Samurai Deeper Kyo: Volume 37-38

by Akimine Kamijyo, 415 pages

Kyo and Kyoshiro's personal histories as individuals and as friends-turned-potential-enemies are finally revealed as are their motives for taking the paths they've chosen. One by one, everyone pulls together to support them and their shared purpose. But the only one who can face the desperate, bitter, seemingly-all-powerful Former Crimson King is Kyo--in his own body. But after so long apart from himself, will Kyo be able to maintain the new identity his soul has formed over the years, or will he fall back into the dark, voracious, unstoppable force of destruction that lies buried in his genes? Only with the love and support of his new family can he hope to prevail...or survive.

Despite yet another knock-down, drawn-out, not-over-nearly-as-soon-as-it-should-be fight, this final installment in the series still manages to land the emotional punches that made me read this far in the first place. I love these characters. I love how they all grow as individuals and as a family. And I love how you just know, no matter what they appear to do on the surface, that their hearts are all in the right place. With its themes of indomitable hope, self-sacrifice, and strength in loving numbers, SDK gets to the warm-fuzzy sucker in me no matter how much cheese or how many overwrought battles it throws in its way.

Samurai Deeper Kyo: Volume 35-36

by Akimine Kamijyo, 370 pages

Bounty hunter Yuya thinks she may have snagged the wrong guy when she picks up flirty but harmless wandering medicine man Kyoshiro. But when his personality switches to that of a fiery-eyed, crazily-grinning master swordsman when the two are attacked by a third party, she realizes she has the right man, after all. But if the notorious Demon Eyes Kyo is sharing a body with a helpless dope like Kyoshiro, will she still get the reward? Money, however, quickly becomes the least of Yuya's worries, as she's drawn into the complex and deadly mystery of how the two men came to share the same body...and how that dual occupation will ultimately come to an end.

This samurai fantasy action epic is filled with fictionalized historical characters, complex longstanding rivalries, life-or-death fight after life-or-death fight, and more numbered hierarchical groups than you can shake a stick at (if The Four Emperors, The Sanada Ten, The Five Stars, and The Four Elders are more than you can shake a stick at).

Honestly, this 38-volume story probably could have fit into about half the number of books if the author had just trimmed the excessive number of repetitive, over-the-top, formulaic fights (rarely complete without breathless play-by-play from friends and foes on the sidelines). It is all a bit ridiculous, really.

And yet here I am, one bundled volume away from the long-awaited conclusion, having stuck it out despite all my complaining. For this, I blame the characters. For all their posturing and bickering and bellicosity, they still manage to be endearing. Good guys, bad guys, whose-side-are-they-really-on guys--they all have a story. Rash Benitora is a naive sweetheart. Smooth goof Yukimura is secretly a soft-hearted, calculating, wicked-skilled swordsman. And then there's the whole complicated Kyo-Kyoshiro dynamic. After hanging out with everyone for so long and watching their at-first-little family expand and bond, I can't help but want to see them through to the end. It helps, too, that the actual plot is intricate and intriguing enough to make me read through all the chest-pounding and one-upmanship in order to see how it all plays out.

SDK isn't for everyone--and wouldn't normally be for me--but if you don't mind being sucked in for the long haul despite your better judgment, it can't hurt.