Victoria’s Electric Coffin Volumes 2 and 3 Review

Back in April, Square Enix Manga debuted Victoria’s Electric Coffin, which showed us an alternate version of 1920s New York in which a criminal facing the death penalty was brought back to life. Now just in time for Halloween, the series concludes, but are the other two volumes worth reading? Let’s find out!

Volume 2 of the series picks up exactly where we left off in the previous instalment. Victoria and Eins have been cornered by Henry, another doctor who studied under Victoria’s father and has used his research to create his own take on the electric coffin (which he’s called a Corpse Bride): Willie.

Unlike Eins, who has simply been brought back to life through electricity, Willie has had several mechanical improvements boosting their fighting power. She’s not an enemy Eins can defeat easily and as the battle goes on, Henry’s words bother him. Willie has no sense of self and she’s been programmed to follow all orders from Henry, which is something Eins grows increasingly concerned that Victoria has done to him. Perhaps he hasn’t been improving as a person here in his second chance at life and it’s simply all because he’s been programmed this way.

The reality is that while Henry is eager to use the research to create some kind of weapon for the battlefield, Victoria simply wants to find a way to help people. She’d never dream of altering someone’s sense of self and hasn’t done anything particular to Eins. His motivation to repent for his sins and take a different path in life is all his own. Seeing how kind and caring he is, she begins to wonder how he ever came to commit murder and earn himself the death penalty.

Volume 2 ends with showing us Eins’ past and how he got himself labelled a criminal. As I suspected from Volume 1, his past is not as clear cut as it’s made out to be and is a sorrowful tale with surprising connections to Victoria’s father. Unfortunately, Henry is well aware of Eins’ history and makes sure to reveal it during a ceremony celebrating Victoria’s achievements, which he knows will damage her reputation and make her vulnerable.

So it’s here in Volume 3 where everything has gone wrong for Eins and Victoria. During the ceremony, our heroine learnt about his past deeds and watched him go on a rampage after Henry strapped one of his inventions to the boy. The residents of New York are now afraid of Victoria and the Electric Coffin, so she’s had no choice but to shut him down and agree to go to Europe with Henry who intends to further develop his research to create weapons for the battlefield. Thankfully, Walton brings Eins back and tells him all about what’s happened with Henry and Victoria. Now it’s a race against time as he chases after her before she can leave for Europe…

Like Volume 1 of Victoria’s Electric Coffin, I wouldn’t say these further instalments offer anything particularly original. It’s no surprise that working on a project like this has led to Victoria and Henry having different views on its usage and becoming enemies. Eins’ backstory is also more or less what I expected it would be.

Having said that, just because it may not stand out from the crowd doesn’t mean it’s a bad manga. In fact the more the story went on the more I grew attached to Victoria and Eins and by the end I was glad I followed their story to its conclusion. I appreciate how mangaka Ikuno Tajima frames their past actions, how they repent for what they’ve done and never shy away from acknowledging that they have both done wrong, even if they’re striving to do the right thing with their lives now.

Despite being the antagonist, Henry has a surprising amount of depth as well. It’s easy to understand why he’s become the man he is now, his jealousy of Victoria, who’s always been lucky enough to be acknowledged for her abilities, and his drive to do something different with his research. Despite how short the series is overall, Tajima has put a lot of time into developing the cast and that pays off. The only thing I was a bit disappointed by in this department is that we don’t see any of Walton in Volume 2 and little of him in #3, which is a shame after Tajima went to the effort of making him an enemy turned friend in #1. And despite his few appearances, he ended up being the member of the side cast I liked the most.

The artwork remained impressive to the end as well. Tajima draws within quite small panels most of the time, but the action scenes are exciting and the characters are expressive. I think the mangaka did a good job of capturing New York throughout as well. Each volume has included a colour page, which further showcases the creator’s talent. Although they use quite muted colours, each image still sets the right atmosphere for the relationship between our two leads.

As previously mentioned, Victoria’s Electric Coffin Volumes 2 and 3 come to the West thanks to Square Enix Manga. Both instalments continue to be translated by Leighann Harvey with lettering by Lys Blakeslee and just like Volume 1, they both read well with no issues. Extras include colour pages at the beginning and some extra short chapters in each book.

Overall, is Victoria’s Electric Coffin a must-read? No, not particularly. However, if you like this genre and the premise sounds up your alley, then I would encourage you to pick this up. Between its likeable cast, wonderful artwork and a story that neither feels rushed nor overstays its welcome, this is a series that I had a great time reading. It’s a great example of a situation where you don’t always need to reinvent the wheel to prove memorable in the long run.

Our review copies from Square Enix Manga were supplied by Turnaround Comics (Turnaround Publisher Services).

Free previews for both volumes can be read on the Square Enix website here.