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Bizenghast #5
Bizenghast, Volume 5
Adrift and in despair, Dinah with have to fight to keep her sanity, keep her life together and keep all hell from breaking loose in the Mausoleum! The town of Bizenghast holds many secrets, and Dinah will have to grow up and grow strong if she intends to seek out the truth behind the mystery. Hatred and murder underlie the very foundations of the town, and Dinah's struggle is only just beginning...
192 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2008
8 people are currently reading
349 people want to read
About the author
M. Alice LeGrow
34 books145 followersM. Alice LeGrow is a female manga-influenced alternate comic book artist best known for her original English-language manga series Bizenghast. From the Savannah College of Art and Design, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sequential Art.
As a young girl, Mary Alice LeGrow was not interested in comics since she grew up in Weisbaden, Germany where comics were not readily available. In her freshman year of high school, she discovered comics and anime. She enjoyed manga because it was not "the regular colorful spandex superhero fare". She heard about Tokyopop's Rising Stars of Manga competition from a friend at the 2003 Otakon, an anime convention in Baltimore, Maryland. On the drive from the convention and with eleven days before the deadline, she chose a short story she had written named "Nikolai", because of its "simple but engaging plot that had a definite start and finish." She renamed the main character, Sally Notch, after a road sign called "Notch Road" and based her character design on a model in a Gothic & Lolita Bible. Because the story was ten pages longer than the twenty-page limit, she rewrote it and also altered Sally's hair and clothes "to make her more interesting". "Nikolai" won a runner-up place in the competition and was published in the 2003 Rising Stars of Manga anthology. Along with a monetary prize, LeGrow won a chance to potientally have a manga series published by Tokyopop. The editors liked the series she proposed, Bizenghast, and she became the second Rising Stars of Manga winner to have a manga series published by Tokyopop.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
As a young girl, Mary Alice LeGrow was not interested in comics since she grew up in Weisbaden, Germany where comics were not readily available. In her freshman year of high school, she discovered comics and anime. She enjoyed manga because it was not "the regular colorful spandex superhero fare". She heard about Tokyopop's Rising Stars of Manga competition from a friend at the 2003 Otakon, an anime convention in Baltimore, Maryland. On the drive from the convention and with eleven days before the deadline, she chose a short story she had written named "Nikolai", because of its "simple but engaging plot that had a definite start and finish." She renamed the main character, Sally Notch, after a road sign called "Notch Road" and based her character design on a model in a Gothic & Lolita Bible. Because the story was ten pages longer than the twenty-page limit, she rewrote it and also altered Sally's hair and clothes "to make her more interesting". "Nikolai" won a runner-up place in the competition and was published in the 2003 Rising Stars of Manga anthology. Along with a monetary prize, LeGrow won a chance to potientally have a manga series published by Tokyopop. The editors liked the series she proposed, Bizenghast, and she became the second Rising Stars of Manga winner to have a manga series published by Tokyopop.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
April 5, 2025
Everyone deals with grief in their own way. Hopefully Dinah will be able to move past hers.
August 15, 2025
This one didn't have any codes :( Maybe that was Vincent's writing? :(
July 3, 2020
Long Grief
So Vincent died. Dinah just couldn’t let go. Or refused to let go. She wanted him back cuz she couldn’t do anything without him but... One should think she oughta grow up. Good story going but the sequences are getting slightly choppy.
So Vincent died. Dinah just couldn’t let go. Or refused to let go. She wanted him back cuz she couldn’t do anything without him but... One should think she oughta grow up. Good story going but the sequences are getting slightly choppy.
January 26, 2021
A spirit wearing Vincent's face tricks Dinah and almost kills her. Dinah can't get over Vincent and Edrear tries to snap her out of it but can't. Eventually she goes back to the mausoleum to the happiness of Edrear and Edaniel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 28, 2019
More story driven but the art style takes a dive.
February 21, 2020
You had me in the first half. I seriously thought maybe they'd find some way to bring Vincent back. But no, it was just super sad with a happier ending.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 31, 2021
Poor Dinah...
April 12, 2022
My favorite volume so far. Also I’m probably wrong, but I have a theory.
