Love of Kill Vol. 2 Review – A Nice Change of Pace

I didn’t know what to think after reading Love of Kill Vol. 1. The character development was non-existent, and the story was overall messy. However, Love of Kill Vol. 2 fixes this by giving Ryang-Ha Song an actual personality outside of a stalker-killer and provides us with some backstory on the two leads.

Love of Kill Vol. 2 begins exactly where the first volume left off as Chateau’s life was up in the air. I’m sure we knew she’d survive somehow, but luckily Ryang-Ha Song was around to bring her to safety. The opening chapters have Chateau confront her colleagues who are judging her sudden disappearance and correspondence with the enemy, Ryang-Ha Song. However, we find out that there is a connection between all of this that seems farfetched at first but opens a rather interesting mystery.

Both characters receive some flashback scenes to what there were doing years ago. Chateau gets the most significant bit of clarity on why she is so cold and where exactly she came from. Unfortunately, the dialogue between the two characters again doesn’t really go anywhere, and they still show no signs of chemistry. I don’t want to see them together, and I don’t understand why this has to be some type of plot-driving device. I believe the mystery this manga reveals is much intriguing than seeing these two kissing or something.

The pacing is slowed down in this entry as we see more action and interaction between the leads. There are still plenty of panels without dialogue, but it sets the mood of the situation. There are some heavy scenes in this volume that bring any real action to a halt as we try to understand why all of this is happening and who this antagonist is.

The illustrations tend to focus more on eye movement and facial expressions in this volume. However, some panels pop up out of nowhere that are exceptionally beautiful and bold. These scenes are scattered throughout the volume and serve as a means to set the stage for where the cast is, but the standard panels hardly worry about the environment and mainly focus on the character’s expressions. It works only to drive the muted responses without using words.

Love of Kill Vol. 2 is a significant improvement over volume 1 in terms of character growth and pacing. These characters are much more likable, but I still don’t see this as a romance. I just feel like their relationship is so forced and flimsy at this point that this should be scaled back on in later entries. Instead, I’m more interested in the mystery that appears in the last few chapters that really have me looking forward to the next volume.