Soul Hunter Volume 3: The Spoils of Warby Barb Lien-CooperReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Studio
Credits Grade: 7 In this volume of the fantasy epic Soul Hunter, the two princes and their guardian, Kou Hiko, have run away in order to escape Dakki, the demoness who has won the Emperor’s heart. Dakki’s sent demon assassins to capture them. Worse yet, Bunchu, Kou Hiko’s old friend who is still loyal to the emperor, has come to bring the children back. In case this plot point rings false with you, Bunchu’s loyalty is towards keeping the Yin empire itself intact. He hopes to do so by destroying the demoness, not by taking down the Emperor. Bunchu’s argument is that if the boys don’t go back, there’ll be no blood heirs to keep the Yin dynasty going. You admire both men, but you’re not buying Bunchu’s logic simply because we’ve seen Dakki’s power. In the meantime, Soul Hunter Taikoubou and his minions are following after the young heirs in order to protect them from Dakki. A lot more happens, but that’s the basic set up.The relationship between Kou Hiko and Bunchu is absolutely fascinating. Here are two equally good and honorable men that may be forced to kill each other for their beliefs. In fact, you can tell that the beliefs are awfully similar and that the men are so alike because they even look, talk, and act like each other (neat little design decision there). But that question of how to be loyal to the Yin dynasty when a demon-possessed emperor is driving it to ruins is enough to divide even the closest friends. You want Bunchu to listen to reason, but you also know if he did he’d be betraying his honor, which what gives him a moral code for living, after all. I can’t help but like the evil Dakki. She’s smarter than anyone else in the kingdom, she knows enough to use these guys’ honor to divide them, she keeps great tabs on the action (the funniest scenes are those where she and her sisters sit around a TV watching the events going on in the DVD and commenting on them - they’re sharp tongued women when it comes to talking back to the TV). I want to see her defeated, but I also think that if everyone else were too weak and stupid to stop this, maybe the cleverest, most powerful entity SHOULD win. That’s the power of Dakki’s charisma, folks. The laughs are fewer and farther between this time (well, volume two was also serious, but it had a few more funny bits), but the action plot cooked. This volume had some really exciting episodes. The talks in the fight scenes between Kou Hiko and Bunchu went on a bit long (which even characters IN the DVD commented upon), but that’s about the only real complaint I have towards this volume. Written: May 17, 2002
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