Special Edition: Succubus & Hitman Vol. 2

Author: Makoto Fukami
Illustrator: Seigo Tokiya
Publishers: Seven Seas 
Age Group: 18+, Mature
Genre: shonen, action adventure, horror, fantasy
Type: Manga

Content Warnings: Violence, sexual assault, child abuse, gun fetishism, torture, murder, kidnapping, trauma, death

Spoilers ahead

Plot

Gamou Shouya, our too serious proxy hitman finds Beatdown (the one that SA’d and shot his mom). He works with 2 fellow proxy hitmen in this volume, Tekki Kaname and Ikenami Ryougo. Each of them have their own reasons for being proxy hitmen but their targets all converge on an elite elimination squad called the Arakami Group. They’re part of the largest yakuza organization, Tsuyufusa Clan.

Most of this volume is spent gathering information from Beatdown’s soul about the Arakami clan. Shouya continues his info gathering by hitting locations of the Tsuyufusa clan, but before he can make a move the Arakami clan has stolen his new sister, Riri. 

What awaits these three proxy hitman as they go down against one of the most brutal and wild groups of the underworld? 

Character Development

Gamou Shouya is a serious person who’s somewhat of a vigilante at night and an average person during the day. He learns enough about the original Shouya’s life so that isn’t too conspicuous, yet he doesn’t go out of his way to try to mimic the original just choking it up to his ‘amnesia’. 

We see a lot of vulnerability from Shouya in this volume between making parallels of shouya’s family dynamic and his own (before he was reincarnated in Shouya’s body). This creates a huge blindspot for him and things end up with Riri being kidnapped. For someone that shows a lot of planning and contingencies when he fights, he forgot a major one. Yet, it doesn’t feel out of character because this is where his own trauma comes from. Teenagers can’t be expected to remember everything right? 

Kururi is a cosplayer and hacker who Shouya saves. She’s a bit of a scaredy cat but she’s good. She’s got a good head on her shoulders (most of the time) and thinks of all the angles such as when she hands over her findings for research and hides it amongst her cosplay photos. 

Tekki Kaname is another proxy hitman that is introduced at the end of volume 1. We get more of her character here. She is a young woman used to violence as her mother used to give her cigarette burns and wish her dead. She’s contracted to a demon of evil, Ridelk, (who has a penchant for widows). Kaname is very popular at her all girls school, the top of her class. She’s pretty two-faced being able to keep her cool. But how would she handle pleasure and not pain? 

Ikenami Ryougo is a young man who is an illustrator. He’s another proxy hitman contracted to Trauco, a demon of that’s known as an imitator of miracles. We meet his character briefly in volume 1 where he’s mostly there to foretell he’ll be in this volume 2. Based on the little information we have gathered, he didn’t become a proxy hitman for anything but selfish reasons. He seems like the decent sort because he warns Shouya that he has too many blindspots, such as his sister. 

Our last two main characters (that’s aren’t bad guys) are Riri, Shouya’s sister, and Henmi Isana, a childhood friend of Shouya that’s also in the same pro-wrestling club. Shouya and Riri make more appearances related to the plot in this second volume than the first. Isana tries to watch out for Shouya, but she gets the wrong idea that Kururi and Shouya are dating and informs Riri. If you’re into the muscle babe type, she’s the one for you. 

Riri seems to be the overprotective little sister type. She’s noticed her brother’s different than usual. Events from the first volume stick in her head (she was saved by Shouya from the murder who hammers in girl’s skulls). When Armelina gets super horny, it causes a chain reaction in Riri. It’ll be interesting to see where that goes. 

World-building

In this volume we learn there are many reasons for people to become proxy hitman. It’s interesting to seem them work together rather than make it a competition. It’s a nice change of pace so that there isn’t drama but more focus on the plot and action. It doesn’t take away from Shouya’s main plot but helps to make it shine more. 

We also learn that there are people called violators (which is a horrible joke considering how we learn it). These violators are humans that aren’t contracted with demons but have access to magic. They’re dangerous and harder to kill than normal humans. We learn more about these violators in this volume (thanks to the exposition by one of the bad guys, Araki Shouko, leader of the Arakami Group). Violators don’t make contracts with demons but get abilities from relics, be they angelic or demonic. They are granted a Solomon’s seal (also known as Goetia seals). 

The research done for each of the abilities and their seals actually comes from demonaltry, they got the abilities down pat based on which demons they are. For example, Beatdown had the seal of Berith, the demon of alchemy. Beatdown can turn bullets to gold and use alchemy as ‘violator’s magic’ (my term not the series). In demonaltry, Berith is the demon of alchemy that can turn metal into gold. Yet, he also is an instructor to force the person using his power to find his own answers (Beatdown doesn’t do this). One of the explanations that Araki Shouko gives for this is because he was so large the powers couldn’t be utilized correctly. 

Themes

Cover your own ass. 

I think this is the major theme for this second volume. The reason for this is because Shouya forgets to cover all his bases before going against the Arakami Group. The problem with this is he’s now a couple of steps behind and those around him are in danger. 

This is one of my favorite themes because I tell people all the time that they need to cover their own ass when dealing with people. Make that recording, make sure there’s a paper trial, make sure there’s video. And always plan for every outcome that way you’re not blindsided like Shouya is in this volume when Riri is taken.  

Observations & Predictions

I still don’t see Shouya seeing anything beyond revenge. His life has only one purpose. He can think about the other stuff later. 

My prediction from last time to see more violators came true! We see a lot of them as the Arakami Group is entirely made of them. Learning Beatdown’s powers weren’t fully effective means that these guys will be a harder challenge for Shouya. I want to see me completely take these guys down because Araki is bonkers for torture of all kinds. So much so, she could give demons a run for their money. 

We also got to (mostly hear) that Beatdown was tortured (well, his soul). This makes me happy, considering what he did. I think he got a fitting end. While we don’t really get to see a lot of hell (just a room?). We do know their ways of torture are fitting. I’d still like to see more of the underbelly of hell. 

Though in exchange for this we get to see more of the world’s underbelly through the Arakami Group and hearing about their various missions. 

It’s all about the revenge but I’d still like to see Shouya learning more about his deadbeat father (it was his father’s fault his family was brutally attacked) and learn more about his father’s debt. 

This volume delivered on a lot more and touched on some vulnerabilities that will help Shouya grow as a character. It also introduced us to a variety of other characters who I’m hoping will have their own character arcs. 

This is not a read for anyone under 18. Parental discretion is advised for anyone under 18. If you’re over 18 and enjoy really dark series. Pick this one up! 

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