What do you think?
Rate this book
伯爵カイン [Hakushaku Cain] #2
The Cain Saga, Vol. 2: The Sound of a Boy Hatching
Born under an evil moon harboring dark secrets, Earl Cain C. Hargreves, the youthful heir of the aristocratic Hargreves family, is a man on a quest to find the truth about his family's past. Written in dark, harrowing episodes, The CAIN Saga chronicles how Cain solves the strange crimes that seem to plague his cursed existence, yet somehow bring him closer to deciphering the puzzling circumstances surrounding his father's tragic death.
Five gripping stories of love, friendship and betrayal--"Forgotten Juliet," "Branded Bibi," "The Youths Who Stopped Time," "Double," and "The Death of Cleo"--comprise this poignant first installment of Kaori Yuki's hit gothic manga series. Gothic fans will be left in awe long after this series has ended!
192 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1993
About the author
Kaori Yuki
213 books679 followersKaori Yuki (由貴香織里) is a Japanese manga artist.
She debuted in 1987 with Natsufuku no Erii (Jap: 夏服のエリー) on the manga anthology Bessatsu Hana to Yume published by Hakusensha.
She is best known for her gothic manga works, such as the Earl Cain series (Jap: 伯爵カイン, Hakushaku Cain) and Angel Sanctuary (Jap: 天使禁猟区, Tenshi Kinryōku)
Her work is typically serialized in one of Hakusensha's two shōjo manga anthologies, Bessatsu Hana to Yume and Hana to Yume. In 2010, Kaori Yuki was one of many manga artists whose work would appear in the new shōjo manga anthology Aria by the publisher Kodansha on July 28, 2010.
Her doujinshi-ka name is MoonClock.
She debuted in 1987 with Natsufuku no Erii (Jap: 夏服のエリー) on the manga anthology Bessatsu Hana to Yume published by Hakusensha.
She is best known for her gothic manga works, such as the Earl Cain series (Jap: 伯爵カイン, Hakushaku Cain) and Angel Sanctuary (Jap: 天使禁猟区, Tenshi Kinryōku)
Her work is typically serialized in one of Hakusensha's two shōjo manga anthologies, Bessatsu Hana to Yume and Hana to Yume. In 2010, Kaori Yuki was one of many manga artists whose work would appear in the new shōjo manga anthology Aria by the publisher Kodansha on July 28, 2010.
Her doujinshi-ka name is MoonClock.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
April 10, 2025
So I am revisiting The Cain Saga again...and oh boy, it is still Gothic melodrams at their finest.
I first read the story when I was around 12 years old, and it is most likely my first taste of the Gothic girl's manga genre. In this second volume, we are introduced to the backstories of our mysterious protagonist, Earl Cain, we learn about his unusual childhood and how his manservant, Riff and his half sister Mary, came into his life, and last but not least, Cain's abusive father played a central role in the titled story.
Still, Cain's father is one hell of a charming bastard. Lol
Aside from Cain's backstory, I am also loving the murder mysteries that Cain had gone through and solved to pieces! It is a must read for all the people who enjoy Kaori Yuki's works and Gothic tales of love, betrayal, bloodshed, and twisted desires.
I first read the story when I was around 12 years old, and it is most likely my first taste of the Gothic girl's manga genre. In this second volume, we are introduced to the backstories of our mysterious protagonist, Earl Cain, we learn about his unusual childhood and how his manservant, Riff and his half sister Mary, came into his life, and last but not least, Cain's abusive father played a central role in the titled story.
Still, Cain's father is one hell of a charming bastard. Lol
Aside from Cain's backstory, I am also loving the murder mysteries that Cain had gone through and solved to pieces! It is a must read for all the people who enjoy Kaori Yuki's works and Gothic tales of love, betrayal, bloodshed, and twisted desires.
June 21, 2023
Damn this dude has a really tragic backstory. I want to give them a hug :(
May 6, 2020
This is a review of the entire series.
Synopsis: Deep in the heart of 19th century London, a young nobleman named Cain walks the shadowy cobblestone streets of the aristocratic society into which he was born. Forced to become an earl upon the untimely death of his father, Cain assumes the role of head of the Hargreaves, a noble family with a dark past. With Riff, his faithful manservant, and Mary Weather, his 10-year-old half sister, Cain investigates the mysterious crimes that seem to follow him wherever he goes.
