Heirs of the Dark - The Bloodline of Darkness - the 2000 manga and anime series

April 19 2022

The race of darkness (original title: 闇の末裔 Yami no matsuei, lett. "Descendants of Darkness"), also known as Heirs of the dark (Italian title of the anime) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoko Matsushita. The story revolves around the shinigami. These Death Guardians work for Enma Daiō, the king of the dead, solving expected and unexpected arrivals to the Underworld.

An adaptation of an anime television series by JCStaff aired on Wowow from October to December 2000.

History

Heirs of the dark - The race of darkness

Asato Tsuzuki has been a "Guardian of Death" for over 70 years. He has the power to summon twelve shikigami, mythical creatures that help him in battle. The manga portrays Tsuzuki's relationship with the shinigami in much more detail. Tsuzuki is the senior partner of the Second Division, who watches over the Kyūshū region.

In the anime, the story begins when the chief Konoe, the chief, and the other main characters discuss recent murders in Nagasaki. The victims all have bite marks and lack of blood, leading the case to be known as "The Vampire Case".

After some food problems, Tsuzuki travels to Nagasaki with Gushoshin, a flying creature / helper who can talk, and together they do some investigation. The rule is that Guardian of Death should work in pairs, and until Tsuzuki meets his new partner, he needs someone to watch him. However, Gushoshin is held back from groceries and Tsuzuki is alone.

While exploring Nagasaki, Tsuzuki hears a scream and collides with a strange white-haired woman with red eyes, who leaves blood on his collar. Taking this as a sign that the woman might be the vampire, Tsuzuki tries to follow her. He arrives at a church called Oura Cathedral, where he meets the main antagonist of the story, Muraki.

Dr. Kazutaka Muraki is initially portrayed as a pure figure, with a lot of religious and chromatic symbolism. He meets Tsuzuki with tears in his eyes and Tsuzuki, stunned, asks if Muraki has seen a woman recently. Muraki says no bodies have been in the church and Tsuzuki leaves. Tsuzuki later discovers that the woman he met is Maria Won, a famous Chinese singer.

From there Tsuzuki continues through Nagasaki to the area of the city known as Glover Garden, where he is held at gunpoint from behind. His attacker him tells him to turn around and when he does, he discovers a young man staring at him. He suspects this man is the vampire. Tsuzuki is then saved by Gushoshin. Tsuzuki later discovers that the boy is Hisoka Kurosaki, his new partner, and the rest of the story is heavily based on the development of the character and the relationships between the characters.

Later in the Nagasaki arc (the first quarter of the anime series and the first collection of the manga), Hisoka is kidnapped by Muraki and the truth about his death is revealed. Tsuzuki saves him after his "date" with Muraki, and the series follows the relationship between these three characters, supported and graced by the rest of the cast.

