Victim's Eyes, Assailant's Hands

by Mohiro Kitoh

Bonding with cuddly extraterrestrial creatures with wondrous powers should have been a dream come true for Tokyo teens like Shiina and Akira, but these cute E Ts can grow into fearsome Shadow Dragons, and when coupled with troubled teens, can become monstrous threats to Mankind.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1593073631
• ISBN13: 9781593073633
• Release Date: April 1994
• Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.9" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Where it's all been leading up to

For those who followed the Shadow Star manga series up to the end of volume 6, there was always a sense that something bigger was coming. Something dramatic and dark that will send chills down your spine. Perhaps a deep secret, perhaps a death or two, perhaps an unexpected revelation about the shadow dragons. But not even the most dedicated, forward-thinking devotees could have imagined this, for Victim's Eyes, Assailant's Hands has all of this and more. This is where it's all been leading up to, and only the content of the later volumes can come close to matching this one in terms of sheer revulsion. Fans have numerous nicknames for Shadow Star's volume 7 (volume 6 in Japan due to the arrangement of chapters in the English publication): "the sammichy stuff", "the emo volume", and "unlucky number seven" are just a few I use with my close friends who also read the series. And there's no doubt that any others out there are quite fitting. "But why?", you may ask--and the answer is that all who may consider buying this installment would do well to heed the word of their fellow readers. From start to finish, it chills to the bone and makes you wonder what shockers may come with the turn of the next page. Back to the plot, young heroines Shiina Tamai and Akira Sakura set off for normal school days which soon take a crueler turn. High schooler Akira's mind is prodded at, ever so subtly, by high school bullies who find her weaknesses and exploit them with the sheer fact that she's the only one sitting alone, completely quiet. There are people at every school who deserve such shunning, but she's certainly not one of them. When she collapses in class and ends up in the school nurse's office, escorted by a spirited male classmate who has had quite the crush on her for a few years, neglected Akira pounces at her chance to feel loved by anyone at all. It is revealed in the beginning of this volume that even her own parents didn't treat her like decent parents should, and so with no one who gave her the affection she needed, young Ishida Toshi is the only one who she can trust in anymore. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what she tries to do next. Meanwhile, at Shiina's middle school, her genius friend Hiroko Kaizuka, who was introduced in volume 3 but never given any attention until now, is experiencing bullying leaps and bounds beyond that of a few insults or threats. I don't even want to think about how the group of bullies, who are barely younger than me, learned to be so sickeningly evil. They torment her when she does not meet their demands for poor test grades, and when she fails as they force her to, her parents scold her mercilessly. There are too many parents in the world like Hiroko's who think there is nothing more to their children's lives than perfect grades. But there aren't too many schoolgirl bullies who make their victims drink juice with worms in it and perform some rather, ahem, unconventional acts with a test tube. Poor Hiroko's lif

This is THAT volume

Yes, this is the one that covers the last three episodes of the anime. The sexual violence has been toned down for the English version, and while I'm usually anti-censorship this once I don't mind. I bought it in the original Japanese because Dark Horse takes so long to publish, and this volume actually made me sick to my stomach. Not a happy bit of manga. Fascinating, thrilling and utterly addictive, but not happy. For the squeamish: This book contains major events that shatter Shiina and Akira's lives, but we don't learn anything new about Satomi and her freaky friends or any of the other mysterious characters. I suppose you could skip this book if you got someone to tell you the spoilers.

Emotionally shattering

If you've come this far, you know that Shadow Star (Narutaru in Japan) is not your normal manga. Firstly, the art is a departure from the current, rather frantic style of most of the stuff we get in the west - no speed lines or big eyes here. In fact, quite the opposite. Kitoh's style is sharp, even sparse at times, though he has an eye for background and mechanical detail that resolutely grounds his fantastical creations in the real world. It helps that Dark Horse have stuck to a remarkably high-quality paper and printing for this series that really does justice to the quality and style of the art. It is the plot and themes that really set this manga apart, however. You know it's dark, you know there's an overarching sense of menace, you know the characters are not entirely stable, but you are not prepared for this volume. Personally, I tried to make it last as long as posible knowing that it had been a year since the last one, but I couldn't, and I was an emotional wreck when I reached what I thought was the ending - then I got hit again by the last two pages. This is simultaneously the best and the most horrible installment so far, and the worst part is that I now have to wait for the next one.