Commentary: Godchild 2
Wow, it's only been a little under three months since my last Godchild commentary. For me, that's almost quick.
Links to previous commentaries:
Cain Saga Volume One
Cain Saga Volume Two (part one)
Cain Saga Volume Two (part two)
Cain Saga Volume Three
Cain Saga Volume Four
Cain Saga Volume Five
Godchild Volume One
This post will include research, gaps in my research, and a whole lot of "OMG CAIN/RIFF OTP!"
As usual, all quotes are from the Viz version unless otherwise noted. Speaking of which, I don't have any scanlations for any volumes past this one. If you know of any, please pass them along. I like to compare translations.
Story One: Butterfly Bones
We open with Alexis whipping Cain, while he forces Cain to recite from Genesis 4, the story of Cain and Abel. I feel traumatized just reading it. My frequently flippant commentary must be put aside to focus on how incredibly horrifying and disturbing this is. Alexis is pure evil. (Note to Ms. Yuki: you cannot show your character behaving like this, then try to excuse it and claim it was never truly his fault. The man tortures children for the fun of it. That will never not be true.)
Turns out the scene was a nightmare, and we're back to present day Cain and Merry going to visit some distant relatives. We have some brief exposition to what happened last volume and... I'm sorry I'm really distracted here. You see, we have here an image of Jezebel holding Cain, about to bring down his scalpel. Cain has his eyes closed, his head thrown back, his shirt open, and his pants partially undone. Let's just take a few moments to appreciate this. (And allow me to pull myself together.)
Okay, we can move on. Translation discrepancy here. Sakura Crisis has Merry that she doesn't ever want to meet Alexis again. This makes no sense considering that she hasn't met him a first time. Viz doesn't have this problem. This translation comparison is becoming less interesting. I'm not sure if Viz is getting better or SC is getting worse, but since the first volume of Godchild it's all been problems with SC.
Meanwhile, back at the plot, the carriage (almost literally) runs into a freaky looking girl with a bird in her mouth. See, you can tell that she's related to the Hargreaves. She's crazy!
Now introducing the one, the only, Crehador! And in his introduction he's wearing an incredibly tacky coat with leopard print lining. Cain immediately feels that something is off, although he bases this conclusion on the fact that Crehador made no noise as he came up to them, rather than his horrible fashion sense. (Seriously folks, leopard print is a good look for no one.)
Another translation discrepancy. Viz has Lukia, while SC has Rukia. Now, considering that Rukia is an actual Japanese name, you might think that this round goes to SC. It's not so simple. Ms. Yuki says in a side panel coming later that Lukia is named after a saint who tore out her eyes and sent them to her suitor. There is a saint who did this, but her name was Lucy. Either there were two female saints who did the eye thing (which is a possibility) or Yuki messed up on the name. Because I think if the katakana resembled "Lucy" (ルシ? That would be my guess.) it would be fairly easy to translate. I'm going to award points to Viz here. If I'm right, then their Lukia is closer than SC's Rukia.
Why hello, blatantly wicked stepmother. So glad you could join us.
And hello to the bizarre creepy kid! Heh, we have some nice comedy here with Cain grabbing Emile while the latter flails, and Merry chasing him. I'll bet she kicks his ass off panel. 'Cause she's Merryweather and she's awesome.
Tohko was Cromwell's "Madame Butterfly"? I don't think so, considering that Cromwell married Tohko, rather abandoning her and driving her to suicide. (Hey, an inaccurate comparison is nobody's friend. Though Tohko was driven to suicide by somebody, so perhaps the comparison holds a little bit. But Cromwell still isn't an asshole on the level of Pinkerton.)
Ha! Merry did beat up Emile. I had forgotten that actually happened.
Emile has scars! That's never a good sign in this manga.
It turns out that the letter Cain received wasn't actually written by Cromwell. The beginnings of a mystery!
Hee, Cain is delightfully snarky with Cromwell. He's also remarkably blasé about being locked in his room... until we see him pick the lock. I love that Cain just carries lock picks around. I adore Cain so much. He makes me full of squee and happiness.
Crehador gets around and evil stepmother is evil. Just so you know.
Ahhhh, it's Alexis! He's really creepy here. "Only I can punish God's child." God complex much, Alexis. Sheesh. (The SC translation actually has him say "The only one who can punish God's child is God himself.")
Ooh, a séance. Séances were very popular in the Victorian era. I haven't seen any evidence that they were forbidden to Christians on a wide scale as claimed here (Queen Victoria regularly had séances performed for her), but my research is cursory at best. I absolutely could be wrong here.