Characters

Asato Tsuzuki

Asato Tsuzuki (都筑麻斗, Tsuzuki Asato), voiced by Dan Green (English) and Shinichiro Miki (Japanese), is the main protagonist of the story. He was born in 1900 and was 26 when he died and became a Shinigami. He is 97 at the beginning of the first book and is the oldest employee of the Shokan / Summons division besides Chief Konoe, and the lowest paid, due to his perceived incompetence. He is known among his fellow Shinigami for his slacker qualities and voracious appetite for sweets like cinnamon rolls and cakes. His favorite color of him is light green and he has a flower garden (in which he is known for having tulips and hydrangeas).
It is revealed from the plot of The Last Waltz that he had a sister named Ruka who taught him to dance, garden and cook, although his skills in the latter are lacking. His involvement in his past is unclear.
Throughout the series, Tsuzuki develops immediate closeness and affection to her current partner, Hisoka. He has a good friendship with Watari and a sometimes strained relationship with Tatsumi, who had once been one of his partners. Tsuzuki gets along well with most of Meifu's employees, with the notable exceptions of Hakushaku, who constantly hugs him, and Terazuma, with whom he has a fierce rivalry. Tsuzuki's relationship with Muraki is very tumultuous; although Tsuzuki hates him for his cruelty to other people, Tsuzuki's desire to sacrifice himself rather than hurt anyone prevents him from killing Muraki.
While he is easily one of the more cheerful members of the cast, he hides a dark secret from his past. Both the manga and the anime refer to the terrible deeds he committed in his life. It is suggested that Tsuzuki killed many people, intentionally or unintentionally; this is brought to Tsuzuki's attention during his demonic possession by Sargantanas, a powerful demon who appears in the Devil's Trill Arc. Dr. Muraki reveals to him from his grandfather's research that Tsuzuki was a patient of Elder Muraki and that Tsuzuki, in fact, is not entirely human. During that time he remained alive for eight years without food, water or sleep and was unable to die from his injuries, as evidenced by the many times he attempted to commit suicide but failed but for the last time. Muraki has suggested that Tsuzuki may possess demon blood (proven by the fact that he has purple eyes), and Tsuzuki found this incredibly difficult to deal with.
Tsuzuki wields the power of 12 Shikigami and o-fuda magic. He also has incredibly high stamina, capable of taking massive damage to his body without being killed and healing almost immediately. Although it is later shown that this is a trait for all Shinigami, he was the first to exhibit this ability, which appears to be related to his near-death abilities.

Hisoka Kurosaki

Hisoka Kurosaki (黒崎密, Kurosaki Hisoka), voiced by Liam O'Brien (English) and Mayumi Asano (Japanese) is a 16-year-old Shinigami and is Tsuzuki's current partner. She possesses a strong empathy, which allows her to feel the emotions of others, read thoughts, see memories and collect clairvoyance footprints from inanimate objects.
He came from a tradition-oriented family and had been trained in traditional Japanese martial arts. His parents were afraid of his spiritual powers, which they considered unsuitable for their heir and something that might reveal the familiar secret; so as a child he was often locked up in a cellar when he was caught using his empathy for him.
When he was 13 he went out under the sakura trees near his home and ran into Muraki while he was killing an unknown woman. To keep him from exposing the crime, Muraki tortured Hisoka (the anime shows a non-graphic rape) and cursed him to a slow death that gradually drained his life over three years. The curse is still active after his death and is visible in the form of red marks all over Hisoka's body, which reappear during encounters with Muraki, particularly in his dreams. It is implied that they will disappear with Muraki's death and only then will the curse be lifted. After Hisoka's death, he became a shinigiami to find the cause of his death as the doctor had erased the memories.
Hisoka loves to read and spends most of his time in the library alone. His health even in the afterlife doesn't seem to be particularly good and he has a tendency to faint. His lack of training and strength compared to Tsuzuki is also painfully evident to him. However, he is a skilled detective and skilled in subterfuge. It has also been revealed that Hisoka is afraid of the dark.
Though extremely reserved to the point of coldness, Hisoka cares deeply for other people. When Tsuzuki regains his suicidal tendencies, Hisoka comforts him and ends up preventing him from committing suicide once again. Hisoka also has a strong need to take care of Tsuzuki, even though Tsuzuki sometimes drives him crazy. He maintains comfortable relationships with the rest of his peers, with the notable exception of Saya and Yuma, who constantly try to play with him like a doll.
In addition to his empathy, Hisoka was also trained in basicofuda and defensive magic by Chief Konoe. Later in the series, he goes looking for a Shikigami for himself to increase his power of him. Hisoka's first Shikigami is a Spanish-speaking potted cactus named Riko, a defensive, aquatic-type Shiki. Hisoka is also proficient in traditional martial arts, particularly archery and kendo. His favorite color is blue, his favorite hobby is reading and his motto is "save money".