Review: A detective manga series that draws a lot of inspiration from classic gothic horror fiction and tropes. It's a love letter to writers such as Agatha Christie, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, the Bronte sisters, the Grimm brothers and even Shakespeare. Family curses, a brutal father and son rivalry, religious allegory, destined betrayal, violent supernatural murders, dark fairy tale undertones, a gloomy atmosphere and melancholy characters. The art is flowery and gorgeous to look at, the classic tropes are pleasant for fans of classic horror elements and there's a few scenes that pack quite an emotional punch. It's a bit melodramatic and over-the-top at times, but it actually gives it more of that authentic, pulpy feel of popular penny dreadfuls from the Victorian era.
Synopsis: Deep in the heart of 19th century London, a young nobleman named Cain walks the shadowy cobblestone streets of the aristocratic society into which he was born. Forced to become an earl upon the untimely death of his father, Cain assumes the role of head of the Hargreaves, a noble family with a dark past. With Riff, his faithful manservant, and Mary Weather, his 10-year-old half sister, Cain investigates the mysterious crimes that seem to follow him wherever he goes.
Review: A detective manga series that draws a lot of inspiration from classic gothic horror fiction and tropes. It's a love letter to writers such as Agatha Christie, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, the Bronte sisters, the Grimm brothers and even Shakespeare. Family curses, a brutal father and son rivalry, religious allegory, destined betrayal, violent supernatural murders, dark fairy tale undertones, a gloomy atmosphere and melancholy characters. The art is flowery and gorgeous to look at, the classic tropes are pleasant for fans of classic horror elements and there's a few scenes that pack quite an emotional punch. It's a bit melodramatic and over-the-top at times, but it actually gives it more of that authentic, pulpy feel of popular penny dreadfuls from the Victorian era.
June 4, 2025
Parental advisory:
bloody scenes,suggestive themes,child abuse,incest and drugging of people.
Edit:
I added a warning and fixed auto correct mistakes on spelling of names,etc
I read this book in 2021.
This volume was one of my favorites in the series in terms of writing but too many controversial topics and scenes made me rate this volume lower than if this volume didn't have this content.
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS BUT I WANTED PEOPLE TO SEE MY WARNINGS ON THIS BOOK,SO I REMOVED THE "MY REVIEW HAS SPOILERS" TAG.
This volume called the "Sound of a boy hatching" and it has about five chapters called :
"The Hanged Man","The Sound of a Boy Hatching" ,"Who killed Cock Robin?" ,"The Tragic Tale of Ms. Pudding", and "The Twisted Fairy Tale".
In Hanged man:
A orphan girl named MarryWeather reads Cain's fortune in and foretells that a man will murder three people and bring him misery. Merryweather's mother was killed by a obsessive suitor who caused her to poison herself to get away from him and keep him from discovering her daughter. She had to leave Hargreaves manor because of her relationship with current Count at the time:Alexis Hargreaves.
As Merryweather's predictions come true, Cain comes to believe that she is his father's illegitimate daughter and Cain's half sister. Cain rescues her from her dead mother's obsessive suitor, and unofficially adopts her after he makes a promise to Merryweather's best friend (he was killed by this suitor) that he would protect after he dies.
Cain's valet, Riff, recalls in "The Sound of a Boy Hatching" how he first met him, and how abusive Cain's father was. We also discovered how Cain got interested in poisons (he was forbidden from collecting it or looking at the ones his family collected for generations in the basement) and why Riff started working for the Hargreaves. Riff decided to work for the Hargreaves family for money to pay his medical school bills. The first day he met Cain he was very pale and ill. We find out later the father was abusing Cain which is why he was like this. Cain's mother was also very abusive. She tried to kill Cain in the garden before being poisoned by her own husband. We find out that Cain's aunt Augusta (who lived in a mad house I think) was really Cain's Mom and Alexis's child which made Cain a incest child. Alexis's wife knew about this which is why she tried to kill Cain. Cain kept visiting her even through he was forbidden to.
Augusta couldn't deal with seeing Cain a child she didn't want and so killed herself.It seemed like she was forced to be with Alexis who obsessed with her.
Cain wasn't actually saved by Alexis for a good reason. It was so Alexis to kill Cain for himself. Cain was able to out smart Alexis and poison him.
Alexis Hargreaves,supposedly committed suicide after Cain attempted to kill him.
In "Who killed Cock Robin?", Cain solves a series of murders resembling lines from the children's rhyme "Who Killed Cock Robin
I don't think I could talk much about this one on Goodreads,hopefully I don't get flagged. Haha so basically this man who is a high status school teacher who married and is highly educated but isn't happy with his life and falls in love with a young girl called Elise (a friend of Merryweather) who around ten or something (weird isn't it?).
