TOGARI, VOL. 2
VIZ MEDIA
CARTOONIST: Yoshinori Natsume
TRANSLATION: Hiroko Yoda and Matt Alt
ISBN: 978-1-4215-1356-0; paperback; Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
192 pp., B&W, $9.99
Tobei was ruthless punk criminal living in Feudal Japan when he was beheaded for his crimes. After 300 years of damnation, Hell still hadn’t broken him, so he brokered a deal. Tobei returned to Earth with a mission – vanquish 108 sins in 108 days. These sins have taken on a corporeal form – malevolent spirits called “Toga,” and attach themselves to human criminals. Armed with the sin-eating wooden sword named Togari, Tobei is raising hell in the 21st century.
In Togari, Vol. 2, Tobei is taken into the home of Mr. Asagi, the kindly grandfather of 16-year-old Itsuki Asagi, the high school girl who has befriend the reborn demon hunter. The police detective Sawasaki knows that Tobei has something to do with the recent wave of murders cases that have been solved, but what, he wonders, is it. A brutal mugger, a murderous husband and son-in-law, and a homicidal gang of bank robbers are about to learn the answer when Tobei goes after the Toga attached to them.
THE LOWDOWN: If it is possible for a manga to cause the reader to feel the urge of bloodlust, then, Togari will be one to do it. With art stylistically similar to Naoki Urasawa on Monster, Togari creator, Yoshinori Natsume creates a noir-ish, hungry mood that gnaws at the edge of civilized society. Hell beckons, and in the kingdom of damnation, justice is served, but only when it serves Hell’s interest.
In Tobei, Natsume has a beaten cur of a character, but one that won’t back down. He’s ungrateful for his life even towards his creator. Tobei will fight anyone (even Natsume) to reach his terrible goal, which will reward him with survival and rebirth. This wild-eyed, Spartan warrior is so engaging that the reader can live vicariously through him. Who can’t root for a killer of sin and malevolent spirits, even though the cause of justice is only served indirectly?
POSSIBLE AUDIENCE: Ostensibly a horror comic, Togari should appeal to readers of the titles in VIZ Media’s “VIZ Signature” line – including fans of Naoki Urasawa’s Monster.
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