Kazutaka Muraki

Kazutaka Muraki (邑輝一貴, Muraki Kazutaka), voiced by Edward MacLeod in English and by Sho Hayami in Japanese, is the main antagonist of Yami no Matsuei. His appearance and his angelic characteristics serve to contrast with his brutal nature.
Muraki's psychological problems appear to have started in childhood with her mother and stepbrother Saki. Muraki's mother used to collect dolls and she is shown treating him as if he were a doll too. Muraki's love of dolls and his doll collection is a motif throughout the manga and anime, paralleling what he does with real people. In the anime, it is suggested that Saki killed Muraki's parents when they were still children (over the span of Kyoto, Muraki has a flashback of his mother's funeral and sees Saki smiling during the procession) and later tried to kill him in a craze. However, in the manga, it is unclear what Saki's role was other than upsetting Muraki's childhood, and Muraki describes himself as the killer of his mother. Whatever the circumstances, Saki was shot by one of the family guards and Muraki became obsessed with bringing Saki back to kill him himself. Thus, Muraki learned about Tsuzuki while researching his grandfather's notes, becoming obsessed with Tsuzuki's body; both carnally and scientifically. It is clear in the manga what Muraki wants, but the anime had to censor such extremes, and so Muraki's advances towards Tsuzuki were shown as hints of sexual harassment.
Throughout the story, Muraki manipulates the souls of the dead, often killing people himself, in hopes of attracting the attention of the Shinigami, especially Tsuzuki.
Muraki is an expert manipulator, who presents himself as a good doctor who complains about his inability to save lives, while hiding his private life as a serial killer. As a respected doctor, Muraki has many contacts throughout Japan among powerful patrons, but in the anime and manga he is mostly seen in the company of his close friend Oriya and his old teacher, Professor Satomi. Muraki also has a childhood girlfriend named Ukyou, but very little is known about her, other than the fact that he seems to attract her evil spirits to him and that her health is poor. During the Kyoto Arch, Muraki discredits his good person by contrasting himself with Professor Satomi before silencing him. Being a serial killer, Muraki has numerous victims, the most significant of which is Hisoka Kurosaki, whom he raped before placing a curse on him that wiped Hisoka's memory of the event and ultimately killed him in the form of a terminal illness. Later, when Hisoka is a shinigami, Muraki forces the boy to remember the night he cursed him. In both the anime and manga, Muraki is shown to often refer to Hisoka as a doll.
Some readers believed that due to his different colored eyes, he could be a guardian of one of the four gates of GenSouKai (see Wakaba Kannuki). However, in the narrative arc of King of Swords (volume three of the manga), a scene in which Tsuzuki knocks out the false eye reveals that Muraki's right eye is not real and that it is mechanical. The origin and nature of Muraki's supernatural abilities remain an enigma: he's human (with some vampiric traits, like feeding on people's life energy), he's alive (not a Shinigami), yet he raises a dead girl to make her one. zombies, seals and opens Hisoka's memory with a simple touch, controls the spirits of Shikigami-like creatures, enters Meifu alone, and teleports Tsuzuki to another location. In the finale, Muraki describes himself as a descendant of darkness like Tsuzuki. He has hinted that Muraki is bisexual, which is shown quite often in the series when he also made some sexual advances towards Tsuzuki to the point where he almost tries to kiss him.

Chief Konoe
Konoe is the head of EnmaCho's Shokan division and is Tsuzuki's superior. He has known Tsuzuki throughout the latter's career and is one of the few characters who knows Tsuzuki's mysterious past before he became a shinigami. Konoe uses his influence to protect Tsuzuki from Meifu's other upper planes. Konoe is an older man who is often gruff with his employees. He is known to have a sweet tooth and according to a note from the author in volume 2 he is a black belt in an unknown martial art. He is voiced by Chunky Mon in English and Tomomichi Nishimura in Japanese.

