Dream Gold ~Knights in the Dark City~ Vol. #01

By Mike Dungan     December 15, 2004
Release Date: December 01, 2004



Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Tatsurou Nakanishi
Translated by:Masako and Jeffrey Lilly
Adapted by:

What They Say
In a world where technology and magic fuel the dreams for riches, the Knights of the Dark City are sent out to find the hidden treasures that the world craves. Kurorat Jio Clocks, the clever rat of Higurashi Street, will join the Knights in the frantic hunt for wealth, and for the ultiamte prize - Dream Gold. All who search for treasure search for Dream Gold, but this quest will only yield one winner...

The Review
The Review: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The story opens with a flashback to an enormous crowd gathered to hear a speech by Dark City's mayor, as he announces the formation of the Knights, whose goal is to find the Dream Gold, which all men long for. Back in the present day, we see Kurorat Jio Clocks, known as "The Clever Rat of Higurashi Street", and Katana, his pretty young partner, as the search for a key. There are 250 keys hidden around the city, and if you find one of them, you are admitted as a Knight. Unfortunately for Kurorat and Katana, 249 keys have been found already. The last key remaining is the True Night Key, one of the most valuable of the keys. Complicting matters further is a gentleman by the name of Grutus. Once Kurorat finds the key, Grutus uses his goons to try to take it from him. We soon learn that Kurorat is fully deserving of his nickname. He has planned for this kind of interference, and has numerous contingency plans already in place. We also learn that Katana's skills as a mechanic are as formidable as Kurorat's intellect.

Once registered as a Knight, Kurorat attends a banquet to honor all 250 Knights. We meet several of them, most notably, Queens Raysheed and her partner, Kaguya Banbutrino. Queens is Knight #44, and has an A rank, the highest, with Z being the lowest. She is quite attractive, with short blonde hair and a modern, fashionable dress sense. Kaguya looks like she walked right out of ancient Edo, dressed in a kimono with long, straight black hair. Kurorat soon learns that everyone is not only ranked, but given "night points" depending on their experience as a Knight. Because of the value of Kurorat's True Night Key, he's already ranked A and has a large sum of night points. Everyone also has a PDA which receives instructions from the Mayor's office. Whatever it says, you must do. The first instruction Kurorat receives is to fight another Knight. Unfortunately, he's no fighter, so he runs. As he does, his rank and night points decrease. He survives with the help of Katana, once again, but by the end, he's down to rank Y and has almost no night points left. If Kurorat wants to remain a Knight, he's at the mercy of the PDA. If it says to kill someone, he'll kill them. If it says to be their friend, he'll befriend them.

His first mission via the PDA is to investigate, and if possible, capture a box in storage on a train riding through the city. Of course, there are several other Knights who have received the same message. As if all the deadly competition wasn't enough, Homuro, the leader of the Tigers, and anti-mayoral crime organization, has chosen this specific time to attack the train. They're in pursuit of the box as well. The battle turns into one of the most unique giant robot battles I've seen in manga, and we get to see a side of Kurorat that scares even Katana. Afterwards, Kurorat is hospitalized, and the short interlude allows us to learn quite a bit about the relationship between Kurorat and Katana.

Once out of the hospital, Kurorat and Katana decide to attend the opening of a new megamall in the city, which is jam-packed with shoppers. A big draw is the Kumondrode, or "Evil God Stone", which is on display at the mall. The malls' grand opening is going on as scheduled, despite the fact that the Tigers and the Mayoral forces are waging all-out war in the skies of Dark City. The battle is taken to the mall when all the Knights receive the order to capture the Evil God Stone. There are running battles up and down the highrise building as everyone rushes to get their first. In the midst of all the near-misses, amazingly saves and brilliantly timed coincidences, Homuro of the Tigers fights a personal battle with Shad Heavyweight, who despite her name, is actually a beautiful young woman, and a highly ranked Knight.

Comments
Dream Gold is a very inventive, unique story, melding sci-fi with magic. The most interesting story device is a young woman, Key History, who acts like the Chorus of a Shakespeare play, moving in and out of the story, talking directly to the reader, setting the stage, even giving out spoilers of things yet to come. She's dressed a bit like a harlequin with glasses, and her polite yet playful demeanor is delightful. Nakanishi's stories flow at a frantic pace, with barely a moment to catch your breath. The action is intense, moving the story forward without becoming the story itself. At first glance, the rankings and points of the Knights made me think this was some sort of nihilistic monster-capturing game, but it's not anything like that. The art is impressive, though of an almost amateurish quality. His character designs are very stylized, with sharp angular features mixed with dramatic flowing lines. Despite that, many of his characters have oddly proportioned faces and physiques. The world he's created has the rundown look of a future gone to seed, and a strongly retro futurism. I look at it and see the sort of world the Hernandez Brothers created and Seth expanded on for Dean Motter's Mr. X comics of the mid-'80s.

ADV has done a nice job bringing this book to the US. The person responsible for the English adaptation isn't listed, but whoever it was did an excellent job, bringing out the surprisingly shy yet confident nature of Kurorat, and Katana's joyfulness and slightly domineering attitude. The art reproduction looks good. The screentones came out particularly well, which is fortunate, as they play a major part in Nakanishi's art work. As is standard practice with ADV Manga, there are translator's notes in the back which are particularly helpful, and all sound effects are translated right on the page. The front cover is attractively designed. It's mostly white with pale gold electrical circuitry in the background, while Kurorat walks past a strange conglomeration of electrical-mechanical parts. Interestingly, the back cover, though mostly white with the back cover blurb, has a small image of a bizarre monitor with the book's table of contents on the screen.

Take the brilliant action of Battle Angel Alita, mix in the beautiful design sense of Aria, and top with the intricate plot of a well-told film noir movie, and you've got Dream Gold. I enjoyed it greatly and strongly recommend it.