Her grandfather is priest and so long story short Elise was afraid that they would be caught and so she was going to confess to her grandfather to be relieved of her sins. The man decided to kill her while she was in a game of "funeral" with some friends(he sharp shooted) to hide the evidence. A rumour goes around about a Angel of Darkness or whatever killing children who don't listen and play "funeral" games. Cain of course doesn't believe for a bit a "Angel"or "ghost" is doing the murders.
Later the man kills one of her friends and the priest and made it look as if the priest killed them and himself.
Cain realized who's been doing the murders and of course the teacher shoots himself.
I didn't like this chapter that much it was rushed at the end and focused on being as shockingly bizarre as possible.
In "The Tragic Tale of Ms. Pudding", Cain and Riff investigates the 'Plum Pudding Murderer', who murders the members of a gentlemen's club that abused and drugged children for amusement; the murderer is one of their victims who trying to hide his tortured past from his wife. His wife believes she's the one killing people she has affairs with.
Since she always passes out before anything happens and wakes up to seeing a corpse. It turns out her husband was giving her sleeping drugs. Cain helps her realized that after he comes across him and tries to make him her new lover for the night.She decides not to cheat with Cain and explains why she couldn't. She tells Cain she murdered people and that her husband has insomnia and that he takes sleeping medicine and so he's never around her at night giving her affection and love I guess,so that's why she cheats. Her husband catches them and threatened to sue Cain lol.
Cain and Riff starts a series of investigations on the Plum Pudding murders.They discovered a maid (she should be jailed too) who knew about the first ring of "Plum"murders. She tells them about how she used to assist the scumbags and was never allowed to look inside the room they kept the (poor) children.
Cain and Riff discovered a article in the newspaper about a girl named Meridith.
We find out it was actually the husband who was forced to dress like a girl and live in a cage and who was a lover of plum pudding and likes to sing a nursery rhyme (I can't remember the name),so to torment him they drugged the pudding so he would be addicted to the pudding and everytime someone sang the song he would go berserk. He killed those people...I guess some lived because the maid mentioned being forced to keep the situation quiet and sent the boy to the orphanage. Later he gets adopted by rich people and later on gets married. All is well till he is found again but one of his old kidnappers.
He started killing again and his wife find eventually.
Of course his wife finds out and he kills himself because of it.
She vows to be forever be a widow.
In "The Twisted Fairy Tale", Cain takes revenge on a relative and a maid who killed an orphan boy (who was friends with Cain) they thought was him to cover up their thefts and take Cain's position as the next Earl.
This takes place after Cain father supposedly died. Cain's extended family is choosing a guardian for him. His relative Angus hardly knows what Cain actually looks like decides he wants to fill that role. In truth he just wanted to take Cain's position.
He tricked on of Cain's maids to join him(she was in love with Angus and he knows this and takes advantage of it). Long story short, Cain realized what happened and to revenge himself and his friend sees the maid and tells her what's up and how he was never dead and how they poisoned and barried the wrong person(He tells her to go see Angus I think) the maid sees Angus with another woman. Cain send a fake letter to Angus's real girlfriend so she would go to see him and they would get caught. The maid sees this feels betrayed and kills Angus.
Cain makes Riff bury Angus were he was going to bury Cain and Cain kills the maid.
This volume was very dark, intriguing and the first two chapters told us a lot about Cain's childhood past but I felt awkward reading the scenes Cain's psychotic father and step mother and unnecessary p*dophilia scenes later on in the story.
bloody scenes,suggestive themes,child abuse,incest and drugging of people.
Edit:
I added a warning and fixed auto correct mistakes on spelling of names,etc
I read this book in 2021.
This volume was one of my favorites in the series in terms of writing but too many controversial topics and scenes made me rate this volume lower than if this volume didn't have this content.
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS BUT I WANTED PEOPLE TO SEE MY WARNINGS ON THIS BOOK,SO I REMOVED THE "MY REVIEW HAS SPOILERS" TAG.
This volume called the "Sound of a boy hatching" and it has about five chapters called :
"The Hanged Man","The Sound of a Boy Hatching" ,"Who killed Cock Robin?" ,"The Tragic Tale of Ms. Pudding", and "The Twisted Fairy Tale".
In Hanged man:
A orphan girl named MarryWeather reads Cain's fortune in and foretells that a man will murder three people and bring him misery. Merryweather's mother was killed by a obsessive suitor who caused her to poison herself to get away from him and keep him from discovering her daughter. She had to leave Hargreaves manor because of her relationship with current Count at the time:Alexis Hargreaves.