Seiichirō Tatsumi

Seiichiro Tatsumi (巽征一郎, Tatsumi Sei'ichiro), voiced by Walter Pagen in English and Toshiyuki Morikawa in Japanese, is the secretary of the Shokan division. In addition to this position, which allows him control over the department's finances and thus a substantial influence over Chief Konoe, he is seen collaborating with Watari when he is working on a case. He also assists Tsuzuki and Hisoka in multiple cases.
In volume 5 of the manga, it is revealed that Tatsumi was Tsuzuki's third partner. This only lasted three months until Tatsumi quit, unable to handle Tsuzuki's emotional breakdowns that paralleled those of his mother, a woman from a good family whom he blames for death. His relationship with Tsuzuki, although partially resolved in volume 5, remains uncertain and often dwarfed by guilt (on Tatsumi's part) for their past collaboration and protection. However, small conflicts often arise over problems with the department's finances, particularly the cost of rebuilding the library after Tsuzuki destroyed it (twice).
In addition to standard shinigami skills, he also has the ability to manipulate shadows both as a weapon and as a means of transport.

Yutaka Watari

Yutaka Watari (亘理温, Watari Yutaka), voiced by Eric Stuart in English, and Toshihiko Seki in Japanese, is 24 and a close friend of Tsuzuki who works for the sixth sector, Henjoucho (which includes Osaka and Kyoto). However, he is most often seen in the lab and is accompanied by Tatsumi when he works in the field. Although he is technically a mechanical engineer (he has a PhD in engineering), he is basically a scientist who invents whatever comes to mind, most of the time a potion to change sex. He also takes care of the maintenance and repair of computers. Although he shares a cheerful demeanor similar to Tsuzuki's, whenever something happens to one of his friends, he gets very angry and suddenly.
One of his almost constant companions is an owl named “003” (001 is a toucan and 002 is a penguin, they remain in Watari's laboratory). Watari's dream is to create a sex change potion, the self-declared motivations of which are the understanding of the female mind. He often tests his creations experimentally both on himself and on Tsuzuki, relying on the latter's passion for sweets to ensure his collaboration. Aside from his apparent familiarity with the workshop, Watari also has the ability to bring his drawings to life despite being a poor artist. According to the author, his hair was bleached blonde from excessive chlorine in a swimming pool.
The latest volumes of the manga reveal his past employment with the Five Generals, who were involved in the Mother Project, the Meifu supercomputer.

Production

An anime adaptation of the manga aired on WOWOW from 10 October 2000 to 24 June 2001. The anime was directed by Hiroko Tokita and was animated by JC Staff. The series was divided into four story arcs. Central Park Media licensed the series and released it on DVD in 2003. The series first aired on AZN Television in 2004. In 2008, the series, along with a few other CPM titles, aired on the Ani block. -Monday of Sci-Fi Channel in 2008 and then on sister network Chiller in 2009. In Canada, the anime series aired on Super Channel 2 starting December 8, 2008. Discotek Media has since licensed the anime and will release the series in 2015. The opening theme of the series is "Eden" by To Destination, while the closing theme is "Love Me" by The Hong Kong Knife.

Technical data

Manga

Author Yoko Matsushita
Editor Hakusensha
Magazine Hana to Yume
Target shonen-ai
Date 1st edition June 20, 1996 - December 20, 2002
Tankōbon 11 (complete)
Italian publisher Star comics
Date 1st Italian edition 10 August 2003 - 10 May 2004
Italian volumes 11 (complete)

Anime TV series

Italian title: Heirs of the dark
Author Yoko Matsushita
Regia Hiroko tokita
Subject Akiko Horii (ep. 4-9), Masaharu Amiya (ep. 1-3, 10-13)
Film script Hideki Okamoto (ep. 13), Hiroko Tokita (ep. 1), Kazuo Yamazaki (ep. 4, 6, 8, 11), Michio Fukuda (ep. 3, 10), Rei Otaki (ep. 5, 9), Yukina Hiiro (ep. 2, 7, 12-13)
character design Yumi Nakayama
Artistic direction Junichi Higashi
Music Tsuneyoshi Saito
Studio JCStaff
Network WOWOW
Date 1st TV 2 October - 18 December 2000
Episodes 13 (complete)
Episode duration 24 min
Italian network Man Ga
Date 1st Italian TV March 9, 2011 - June 21, 2014
Date 1st Italian streaming YouTube (Yamato Animation channel)