For your edification, these "paranormal investigators" will carry out Victorian-style séances in the comfort of your own home. Dude, I totally want a proper Victorian séance performed in the apartment. Hopefully, complete with the medium hitting the table to imitate voices from beyond. For a more in depth look at the Victorian Spiritualist movement, see A Willing Suspension of Disbelief: Victorian Reactions to the Spiritualist Phenomena. Don't we all feel more educated already?
But moving away from my obsession with research.... to the topic of Ms. Yuki's research. She notes in a talk column that while she really likes Lukia's Westernized kimono and it went over well with readers, people of the era probably would have found it ridiculous. And that's why I love Kaori Yuki. It's not "did not do the research" it's "did the research but ignored it in favor of something cool that I just thought up."
But, yes, plot. Tohko's ghost speaks through Lukia. It's quite a creepy scene. Evil stepmother (who does have a name, Abigail) freaks out, which isn't suspicious at all. And then she dies. I'm not sure if that counts as suspicious. Emile gets in real close, noting that he's never seen a real corpse before. Cain feels that that's an unusual response to your mother's death.
Evil stepmother is dead, Lukia is no longer possessed, Emile's creepy, Cain and Crehador are antagonistic, and Alexis is extra creepy. The stage is set to move into the next act!
Cain accuses Crehador of being a fraud and Crehador responds by invading Cain's mind and bringing up his worst memories. This scene has always soured me toward Crehador. Cain's life sucks enough without adding mind rape to it. Oh, and then Crehador gets chummy with Alexis and is all "Hey, funny thing, Cain is totally still haunted by all that horrific abuse you inflicted on him." I forget just how morally ambiguous Crehador is. He's so nasty here.
Alexis is still the creepiest creep to ever creep.
Emile is also creepy. He's about to cut himself, but Cain stops him. Cain's sees his own loneliness in Emile. Cain tells Emile that someone saved him from the darkness and we see Riff's shadow. Oh Riff, even if you're physically absent, Cain always has you in his thoughts. Note that this is the second time that Cain has tried to encourage someone in this manner. That didn't end so well either.
Cain explains that Abigail was killed with poison. Cromwell remarks that Cain is very knowledgeable. Cain thinks to himself that that's because he has the poison in his collection. Heh.
The mystery deepens and Cain makes inquires. Then he macks on Lukia. Because he's Cain. (Actually, it's all part of his cunning plan. But I'll bet he didn't find it a hardship.)
At dinner, Cain explains that he's taking Lukia back to London with him to be his mistress, and he's not making a request. He comes of as a horrible asshole. Of course, he's an acting in order to draw the killer out, but no one knows that. The reader should sense that something's not right, even if they haven't read this before. Cain can be selfish and demanding, but he would never treat people this badly.
Cromwell tries to kill Cain and gets stabbed for his trouble. But not by Cain. No, Emile's the culprit, and he also killed his own mother. He even threatens to push Merryweather off of the roof! Why? Out of his love for Lukia.
I know that Cromwell is about to lose his daughter and he's desperate, but his dialogue... "You're mine! Lukia!" Does anyone else feel like we're continuing the fine family tradition of incest?
Kaori Yuki's side note says "Cain seems to prefer girls who aren't too smart. That's the feeling I get when I look back at all the girls from his past." That seems accurate. Ms. Yuki said in an earlier side note all the back in Cain Saga three that Cain likes vulnerable girls, but he's picky about their looks. So, pretty, vulnerable girls who aren't too bright. Yeah, that matches up. Well, we saw so little of Suzette that I couldn't say how intelligent she was, but she was naïve enough to fall for the villain's trick.
Plot exposition happens, but I'm distracted by the arrival of Riff. Yay! Things just aren't the same without you, Riff.
Emile: The man showed me how I could kill mother, and how to cover everything up. He also told me what happens to bad children like me.
This is so creepy. Have I mentioned that this is creepy? What? Only a dozen times? Well, I'll say it again. This is creepy.
Cain's speech here is beautiful. He really does care about saving people.
Cain: There is someone nearby who can save you, just as someone once saved me from the labyrinth.
Riff/Cain OTP!!!!
It looks like everything is actually going to go right for once... AND THEN FUCKING ALEXIS SHOWS UP AND DRIVES EMILE TO THROW HIMSELF OFF THE ROOF. Waaaaaaaaaah! It's not fair! The look on Cain's face is so heart wrenching. And all the while Alexis goes on about how Cain can't save anyone. HE'S SO EVIL I HATE HIM SO MUCH.
We cut away from Cain's emotional breakdown to Alexis and Crehador. Crehador is still slimy, but not quite as slimy as Alexis, proven by the fact he refuses to join Delilah.
