Anne Freaks Volume 4

by Yua Kotegawa

Meet Anne Freaks, a bright, attractive teenage girl normal in every way - except that she's on a mission to kill her father, the leader of a dangerous cult. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1413903371
• ISBN13: 9781413903379
• Release Date: December 2006
• Publisher: ADV Manga
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 7.4"

Customer Reviews

Chilling, nasty, elegant, and an insoluble riddle

Chilling, nasty, elegant, and an insoluble riddle. A manga with deeper roots in Japan than in the West, "Anne Freaks" tells the story of several children who have escaped (barely) from a religious cult and have sworn vengeance against the cult killers who slaughtered off their parents. The cult itself resembles Aum Shinrikyo, which launched the Sarin gas attack on Tokyo in 1995, and will mean more if one remembers what Aum Shinrikyo was like. The heroine, Anne Todo, is now 16 and is one of the children whose parents were killed. Anne has made contact with several of the other surviving children, and they together all launch a murderous series of attacks on the cult, opposed not only by the cult itself, but also by the police. The quite chilling story centers on three women, each representing a different face of society and of femaleness. One is Anne herself, beautiful and dedicated solely to revenge; another is Inspector Nishikama, the woman police officer dedicated to eradicating the cult including Anne and her friends; and the third, Sergeant Shono, who believes that the children of the cult are victims who need to be saved by society. The three visions - and obsessions - are completely incompatible. Therein lies the insoluble riddle: who is right? And why? What is justice? Is it Anne's personal desire, understandable indeed, for revenge? Does justice live in the forces of society itself, personified by Inspector Nishikama, who will do anything to obliterate an anti-social cult and its children? Or is justice embodied in Sergeant Shono's hope that these children can be saved and thereby be returned to society as normal members of a good world? When Yuri, a young man and another survivor of the cult, falls in love with Anne, where do his loyalties reside? Where *should* they reside? The chillingly nasty story-telling is impeccable. I certainly won't tell you how it ends, except to say that perhaps it's the only ending possible. The result is that "Anne Freaks" is a first-rate exploration of obsession and justice. Highly recommended.