September 10, 2016
This volume was immensely enjoyable, like many of the other volumes, however, it had a certain depressing air about it which was different from all of the other volumes. Now that we see Dinah going through the process of losing a loved one all over again, we can now better understand why she has been the way she is since the beginning of the series. The series started a few years after Dinah's parents died in an accident. Yes, there are still some tendencies and attitudes Dinah has that are completely her own, regardless of what she has seen and experienced, but the death of her parents has shaped much of Dinah's very being. And like the mausoleum tells her in the last chapter of this volume, when we first saw her, she was basically incapable of doing anything at all alone, she'd cower in fear. But now, she walks bravely, and sometimes fearlessly, through many of the trials she faces in the vaults. She'll be okay without Vincent, he was there with her when she was incapable, and when she was capable, and now it is time for her to learn how to function well without even the option of having someone to emotionally lean on. I don't like the fact that Vincent is dead, nobody does, and just like Dinah, I don't like the idea of letting his memory go just because he died, but it's true, he wouldn't want her to live as an empty shell. A person isn't meant to numb the pain, they aren't meant to dwell upon it either, we just must reform ourselves when we are missing such a big piece of ourselves, to not fill the hole, but pretend that it was never not there, almost. You know? Someday, we forget that we ever lived without that hole, and we are not empty, we are just new. This is what Dinah will have to do, and I think, she has chosen to do at the end of this volume.
Although.. What's with the stories again?! Not a single adventure they had this time around was completed. Is Dinah using up her "sick days" that Edaniel mentioned and just leaving before finishing up the vaults? Or just..Is it that they are solved and closed up once Dinah breaks the cycle of things? I really hope that we will get some riddle solving again. Although I do really miss Vincent's presence. Yes, he wasn't the best person, but he had good qualities and brought something to the series that just felt like he was half of Dinah, half of the cast of the protagonists. And he sort of was, in a way, even though Dinah ultimately always was the very main character.
It's nice to see Dinah mature and grow, and to see more of Edrear and Edaniel, but I still miss Vincent's presence. And I suppose that Edrear isn't as great as I thought he was... And Edaniel is still pretty important. Will we ever see Vincent again though? Won't he come back, somehow? Anyway, I suppose Dinah at least can finally do her job again. She won't be seeing Vincent everywhere, which tends to happen regardless of your surroundings if you had just lost someone very, very dear. You see them everywhere for a while, like, literally, you SEE THEM instead of people who don't actually look that much like them. It's an awful trick that the brain plays on the heart in mourning, and the manipulative ghosts were playing on that with Dinah. Not only that though, but a person will naturally see the lost one in everything, like Dinah was also doing when she thought "it was never like this when Vincent was here." They always compare everything to when that lost person was alive. But that only fuels the grief. Letting go is living your life the way you would have if you two had parted permanently under different circumstances. You have to accept that while their story is over, yours is still being written. If you keep rereading your pages, you'll never finish your story.
Although.. What's with the stories again?! Not a single adventure they had this time around was completed. Is Dinah using up her "sick days" that Edaniel mentioned and just leaving before finishing up the vaults? Or just..Is it that they are solved and closed up once Dinah breaks the cycle of things? I really hope that we will get some riddle solving again. Although I do really miss Vincent's presence. Yes, he wasn't the best person, but he had good qualities and brought something to the series that just felt like he was half of Dinah, half of the cast of the protagonists. And he sort of was, in a way, even though Dinah ultimately always was the very main character.
It's nice to see Dinah mature and grow, and to see more of Edrear and Edaniel, but I still miss Vincent's presence. And I suppose that Edrear isn't as great as I thought he was... And Edaniel is still pretty important. Will we ever see Vincent again though? Won't he come back, somehow? Anyway, I suppose Dinah at least can finally do her job again. She won't be seeing Vincent everywhere, which tends to happen regardless of your surroundings if you had just lost someone very, very dear. You see them everywhere for a while, like, literally, you SEE THEM instead of people who don't actually look that much like them. It's an awful trick that the brain plays on the heart in mourning, and the manipulative ghosts were playing on that with Dinah. Not only that though, but a person will naturally see the lost one in everything, like Dinah was also doing when she thought "it was never like this when Vincent was here." They always compare everything to when that lost person was alive. But that only fuels the grief. Letting go is living your life the way you would have if you two had parted permanently under different circumstances. You have to accept that while their story is over, yours is still being written. If you keep rereading your pages, you'll never finish your story.
August 8, 2008
This volume largely felt like filler, waiting for the next big thing to happen, secrets to be revealed, etc. However, it was good to give Dinah some time to deal with events of previous chapters and to show that she has indeed grown as a person. She is very down on herself at the end of this volume, but all these things she has gone through - including her doubts - are what will allow her to be strong enough to keep going and solve the mysterious (and as-yet rather too ill-defined) evil lurking in the background. So while this one may seem slow, obvious at some points, and even more episodic than usual, it is necessary character development for Dinah, and for Edaniel and Edrear as well.
I miss Dinah's pretty outfits and, while the reason for the change is obvious if you've read this far, I wonder how long M. Alice can go without drawing her a pretty, frilly, near-useless confection of a dress. There have been times I thought the point of the series was so she could get paid to draw these elaborate costumes. ;) Nonetheless, there are some good moments and I'm looking forward to the next volume, and will be seriously upset if this is one of the series that TokyoPop is planning on canceling.