Crehador: And I will always turn down your offer, because you are the lord of darkness who will drown this city and the whole world in a sea of blood.
Melodramatic, but accurate.
Can we call this one of the most depressing endings in the series? Emile's dead, Lukia's heartbroken, Cain's traumatized, Cromwell's stabbed, and Alexis gets off scot-free. Then again, is it really that much more depressing than Kafka, where Dirk and Justine die and Jezebel makes his escape? Or Seal of the Red Ram, which ends with Meridiana and Emeline dead, while an innocent man is blamed for Delilah's crimes? Or Scold's Bridle, where none of the victims of the week get rescued? Let's face, depressing endings are this series' specialty. Still, something about this one gets me extra hard.
Story two: Bloodberry Jam
More nursery rhymes! Kaori Yuki loves making nursery rhymes creepy. (Or in some cases, creepier.)
And old lady is being manhandled by her nephew, but it's Cain to the rescue. The nephew, George, runs off, but not before being rude to the maid.
The old lady is not quite all there, and believes that Merry is her granddaughter, Kitty. She refers to everyone by nicknames, and Cain is "Mr. Blackbird." He's clearly amused by the whole thing.
It turns out that the old lady, Grace, invited Cain and Merry to her home after mistaking Merry for her granddaughter in the park. The exposition man explains that Grace was unable to cope with her granddaughter's death and retreated into her own personal fantasy world. Interestingly, Cain is perfectly willing to go along with the charade, even while he thinks that "Only a weakling lives in dreams and runs from reality." Cain has a strong sense of compassion toward the people he deems innocent. (The guilty, on the other hand, can look forward to being poisoned horribly.)
Hm, Grace gets letters from Kitty. But Kitty's been dead for years, and the letters bear recent postmarks. Our mystery for the day.
George sneaks back into the house and proves what a monumental jerk he is by attacking the maid. The next we see of him, he's dead. Our other mystery for the day.
Cain comes across the maid burning George's possessions. He also realizes that the maid smells of soap, the same smell that was on the letters. Mysteries solved? Not quite yet. The servants gather together and explain that since there's no room for death in their lady's world, they've erased all traces of the murder from the kitchen.
The maid confesses to killing George, but Cain doesn't buy it. He's added up the clues and realized that it was Grace who killed George. You see, there's a bit of red nail polish in the jam that was made. Nail polish that's the same color that Grace wears. It turns out that Grace found George attacking the maid and they fought. Grace lost it when George told her that the real Kitty was dead, that she had jumped out a window after Grace told her that if she wished hard enough, Peter Pan would take her flying with him.
I'm not sure that this is as much Grace's fault as George claims. From what we know, Grace didn't say "Hey, you can fly, so go try it." Plenty of adults tell children impossible stories. Then again, most adults do try to make children understand enough of reality that they don't die. Still, I don't have enough information to decide either way.
By the way, the mention of Peter Pan here is anachronistic. Peter Pan first showed up in The Little White Bird , a novel published in 1902. That's a several years after this story takes place.
Anyway, Grace freaks out and smashes George in the head with the rock hard lump sugar. The servants, who love the mistress who's so kind to them, banded together to erase the evidence of her crime. The butler offers to turn himself into the police.
Cain: What are you talking about? [Cutting other dialogue here] There's no evidence that anything took place in this room. It's all speculation, right?
The bad person is dead, the good people are alive. That's enough for Cain. He's proven time and time again that he has his own concept of justice.
We end with Cain breaking the jar of jam accidently-on-purpose. He would rather his little sister not eat the jam created to cover up a murder. Not to mention the bit of nail polish floating around in it. That's not sanitary.
Story three: Lion Crest
We have a very nice splash page with Cain and Riff gazing to each other's eyes very intently, while Riff grips Cain's partially open shirt. They are so doing it. In the event that they're not doing it, they at least want to very much.
We open to Cain remembering the times during his childhood when he would run off and hide, but no matter where he was, Riff would always find him. Back in the present, Cain is supposed to be attending a party with his family, but he decides to go to a bar instead. Since this is Cain, he ends up leaving with a woman, Eliza, and because this is Cain, they find a dead body. Cain examines the corpse (freaking Eliza out) and notices the unusually small bullet wound and the lion imprint on the hand.
It turns out that dead guy is the Eliza's fiance. She and Cain go in for questioning.
Eliza: How can you, the police, suspect the first person to see the body!
Um, actually the first person to discover the body is pretty suspicious. We lean that Colin (the dead guy) and Eliza didn't get along.
Riff shows up, to Cain's annoyance, but Riff explains that he couldn't refuse, given that the police told him to come down. Then some guy comes and slaps Eliza! He's her brother and not at all happy with his sister's behavior.
