Murder Princess was originally published in the now defunct, quarterly, seinen magazine, Dengeki Teioh. Mangaka Sekihiko Inui was only able to publish two volumes of his manga. Murder Princess, the complete set, will put you back $20- $9.99/ volume.

Fortunately for Inui, his manga drew enough attention in its brief run to be a candidate for an anime. The Murder Princess anime was released as a six episode OVA in Japan in March, 2006. No word yet as to whether or not the anime will be licensed in the US.

In the final installment of the Murder Princess series is some actual character development, yay!

Plot summary

Alita, Milano and the kingdom of Forland are under siege by powerful evil forces; one wants the kingdom, the other wants a mysterious key, and yet another is causing ordinary citizens to do hideous acts of violence. The first evil force is none other than Dr. Akamashi and his adorable loli-droids. The second is as of yet unnamed, but has strong ties to Milano/ Alita and the last is in the purvey of the shinigami, Dominikov.

Somehow, all these forces are linked to a central figure; someone who’s not yet made an appearance on the stage but is pulling some strings behind the curtains. It’s up to Alita, Milano, and Dominikov to set things right before chaos is unleashed upon the world of Shandina.

review

Just when things were getting complex and developing actual plot, whoosh!, the carpet gets pulled out from under mangaka, Inui, and we the readers. I feel cheated, since towards the end of the manga, I was starting to connect with Falis. It wasn’t much, but it was hella more than it was the previous manga. Not just that, but more players were revealed, background was given, and development, like wine, was starting to ferment and bubble.

If Murder Princess was given one or two more volumes, it would have blossomed into a full fledged manga. I even bet Inui would have interjected a bit of personality into the manga as well, poor guy.

In the first half of volume two, there’s a few revelations,- sorry, they’re spoilers so I won’t elaborate- a teeny tiny bit of background for Milano and more insight as to who Dominikov is and what he does. Not much, but it was something. In between the wee bit o’ development are the gratuitous fight scenes (not as much as the previous volume, though) and some brutal decapitations by an unknown killer.

The blood and gore was present as ever in the manga but this time, there was some plot.

The second half was a landslide of info with more background, motives, and relationships defined. Then, as quick as you can say “landslide!”, the series ended. Poof. Gone. Done. Over with. The expectation after finishing this volume was to see the story continue to develop as Inui got into his groove. Reading the afterword dispelled any hope of that; which is a pity since it seemed like the manga was growing into its potential.

The art stayed strong the whole series through. The amazing details and crisp work didn’t bat an eye as the manga rushed to its demise. Panels were still impressive and a few of the fight scenes were simply fantastic . Character designs also kept up the quality with detailed illustrations that didn’t feel too busy or distracting.

Murder Princess, Volume Two was right on the cusp of turning the series into something more than a blood bath with a lacy princess, when it went over a cliff and smashed into oblivion. If nothing else, read the “series” as a testament to how good manga art can be and as a primer to the anime. It’s worth the $19.99.

out of a possible four gummies.