Platinum End Chapter 8 Review

Review of Platinum End, Chapter 8

Ian Wolf’s review

 “One murder makes a villain; millions, a hero. Numbers sanctify, my good fellow!” – Charlie Chaplin.

 The latest chapter of Platinum End begins in an unexpected way, with a dead schoolgirl’s body being found at the top of a tower. Things take an even more disturbing turn in the following scene, where we see two schoolgirls making out. Nothing is fully exposed, but there are unbuttoned shirts and breast fondling. One of the girls is a friend of Metropoliman, and from him we learn that this girl is “Serial Killer Girl A”. Real name Mimimi Yamada, also known as Misurin (Mi3); she was arrested when she was 14, murdering girls in middle school.

Thanks to Metropoliman using his red arrows to control her, Metropoliman is now using Misurin as an ally in his attempt to destroy the other God Candidates. Mirai, Saki, and their new ally Nanato, learn from the news that Metropoliman allowed her to escape from jail, continue her murders, and allow Misurin to use both red arrows and wings. Nanato’s plan is to get Mirai to use his white arrows to kill Metropoliman while he and Saki will try to approach Misurin. Mirai does not want to go ahead with this plan, not wishing to use his arrows to kill, saying that he has lived by a creed that he would rather be the victim than the perpetrator: “I’d rather be murdered… than a murderer.”

Nanato however puts his belief to the test, saying that if Metropoliman was about to kill Saki, would he use his white arrows or red arrows. This leads to a nightmarish sequence as Mirai plays out the horrible scenario in his head: could he kill someone if it meant saving the one he loved most? It is a scene that brings him out in a terrible sweaty panic as he tries to figure out the answer.

This chapter has to be the most shocking of the lot so far, for its use of violence, sexualised scenes, and psychological horror. It results in you making some mistakes when you read it first time around. For example, there is a scene where Misurin is about get kinkier with her next victim, by tying her up with rope and blindfolding her, before taking out a knife hidden in a cuddly toy rabbit. When I first looked at the page, I didn’t notice the whole rabbit at first, just one ear, which Misurin is holding in a position so it is placed near her groin while in profile. However, because I only noticed the ear, which was all one colour, and didn’t spot the rest of the rabbit, somehow I thought: “Is she wearing a strap-on dildo?” The best sequence in the chapter however is when Mirai is contemplating the question of whether to use the white arrow on Metropoliman if Saki was threatened. The terrified facial expressions of both Mirai and Saki as they contemplate their doom are engrossing, and Mirai’s reaction to the question makes you answers questions about your own morality.

This is probably the best chapter of the story so far, although no doubt it will also be the most controversial due to the sexualised scenes involving Misurin and her underage victim.

Score: 9 / 10

Title: Platinum End
Original vintage: 2015
Mangaka: Tsugumi Ohba (story) Takeshi Obata (art)
Published by: Viz Media
Genre: Action, Death Game, Drama, Fantasy, Supernatural
Age rating: 18+
Material length: 69

Platinum End © 2015 by Tsugumi Ohba, Takeshi Obata. SHUEISHA Inc.