Cain: In aristocratic societies, all anyone cares about is avoiding a scandal. Misfits like her and me are rarely tolerated.
Wow, Cain identifies with the victim of the week... and she doesn't end up dying. Normally, Cain feeling a connection with a minor character is a death sentence.
Eliza is surprised to know that the man she was with is the famous Earl Hargreaves. She turns to Riff and shares some of the nasty rumours surrounding Cain, ending with wondering if the Grim Reaper that supposedly follows Cain killed Colin. Riff does not look happy at all to hear her talk about Cain like that.
On their way home, Riff notes with disappointment that Cain missed the party he was supposed to be attending. Cain doesn't care until Riff reminds him that it was Uncle Neil's birthday party. That gets to Cain and he clearly feels quite guilty. Riff then says that he understands why Dudley is so strict with Eliza. Cain takes this the completely wrong way and assumes that Riff is saying that it's okay that Dudley slapped Eliza, and he thinks back to his father beating him.
Cain: How can you, of all people, say that kids who don't fit in deserved to be punished? You, who has seen the scars on my back.
Riff tries to explain that that's not what he meant, that he was saying that Dudley is strict with Eliza because he loves her, but Cain isn't listening and he jumps out of the carriage.
Now, I think that normally Cain would have realized that Riff would never ever say that Cain deserved to be abused. But Cain isn't thinking clearly here. Riff has just finished criticizing Cain, and Cain always reacts very badly when people do that. It's understandable, considering that he spent his entire childhood being told that he was evil. But here I think he's reacting even more strongly because he knows that the criticism was justified. It was wrong of him to go to a bar rather than attend his uncle's party, especially since Neil was looking forward to seeing him. Cain can't deal with that, and so he assumes the worst about Riff and lashes out. Because lashing out at the people who love him most is what Cain does when he's confused and hurt.
Cain goes back to Eliza and she tells him about the time her brother ruined his leg when he saved her life. She says that that's the reason Dudley hates her. She's just about to kiss Cain, when Cain sees the lion crest on the mantle and leaves to return to the scene of the crime. This is not the first time that Cain has found a mystery more alluring than a woman. See also, The Tragic Tale of Ms. Pudding and Mad Tea Party.
The pieces come together and it's Dudley who killed Colin! Oh, and just so we're clear, it seems highly unlikely the the lion mark would stay on Colin's hand for so long. If it's just an imprint rather than a brand or something else damaging the actual skin, then the marks tend to fade pretty quickly. But oh well, it makes a good clue. (And maybe it works differently with corpses. I honestly don't know.)
Cain's alone with the killer and it looks like it's all over. But then it's Riff to the rescue as he knocks Cain out of the way and takes the bullet!
Not to distract from the genuinely powerful scene going on here, but the placement of the characters in this panel makes no sense. Eliza is crying out to Dudley as she appears to rush up... but she's facing the opposite direction and Dudley has to turn to look at her. She's yelling at empty space.
Riff: Are you hurt?
Cain: You fool! What about you?
Me: Awwww.
And now the answers are revealed. Colin was in fact a horrible person who beat and insulted Eliza and then put on a perfect facade for the rest of the world. Dudley knew this and when he confronted Colin, Colin was accidentally killed in the scuffle. And of course Dudley never hated Eliza. He didn't blame her for the damage to his leg. Instead he was grateful that he had saved his sister in exchange for just one leg. He reveals that he's strict with Eliza because he loves her so much and Cain finally realizes that that's what Riff was trying to tell him.
I should note, however, that Riff is not in fact strict with Cain. He's incredibly lenient and let's Cain literally get away with murder. The most he did this chapter is express disappointment. The idea of "I'm strict because I love you" really works better for Neil. But this is still very moving.
Eliza says that she'll wait for Dudley to come back and then they'll live together. Come back from where? When I first read this I assumed that he was going to turn himself in to the police, but murder carried the death penalty. Though this would be manslaughter. Did Victorian England have a manslaughter charge? I honestly don't know. (There's so much I don't know.) Maybe Dudley's going to skip town for a while until the whole thing blows over.
Back at home. Cain and Riff talk. Riff claims that he can always find Cain because he's always watching him, but Cain knows that Riff's too busy to manage that. So Riff explains that he follows Cain's thoughts. He can do this to the extent that he can find Cain in the middle of London, which is not exactly tiny. Cain/Riff OTP.
Cain: Of course. You belong to me alone, so you must never get hurt without my permission. This belongs to me, the only hand that is allowed to tie my shoelaces.
But that's not the best part. The best part is the floating text between panels. "I no longer know whether I belong to him or he belongs to me." OTP forever, people, all right? OTP forever.
