Review by Ian Keogh

Crueler Than Dead takes place in world much like our own, but with one substantial difference. A disease has swept the globe, transforming most of humanity into super strong, raging flesh eaters. Teenager Maki was once among them, but she’s been dosed with a vaccine, and accompanied by three others and extra vaccine supplies is making her way to the refugee centre housed at the Tokyo Dome.

The reason for the seemingly not needed, but extended flashback ending Crueler Than Dead 1 is revealed early on as Maki meets Shimamoto, in charge of the Dome. He seems reasonable to her, but we’ve already seen the type of person he is. Neither is the Tokyo Dome the paradise assumed. As seen on Kozo Takahashi’s astonishingly rendered sample art, poverty and propaganda are the price of safety, and that safety only protects from the cannibals outside. There’s no protection from the predators within.

Although Tsukasa Saimura introduced his concept efficiently in the opening volume, only Takahashi’s art separated the plot from numerous other post-apocalyptic projects. The conclusion is better for focussing less on the easy to create horror and more on emotional horror. Maki’s companions now take the lead. Through the young boy Shota and his quest to locate his father, Saimura shows how far society has devolved, and through another companion we learn of the resistance. An even greater horror than the transformed is the callous attitudes and decadence of an elite who’ve managed to seal themselves off from danger.

Even accounting for Saimura having considerably upped his game with the plot, Takahashi remains the star turn, every page something to admire. This is an artist with no weakness. His people are emotionally convincing, his layouts maximise the possibilities, the draughtsmanship is impeccable and sheer effort he puts into the detail astonishingly above and beyond the needs of telling the story. Remember how the art on Akira astonished back in the day? This is similar quality, and accounts for Crueler Than Dead’s original Japanese serialisation taking seven years.

Each of the characters introduced has a distinct purpose by the end, when inevitably everything comes tumbling down. The ending is the weakest aspect, certainly a climax, but abrupt and ultimately inconclusive in several respects. Don’t let that dissuade you from the genre triumph of the remainder.