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Reviewed by Craig Johnson Postcards from purgatory...private detective Reiji Akiba has a theory about these weird coincidences we all encounter in life. They are actually encounters with the dead - their way of sending us a message. But you may not want to open such strange mail from beyond - not unless you can see the ghostly attachment, like Akiba can. And not unless you carry a tool that can kill what isn't alive, like Akiba's sanctified gun Kagutsuchi ... digging a divine grave to lay to rest the evil dead! Mail v1 isn't quite about those coincidences as claimed above in the blurb, it's more a straightforward set of six "cases" of innocent people being terrorised by dead (mostly) children, with Akiba popping up at the last moment to kill the dead guys with his magic gun and a pithy mysterious phrase. It's not a concept that can drive a series for any length of time, and after the weirdness of the first episode, the next four settle into a routine of Akiba providing a short, Serling-esque introduction, then the protagonists appearing, being menaced, and Akiba saving the day before the innocents get killed. Why ghosts act evil isn't adequately explored except in one case, of a twin sister being too young to realise she can pass on alone, she doesn't have to be accompanied by her twin everywhere, even in death. This is one reason that story is a cut above most of the rest - everyone is moved by motivations, even ghosts, and having these out there in the open improves the stories no end. What works best and gives hope for the series as a whole, is the last story, an explanation of how and why Akiba is doing this - the implications of a long lineage of detectives (and therefore future generations too?) will hopefully be explored in future volumes. Very clear and tidy art impresses throughout, and the only real moan one can have is the dozen or more pages at the back devoted to explaining and translating all the sound effects throughout. Utterly superfluous and uninteresting, it's a bum note to end on. Rip those pages out, however, and you have a great debut volume for a potentially very promising series. Interested in writing for MangaLife? We're always looking for talented reviewers and columnists, so drop us a line! Charles Webb Editor-in-Chief, MangaLife.com |
1 September 2010
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