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PREFACE

The year is 2068, and the super computer Leave has total control of the world.  Having supplanted the domination of mankind, she has created a new race called Selenoids.  These genetically engineered beings have created a utopia in the ruins of the devastated planet.  There is only one thing that can spoil this perfect world, RE-O, the human resistance movement.

When Ash Ramay, a member of RE-O, kills a Selenoid leader, he is captured and brought before Sheeviona, Vice Commander of Defense.  She is amazed at the level of power the boy possess, and her first instinct is to eliminate him.  After she interrogates him, Sheeviona decides that they can use him to help crush RE-O. Ash is taken to the governing Selenoid "Mother Seishia" to see if he can be turned.  Sheeviona's assistant Lemiu also finds Ash intriguing, and sets out to learn more about him.

Who is this mysterious boy, and where did he get so much power?  Can he truly be the salvation of mankind?

MANGA VISION TEST

ARTWORK: Simply marvelous.  Every single panel is breathtaking.  Few manga have ever achieved the level of detail found in Deus Vitae.  I'm impressed at how Takuya Fujima blends his appreciation of beauty in the male and female form with the cold and unfeeling world of the Selenoids.  The color pages at the beginning are pure art.  I wish the entire manga had been done this way.

SOUND EFFECTS: The sound effects have been expertly crafted into the visual effects.  Fujima uses the Japanese language as an integral part of the action. 

EDITS: No edits have been noted. 

EXTRAS: No extras.

BOOK REPORT 

STORY:  While the art in Deus Vitae has plenty of style, the story has very little substance.  This is a pretty pedestrian "Matrix" clone, complete with "The One".  It's obvious that Takuya Fujima was influenced by "The Matrix", "Blame!", and other dystopian cyberpunk stories.

TRANSLATION: Kumiko Yuasa does a fine job with the translations.  She manages to convert the pretentious tone of the Selenoids into dialogue that most can understand.  The humans really don't say much other than a bunch of clichés, so I'm sure that made things easier for Kumiko Yuasa.

CHARACTERS:  Ash Ramy is your typical arrogant, kick ass action hero.  He has little depth, no subtlety, and he communicates via his "power".  The only sense of the character you get is his dedication to the cause, and that he likes Selenoid girls with babies.

Then you have Selenoid girl Lemiu Winslet, who has even less personality than Ash.  Her only purpose seems to be to follow Vice Commander Sheeviona around and swoon after bad boy Ash.  Like most "impressionable" young girls, she willingly chucks her easy existence when a beautiful boy looks at her in a sexy way.

The rest of the characters only seem to be there as either allies or adversaries.  I will say that Vice Commander Sheeviona interrogates Ash much in the same way that "Bizzaro Debbie" interrogated Dr. Quinn in Sealab 2041.

FAN SERVICE: Every single female gets naked at some point in "Deus Vitae", so you fan boys should be happy.  Many will find similarities to "The Matrix" so you have that to enjoy as well.

FOOTNOTES:

When I picked up the premiere issue of "Great Magazine Z" in Japan, it was like finding the holy grail of manga!  Contained within its voluminous pages were stories of action (Berserk), adventure (Chronoeyes), horror (Vampire Master), and avant-guard storytelling (King of Bandit Jing).  There was also a gorgeous looking cyberpunk title called "DV".  The artwork blew me away.  The level of detail went beyond anything I had seen before, including my favorite manga "Blame!".  While the story wasn't that complex, the art kept me interested.  When I left Japan, the series only half finished, I was worried that I would never get to see how things end.

Imagine my surprise when TOKYOPOP sent me a copy of DV (or Deus Vitae) to review.  My heart began to accelerate as I turned the first page.  Now, not only could I enjoy the beautiful artwork, but better understand the dire circumstances our hero Ash had encountered.

Well, "Deus Vitae was not quite as epic as the art had led me to believe.  Truth be told, it's nothing but a pale imitation of "The Matrix", with an oppressive machine empire and "The One" ready to save the world from a group of over-sexed machine people.  Okay maybe being subjugated to a bunch of sexdroids is not a bad thing.  By then end of the book, the plot had barely advanced, with an ending you could see miles away.  I really can't go into too much detail, because if I do, then you will know everything.

What struck me as funny is that the 40+ page prologue (which appears at the back of the book by the way) is much more interesting than the main story!  Again, it wasn't anything new, but there was at lease some characterization, and it did help explain the reason for mankind's "elimination".  I think that if the story had been about Leave taking over the world, and not about Ash fighting a war you know he is going to win, "Deus Vitae" would have been a lot better.

I applaud Takuya Fujima for trying a "cyber gospel" approach to his story, similar to "The Second Renaissance" in "The Animatrix".  Unfortunately, the over use of religious sounding dialogue had an almost negative effect.  If you were lucky enough to have read "Terminator: The Burning Earth" mini series from the defunct NOW Comics, writer Ron Fortier did a much better job at explaining the end of the world from the computers point of view.  Translator Kumiko Yuasa did a pretty good job at trying to keep things easy to understand, so give her a hand.

The writing may leave something to be desired, but Fujima's drawings are beyond fantastic, they are works of art.  The incredible detail and high energy he injects into every page is sublime.  The images just jump off the page, infecting my very being.  Not sense "Akira" have I seen an artist use textures, shadows, and speed lines to this great of effect.  I can overlook the deficiencies in the story because of the artwork.

"Deus Vitae", one of the best looking, but vapid, mangas to be released.  Takuya Fujima is a master at presenting high energy works of art, but as a writer, his story is average for the Sci-Fi genre.  Perhaps volume two will provide more depth.  It certainly will provide a visual thrill!

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