As Merryweather's predictions come true, Cain comes to believe that she is his father's illegitimate daughter and Cain's half sister. Cain rescues her from her dead mother's obsessive suitor, and unofficially adopts her after he makes a promise to Merryweather's best friend (he was killed by this suitor) that he would protect after he dies.
Cain's valet, Riff, recalls in "The Sound of a Boy Hatching" how he first met him, and how abusive Cain's father was. We also discovered how Cain got interested in poisons (he was forbidden from collecting it or looking at the ones his family collected for generations in the basement) and why Riff started working for the Hargreaves. Riff decided to work for the Hargreaves family for money to pay his medical school bills. The first day he met Cain he was very pale and ill. We find out later the father was abusing Cain which is why he was like this. Cain's mother was also very abusive. She tried to kill Cain in the garden before being poisoned by her own husband. We find out that Cain's aunt Augusta (who lived in a mad house I think) was really Cain's Mom and Alexis's child which made Cain a incest child. Alexis's wife knew about this which is why she tried to kill Cain. Cain kept visiting her even through he was forbidden to.
Augusta couldn't deal with seeing Cain a child she didn't want and so killed herself.It seemed like she was forced to be with Alexis who obsessed with her.
Cain wasn't actually saved by Alexis for a good reason. It was so Alexis to kill Cain for himself. Cain was able to out smart Alexis and poison him.
Alexis Hargreaves,supposedly committed suicide after Cain attempted to kill him.
In "Who killed Cock Robin?", Cain solves a series of murders resembling lines from the children's rhyme "Who Killed Cock Robin
I don't think I could talk much about this one on Goodreads,hopefully I don't get flagged. Haha so basically this man who is a high status school teacher who married and is highly educated but isn't happy with his life and falls in love with a young girl called Elise (a friend of Merryweather) who around ten or something (weird isn't it?).
Her grandfather is priest and so long story short Elise was afraid that they would be caught and so she was going to confess to her grandfather to be relieved of her sins. The man decided to kill her while she was in a game of "funeral" with some friends(he sharp shooted) to hide the evidence. A rumour goes around about a Angel of Darkness or whatever killing children who don't listen and play "funeral" games. Cain of course doesn't believe for a bit a "Angel"or "ghost" is doing the murders.
Later the man kills one of her friends and the priest and made it look as if the priest killed them and himself.
Cain realized who's been doing the murders and of course the teacher shoots himself.
I didn't like this chapter that much it was rushed at the end and focused on being as shockingly bizarre as possible.
In "The Tragic Tale of Ms. Pudding", Cain and Riff investigates the 'Plum Pudding Murderer', who murders the members of a gentlemen's club that abused and drugged children for amusement; the murderer is one of their victims who trying to hide his tortured past from his wife. His wife believes she's the one killing people she has affairs with.
Since she always passes out before anything happens and wakes up to seeing a corpse. It turns out her husband was giving her sleeping drugs. Cain helps her realized that after he comes across him and tries to make him her new lover for the night.She decides not to cheat with Cain and explains why she couldn't. She tells Cain she murdered people and that her husband has insomnia and that he takes sleeping medicine and so he's never around her at night giving her affection and love I guess,so that's why she cheats. Her husband catches them and threatened to sue Cain lol.
Cain and Riff starts a series of investigations on the Plum Pudding murders.They discovered a maid (she should be jailed too) who knew about the first ring of "Plum"murders. She tells them about how she used to assist the scumbags and was never allowed to look inside the room they kept the (poor) children.
Cain and Riff discovered a article in the newspaper about a girl named Meridith.
We find out it was actually the husband who was forced to dress like a girl and live in a cage and who was a lover of plum pudding and likes to sing a nursery rhyme (I can't remember the name),so to torment him they drugged the pudding so he would be addicted to the pudding and everytime someone sang the song he would go berserk. He killed those people...I guess some lived because the maid mentioned being forced to keep the situation quiet and sent the boy to the orphanage. Later he gets adopted by rich people and later on gets married. All is well till he is found again but one of his old kidnappers.
He started killing again and his wife find eventually.
Of course his wife finds out and he kills himself because of it.
She vows to be forever be a widow.
In "The Twisted Fairy Tale", Cain takes revenge on a relative and a maid who killed an orphan boy (who was friends with Cain) they thought was him to cover up their thefts and take Cain's position as the next Earl.
This takes place after Cain father supposedly died. Cain's extended family is choosing a guardian for him. His relative Angus hardly knows what Cain actually looks like decides he wants to fill that role. In truth he just wanted to take Cain's position.