This entry was originally posted at http://veleda-k.dreamwidth.org/33958.html. Feel free to comment at either location.
Links to previous commentaries:
Cain Saga Volume One
Cain Saga Volume Two (part one)
Cain Saga Volume Two (part two)
Cain Saga Volume Three
Cain Saga Volume Four
Cain Saga Volume Five
Godchild Volume One
This post will include research, gaps in my research, and a whole lot of "OMG CAIN/RIFF OTP!"
As usual, all quotes are from the Viz version unless otherwise noted. Speaking of which, I don't have any scanlations for any volumes past this one. If you know of any, please pass them along. I like to compare translations.
Story One: Butterfly Bones
We open with Alexis whipping Cain, while he forces Cain to recite from Genesis 4, the story of Cain and Abel. I feel traumatized just reading it. My frequently flippant commentary must be put aside to focus on how incredibly horrifying and disturbing this is. Alexis is pure evil. (Note to Ms. Yuki: you cannot show your character behaving like this, then try to excuse it and claim it was never truly his fault. The man tortures children for the fun of it. That will never not be true.)
Turns out the scene was a nightmare, and we're back to present day Cain and Merry going to visit some distant relatives. We have some brief exposition to what happened last volume and... I'm sorry I'm really distracted here. You see, we have here an image of Jezebel holding Cain, about to bring down his scalpel. Cain has his eyes closed, his head thrown back, his shirt open, and his pants partially undone. Let's just take a few moments to appreciate this. (And allow me to pull myself together.)
Okay, we can move on. Translation discrepancy here. Sakura Crisis has Merry that she doesn't ever want to meet Alexis again. This makes no sense considering that she hasn't met him a first time. Viz doesn't have this problem. This translation comparison is becoming less interesting. I'm not sure if Viz is getting better or SC is getting worse, but since the first volume of Godchild it's all been problems with SC.
Meanwhile, back at the plot, the carriage (almost literally) runs into a freaky looking girl with a bird in her mouth. See, you can tell that she's related to the Hargreaves. She's crazy!
Now introducing the one, the only, Crehador! And in his introduction he's wearing an incredibly tacky coat with leopard print lining. Cain immediately feels that something is off, although he bases this conclusion on the fact that Crehador made no noise as he came up to them, rather than his horrible fashion sense. (Seriously folks, leopard print is a good look for no one.)
Another translation discrepancy. Viz has Lukia, while SC has Rukia. Now, considering that Rukia is an actual Japanese name, you might think that this round goes to SC. It's not so simple. Ms. Yuki says in a side panel coming later that Lukia is named after a saint who tore out her eyes and sent them to her suitor. There is a saint who did this, but her name was Lucy. Either there were two female saints who did the eye thing (which is a possibility) or Yuki messed up on the name. Because I think if the katakana resembled "Lucy" (ルシ? That would be my guess.) it would be fairly easy to translate. I'm going to award points to Viz here. If I'm right, then their Lukia is closer than SC's Rukia.
Why hello, blatantly wicked stepmother. So glad you could join us.
And hello to the bizarre creepy kid! Heh, we have some nice comedy here with Cain grabbing Emile while the latter flails, and Merry chasing him. I'll bet she kicks his ass off panel. 'Cause she's Merryweather and she's awesome.
Tohko was Cromwell's "Madame Butterfly"? I don't think so, considering that Cromwell married Tohko, rather abandoning her and driving her to suicide. (Hey, an inaccurate comparison is nobody's friend. Though Tohko was driven to suicide by somebody, so perhaps the comparison holds a little bit. But Cromwell still isn't an asshole on the level of Pinkerton.)
Ha! Merry did beat up Emile. I had forgotten that actually happened.
Emile has scars! That's never a good sign in this manga.
It turns out that the letter Cain received wasn't actually written by Cromwell. The beginnings of a mystery!
Hee, Cain is delightfully snarky with Cromwell. He's also remarkably blasé about being locked in his room... until we see him pick the lock. I love that Cain just carries lock picks around. I adore Cain so much. He makes me full of squee and happiness.
Crehador gets around and evil stepmother is evil. Just so you know.
Ahhhh, it's Alexis! He's really creepy here. "Only I can punish God's child." God complex much, Alexis. Sheesh. (The SC translation actually has him say "The only one who can punish God's child is God himself.")
Ooh, a séance. Séances were very popular in the Victorian era. I haven't seen any evidence that they were forbidden to Christians on a wide scale as claimed here (Queen Victoria regularly had séances performed for her), but my research is cursory at best. I absolutely could be wrong here.
