Dark Edge

Publisher
DRMaster
Writer
Yu Aikawa
Artist
Yu Aikawa
Country of origin
Japan
Year
2002

Dark Edge Volume 7

By David Rasmussen
15th Jun 08

Oh the horror of it all, reviewing another horror title. Let alone one as long along as this one… but review it I will as I once again tackle the horror of horror titles.

I really can’t remember when I last did a horror review, and Manhunt 2 doesn’t count as it’s more violence than horror. But here we are, with a fresh horror title staring us in the face… so what is up with it? Let’s find out.

First off, yes, you should at least get Volume 6 before this one, if not start the entire series from the first volume, as you will not have an idea what is going on from the getgo. This is, to be honest, not a title to jump into at this late stage of the game… how so? Let me count the ways to you how so.

Dark Edge is set in a school, with teachers who seem to be Nosferatu (which I take is a type of vampire if memory serves or something like that). As this issue opens a female named Shimizu is busted up pretty badly from the events of last volume, but thanks to Nurse Fukaya’s healing power she’ll pull through.

Kurou, buried in a coffin on school grounds last Volume, is released much to the contrary plans of the Nosferatu. Due to his “resurrection” the ambitions of the Nosfertu teachers are now trash bin material (as this whole incident was meant to separate Kurou and Sumie, which has now obviously failed), with only the Principal somehow managing to find the silver lining in this little resurrection incident (especially seeing how he’s got plans to lure Mao into another scheme.

After that things begin to go down the rabbit hole fast as we find death, dismemberment, forced imprisonment, violence and a looming cliffhanger which should make more sense next review once I give you a full dissection of this volume and relate it to next… which is my main problem with this title.

Reader friendly it ain’t. Expect to invest heavily to get in on this title because you’ll need every volume to know what is really going on with the read. Miss a volume and you’ll miss a step, and without any comprehensive glossary of events or a title that is user friendly enough to keep you in the loop of what you’re reading it’s a bit daunting to catch up so late in the game on the goings on of Dark Edge. And if that was the title’s only concern I’d stop there, but it isn’t.

Dark Edge as a horror title is a bit above, but it’s not perfect.
If it’s horror I’m not feeling it. It’s got abit of guts and gore and dark violence but I’m not particularly feeling unnerved by it all. It’s got abit of the dark side to it but I’m not particularly feeling the unease I did with past horror title reviews (from the stuff that really creeps you out to a major eeww factor if you’re like me, and not too much into the whole horror genre).

Overall this is a long term investment, read the first volume (see if you like it), then get ready to put down some serious change to get up to speed on the volumes and where we are now (if there was ever a title DRMaster needs to put into an Omnibus collection this is one of them)!

Hmm… scoring wise… a 3 out of 5.
Lost of points due to it’s inaccessibility and a lacking creepy (bleep) factor, but it’s far better than some of the… OH NOW I REMEMBER! The last horror title I reviewed was Final Girl… didn’t like that, no, you’ll like this far better than Final Girl. Yes you will (at least that much I know is true).

(Want to see more? Check out www.drmasterbooks.com for the latest reads!)

-- David Rasmussen 15th Jun 08