He tricked on of Cain's maids to join him(she was in love with Angus and he knows this and takes advantage of it). Long story short, Cain realized what happened and to revenge himself and his friend sees the maid and tells her what's up and how he was never dead and how they poisoned and barried the wrong person(He tells her to go see Angus I think) the maid sees Angus with another woman. Cain send a fake letter to Angus's real girlfriend so she would go to see him and they would get caught. The maid sees this feels betrayed and kills Angus.
Cain makes Riff bury Angus were he was going to bury Cain and Cain kills the maid.
This volume was very dark, intriguing and the first two chapters told us a lot about Cain's childhood past but I felt awkward reading the scenes Cain's psychotic father and step mother and unnecessary p*dophilia scenes later on in the story.
August 12, 2021
So mutch trauma and despair but I can´t stop reading XD
The Cain saga volume 2 by Kaori Yuki get a 9.6/10 stars.
The Cain saga volume 2 by Kaori Yuki get a 9.6/10 stars.
May 12, 2023
Love how these mangas consist of a few short stories per book it gives it an interesting kind of personalized touch
October 22, 2021
Another dark and tragic gothic volume in the Cain/Godchild saga.
In the Hanged Man we get Mary Weather's backstory - She's Cain's half-sister and her mother's cuckolded husband wants to kill everyone she has ever loved. Murder, adultery and masquerade.
The Sound of a boy hatching gives us Cain's tormented back story and introduces faithful butler Riff - Child Abuse, Incest, insanity, patricide, suicide....
Who Killed Cock Robin has Cain investigate one of Mary's missing friends and here we uncover a melodramatic secret of pedophilia, murder, guilt and shame
In the tragic tale of Ms. Pudding we enter the uncover a secret sex club where Victorian toffs addict children to drugs and use them for their sadistic pleasures.
And in twisted fairytale we conclude with more of Cain's relatives hatching a murder plot against him.
The tragedy and melodrama does not quit in this volume. It's dark, twisted and pretty bleak. Artwork is again so-so. The changing face of Cain makes it a tad difficult to follow in places. If you love misery and tortured gothic, this really is the series to read, it is THE most gothic manga I've come across. Imagine the family secrets and tragedy from every piece of gothic literature you've ever read, all condensed into one series. Light reading this is not! I'd have loved more ornate and gothic art to better reflect the contents, but its not too bad.
In the Hanged Man we get Mary Weather's backstory - She's Cain's half-sister and her mother's cuckolded husband wants to kill everyone she has ever loved. Murder, adultery and masquerade.
The Sound of a boy hatching gives us Cain's tormented back story and introduces faithful butler Riff - Child Abuse, Incest, insanity, patricide, suicide....
Who Killed Cock Robin has Cain investigate one of Mary's missing friends and here we uncover a melodramatic secret of pedophilia, murder, guilt and shame
In the tragic tale of Ms. Pudding we enter the uncover a secret sex club where Victorian toffs addict children to drugs and use them for their sadistic pleasures.
And in twisted fairytale we conclude with more of Cain's relatives hatching a murder plot against him.
The tragedy and melodrama does not quit in this volume. It's dark, twisted and pretty bleak. Artwork is again so-so. The changing face of Cain makes it a tad difficult to follow in places. If you love misery and tortured gothic, this really is the series to read, it is THE most gothic manga I've come across. Imagine the family secrets and tragedy from every piece of gothic literature you've ever read, all condensed into one series. Light reading this is not! I'd have loved more ornate and gothic art to better reflect the contents, but its not too bad.
October 3, 2019
This series is a prequel to the series called Godchild by Kaori Yuki. A note from the editor states that you don't have to have read Godchild before this or this before Godchild.
Mother Goose rhymes, poisons, murders and sex scandals all around. It's like no one in this series has any morals. Sometimes I even question the main character as he goes on his 'murder-of-the-week' adventures.
But this volume does have a very solid backstory for Cain and the events that brought him and his little sister together. Their father was an absolute scumbag... on multiple levels. Seriously, he was one alchemic transmutation away from being worse that Shou Tucker because right now, I'd put them at an equal level of evil.
This series had 5 volumes.
Mother Goose rhymes, poisons, murders and sex scandals all around. It's like no one in this series has any morals. Sometimes I even question the main character as he goes on his 'murder-of-the-week' adventures.
But this volume does have a very solid backstory for Cain and the events that brought him and his little sister together. Their father was an absolute scumbag... on multiple levels. Seriously, he was one alchemic transmutation away from being worse that Shou Tucker because right now, I'd put them at an equal level of evil.
This series had 5 volumes.
