In a recent manga review for the Daily Yomiuri by Kitagawa Ikukuo, Kitagawa wrote, “Can losing his wife, his daughter and his own arms make one ordinary, good-hearted man go crazily violent? The man destroys building, smashes vehicles and dodges bullets and sword blows with his artificial iron arms, all in the name of hunting down the killers of his loved ones. His tenacity reminded this reader of the scenes in Terminator 2 when a robot disguised as a police officer relentlessly pursues the other characters.”
“Damons is a revenge story about Heito (pronounced “hate”) Saimon, a researcher at a nanotechnology company who is betrayed by Progress, his boss and former best friend. Progress hires four “bodyguards”–Jest, Laughing, Ardor and Rampart–who turn out to be professional assassins.”
“It’s not really clear until the end why they wrench Heito’s arms off and kill his family (whose bodies are preserved in a high-tech, liquid-filled capsule), but their anger apparently has something to do with Heito’s refusal to give them data to create highly advanced weaponry.”
“Heito is rescued by Dr. Beckel and trained to access a psychic power called zeimos–by which amputees can use phantom limbs to manipulate objects. Heito obtains the power while confined in a hot and humid room with his body secured to a chair so that he can’t move. A glass of water is put right in front of his eyes, but armless Heito, moaning and writhing with extreme thirst, can’t reach it. As he reaches the limits of agony, an invisible power appears from the base of his arms.”
“Beckel equips Heito with artificial iron arms, which, thanks to zeimos, he can use just like his own arms. He powers the arms with hatred during fights and sets out to kill his enemies.”
“The idea comes from mangaka Osamu Tezuka’s Tetsu no Senritsu, in which the protagonist’s arms are cut off by his brother-in-law, after which he obtains iron arms and vows revenge. Tezuka’s story is simply gothic horror on its surface, yet it leaves readers with a profound impact–which is one of the great things about his works. Hideyuki Yonehara’s Damons adds dynamic drawings and complicated story development–which is sometimes a bit tiring as it goes to 13 volumes. In particular, the mangaka makes some lengthy digressions to explore the villains’ backstories from around the eighth volume. It seems a bit overdone at the time, but it does contribute to the drama of the final confrontation in Volume 13, published just this week.”
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