I miss Dinah's pretty outfits and, while the reason for the change is obvious if you've read this far, I wonder how long M. Alice can go without drawing her a pretty, frilly, near-useless confection of a dress. There have been times I thought the point of the series was so she could get paid to draw these elaborate costumes. ;) Nonetheless, there are some good moments and I'm looking forward to the next volume, and will be seriously upset if this is one of the series that TokyoPop is planning on canceling.
October 29, 2009
This volume largely felt like filler, waiting for the next big thing to happen, secrets to be revealed, etc. However, it was good to give Dinah some time to deal with events of previous chapters and to show that she has indeed grown as a person. She is very down on herself at the end of this volume, but all these things she has gone through - including her doubts - are what will allow her to be strong enough to keep going and solve the mysterious (and as-yet rather too ill-defined) evil lurking in the background. So while this one may seem slow, obvious at some points, and even more episodic than usual, it is necessary character development for Dinah, and for Edaniel and Edrear as well.
I miss Dinah's pretty outfits and, while the reason for the change is obvious if you've read this far, I wonder how long M. Alice can go without drawing her a pretty, frilly, near-useless confection of a dress. There have been times I thought the point of the series was so she could get paid to draw these elaborate costumes. ;) Nonetheless, there are some good moments and I'm looking forward to the next volume, and will be seriously upset if this is one of the series that TokyoPop is planning on canceling.
I miss Dinah's pretty outfits and, while the reason for the change is obvious if you've read this far, I wonder how long M. Alice can go without drawing her a pretty, frilly, near-useless confection of a dress. There have been times I thought the point of the series was so she could get paid to draw these elaborate costumes. ;) Nonetheless, there are some good moments and I'm looking forward to the next volume, and will be seriously upset if this is one of the series that TokyoPop is planning on canceling.
June 11, 2020
This volume is just chalked full of sadness and grief. In the wake of Vincent's untimely death at the end of the last volume, Dinnah is struggling to hold herself together and continue to work at the mausoleum. Throughout this volume we see Dinah work her way through all of the grief that she has built up and eventually accept the death of her friend. This is one of the more emotionally taxing volumes as you can feel just how much Vincent meant to Dinah and how empty her world is without him. One thing I don't like so much about this volume is how none of the ghosts that we encounter ever feel as if they are properly dealt with, we just leave the vaults after a time. Apart from that, this is a great volume. As we head into the final stretch of the series Dinah's change in her hair marks her change as a person as things only become more difficult going forward.
June 29, 2024
.::You were a wonderful experience::.
How dare you put a frilly cover to disguise the perfect representation of grief? The sadness, the helplessness, the rage . . . the healing . . . It communicated the importance of the grieving process, for me, at sixteen and carries a weight at thirty.
***SPOILER***
D: "Maybe I AM stronger, maybe I'm smarter than I was before... but that doesn't make me feel any less empty! And that's something you can't understand because you're an unemotional pile of stone."
M: "Even an unemotional pile of stone knows the value of the time you have left in life. And I know that wallowing in self-pity is not the way to live. You are stronger than that. You are worth more than that. The time has come for change, for healing, for bravery in the face of morality. I'm made of stone, Dinah. What are YOU made of?"
Me[the reader]: *Crying* T.T
How dare you put a frilly cover to disguise the perfect representation of grief? The sadness, the helplessness, the rage . . . the healing . . . It communicated the importance of the grieving process, for me, at sixteen and carries a weight at thirty.
***SPOILER***
D: "Maybe I AM stronger, maybe I'm smarter than I was before... but that doesn't make me feel any less empty! And that's something you can't understand because you're an unemotional pile of stone."
M: "Even an unemotional pile of stone knows the value of the time you have left in life. And I know that wallowing in self-pity is not the way to live. You are stronger than that. You are worth more than that. The time has come for change, for healing, for bravery in the face of morality. I'm made of stone, Dinah. What are YOU made of?"
Me[the reader]: *Crying* T.T
February 24, 2010
Vincent has died and now Dinah has to rid the mausoleums without him. Vincent does make some "appearances" though - kind of. I have faith he will be back. :)
The costumes in this volume were not as cool as in past volumes, due, I believe, to Dinah mourning over the loss of her friend. She actually appears in a sweatshirt! Zoiks! The art overall did not seem as good either - in two frames during the scene where she meets with "Vincent" in the Knightus Hotel, she looked startingly like Belle in Walt Disney's Beauty and the Beast. However, this is still one of my favorite manga so far and I am eagerly waiting volume 6.
