Special Edition: Dark Gathering Vol. 2
As the first volume didn't sit well with me, I decided to try the second volume and see how the author has progressed the story. My recommendation: If you can get passed the first volume, it's definitely worth a read.
Author: Kenichi Kondo
Illustrator: Kenichi Kondo
Publishers: Viz Media
Age Group: Older Teen
Genre: Adventure Horror Shonen
Type: Manga
Content Warnings: Curses, Dark Entities, Parental Loss, Psycho Girlfriend
Spoilers ahead
Plot
Keitaro Gentoga couldn’t be unluckier. Not only can he sense ghosts, he’s a magnet for what lurks in the dark. After a horrible development with one such entity, he and his friend are cursed. Traumatized and re-entering society after a long sabbotical, Keitaro gets a tutoring job where he meets occult-obsessed girl, Yayoi Hozuki. Not only can she see ghosts, but she captures the most dangerous spirits as well. This unlikely duo set out on the quest (Keitaro reluctantly) to find her mom, who was taken by one such gut-wrenching monster.
In this second volume, Keitaro joins a club to work on his social skills only to get caught up in a dark entities scheme that will kill him. When Eiko and Yayoi save him they decide to take him camping to forget what happened. Only now it’s Eiko’s turn!
Character Development
This second volume does wonders for character development. Like I mentioned in my first post, Keitaro was a bit of a limp character and the author worked too hard to get us to relate to him. This volume flushed him out a lot more. He creates goals for himself, he works through his trauma (a little) and decides to face it.
We also get to know Eiko a lot more. I wasn’t sure where the author was going with her in the first volume, but I love the twists in her personality. It makes her a lot more engaging as a sunny character (albeit dark as well). It creates a great yin-yang thing going on in her character.
Yayoi is still a great engaging character that’s relatable and takes a back seat so we get to know more about Eiko and see Keitaro grow. We also see a lot more into their relationship and a developing dynamic between Yayoi and Keitaro that will help with future volumes of collecting and destroying ghosts.
World-building
The world-building is a bit better in this if you’re watching the illustrations. Not only do we get common places that make it easy for the audience to infer things, ghost stories to give context for future fights, but also ways to deal with them.
As a spiritual practitioner of the occult arts, myself. It was great to see poppet magic, salt cleansing, and libations with alcohol being used correctly. It adds to the authenticity of this world that’s created around Keitaro.
Themes
While theme is always subjective, and this piece doesn’t seem to have one. There is one that I’d like everyone to consider.
Trauma must be dealt with head on.
I mentioned in my previous review of this series (see recommendations for the link), that Keitaro wasn’t engaging and getting his curse lifted was him getting handed the solution. There wasn’t much growth there.
In this second volume, he works through enough of the trauma to make it a goal to undo this curse that affects him and Eiko.
Observations & Predictions
Having read this volume of Dark Gathering, I can’t wait to read the rest. We should expect to see Keitaro begin to get over his fears of the supernatural. As such, the dynamic between him and Yayoi will get better as he learns protective techniques from her. The audience can also learn a lot about the occult arts and protective charms against dark entities outside of exorcism and holy water.
I’m interested to see if there will be any conflict between Keitaro and Eiko if he ever finds out just how dark and twisted she is behind the sweetness he’s come to know. That will be interesting since Eiko is a bit of a psycho behind her sweet demeanor.
Recommendations
Hell’s Paradise By: Yuji Kaku Horror Fantasys, M rating
Gabimaru the Hollow is a vicious assassin betrayed by his clan. Now he must attain the elixir of immortality or be executed. If he survives, he gets a pardon and a boon, he can live with is wife without his clan killing both of them. The island where this elixir lies may look like heaven but hell is just a breath away.
