Resident Evil Vol. 1: The Marhawa Desire TP
Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: November 26, 2014
Price: $12.99
Creator: Naoki Serizawa
Format: 176 pgs., Black & White, Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-4215-7372-4
Age Rating: Mature
ICv2 Rating: 3 stars out of 5
 
This brutally violent story is a prequel to the Resident Evil 6 game, and it suffers from having to explain a situation which shouldn't make sense.
 
A bizarrely-isolated private school has an outbreak of the same zombie virus that has plagued the world since the original Resident Evil story.  It's a known quantity.  It's insanely dangerous.  So what does the headmistress do?  She calls in an old friend for help, and then won't take his advice on how to deal with it, and reacts in ways which should doom them all, in defense of a twisted version of defending the school's reputation.
 
If you're willing to put up with this "let's do the dumbest thing possible" style of horror writing, the rest of the story won’t bother you too much.
 
The artwork is much better than the plotting.  While it often depends on standardized manga facial expressions, with a drop of sweat substituting for extreme stress, the execution of the artwork is technically quite good.  You can easily tell characters apart, and the detailing of faces and figures is nice work.  The dialogue is better than the plot.  Even the sound effects lettering is better than the plot.
 
Naoki Serizawa's contributions to the field of manga have been rare, and this appears to be the first in a decade.  It would be interesting to see what an artist of this quality could do with a better story to work with.
 
The "Mature" rating is due to extreme zombie violence and gratuitous bloodshed.
 
--Nick Smith: Library Technician, Community Services, for the Pasadena Public Library in California.