June 20, 2022
Este volumen ya va tomando forma más novelesca, se profundiza en el personaje del Conde Cain (a quien hasta ahora sólo conocíamos superficialmente), con historias sobre su atormentada infancia y su perversa familia.
El elenco secundario añade al joven mayordomo Riff y a la niña adivina Merryweather como fijos compañeros de aventuras del sarcástico conde. Eso me agrada, porque hasta ahora los personajes secundarios eran episódicos y casi siempre se morían.
Tema muy reiterado en los cinco relatos de este volumen en particular es el abuso infantil, para nada suavizado por cierto.
El elenco secundario añade al joven mayordomo Riff y a la niña adivina Merryweather como fijos compañeros de aventuras del sarcástico conde. Eso me agrada, porque hasta ahora los personajes secundarios eran episódicos y casi siempre se morían.
Tema muy reiterado en los cinco relatos de este volumen en particular es el abuso infantil, para nada suavizado por cierto.
July 15, 2021
SPOILERS I GUESS
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I'm only two volumes into this series and I'm finding myself guessing who the murderer is in every single volume and wondering if it's going to be childhood sexual assault or incest.
It's frustrating because I really like the illustration and I think the characters are really interesting but honestly HOW MUCH CHILDHOOD SEXUAL TRAUMA IS A SERIES GOING TO HAVE. Seriously.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I'm only two volumes into this series and I'm finding myself guessing who the murderer is in every single volume and wondering if it's going to be childhood sexual assault or incest.
It's frustrating because I really like the illustration and I think the characters are really interesting but honestly HOW MUCH CHILDHOOD SEXUAL TRAUMA IS A SERIES GOING TO HAVE. Seriously.
January 21, 2019
I'm going to be binge reading the next couple of volumes. Once again Kaori Yuki takes something that may seem innocent like Mother Goose Rhymes and turns into something utterly horrifying and disturbing but with a beauty that is all hers. Each of the chapters were f u c k e d up but i couldn't stop reading. TW: incest, pedophilia, murder, child abuse
October 8, 2020
In questo secondo volume che segue le vicende prequel di God Child, ci ritroveremo catapultati nell'infanzia di Cain e sul perché la sua vita sia maledetta e piena di stranezze.
Ho amato dalla prima all'ultima pagina!
Ho amato dalla prima all'ultima pagina!
January 17, 2022
En este volumen conocemos más sobre el pasado de Cain, sus padres y su relación con Rift. Por cierto, una relación que fue como una pequeña luz en medio de la oscuridad para Cain. También, nuevos personajes se suman a la familia de Cain. Y otros casos que te harán estremecer
April 15, 2024
Two more of the stories in this one are important to the plot: The Hanged Man and the story this volume is named after. The Sound of a Boy Hatching is a very dark chapter. The Tragic Tale of Ms. Pudding has a very sad ending. It's still a very good read.
May 19, 2024
“this may be too much... i might need a break... [something happens] never mind let’s continue this chapter... [the chapter finishes] ok NOW i need a break”
...i continued and read it all in one setting
*look at tw’s before reading it (everything you can think of, this manga has it)
...i continued and read it all in one setting
*look at tw’s before reading it (everything you can think of, this manga has it)
August 20, 2017
Erneut morbide Kurzgeschichten, aber auch die Vergangenheit von Cain, wodurch wir erfahren warum er ist wie er ist.
December 1, 2018
The first volume was already quite dark, but these stories really takes the cake. I still love it, though.
April 3, 2019
Rereading this on paper is a treat. Cain is such a special baby and did not deserve all this shit
October 14, 2020
Qualcosa mi dice che seriamente rimarrò scioccata dal finale.
January 31, 2021
Dark and gruesome. Interesting mysteries that definitely have a gothic Sherlock feel to them. Especially if Sherlock were always late to help someone.
June 21, 2021
Oof, now this one was brutal. Cain really can't be happy for long can he??
November 22, 2021
Really loved this series, great gothic Shoujo manga! Love the story, characters and art style 😻😁👌❤️
September 13, 2022
This volume will definitely change the way you think about some nursery rhymes. At least one kid is graphically killed in each of these five chapters so...yeah.
July 10, 2012
I think The Cain Saga, and its sequel Godchild, have the most messed up and tragic characters I've seen so far. It's dark, it's gloomy. Don't expect happy endings in these two mangas, dead bodies keep pilling up. All the characters are so complex.
The Cain Saga art is not as good as Godchild, one can guess the artist art was not mature yet unlike when she made Godchild much later. Still it's a must to read to fully understand what happens in Godchild. There are a lot of good contents to find there too (like about how Oscar and Cain met). In the other hand, Godchild's art is so beautiful it's mesmerizing. The characters are so beautifully drawn and each have their unique look.