The costumes in this volume were not as cool as in past volumes, due, I believe, to Dinah mourning over the loss of her friend. She actually appears in a sweatshirt! Zoiks! The art overall did not seem as good either - in two frames during the scene where she meets with "Vincent" in the Knightus Hotel, she looked startingly like Belle in Walt Disney's Beauty and the Beast. However, this is still one of my favorite manga so far and I am eagerly waiting volume 6.
June 4, 2011
Got this today and I've already read it =). What a mad cover - I'm made out of a cake and I've accidentally had a bite.
This book... well, it's kind of important to the plot, but at the same time it's not as interesting as the other ones. Vincent died at the end of book four, and this entire book is about Dinah dealing with her grief and getting over it (mauseleum style anyway). So it's got the usual fantastic artwork etc, but I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as the others. But for the plot, it is important.
This book... well, it's kind of important to the plot, but at the same time it's not as interesting as the other ones. Vincent died at the end of book four, and this entire book is about Dinah dealing with her grief and getting over it (mauseleum style anyway). So it's got the usual fantastic artwork etc, but I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as the others. But for the plot, it is important.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 2, 2015
4.5
ARTEX, DON'T LET THE SADNESS OF THE SWAMP GET TO YOU!!!! (sorry I really had to get that out of the way ^_^ )
Okay this book has the most impressive artwork in the series by far, and sees the ghosts/spirits that Dinah is trying to free taking advantage of her grief stricken state (oh no, I'm telling you why). The book deals with many of the common emotions such as guilt and depression, and the idea of looking for answers and ways to talk to the person you lost..... and yes, the second chapter of the book is totally NeverEndingStory complete with wolves....
ARTEX, DON'T LET THE SADNESS OF THE SWAMP GET TO YOU!!!! (sorry I really had to get that out of the way ^_^ )
Okay this book has the most impressive artwork in the series by far, and sees the ghosts/spirits that Dinah is trying to free taking advantage of her grief stricken state (oh no, I'm telling you why). The book deals with many of the common emotions such as guilt and depression, and the idea of looking for answers and ways to talk to the person you lost..... and yes, the second chapter of the book is totally NeverEndingStory complete with wolves....
May 29, 2016
This is my favorite cover, but not my favorite volume over all, though I remember enjoying it. I think I liked the intensity of the story, but upon subsequent readings it feels repetitive and makes Dinah seem weak, boring, and very gullible. I did like "The Family Shunned," and I REALLY liked "The Angel Speaks." There is something eerily powerful about that chapter. Again, the art is hugely improved, but the story in this volume is kind of blah.
July 29, 2016
This was not a good volume of Bizenghast. The first four were pretty good, but this one was just plain bad. Dinah is really depressed and it just clouds the whole story. You don't want to read it because it just brings you down too. The vaults that they go into aren't very interesting either, and for most of them I didn't see the point.
If this had been the first volume in the series, I wouldn't have read them. As it is, I won't be reading any more of the Bizenghast installments.
If this had been the first volume in the series, I wouldn't have read them. As it is, I won't be reading any more of the Bizenghast installments.
May 18, 2009
This series wasn't too bad considering I started 5 books into it. You get the jist of what has happened thus far in the story line enough to get through the book. It jumps around quite a bit though. One minute you are in the real world where the lead character is talking to her aunt and the next page it jumps to her rescuing souls.
October 22, 2009
Vi's death was pretty hard to take and a shocking end to vol. 4- but LeGrow really uses it to develop Edaniel's and Edrear's characters as well as Dinah's. It's also a great lead-in for vol. 6, where the plot really starts to thicken...
April 18, 2017
I thought Dinah was irrational in her grief for Vincent; but I was reminded all too late today how strong grief really is, what it feels like to blame yourself, and how we'd do anything to bring our loved ones back.
July 24, 2014
I think each volume of this pulls me in more and more. I hate having to wait for number 6!
November 17, 2008
I am still trying to figure out the relationships in this flipin book.
I will probly read the novel.
I will probly read the novel.
June 12, 2011
Well... I don't have much to say about this volume... no pictures OR Edaniel quotes! Sad review right?
Haha... I still can't get over the end of volume 4. I'm just still surprised!
Haha... I still can't get over the end of volume 4. I'm just still surprised!
February 3, 2012
Very interesting series.
May 22, 2015
I've never rated a manga volume this low. It has sent the series as a whole plummeting from intriguing to the same old chick lit rhetoric.
April 28, 2013
The art i think is getting a lot better from the first one. Annoying how its taking so long for M. Alice LeGrow to produce more books. :/
November 11, 2013
This one was just okay. Felt like it was a bridge between what happened and what's yet to come.
November 21, 2014
Dinah is struggling with her tasks as the spirits take advantage of her grief.
April 21, 2015
By this point the list of needed improvements is a lot shorter. the writer has grown in their craft.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews