Disgaea 2 Highly recommended

Publisher
Broccoli Books
Writer
Hekaton
Artist
Takehito Harada
Country of origin
Japan
Year
2007

Disgaea 2 Volume 2

By David Rasmussen
14th Sep 07

It’s been that kind of month it seems.
So having a beloved 5 out of 5 title like Disgaea return to my review desk for another go around is such a refreshing thing, yes it is. After all I still have the so-so taste of -- of -- you know, whatshisname (guest starred in the Sci-Fi Channel Insomnia Inducing Movie “Megasnake”)… Flatline, Mainline… oh, Feedback! From “Who Wants To Be A Superhero!”… that show, that comic.
Funny, however, it’s from Stan “The Man” Lee and comic is brought to you by… Dark Horse.
Dark Horse, people, Dark Horse. Not to diss Dark Horse but… well… where’s MARVEL again? One of their iconic namesake individuals like Stan “The Man” Lee and they’re not doing the comic side? Weird.

But now how about a review certain to get a high score from me? Yes, it’s once again time for Disgaea.
Rozalin (the ultra well endowed daughter of ultra evil slash ultra paranoid (more in a sec) Overlord Zenon) is starting to have nightmares, and these nightmares seems to set her to keeping her “keeper” Adell from getting near her father. To this end she begins to send him on wild naughty frog chases… well, maybe the one as she leads Adell to a childhood friend of her’s who is now a sometime evil foul mouthed frog.
(Oh, and then there’s the runin with the talking boar with the assaulting of innocent women son he can skirt flip slash panty flash them fetish)

This, by the way, begins to hint… hint… as in she’s still not in the series yet… the coming of “Beauty Queen Etna” (aka Etna who left her old boss Lahrael after throwing a fit at him). Oh, sure, she’s been hanging around the “Next Episode” previews here and there, but so far she hasn’t entered the series… yet.

But back to Rozalin and her problems. As things get worst (and more guests seem to come calling at Adell’s house… mostly the naughty good/evil frog thing) it looks like Rozalin is going to start struggling with her feelings for Adell and his lovely family over feelings for her own father (because she‘s thinking of killing Adell before he gets anywhere near her dad). Why is this happening? Well they do spend lots of time at Adell’s pad during this volume and she does seem to get so close to his family while she’s there. So it has her kinda torn up between protecting daddy dearest and bonding with her new “family” (lots of complexity with that but check Volume 1 to see how this set up occurred).

Maybe her decision about whether or not to kill Adell, however, doesn’t need to happen as the volume ends and, maybe finally, Etna FINALLY drops in as a regular character (which isn’t good because she’s taking her mood out on a large horde of creatures threatening Adell and Rozalin as the volume ends).

So is Etna FINALLY going to be a full on character from this point forward?
Will Rozalin ever fall completely in love with Adell, or completely kill him off and go home to daddy already? (She better hurry because the longer she’s away the worst his paranoia is about getting her home before other Overlords begin showing up looking to cut him a new one).
Who broke Lahrael’s PSP (which is a long one shot story that is more ad for the as of yet announced for release on the PSPin English Disgaea PSP than anything else), and does this extra at the back of the book mean there will be a Disgaea PSP game released in English by this Christmas (or in 2008?)
These, and other pointless questions will come to pass when Disgaea 2 Volume 3 is reviewed.

As for this title?
After swallowing bad translations of good product (or bad adaptations of not so good product in Who Wants To Be A Superhero? Case) it’s nice to come back to the comforting read that is Disgaea 2.
Hekaton takes what the original talent did with the first Disgaea One Shot and really amps it up high above what he started with. Packed with solid story, lots of parody (including a timely Resident Evil parody), and solid humor this title is what most translations of game or TV Series to comic/Manga should be.
People thinking of adapting whatever into the next comic (Warhammer 40K the Manly Men Adventures and Who Wants To Bet The Defuser or Hyperstrike Is Going To Be The Next Superhero be damned.)
Disgaea puts me in my happy place, and rings up 5 naughty frogs out of 5.

-- David Rasmussen 14th Sep 07