bizarre fantasy world, and set out to rally the strength and talent of the Department to get him back. This story is unapologetically silly, but Matsushita injects enough real tension and emotion into her faux-medieval costume drama to keep the story interesting. |
Young girls are being murdered in the basement of Osaka University, and the Summons Department of the Ministry of Hades is picking up unusual disturbances in the realm's psychic defenses. Something is seriously wrong in Osaka, and as usual it's up to shinigami ("Guardians of Death") Tsuzuki and Hisoka to investigate. This time the dynamic duo is supervised by the Ministry's flighty alchemist Watari, who clearly knows more about this case than he's letting on. Possibly Watari wants to protect his partners from the discovery that their old enemy Dr. Muraki has reappeared, but Muraki himself soon makes these precautions useless, challenging Hisoka and Tsuzuki with his usual blend of threats and hints of future crimes. Disguised as a schoolteacher, Tsuzuki races against time to protect the life of Muraki's next intended victim only to walk into a trap himself. Faced with a terrible secret about his past Tsuzuki wrestles with his memories and his conscience, but seems unable to escape Muraki's evil control. Yoko Matsushita writes in her author's notes that she's very excited to work on a story that will last for two whole books, and she's true to her word, ending Volume 7 at a cliffhanger. All I can say is thank goodness Volume 8 is already available! This story line explores some new relationships within the Ministry of Hades, giving us tantalizing snippets of information about Tsuzuki's life before he became a shinigami, and the powerful bond that unites Tsuzuki with his old partner Tatsumi. For all these characters, the past is a dark and complicated story whic might hold the key to defeating Dr. Muraki once and for all. |
Descendants
of Darkness 
Descendants
of Darkness
Descendants
of Darkness
Descendants
of Darkness
Descendants
of Darkness
Descendants
of Darkness 
copyright Robin Brenner 2002-2004