The hero Cain gets involved in different events so the mangas are a bit like short stories put together, all of them involving some supernatural of some sort. He has on his side the ever faithful Riff, his butler and friend. But in the background lies his father's shadow and his secret organization, who become Cain's ennemy throughout the series. Among the ennemies is the fascinating half-brother of Cain, Jizabel, who is also part of said organisation. Jizabel is helped by Cassian.
It's interesting to see the mirror relationship between Cain and the protective Riff and Jizabel and the protective Cassian.
I really love these two mangas. I love rereading them, going back into the story, and seeing again those fascinating characters living briefly up until the ending.
P.S. My review is about both series. I got The Cain Saga in French since the Englih version was not out.
The Cain Saga art is not as good as Godchild, one can guess the artist art was not mature yet unlike when she made Godchild much later. Still it's a must to read to fully understand what happens in Godchild. There are a lot of good contents to find there too (like about how Oscar and Cain met). In the other hand, Godchild's art is so beautiful it's mesmerizing. The characters are so beautifully drawn and each have their unique look.
The hero Cain gets involved in different events so the mangas are a bit like short stories put together, all of them involving some supernatural of some sort. He has on his side the ever faithful Riff, his butler and friend. But in the background lies his father's shadow and his secret organization, who become Cain's ennemy throughout the series. Among the ennemies is the fascinating half-brother of Cain, Jizabel, who is also part of said organisation. Jizabel is helped by Cassian.
It's interesting to see the mirror relationship between Cain and the protective Riff and Jizabel and the protective Cassian.
I really love these two mangas. I love rereading them, going back into the story, and seeing again those fascinating characters living briefly up until the ending.
P.S. My review is about both series. I got The Cain Saga in French since the Englih version was not out.
March 26, 2008
This series of stories introduces the young earl Cain C. Hargreaves, an eccentric loner millionaire who likes to solve mysteries and collect exotic poisons. This is the second volume of the Cain Saga stories, which has 5 volumes and then continues in the Godchild manga series.
Like the first volume, this volume is set up anthology style, with the plotline revealed through a succession of short stories. I think this format doesn't do the main plotline justice, as these are mystery stories and could use a longer set-up and plot development timeline. Still, much more of the earl's backstory is set up in this volume, with main characters Riff and Mary Weather brought into the storyline, as well as more of Cain's abusive history brought to light. It's this intriguing backstory that is keeping me involved in this series. I think I'm getting more used to the Kaori Yuki's drawing style; although her panels still abruptly jump forward during action sequences without smooth transitions making it difficult to understand the story's action, I'm learning to read between the lines and divine what happened even when it wasn't specifically drawn into the story. I will seek out Vol. 3 to continue reading this saga.
Like the first volume, this volume is set up anthology style, with the plotline revealed through a succession of short stories. I think this format doesn't do the main plotline justice, as these are mystery stories and could use a longer set-up and plot development timeline. Still, much more of the earl's backstory is set up in this volume, with main characters Riff and Mary Weather brought into the storyline, as well as more of Cain's abusive history brought to light. It's this intriguing backstory that is keeping me involved in this series. I think I'm getting more used to the Kaori Yuki's drawing style; although her panels still abruptly jump forward during action sequences without smooth transitions making it difficult to understand the story's action, I'm learning to read between the lines and divine what happened even when it wasn't specifically drawn into the story. I will seek out Vol. 3 to continue reading this saga.
March 24, 2015
The first four tales in The Sound of a Boy Hatching are loosely based on the themes of nursery rhymes. The Hanged Man tells of Cain's first meeting with his half sister Mary. The titular Sound of A Boy Hatching is about how Riff came to be Cain's servant, the deaths of Cain's parents and the illicit affair between Cain's father Alexis and his older sister Augusta. In Who Killed Cock Robin? the mystery involves the death of a vicar's daughter named Elsie Robbins. In The Tragic Tale of Ms. Pudding, Cain investigates a series of grisly murders linked by a song from Mother Goose and meets a young married woman who believes she is the murderer.
The volume concludes with the dark vignette The Twisted Fairytale in which Cain and Riff thwart an attempt by one of the young Earl's greedy relatives to kill him off for his fortune.
These curious, bi-polar tales swing back and forth between humour, pathos and downright bloody violence. The culmination of each story is satisfying but rarely happy. If you enjoy your manga with a twist of vengeance and deviance then this is the series for you.
