Review: Lament of the Lamb by Kei Toume

Product Summary

Kazuna Takashiro can't escape the pain of his past. Ever since his mother died, nightmares and visions have been eating away at him. When he  finds his long-lost sister, Chizuna, the two discover they share more than just a family name. The siblings are cursed with a disease of the blood - a disease that will turn them into vampires! As they resist accepting their destiny, Kazuna and Chizuna struggle to contain the craving that is the very essence of what they will become.

First Impressions

"My mother...even though she's cradling my sister, she looks so terribly sad. The memories I have of her are as faded as this photograph." - excerpt.

Lament of the Lamb is a seven volume horror/drama manga series with gothic overtones developed by Kei Toume. Officially it fits under the umbrella term "seinen", which is manga traditionally targeted to male readers between the ages of 16-30.

Although the first several pages masquerade as a traditional (albeit quirky) drama, the subtle foreshadowing and overall tone of the writing is especially dark, serving as a warning for upcoming events.

The main protagonist, Kazuna Takashiro, is a high school teen who lives with his "aunt" and "uncle". His mother died when he was quite young, and his father reluctantly chose to leave Kazuna with friends of the family so that he could attend to Kazuna's older sister, Chizuna, who had fallen gravely ill.

Upon starting a new art class Kazuna meets Yaegashi, a cute, albeit somewhat reserved young woman. After several days of bonding Kazuna sheepishly agrees to model for her still life painting. His problems begin when Yaegashi pulls out a bottle of blood red paint, and Kazuna begins to feel violently sick, passing out at her feet.

Resolving to learn more about his family, Kazuna tracks down his older sister, Chizuna, who reveals that the illness she suffered as a child was actually the beginning symptoms of vampirism. What separates Lament of the Lamb from the majority of vampire mythology is that it regards vampirism not as a supernatural affliction spread by the undead to the living, but rather, as an inherited blood disease spread through reproduction. Their father, fearing for Kazuna's safety, gave him up and moved away with Chizuna in order to tend to her. When Kazuna tells his sister about his fainting spells, she suspects that he too is afflicted with vampirism, and that it may have been overlooked by their father since women tend to show signs of the affliction at an earlier age than men.

Kazuna and Chizuna's reconciliation serves as the beginning of their new life together, and in many ways it also serves as the point where the plot begins to pick up.

Final Thoughts

The first volume is unusually slow for a horror manga. At nearly 200 pages, it's almost unheard of that no one dies, is maimed or murders another person. The only trauma inflicted in the first volume is limited to emotional and psychological trauma. I suspect that this may branch out in future volumes, however.

What appeals to me is that the author was brave enough to spend a great deal of time with character development, rather than hastily putting the main story into motion. Kei Toume manages this task gracefully and I never found myself bored or disinterested, quite the opposite in fact, as I am now even more invested in what the future holds for Kazuna than I would have been had Kei rushed the plot.

Lament of the Lamb is a slow, gradual build towards pain and personal destruction. Future volumes will (obviously) be reviewed.