Manga Review: Grand Guignol Orchestra, Volume 1, by Kaori Yuki

3 of 5 Stars

Publisher: Viz Media

Goodreads Synopsis:

Lucille and his orchestra encounter a town overrun with the worst kind of audience: the Living Dead! Well, not really. They’re people who have been turned into doll-like zombies. And they are definitely not a crowd to take lightly. Can a group of roving musicians use their skills to calm the beasts? Or is this curtains for the Royal Orchestra?!

Review:

[Contains Spoilers]

I've put off reading this for a while now, mostly because I haven't been in the mood for this type of manga. I've read Kaori Yuki's other stuff, aside from Angel Sanctuary, and liked it. She tends to write complicated stories and they can get to be confusing, but I still like them. Her art as well, seems a little complicated, but it's very pretty, and almost delicate and harsh... Which doesn't make a lot of sense, but still...

The book is about a grand royal orchestra that is kind of fighting guignol, which are zombies that are also kind of dolls. I'm not big on zombies, so I was reluctant to start it for this reason as well, but it is very interesting. The orchestra has three members at the start, Lucille, Kohaku, and Gwindel. We don't get a lot, or any, background for them, but it's obvious that something is going on with them. Lucille is kind of charming, and the one that takes charge in the group. He also gets taken for a girl a lot, because of his long hair. Kohaku is harsh, rough, but I quite like him, and hope to find out more about him. And then Gwindel, who owns a hedgehog, and who we don't see a whole lot of . He's in a lot of scenes, but we don't get a lot of him in this volume. I'm hoping, and assuming, that we get more later. And that we find out what's going on, what happened with them before the start.

In the first two chapters, we meet Eles, and what is going on is his town and his background. Including that he is actually his twin sister, Celes, who supposedly died when actually it was Eles who did. Because she can play the piano beautifully and so they were attacked by the guignol and everyone was turned/died in result. This isn't as confusing, and is explained much better in the book. At the end of the second chapter, Eles (as I've decided to call her until she decides to go by Celes,) decides to join the orchestra and they are on their way.

In the third and fourth chapter, their car crashes and they stay at this guys house. He has a bunch of maids who he has infected with a different version of the zombie curse, and who are like slaves, and he is obsessed with women. And he thinks that Lucille is a woman This problems is solved at the end of the fourth chapter, but we get to meet Spinel, who is an old classmate of Lucille and who we will probably see in later chapters. She is very tough, and I'm a little intrigued by her.

This wasn't an amazing first book, but I liked it, and I am interested and will be reading more of it.