The volume concludes with the dark vignette The Twisted Fairytale in which Cain and Riff thwart an attempt by one of the young Earl's greedy relatives to kill him off for his fortune.
These curious, bi-polar tales swing back and forth between humour, pathos and downright bloody violence. The culmination of each story is satisfying but rarely happy. If you enjoy your manga with a twist of vengeance and deviance then this is the series for you.
August 23, 2016
J’ai remédié à cela avec le deuxième tome de Comte Cain, l’expert en poison que j’ai eu grand plaisir à retrouver. D’autant plus que cette fois il apparait dans toutes les aventures et que son histoire personnelle est très bien développée, grâce entre autre à deux chapitres qui expliquent son passé, ses drames familiaux ainsi que la présence de Riff à ses côtés.
Moi qui aime beaucoup ce personnage, j’ai été ravie de connaître un peu son histoire personnelle.
Si l’ensemble n’a pas de gros fil rouge, les petites histoires ne manquent pas d’être savoureuses, notamment grâce à ce comte Hargreaves qui est décidément doué pour attirer à lui à la fois les ennuis et les ennemis.
Kaori Yuki s’amuse à réinterpréter les Contes de la Mère l’Oie en version encore plus affreuses que les originales, et c’est pourtant dur.
De mon côté, je continue à me régaler de ses récits horrifiques et gothiques, portés par une esthétique sublime.
Moi qui aime beaucoup ce personnage, j’ai été ravie de connaître un peu son histoire personnelle.
Si l’ensemble n’a pas de gros fil rouge, les petites histoires ne manquent pas d’être savoureuses, notamment grâce à ce comte Hargreaves qui est décidément doué pour attirer à lui à la fois les ennuis et les ennemis.
Kaori Yuki s’amuse à réinterpréter les Contes de la Mère l’Oie en version encore plus affreuses que les originales, et c’est pourtant dur.
De mon côté, je continue à me régaler de ses récits horrifiques et gothiques, portés par une esthétique sublime.
November 17, 2015
This is by far my favorite volume in the Cain Saga. I really loved most of the stories and the inclusion of Cain's past. The only story I didn't like as much was the last one, "Twisted Fairytale," because Cain's changing clothes with his doppleganger felt like an ass-pull. Otherwise, I love the stories and mysteries in this volume. (I did find an error in timeline, though--in Godchild, there's a plot with Jack the Ripper in it. He's known to have killed between 1888 and 1891, placing the Cain Saga not too much before those years. Mary sings the Lizzie Borden song on one page, but those murders happened in 1892.)
Speaking of Mary, I find her adorable and I was so excited to see how Riff and Cain met. The stories in this volume were also so interesting. Definitely worth the read.
Speaking of Mary, I find her adorable and I was so excited to see how Riff and Cain met. The stories in this volume were also so interesting. Definitely worth the read.
January 11, 2008
Kaori Yuki, The Cain Saga: The Sound of a Boy Hatching (ViZ, 1993)
We get the second installment of the backfilling of the Godchild saga with The Sound of a Boy Hatching, which introduces us to Mary Weather, Cain's half-sister, and gives us more background on Cain's relationships with his father and Riff. I liked this one a whole lot better than I did Forgotten Juliet, though I can't quite place my finger on why; it may well have to do with me being much farther into Godchild than I was when i read the first book, and thus knowing the principal characters better. This one does have the same episodic quality as Forgotten Juliet, though, so if that bothers you, be warned. *** ½
We get the second installment of the backfilling of the Godchild saga with The Sound of a Boy Hatching, which introduces us to Mary Weather, Cain's half-sister, and gives us more background on Cain's relationships with his father and Riff. I liked this one a whole lot better than I did Forgotten Juliet, though I can't quite place my finger on why; it may well have to do with me being much farther into Godchild than I was when i read the first book, and thus knowing the principal characters better. This one does have the same episodic quality as Forgotten Juliet, though, so if that bothers you, be warned. *** ½
March 3, 2013
Yikes. Another decent volume. I love that we get a chance to see more of Riff, who's quickly becoming my favorite side character.
This volume was, I though, stronger than the first. There's real heartbreak and a lot less giggling at unintentionally funny moments in this one. The Youths who Stopped Time was wonderfully creepy and I loved Branded Bibi. The overall mood stayed solidly in the dark and macabre. Looking very much forward to reading the next one!
This volume was, I though, stronger than the first. There's real heartbreak and a lot less giggling at unintentionally funny moments in this one. The Youths who Stopped Time was wonderfully creepy and I loved Branded Bibi. The overall mood stayed solidly in the dark and macabre. Looking very much forward to reading the next one!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews