Omega Megaera Volume 2 Review

Saimon, the barren omega who cannot bear children, has brought Mamiya, the patriarch’s illegitimate son, into the Hanabusa family, claiming that he’s a prestigious alpha. Unfortunately, this is a lie and Mamiya goes into his first heat, meaning that Saimon has to do his utmost to cover up the situation and perpetuate the lie. He hopes no one has noticed but Shiba, the butler (and a beta) has guessed what’s going on and proposes a bargain in exchange for his silence. Saimon’s sister Eiko is now the CEO of the pharmaceutical company which he started – and, aided by Shiba, Saimon approaches her to persuade her to help him make the illegal heat suppressants for Mamiya. She refuses – and so, in desperation, Saimon and Shiba resort to an elaborate subterfuge to make her change her mind. As this involves the two of them secretly giving her young son a poisoned candy, can Saimon miraculously save his nephew’s life in time and win Eiko round?

The second volume of Omega Megaera hits the ground running and doesn’t stop for breath. The dystopian omegaverse in which it takes place doesn’t hesitate to sentence those who break the strict rules controlling reproduction to hard labour and even execution. Saimon has already lost ownership of the pharmaceutical company he set up to make estrus-controlling medications so that the low birth-rate doesn’t drop any lower. But when, aided and abetted by Shiba (whose motivations for helping him are not in any way clear: money? revenge?) he embarks on this tortuous path, almost everything that could go wrong… goes wrong. It seems such a risky venture is beset with unforeseen complications and every step he takes leads to new problems. Why is he so driven? At one moment we’re reminded that he is still in love/obsessed with his partner Seijuro who has, of course, been forced by the family to take other partners in order to produce another generation of Hanabusa potential heirs. But the family dynamics are so poisonous that the meal arranged to celebrate Mamiya’s getting in to the elite high school his half-siblings already attend swiftly descends into bickering, then angry accusations and worse. Interestingly, Iori the ‘disappointing’ alpha son who’s closest in age to Mamiya seems to get on better with the newcomer than anyone else, even though he says to him at one stage, “Knowing you, you’ll probably be better than me… at just about everything.” There’s no resentment in his words, only regret.

When I reviewed the first volume of this omegaverse family saga, I couldn’t help commenting on the narrow line it treads between tense drama and melodramatic soap opera and this volume only reinforces that feeling. The more complications that arise, the more I sense the author pulling the strings. It’s hard to root for any of the characters, even Saimon and Mamiya, as everyone seems to be only out for themselves and what they can get, trampling over anyone who gets in the way. It’s an interesting interpretation of an omegaverse; the concept of alphas and omegas having a ‘fated mate’ or ‘soul mate’ which is mentioned at the start of the first volume, doesn’t seem to be playing a significant part of this dystopian version. Which might turn out to be a pity as it’s one of the most potent (and romantic) facets of the omegaverse mythos. But then, this mangaka doesn’t do ‘romance’ in a conventional way.

Maki Marukido’s drawings are accomplished and compelling (as expected of this talented mangaka) emphasizing the desperate look in the characters’ eyes as they realize their plans are going wrong and cranking the tension up to the max. We know from her earlier works like Pornographer that she’s skilled at creating unreliable and manipulative narrators so if that appeals, you’ll enjoy that destabilizing sensation when following the plotting and backstabbing at work in the Hanabusa family.

Translation for Kodansha is by Kevin Steinbach who offers two pages of helpful translation notes and the lettering is by Madeleine Jose; both make this another page-turning volume. There’s an illustrated afterword from the mangaka and a page preview of the next volume which is due out in March (they’re coming out every two months at the moment which is a commendable release schedule!).

Omega Megaera © Maki Marukido/KODANSHA LTD.

Our review copy from Kodansha was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.