By Yasushi Suzuki
DrMaster, 144 pages
Rating: 15 +

Imanoturugi is a dead samurai who roams the after life, in particular the Great Gojou Bridge, killing other dead warriors and taking their swords. After collecting 100 swords he encounters a headless ogre who, upon being slain, releases a tenma (Devil King/Heavenly Devil) from its corpse. The tenma makes Imanoturugi a deal: collect 1000 swords and help it return to heaven in exchange for a new body superior to his old one. The deal is struck and the two set about… killing dead people and demons.

Purgatory Kabuki… what to say about this book? It’s confusing, for one thing. The dialogue is sparse and the action is fast and frantic and virtually non-stop. Why does Imanoturugi want to collect 100 swords in the first place? Why is this tenma hiding in an ogre’s body? No idea. Maybe those questions will be answered later on in the series but honestly, I’m not holding my breath. The writing sits there like a lump–a barely noticeable lump, since there’s barely any kind of coherent story to tie together the muddled action sequences, just brief lines of dialogue or captions explaining that the gate is guarded by eight demons, or that below the bridge is Naraku. But exactly what any of this means or signifies or why we should care are never explained. (Some cultural notes would have been useful.) At times, this “throw them in head first” approach can work, but there still needs to be an interesting story and a likeable character. Imanoturugi is a blank slate. He’s a warrior that’s collecting swords. The end.

Art-wise, Kabuki Purgatory is a really tough nut to crack. At times the artwork looks fantastic with amazing amount of detail, delicate line work, interesting designs, and shots. These stand-out images were interspersed with panels that are almost completely indecipherable, with squiggles, tons of toning blotting out what’s happening on the page, and weird lines that might be speed lines. The setting, the bridge, isn’t really depicted and things seem to happen in a void of gray tone or empty space. Suzuki’s artwork definitely feels more suited to pin-ups, covers, posters and the like, rather than a piece of sequential art. It’s a shame that the book is so inconsistent, because the first few pages have some nice shots of Imanoturugi looking cool as hell with swords floating around him. Just about everything afterwards becomes a muddled, indecipherable mess.

When it comes right down to it, Purgatory Kabuki feels like a collection of interesting or cool ideas that were tossed together without a whole lot of thought given to story or plot. The few beautiful moments within the artwork are all that’s saving this from being a complete waste of time and money. Then again, there’s apparently an Yasushi Suzuki art book out, so you could get your fill of his lovely art and save yourself the pain of trying to make sense of Purgatory Kabuki.

Volume one of Purgatory Kabuki is available now.