"Strangely attractive", "subversive and perverse", these are some of the words that come to mind when readers are asked to describe Lumen Lunae. Open the covers of the manga, and you will find yourself in a Freudian landscape populated by archetypal figures drawn from the id. Incestuous torturers, cannibalistic monsters, sadistic rulers, these are only a few of the inhabitant from the strange world of Lumen Lunae. Like many other fantasy, the story posits an alternate universe, where the Earth and all its creatures are simply a huge pleasure park created by the inhabitants of Jinkei, i.e. The real world. Jinkei is a world bathed in perpetual moonlight. Its inhabitants are divided into five castes. The Seihakuke clan are the elite ruling class that has absolute control of the world. Below them are the Seike, the Hakuke clan, the yellow clan, and the lowest cast, Jyudekuke, composed mostly of non-human creatures without minds of their own. The world as we know it is created by the rulers of Jinkei as their amusement park and hunting ground. Humans are no more than dolls or domestic animals to the rulers of Jinkei, and human flesh is both their food and medicine.
Meanwhile, Kai's brother, Kaiga, is not
about to let his little plaything escape so easily. Among the people sent
by Kaiga to retrieve Kai is the drug maker Hisanagi. Kai's strange body
requires a constant source of drugs to survive either in the human world
or in Jinkei. Hisanagi in the past had faithfully kept Kai in a pliable
state ready for Kaiga's pleasure. But now that Kai is free, Hisanagi, whose
interest in Kai is far from platonic, disobeys Kaiga's orders, offering
Kai the medicine he needs to keep him alive in the human world, as well
as fending off other minions sent by Kaiga to retrieve Kai. In addition,
we discover that in order to come to the human world, Kai made a bargain
with a mysterious alchemist of the Sei clan. Mad with jealousy, Kaiga has Hisanagi captured and forces him back to the Jinkei. By depriving Kai of the source of the medicine that allows him to survive in the world, he hopes that Kai will be forced to return. But Kai and his mother are not completely defenseless either. Kai's mother possesses a knife, given to her by the Suruga. The mysterious alchemist also returns to offer them help. It seems that Kai is more than a mere plaything. He possesses a mysterious power that could destroy the fabrics of both worlds if not kept in check. Other members of the royal family, Kai's half sister, Kai's mother, also bestir themselves to enter the game, seeing in Kai a trump card that can guarantee their survival in the murderous palace games. Like the title, the story of Lumen Lunae
itself is shrouded in a mist of moonlight, which endues even the most innocent
gestures and speech with a sinister and surreal cast. The oedipus complex is rather unavoidable,
but compared to the incestuous royal house of the Shake clan, Kai and his
mother appear positively wholesome. You will not find villains with hearts
of gold in Lumen Lunae. Kaiga is a sadistic creature who derives his greatest
pleasure from depriving others of their most beloved things. Yet when compared to his father, Suruga, Kaiga is merely a beginner. In many ways Suruga is the true incarnation of evil, confident and unchallenged in his power. Kaiga is both jealous of his father's power and desperate for his father's attention. The competition between the members of the royal house for Suruga's favor is intense. The murderous games played by Kaiga and his sisters redefine the word sibling rivalry. Yet all this depravity and perversity are contained in a story published in South. Naturally, this series is by no means explicit. The art is sharp and eccentric, and in all its simplicity and wide-eyed innocence manages to achieve a level of perversity that is not often found even in Super Be-boy mangas. |
As
the story begins, Kai Houjou- son of the ruler of Jinkei, Suruga, and
a mortal woman, Aika Houjou- has escaped from the Cliff of Time, where
he had been imprisoned by his father for sixteen years. His one dream is
to return to the human world to find his mother. With the help of a mysterious
man of the black clan, he returns to our world, and is now enrolled in
the school his mother attended. While sixteen years have passed in Jinkei,
on earth only a year has passed since Aika was raped by a demon and gave
birth to her son. Traumatized by the experience, Aika is a strange and
silent figure in school, whose stubbornness and apathy exasperates her
teachers and provokes her classmates. When Kai saves his mother from a
monster from Jinkei, Kai and Aika become friends, but doubts and fears
of rejection prevent Kai from telling his mother about their true relationship.
In exchange for information concerning his mother's whereabouts, Kai gave
the man his heart. In its place the man placed an artificial heart, but
it functions erratically in the human world.
An atmosphere of sexuality pervades every page of the manga. The characters
cannot talk to another without turning the conversation into foreplay.
From the beginning the manga has the atmosphere of a dream. The result
is both both alluring and disturbing. Like a dream, the characters are
at once alien and familiar. Kai seems to be a rather naive, wide-eyed little
boy, a borderline shota. But we seem to perceive calculation and a certain
shrewdness as the series progresses. Kai's mother could easily have been
one of those dewy-eyed heroines of whom the Japanese are so fond, who endures
rape and hardship with saintly grace. But underneath the sweetness she
is also capable of venom and desperate hatred, both of which she uses
effectively against other students and her attackers.
His cruelty is exquisite and well-considered. His jealousy knows no bounds.
He binds Hisanagi to Jinkei so he can never return to the human world to
see Kai again. To keep his beautiful executioner Sakume loyal to him, he
turns Sakume's beloved little brother into a Han-Jyudekuke, a hybrid of
man and beast. Without intervention, he will eventually turn into a monster
and forget his brother and his human life. Only Kaiga has the power to
reverse the process.