Availability:
- currently only Japanese
- JUMP the REVOLUTION 2006
Original release date:
- September 29 2006
(Revolution)
Format:
- one-shot
- 51 pages
- 4 coloured pages
Links:
(official; Japanese)
Related:
Last updated:
2007 June 28
Author: Kaeli
Embalming II - DEAD BODY and LOVER
The sequel to Embalming - DEAD BODY and BRIDE [Review] might have been just a matter of time. Watsuki's sentence in the afterword of Busou Renkin that he would like to work a bit more on Embalming, can be considered an early announcement, or at least a promise, but the first real confirmation came in summer 2006, when Watsuki was on San Diego Comic Con, and said he was currently working on a sequel to Embalming, which would be released in late September.
Indeed, Embalming II was published in the 2006 issue of Jump the Revolution, just the second installment of the yearly special number of Jump.
Despite having been described as a sequel and carrying the number II, the story does not seem to have much more than the theme and the setting in common with Embalming I: There are two new main characters: Ashuhit Richter, a young man, and his travelling companion and close friend, the girl-Frankenstein Elm L. Renegade.
Like the first story, Embalming II is also set "somewhere in Europe", more specifically in a German-speaking country. This is where I must note that even though he supposedly is German, I have no idea how to correctly transcribe Ashuhit's name, which is 'Ashuhito' in the original version and ressembles no name I know. I shall refer to him as Ashuhit, though, because this is the closest to the orginal, without sounding too Japanese.
Together, they come across an overturned carriage and a village girl trapped underneath. Ashuhit turns out to be disinterested in people per se, but the much more open and friendly Elm helps the girl, who introduces herself as Kiefer, and even talks Ashuhit and Elm into escorting her home to her village.
But once arrived at that place, they discover that things are not as they seem...
Ashuhit and Elm may appear to be an unusual pair, but there is an explanation to their situation, given in a flashback to their childhood, when Elm was still a human and Ash's sweetheart. This is where Embalming I and II tie in together, in a way that gives you the warm, exciting feeling of having discovered two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle which fit together. Some things become clearer, but there are still a lot more open questions.
And this is indeed the thing that I love very, very much about Embalming II. The two stories merely allow you a glimpse at a world, hinting at a huge back story, possible future developments and exciting relationships between the characters.
A very nice twist is the change of perspective: For Ashuhit and Elm, John Doe, the main character from the previous story, is a kind of antagonist, who has gravely harmed them in the past, and who - we can only speculate - might cross their path again.
Embalming II is still very dark, but its characters are more easily accessible, more human than those of Embalming I. Obviously, Watsuki is paying attention to his characters' emotions - more strongly than in Embalming I, which was new and dark and exciting, but not much more. Embalming II takes the story into a good direction, with a lot of potential for becoming an exciting, complex and character-driven story, that deals with serious themes - life and death, love, identity, and possibly more.
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August 17th, 2002 - 2007 by Kaeli (kaeli@gmx.de)
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