Godchild

Godchild is a manga series that was created by Kaori Yuki. Yuki began her manga career by entering contests. She kept winning and decided to make it her career. Her first professional story was called Natsufuku no Eri and was entered into the Bessatsu Hana to Yume]] magazine, a popular manga magazine. Most of her work is still, to this day, published in the Bessatsu Hana to Yume magazine. Godchild follows along with the rest of Yuki’s work, being so dark that it is considered to be a gothic manga. Yuki did five volumes and then ended up stopping for awhile in order to finish another manga she was working on. Once that was ended, she started writing again. The series was originally named Count Cain, it was only after her hiatus that Yuki renamed the series Godchild. She also switched publishing houses with Godchild, preferring to go to Viz and publish it in their popular Shojo Beat. The final edition was shown in the June 2006 issue. Godchild has been praised by critics due to its intricate plot and its style. It is called a gothic series, but many fans put it into more than one genre, including mystery, suspense, horror and psychological.

Synopsis

Godchild is about the Earl (or Count depending on the series) Cain. Cain was a nobleman who had an obsession with poison. He lived in the 19th century in England. He became an Earl when he tried to poison his father. His father ended up dying by falling into the sea, and cursed Cain to a life of solitude as he fell. The manga goes through many different little stories, each one different than the next and each one involving poison, and some of them involving actual historical events that occurred. One such event, the Jack the Ripper case, was extremely popular with fans. Readers also get to learn about Cain’s past and his difficulties with a secret society named Delilah, which was begun by his father before his death.

Characters

• Cain C. Hargreaves – Cain is also known as the Earl or Count of Poison. He obsesses over poison and even calls his specimens his “children”. As the series goes on, the reader can see that Cain was both physically and physchologically abused by his father before he died. The reader also finds out that Cain’s mother tried to strangle him to death when he was very young. This is because Cain is the result of an incestuous relationship between Cain’s father, Alexis, and August, who is Alexis’ sister. He is only twelve years old when he kills his father. He seems to be a playboy to most, but is, instead, a tortured soul.

• Riffael Raffit – Riff is the butler for the Hargreave family. He is Cain’s personal servant and does everything for him. Riff used to be a medical student, but had to stop his training when his home burned and his family was killed in the fire. There is a deep secret to Riff that even Cain doesn’t know. Riff is one of the few people that Cain is close to.

• Mary Weather Hargreaves – Mary is Cain’s half-sister. Cain cares very deeply for Mary, and there is a secret to her legitimacy as well. Cain eventually reveals the secret but explains that he loves her no less for it.