Our second guest reviewer is the precocious Chloe Ferguson, who writes the always informative blog Shuchaku East. You can also find her work at at ComiPress, where she contributes a monthly column called Panelosophy. Chloe has been a big champion of Hakase Mizuki’s work in her blog, so we invited her to tell us what she loved about Mizuki’s best-known work (at least in the English-speaking world).

The Demon Ororon Ultimate Edition

By Hakase Mizuki
Tokyopop, 880 pp.
Rating: Teen

Orphaned because of her parents’ illegal relationship, half-angel Chiaki is content to spend her days surrounded by the company of her housecat and her best (and only) friend, Lika. Chiaki’s isolation is broken only by the arrival of Ororon, a lanky demon picked up in a burst of humanitarian kindness by Chiaki on a rainy street corner. Within a short matter of time, it’s love—and trouble, as it turns out rather unfortunately that Ororon is the king of hell. Chiaki’s troubles are compounded by the fact that, as the only daughter of an archangel, agents from both celestial spheres are out to get her, and perhaps claim the bounty on Ororon’s head to boot. As figures from Ororon’s past begin to make their presence known, Chiaki struggles with the knowledge that she is neither human nor angel; instead, she’s something greater than even God himself. When her latent powers express themselves in a Hiroshima-esque explosion, a guilt ridden Chiaki and badly wounded Ororon find themselves pushed into a final series of confrontations that will determine the fate of heaven, hell and the unlikely couple caught between the two.

You know you’ve picked up an unusual series when the first panel of the first page sets up the core relationship for the next 500 or so. Hakase wastes no time in dithering with character introductions or ambient panels to convince the reader that Chiaki is a likeable lead; instead, she dives straight into narrative, a jarring but strangely effective technique that nonetheless endears you to the protagonists. Ororon is a lanky, suit-wearing cynic who smokes ten packs a day, but proves a strong foil to Chiaki’s innocent optimism. The resulting relationship is a hastily set up (but still believable) exercise in why two lonely people can become the central romantic leads in a story that is decidedly less than rosy. The side characters- Lika and two other young demons- are marginalized by the story’s action packed pace, but still manage to get in their fair share of levity and bantering as well. The later addition of Ororon’s brother and other hell-sent bureaucrats proves less effective, but both parties fill in some of the necessary back story and plot development to keep things speeding to the end.

And speed it does; with a first volume dedicated largely to the purpose of setup and familiarization, the latter three can be divided into one volume spanning battle, in- between battle ruminations and plot, followed by yet another volume-spanning battle. The formula works decently if all three are consumed in one sitting, (Tokyopop’s omnibus edition makes this an attractive choice) but may have a tendency to drag if spaced out. But fear not; The Demon Ororon’s conflicts play out more along the lines of all out total war sieges instead of brief clashes between singular individuals. A motley group of parties are involved, allowing for ample dialogue between the hack and slash. And dialogue is indeed needed; it seems as though every character in Ororon arrives with their own psychological hangups and twisted traumas, making four volumes the ideal timespan in which to unpack all that emotional baggage.

Hakase’s art demonstrates deft control of backgrounds and fight scenes, along with a very un-shoujo appetite for Tarantino-esque ultraviolence. Blood flows rivers, characters lose limbs and carnage abounds as the characters take on one another with everything from the obligatory demon magic to a good ol’ fashioned axe. The paneling is well done, with Hakase knowing when to keep things to a quarter of a page and when to bust out a two page spread to good effect. The series’ characters are equally bizarre; everyone demonstrates a reedy lankiness that would make even the thinnest CLAMP lead pale in comparison. Chiaki in particular seems distinctly thin and gender ambiguous, feminine only by way of her girly wardrobe choices. Hakase’s mastery of the surreal is evident, as melting walls and eerie monsters mesh well with the plot’s equally surreal meditations on life.

What makes The Demon Ororon so difficult to label, and perhaps so compelling, is its ability to span a plethora of genres and still keep it together. The endless philosophizing and carnage of seinen is carefully balanced by the shoujo-channeling relationship of the two core protagonists results in a series that, while fragmented at times, still manages to deliver a punch in the form of a tragic, realistic ending. When all is said and done, the reader is left distraught, thoughtful and perhaps even a little impressed that the series had enough moxie to do what it was threatening to the whole time. In the bitter context of Ororon, there are no happy endings- an unusually realistic conclusion from an equally unusual work of fantasy.

–Reviewed by Chloe Ferguson