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Ao Oni #2
Ao Oni: Vengeance
A week after the first nightmare, Shun begs his classmates not to go anywhere near the abandoned mansion on the outskirts of town ever again, but the gears of fate seem to be turning against his will. They find themselves in the Jailhouse once more, and the man-eating monster that lives inside is happy to welcome them. Will they have the power to change anything? The game is the same, and the rules are simple: get caught and you’re dead. It’s time for round two in this lethal game of tag!
- GenresLight NovelHorror
273 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 23, 2018
2 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 29, 2019
This review assumes you've read the first book, Ao Oni. If you haven't, be aware that I include major spoilers for that book.
Ao Oni: Vengeance takes place only a week after the events of the first book. Shun is the only one who remembers what happened. He has completely stopped going to school, instead choosing to focus on the next version of his game while keeping an eye out for any signs that someone else has been snared by the Jailhouse. He asks Hiroshi to make sure no one else enters the house, but it's already too late: two of their classmates have gone inside and met horrible fates. Takuro, with Takeshi and Mika in tow, goes as well. Hiroshi finds the building's European architecture too interesting to resist (yes, really) and ends up trapped inside the building with all the others.
As in the various versions of the game, the overall setup feels familiar, but there are enough differences to keep it from feeling like a rehash of the first book. Shun and Anna are safe at Shun's home, desperately trying to help the group trapped in the Jailhouse using the knowledge Shun gained from his time there. Meanwhile, the situation in the Jailhouse initially plays out similar to the way it did in the first book, but quickly goes a different route.
Parts of this book were almost more gory than I could take. The very beginning was particularly awful, and I wasn't sure my stomach was going to be up to the task if the whole book turned out to be like that. It seemed like the Oni was more inclined to savor its kills this time around, although thankfully the gory bits weren't all as lovingly detailed as the book's first scene.
It may sound like I hated this, but I actually thought it was better than the first book, even if I wasn't fond of the increase in the level of gore. I had worried that this book would basically be the first book with slightly different deaths. Up to a certain point, I suppose it was: Takeshi was still a scared kid hiding in a closet, Mika was still too desperate to be loved and needed to see Takuro for who he really was, and Takuro still sucked. The overall level of tension was better than in the first book, however, and the parts of the house and story that no longer matched up with the first book's Jailhouse had me on the edge of my seat, wondering whether any of the characters would manage to make it out this time around.
I found that I liked Hiroshi a little more this time around. The bits from his POV helped, as did the fact that, this time around, he didn't spend a good chunk of the story staring at a fellow classmate's severed head like it was no big deal. I wasn't as thrilled about Kuroda's attempts to humanize Takuro, however. I don't care what Takuro's father was like, or what Takuro told himself about how he needed to approach life, or how he felt after he realized he'd betrayed maybe the only person in the world who actually cared about him. The fact of the matter was that he bullied a classmate to the point where the kid committed suicide and then, instead of feeling any sort of guilt or horror, proceeded to bully another classmate the same way. Takuro's sudden change of heart and ability to empathize with his victims was unconvincing.
The explanation for the series' events was weird and messy, and I still don't understand why Shun, who knew his game was connected to the horrors at the Jailhouse and possibly even causing it all, created an updated version of his game. Hiroshi would have had a much easier time if Shun hadn't gone and changed things around. Even so, I enjoyed this entry in the series and plan on reading the next book. From the sounds of things, Takeshi might be its focus. Here's hoping at least one of the remaining books features Mika successfully cutting herself free from the emotional hold that Takuro has over her.
Extras:
An afterword written by the author, a character guide, textless color illustrations, one scene from the book included at the very beginning in manga form, and several illustrations throughout.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
Ao Oni: Vengeance takes place only a week after the events of the first book. Shun is the only one who remembers what happened. He has completely stopped going to school, instead choosing to focus on the next version of his game while keeping an eye out for any signs that someone else has been snared by the Jailhouse. He asks Hiroshi to make sure no one else enters the house, but it's already too late: two of their classmates have gone inside and met horrible fates. Takuro, with Takeshi and Mika in tow, goes as well. Hiroshi finds the building's European architecture too interesting to resist (yes, really) and ends up trapped inside the building with all the others.
