Omega Megaera Volume 5 Review

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

The balance of power in the wealthy Hanabusa family is about to shift as the elderly patriarch Zenjiro lies dying and names his granddaughter Reiko as his heir. But then, after his eldest son, Seijuro (Reiko’s father) reveals a shocking truth to him, Zenjiro names his own bastard son Mamiya (an omega pretending to be an alpha) as the next family head instead of Reiko. However, all these unexpected revelations drive Mamiya’s adoptive ‘mother’ Saimon over the edge and a terrible crime is committed.

After Zenjiro’s death and the ensuing events, Mamiya and Reiko decide to share the truth about their identities with each other and with Reo (Seijuro’s third wife). Reiko urges Mamiya to go on pretending to be an alpha, although he has a dwindling supply of his estrus supplements left and no obvious means of getting more. Both he and Reiko want to contact Iori – the only true Hanabusa alpha, it seems – but after being sent away in disgrace by his father, Iori has disappeared without trace.

Fast forward eight years and Mamiya and Reiko are running the family business together. But the world is in turmoil and now war is disrupting everyday life. Arinori Tachibana (‘Lily’) has become an officer in the army and Reiko goes to see him in search of a spouse for herself, raising his hopes – but she chooses instead his half-sister Seira who is nearly blind. Reiko is blunt with Seira’s father; the family company, Seio Textiles, is in dire need of financial investment and she wants him to help them. He agrees because at almost twenty-seven, his beloved daughter Seira is in danger of being sent to a camp for omegas to do ‘special labour’ if she reaches the age of thirty without giving birth. This new punitive treatment of omegas doesn’t bode well for several of the Hanabusa family; how long can Mamiya maintain his ‘alpha’ façade?

In Maki Marukido’s dystopian omegaverse,  the balance of power in society in which those born alphas rule is maybe beginning to shift. Most disturbing of all is the treatment of omegas and the introduction of ‘special labour’ camps has a very ominous ring. Mamiya has found a surprising way to keep up with hthe estrus supplements that suppress his heats, even if it’s meant fabricating another tissue of lies and half-truths. But he’s never forgotten his feelings for Iori and the mangaka tantalizes us with the implication that if they were ever to meet again, the classic alpha x omega soulmates relationship might indeed become a reality. There’s more angst brewing with Takao, Reo’s fifteen-year-old omega son, who’s rebelling and keeps slipping out alone, just at the time more restrictions on omegas have been imposed.

Part dynastic family saga, part dystopian alternative world science fiction, Omega Megaera continues to deliver a really engrossing read, introducing intriguing new characters (Seira Tachibana and her enigmatic devoted beta servant Kikuzo Hiruoka) and moving the story on with practiced skill. As usual, the volume ends on a cliffhanger – so thank goodness, Kodansha are keeping this series on a rapid release schedule with Volume 6 due out in September.

Translation is again by Kevin Steinbach with lettering by Madeleine Jose and both do an excellent job in conveying the tense conversations and dramatic events. There are two helpful pages of translation notes at the end, as well as the usual family tree and story so far at the beginning. One point, though; in a story that uses a lot of black ink for sombre and tense scenes, it might just have been my copy but a printing issue, I suspect, led to several pages with smudged text that in some cases was not easy to read. But perhaps just my copy…

In the hands of a less skilled mangaka, Omega Megaera might by now have degenerated into an angst-ridden soap but thanks to Maki Marukido’s artistic skills in characterization and in spinning a complex and intriguing story, this is developing into a compulsive read.

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