For your edification, these "paranormal investigators" will carry out Victorian-style séances in the comfort of your own home. Dude, I totally want a proper Victorian séance performed in the apartment. Hopefully, complete with the medium hitting the table to imitate voices from beyond. For a more in depth look at the Victorian Spiritualist movement, see A Willing Suspension of Disbelief: Victorian Reactions to the Spiritualist Phenomena. Don't we all feel more educated already?
But moving away from my obsession with research.... to the topic of Ms. Yuki's research. She notes in a talk column that while she really likes Lukia's Westernized kimono and it went over well with readers, people of the era probably would have found it ridiculous. And that's why I love Kaori Yuki. It's not "did not do the research" it's "did the research but ignored it in favor of something cool that I just thought up."
But, yes, plot. Tohko's ghost speaks through Lukia. It's quite a creepy scene. Evil stepmother (who does have a name, Abigail) freaks out, which isn't suspicious at all. And then she dies. I'm not sure if that counts as suspicious. Emile gets in real close, noting that he's never seen a real corpse before. Cain feels that that's an unusual response to your mother's death.
Evil stepmother is dead, Lukia is no longer possessed, Emile's creepy, Cain and Crehador are antagonistic, and Alexis is extra creepy. The stage is set to move into the next act!
Cain accuses Crehador of being a fraud and Crehador responds by invading Cain's mind and bringing up his worst memories. This scene has always soured me toward Crehador. Cain's life sucks enough without adding mind rape to it. Oh, and then Crehador gets chummy with Alexis and is all "Hey, funny thing, Cain is totally still haunted by all that horrific abuse you inflicted on him." I forget just how morally ambiguous Crehador is. He's so nasty here.
Alexis is still the creepiest creep to ever creep.
Emile is also creepy. He's about to cut himself, but Cain stops him. Cain's sees his own loneliness in Emile. Cain tells Emile that someone saved him from the darkness and we see Riff's shadow. Oh Riff, even if you're physically absent, Cain always has you in his thoughts. Note that this is the second time that Cain has tried to encourage someone in this manner. That didn't end so well either.
Cain explains that Abigail was killed with poison. Cromwell remarks that Cain is very knowledgeable. Cain thinks to himself that that's because he has the poison in his collection. Heh.
The mystery deepens and Cain makes inquires. Then he macks on Lukia. Because he's Cain. (Actually, it's all part of his cunning plan. But I'll bet he didn't find it a hardship.)
At dinner, Cain explains that he's taking Lukia back to London with him to be his mistress, and he's not making a request. He comes of as a horrible asshole. Of course, he's an acting in order to draw the killer out, but no one knows that. The reader should sense that something's not right, even if they haven't read this before. Cain can be selfish and demanding, but he would never treat people this badly.
Cromwell tries to kill Cain and gets stabbed for his trouble. But not by Cain. No, Emile's the culprit, and he also killed his own mother. He even threatens to push Merryweather off of the roof! Why? Out of his love for Lukia.
I know that Cromwell is about to lose his daughter and he's desperate, but his dialogue... "You're mine! Lukia!" Does anyone else feel like we're continuing the fine family tradition of incest?
Kaori Yuki's side note says "Cain seems to prefer girls who aren't too smart. That's the feeling I get when I look back at all the girls from his past." That seems accurate. Ms. Yuki said in an earlier side note all the back in Cain Saga three that Cain likes vulnerable girls, but he's picky about their looks. So, pretty, vulnerable girls who aren't too bright. Yeah, that matches up. Well, we saw so little of Suzette that I couldn't say how intelligent she was, but she was naïve enough to fall for the villain's trick.
Plot exposition happens, but I'm distracted by the arrival of Riff. Yay! Things just aren't the same without you, Riff.
Emile: The man showed me how I could kill mother, and how to cover everything up. He also told me what happens to bad children like me.
This is so creepy. Have I mentioned that this is creepy? What? Only a dozen times? Well, I'll say it again. This is creepy.
Cain's speech here is beautiful. He really does care about saving people.
Cain: There is someone nearby who can save you, just as someone once saved me from the labyrinth.
Riff/Cain OTP!!!!
It looks like everything is actually going to go right for once... AND THEN FUCKING ALEXIS SHOWS UP AND DRIVES EMILE TO THROW HIMSELF OFF THE ROOF. Waaaaaaaaaah! It's not fair! The look on Cain's face is so heart wrenching. And all the while Alexis goes on about how Cain can't save anyone. HE'S SO EVIL I HATE HIM SO MUCH.
We cut away from Cain's emotional breakdown to Alexis and Crehador. Crehador is still slimy, but not quite as slimy as Alexis, proven by the fact he refuses to join Delilah.
Crehador: And I will always turn down your offer, because you are the lord of darkness who will drown this city and the whole world in a sea of blood.
