| Name: Dead Mount Death Play Author: Ryohgo Narita Artist: Shinta Fujimoto Translator: Christine Dashiell Publisher: Yen Press |
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It’s been a while since Narita did a manga, as fun as Stealth Symphony was, it really wasn’t suited to Jump, so, Dead Mount Death Play fixes that problem by running in a Seinen magazine, allowing Narita to play to his strengths.
And Narita is definitely playing to his strengths here. In the first chapter alone, he manages to build a story at the intersection of three different plot threads, and it all manages to fit together pretty well.
The central premise of Dead Mount is that it’s a reverse-isekai, with the main villain from some generic fantasy world getting re-incarnated into body of recently assassinated Polka Shinoyama. We end up with the intersection of the necromancer, the assassination agency and the legacy of Polka, and the cast of character that inhabit that intersection (mostly from the assassin agency).
This cast is great as writing a quirky ensemble cast really well has always been one of Narita’s strong points. We have Tastumi, the drone-controlling clean up guy, Zaki, the best assassin in terms of personality and the former soul of Polka’s body, currently inhabiting one of Tastumi’s drones.
These characters are all drawn distinctly in a slightly-cartoony style and it suits both Narita’s tone in general and series tone specifically. Fujimoto has had experience drawing Narita’s works before (he did the manga adaptation of Baccano) and he’s able to panel Narita’s gags so they land well.
There’s a small amount of (straight-male) fanservice in the art. I’d say nothing too egregious and it’s definitely not a focus of the series. There are some panty shots and some very large exposed breasts. I can’t think of anything more extreme, but I tend to gloss over it and keep reading. If fanservice annoys you, then it’s worth being aware of it.
While chapter-by-chapter releases that ape American floppies are annoyingly expensive (although less so than said floppies). I’d recommend this bi-weekly series if you can only afford one, it’s good value for money and should definitely be tried.
| Overall: 8/10 |
Art: 7/10 |
Story: 8/10 |
Dead Mount Death Play is available from Yen Press here.
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