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Manga-ka: Jun Mochizuki
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: December 2009
Synopsis: “The air of celebration surrounding fifteen-year-old Oz Vessalius’s coming-of-age ceremony quickly turns to horror when he is condemned for a sin about which he knows nothing. He is thrown into an eternal, inescapable prison known as the Abyss from which there is no escape. There, he meets a young girl named Alice, who is not what she seems. Now that the relentless cogs of fate have begun to turn, do they lead only to crushing despair for Oz, or is there some shred of hope for him to grasp on to?”
After taking in Mochizuki’s Crimson Shell in a previous review, this ongoing series offers similar flavors with it’s gothic British setting, endless mansions and frilly outfits. However, it manages to avoid being a retread of the previous series, just another tale offered in complimentary window dressing. Mochizuki presents us with yet more pseudo-Victorian gothic wonderment, and ups the ante a bit with some cleverly chosen ties to a literary classic, and a fairly involving plot centering on intentions most sinister for all concerned.
