Too tropey: too tally for a graphic novel. DNF'd. Manga is better. ( )

I'm clearly in the minority in not liking this book, but it just left me cold. The art was quite good, but it's at heart a story about violence toward women as an act of aggression against a specific man. I just didn't enjoy reading about all of the awful things done to the women of the story simply because the man hurting them was mad at another man. Not my cup of tea. ( )

Kabuki takes place in a futuristic Japan where government and crime work together to form a sort of corporate feudalism. There's a secret organization within the government that tries to keep the balance of power even. If a politician or a crime lord becomes too powerful, an assassin is sent to take care of things.

The main character of the story is one of these assassins. A woman who is still haunted by the death of her mother, she bears the name Kabuki.

Kabuki reminded me a little of the movie Blade Runner. Not the plot, but the feeling of the story. It's a kind of philosophical noir that moves you through emotions more than through plot. It's dark and violent, but I was still intrigued by the characters and their world. ( )

I'm reading this series in completely the wrong order - #6, #3, and now #1. But it's kind of like filling in the gaps, in a series where gaps are the staple diet.

A nearish-future tale of Japan that Quentin Tarantino could easily have spun Kill Bill back through time from. The story is enough to be interesting, and not complicated enough to be confusing. But the real joy, the 5 stars for this review, is in the telling. The temporal flicks and running themes tie directly into the amazing artwork. Blood in black and white.

#2 next. ( )

This was a decent graphic novel that reminded me a lot of the Kill Bill movies. The story basically looks at Japanese government and the yakuza. There is a secret organization that has a number of women assassins that work for them, one of these assassins is Kabuki. The story alternates between the yakuza/government scenes, the assassination scenes, and more intimate scenes where we learn about Kabuki’s past and how she ended up as she is now.

I enjoyed the scenes where Kabuki talks about her past and her thoughts. She is really the only character in this book you get to know at all and these scenes were a bit surreal as well as very engaging.

I didn’t enjoy the yakuza/government scenes as much because these involved the quick introduction of many many characters that honestly weren’t around long enough to care about.

The artwork is all black and white and has a very sci-fi noir vibe to it; lots of sleek lines and 80’s looking sci-fi costumes. Generally the artwork made the story easier to follow; although some of the action scenes got a bit confusing.

I appreciated the whole uber-violence as art and the commentary on the fine line between government and organized crime. However, it’s not something I found all that engaging and not the type of thing I would read again.

Overall a well done sci-fi uber-violent femme fatale type of graphic novel. There is some excellent artistry here and some interesting (if seen before) social commentary. It’s all well put together. I found the parts focusing on the government and organized crime to be a bit hard to follow at times (just too many characters that looked too similar) but really enjoyed the more ambiguous chapters where Kabuki comments on her past and present. ( )