Melodramatic, but accurate.
Can we call this one of the most depressing endings in the series? Emile's dead, Lukia's heartbroken, Cain's traumatized, Cromwell's stabbed, and Alexis gets off scot-free. Then again, is it really that much more depressing than Kafka, where Dirk and Justine die and Jezebel makes his escape? Or Seal of the Red Ram, which ends with Meridiana and Emeline dead, while an innocent man is blamed for Delilah's crimes? Or Scold's Bridle, where none of the victims of the week get rescued? Let's face, depressing endings are this series' specialty. Still, something about this one gets me extra hard.
Story two: Bloodberry Jam
More nursery rhymes! Kaori Yuki loves making nursery rhymes creepy. (Or in some cases, creepier.)
And old lady is being manhandled by her nephew, but it's Cain to the rescue. The nephew, George, runs off, but not before being rude to the maid.
The old lady is not quite all there, and believes that Merry is her granddaughter, Kitty. She refers to everyone by nicknames, and Cain is "Mr. Blackbird." He's clearly amused by the whole thing.
It turns out that the old lady, Grace, invited Cain and Merry to her home after mistaking Merry for her granddaughter in the park. The exposition man explains that Grace was unable to cope with her granddaughter's death and retreated into her own personal fantasy world. Interestingly, Cain is perfectly willing to go along with the charade, even while he thinks that "Only a weakling lives in dreams and runs from reality." Cain has a strong sense of compassion toward the people he deems innocent. (The guilty, on the other hand, can look forward to being poisoned horribly.)
Hm, Grace gets letters from Kitty. But Kitty's been dead for years, and the letters bear recent postmarks. Our mystery for the day.
George sneaks back into the house and proves what a monumental jerk he is by attacking the maid. The next we see of him, he's dead. Our other mystery for the day.
Cain comes across the maid burning George's possessions. He also realizes that the maid smells of soap, the same smell that was on the letters. Mysteries solved? Not quite yet. The servants gather together and explain that since there's no room for death in their lady's world, they've erased all traces of the murder from the kitchen.
The maid confesses to killing George, but Cain doesn't buy it. He's added up the clues and realized that it was Grace who killed George. You see, there's a bit of red nail polish in the jam that was made. Nail polish that's the same color that Grace wears. It turns out that Grace found George attacking the maid and they fought. Grace lost it when George told her that the real Kitty was dead, that she had jumped out a window after Grace told her that if she wished hard enough, Peter Pan would take her flying with him.
I'm not sure that this is as much Grace's fault as George claims. From what we know, Grace didn't say "Hey, you can fly, so go try it." Plenty of adults tell children impossible stories. Then again, most adults do try to make children understand enough of reality that they don't die. Still, I don't have enough information to decide either way.
By the way, the mention of Peter Pan here is anachronistic. Peter Pan first showed up in The Little White Bird , a novel published in 1902. That's a several years after this story takes place.
Anyway, Grace freaks out and smashes George in the head with the rock hard lump sugar. The servants, who love the mistress who's so kind to them, banded together to erase the evidence of her crime. The butler offers to turn himself into the police.
Cain: What are you talking about? [Cutting other dialogue here] There's no evidence that anything took place in this room. It's all speculation, right?
The bad person is dead, the good people are alive. That's enough for Cain. He's proven time and time again that he has his own concept of justice.
We end with Cain breaking the jar of jam accidently-on-purpose. He would rather his little sister not eat the jam created to cover up a murder. Not to mention the bit of nail polish floating around in it. That's not sanitary.
Story three: Lion Crest
We have a very nice splash page with Cain and Riff gazing to each other's eyes very intently, while Riff grips Cain's partially open shirt. They are so doing it. In the event that they're not doing it, they at least want to very much.
We open to Cain remembering the times during his childhood when he would run off and hide, but no matter where he was, Riff would always find him. Back in the present, Cain is supposed to be attending a party with his family, but he decides to go to a bar instead. Since this is Cain, he ends up leaving with a woman, Eliza, and because this is Cain, they find a dead body. Cain examines the corpse (freaking Eliza out) and notices the unusually small bullet wound and the lion imprint on the hand.
It turns out that dead guy is the Eliza's fiance. She and Cain go in for questioning.
Eliza: How can you, the police, suspect the first person to see the body!
Um, actually the first person to discover the body is pretty suspicious. We lean that Colin (the dead guy) and Eliza didn't get along.
Riff shows up, to Cain's annoyance, but Riff explains that he couldn't refuse, given that the police told him to come down. Then some guy comes and slaps Eliza! He's her brother and not at all happy with his sister's behavior.
