Darkside Blues

(CPM, 2004)
™ and © Central Park Media Corporation

About 100 years in the future, the world is controlled by the ruthless Persona Century Corporation from its space–station headquarters. Only in the dangerous, gang-controlled Shinjuku slum area is there any liberty. A group of guerrilla freedom fighters posing as the “Messiah” street gang may be the only hope to break PC’s control. But there are other, more mysterious interested parties who rely less on super–technology than on the supernatural.

Darkside Blues rates three and a half stars for its intelligent, quietly suspenseful story, intriguing characters on all sides of the conflict (especially the enigmatic Darkside, who bears a strong resemblance to Kikuchi’s better–known Vampire Hunter D), and superb art that is worth looking at over and over to study its elegance. Then it ends abruptly with Kikuchi’s 1993 afterword requesting readers to ask the publisher to authorize him and Ashibe to continue the story. Grrr! If you were frustrated by the anime version and hoped that the manga finished the story, nope! They are identical. The book gets a one-star downgrade for the lack of resolution.

— Fred Patten

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