The original storyline for The Record of a Fallen Vampire has now ended. With the success in breaking the seal of imprisonment on Adelheid, the shōnen manga's story shifts its focus to the alien invasion and a means to defeat Big Mortar with Strauss's aid.
Volume 8 gives more details about the past while all the major forces begin to move their players on a many-sided chessboard. Most of the mysteries are finally revealed in this volume and the preparations for an attack upon Big Mortar and the revival of the Kingdom of the Night begin.
Overview:
The Record of a Fallen Vampire is generally not known for having many physical action sequences, but there are generally a few. Volume 8, though, is an exception; it has no action scenes, unless you count a brief, one-sided flashback encounter between Strauss and Saverhagen near the end as one. Instead this volume focuses on revealing many of the mysteries that had been around for some time and planning for the conflict ahead; essentially, this volume could be seen as a setup volume laying foundation for the future volumes, clearing away most of the loose threads and mysteries about the past in order to focus more on the battle ahead and allow more drama, conflict and mysteries to emerge without overwhelming the reader.
Kyo Shirodaira does an excellent job of creating dramatic tension through the integral flashbacks and the perception each character has of reality. This volume particularly packs a lot into it, perhaps even too much. The final piece, about the mystery dealing with the Black Swan, I think might have been better left for a later volume as several other major mysteries were revealed in this chapter and a major event, the return of Adelheid, occurred in the last volume, revealing also another major twist. I expect that perhaps some major event and mystery might be cleared up in each volume, but this volume had a lot going on in it, including several major events, or the start of such, on top of the revelations. While it flows nicely from one scene to the next, I feel as though events might be moving too fast, although I admit that may be what Shirodaira intends—to give the reader the same sense of events coalescing together around the characters at an increasingly rapid pace.
Yuri Kimura continues to have some great artwork as well. I am particularly pleased with the flashback drawings where most of the dramatic action takes place. The cover art is also nicely done with Stella and Kayuki Hirasaka, with Strauss in the middle but off to one side, giving a great symbolic picture of the relationship between the three. The background image of the moon, Strauss holding a sword in one hand while the other is a clenched first in the air shows his resolve. And that's just some of the more obvious items. Kimura really knows how to put a lot of multi-leveled detail in her work.
The Record of a Fallen Vampire volume 8 continues to develop a rich, multi-front battle. However, for all its greatness, some newer readers may find this volume, which lacks almost any combat and is mostly back-story somewhat lacking.
ComicsOnline gives The Record of a Fallen Vampire volume 8 3 our 5 Black Swans.