Cain: In aristocratic societies, all anyone cares about is avoiding a scandal. Misfits like her and me are rarely tolerated.
Wow, Cain identifies with the victim of the week... and she doesn't end up dying. Normally, Cain feeling a connection with a minor character is a death sentence.
Eliza is surprised to know that the man she was with is the famous Earl Hargreaves. She turns to Riff and shares some of the nasty rumours surrounding Cain, ending with wondering if the Grim Reaper that supposedly follows Cain killed Colin. Riff does not look happy at all to hear her talk about Cain like that.
On their way home, Riff notes with disappointment that Cain missed the party he was supposed to be attending. Cain doesn't care until Riff reminds him that it was Uncle Neil's birthday party. That gets to Cain and he clearly feels quite guilty. Riff then says that he understands why Dudley is so strict with Eliza. Cain takes this the completely wrong way and assumes that Riff is saying that it's okay that Dudley slapped Eliza, and he thinks back to his father beating him.
Cain: How can you, of all people, say that kids who don't fit in deserved to be punished? You, who has seen the scars on my back.
Riff tries to explain that that's not what he meant, that he was saying that Dudley is strict with Eliza because he loves her, but Cain isn't listening and he jumps out of the carriage.
Now, I think that normally Cain would have realized that Riff would never ever say that Cain deserved to be abused. But Cain isn't thinking clearly here. Riff has just finished criticizing Cain, and Cain always reacts very badly when people do that. It's understandable, considering that he spent his entire childhood being told that he was evil. But here I think he's reacting even more strongly because he knows that the criticism was justified. It was wrong of him to go to a bar rather than attend his uncle's party, especially since Neil was looking forward to seeing him. Cain can't deal with that, and so he assumes the worst about Riff and lashes out. Because lashing out at the people who love him most is what Cain does when he's confused and hurt.
Cain goes back to Eliza and she tells him about the time her brother ruined his leg when he saved her life. She says that that's the reason Dudley hates her. She's just about to kiss Cain, when Cain sees the lion crest on the mantle and leaves to return to the scene of the crime. This is not the first time that Cain has found a mystery more alluring than a woman. See also, The Tragic Tale of Ms. Pudding and Mad Tea Party.
The pieces come together and it's Dudley who killed Colin! Oh, and just so we're clear, it seems highly unlikely the the lion mark would stay on Colin's hand for so long. If it's just an imprint rather than a brand or something else damaging the actual skin, then the marks tend to fade pretty quickly. But oh well, it makes a good clue. (And maybe it works differently with corpses. I honestly don't know.)
Cain's alone with the killer and it looks like it's all over. But then it's Riff to the rescue as he knocks Cain out of the way and takes the bullet!
Not to distract from the genuinely powerful scene going on here, but the placement of the characters in this panel makes no sense. Eliza is crying out to Dudley as she appears to rush up... but she's facing the opposite direction and Dudley has to turn to look at her. She's yelling at empty space.
Riff: Are you hurt?
Cain: You fool! What about you?
Me: Awwww.
And now the answers are revealed. Colin was in fact a horrible person who beat and insulted Eliza and then put on a perfect facade for the rest of the world. Dudley knew this and when he confronted Colin, Colin was accidentally killed in the scuffle. And of course Dudley never hated Eliza. He didn't blame her for the damage to his leg. Instead he was grateful that he had saved his sister in exchange for just one leg. He reveals that he's strict with Eliza because he loves her so much and Cain finally realizes that that's what Riff was trying to tell him.
I should note, however, that Riff is not in fact strict with Cain. He's incredibly lenient and let's Cain literally get away with murder. The most he did this chapter is express disappointment. The idea of "I'm strict because I love you" really works better for Neil. But this is still very moving.
Eliza says that she'll wait for Dudley to come back and then they'll live together. Come back from where? When I first read this I assumed that he was going to turn himself in to the police, but murder carried the death penalty. Though this would be manslaughter. Did Victorian England have a manslaughter charge? I honestly don't know. (There's so much I don't know.) Maybe Dudley's going to skip town for a while until the whole thing blows over.
Back at home. Cain and Riff talk. Riff claims that he can always find Cain because he's always watching him, but Cain knows that Riff's too busy to manage that. So Riff explains that he follows Cain's thoughts. He can do this to the extent that he can find Cain in the middle of London, which is not exactly tiny. Cain/Riff OTP.
Cain: Of course. You belong to me alone, so you must never get hurt without my permission. This belongs to me, the only hand that is allowed to tie my shoelaces.
But that's not the best part. The best part is the floating text between panels. "I no longer know whether I belong to him or he belongs to me." OTP forever, people, all right? OTP forever.
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