As in the various versions of the game, the overall setup feels familiar, but there are enough differences to keep it from feeling like a rehash of the first book. Shun and Anna are safe at Shun's home, desperately trying to help the group trapped in the Jailhouse using the knowledge Shun gained from his time there. Meanwhile, the situation in the Jailhouse initially plays out similar to the way it did in the first book, but quickly goes a different route.
Parts of this book were almost more gory than I could take. The very beginning was particularly awful, and I wasn't sure my stomach was going to be up to the task if the whole book turned out to be like that. It seemed like the Oni was more inclined to savor its kills this time around, although thankfully the gory bits weren't all as lovingly detailed as the book's first scene.
It may sound like I hated this, but I actually thought it was better than the first book, even if I wasn't fond of the increase in the level of gore. I had worried that this book would basically be the first book with slightly different deaths. Up to a certain point, I suppose it was: Takeshi was still a scared kid hiding in a closet, Mika was still too desperate to be loved and needed to see Takuro for who he really was, and Takuro still sucked. The overall level of tension was better than in the first book, however, and the parts of the house and story that no longer matched up with the first book's Jailhouse had me on the edge of my seat, wondering whether any of the characters would manage to make it out this time around.
I found that I liked Hiroshi a little more this time around. The bits from his POV helped, as did the fact that, this time around, he didn't spend a good chunk of the story staring at a fellow classmate's severed head like it was no big deal. I wasn't as thrilled about Kuroda's attempts to humanize Takuro, however. I don't care what Takuro's father was like, or what Takuro told himself about how he needed to approach life, or how he felt after he realized he'd betrayed maybe the only person in the world who actually cared about him. The fact of the matter was that he bullied a classmate to the point where the kid committed suicide and then, instead of feeling any sort of guilt or horror, proceeded to bully another classmate the same way. Takuro's sudden change of heart and ability to empathize with his victims was unconvincing.
The explanation for the series' events was weird and messy, and I still don't understand why Shun, who knew his game was connected to the horrors at the Jailhouse and possibly even causing it all, created an updated version of his game. Hiroshi would have had a much easier time if Shun hadn't gone and changed things around. Even so, I enjoyed this entry in the series and plan on reading the next book. From the sounds of things, Takeshi might be its focus. Here's hoping at least one of the remaining books features Mika successfully cutting herself free from the emotional hold that Takuro has over her.
Extras:
An afterword written by the author, a character guide, textless color illustrations, one scene from the book included at the very beginning in manga form, and several illustrations throughout.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
November 13, 2023
Content warnings: Bullying, body horror, blood, bugs (cockroaches), attempted suicide
RTC, the bullying might be the scariest part of this series
RTC, the bullying might be the scariest part of this series
November 10, 2019
Ao Oni 2 focuses on one of the more "jerkish" characters from volume 1, our resident fiery red head. Two of our cast sit this one out from the sidelines too, and one wimps it up in a closet for half the story, so more focus on who is there.
We learn a bit more about the function of the "video game" version of the mansion that is on Shin(?)'s PC, and Anna and he try to do whatever they can from the sideline to affect the outcome of that night's adventure. The next volume sounds like it is going to up the ante on this aspect too and kind of throw a wrench in our hero's planning, so that should be fun.
I'm hoping the red head's girlfriend gets a chance to do even more in the next one. She seemed to be the most sympathetic character in this one, a girl who is trying to find where she belongs and gain some semblance of happiness... Even if that happiness is fleeting or ultimately a less painful demise than she has suffered in the mansion so far.
One major revelation this volume is the owner of said mansion and what he plans to do with the property. Again, this next volume seems like it's going to be the best one yet, so I'm really excited to see how it all plays out. A shame this series didn't sell as well, but at least we got all the volumes in English now.
We learn a bit more about the function of the "video game" version of the mansion that is on Shin(?)'s PC, and Anna and he try to do whatever they can from the sideline to affect the outcome of that night's adventure. The next volume sounds like it is going to up the ante on this aspect too and kind of throw a wrench in our hero's planning, so that should be fun.
I'm hoping the red head's girlfriend gets a chance to do even more in the next one. She seemed to be the most sympathetic character in this one, a girl who is trying to find where she belongs and gain some semblance of happiness... Even if that happiness is fleeting or ultimately a less painful demise than she has suffered in the mansion so far.
One major revelation this volume is the owner of said mansion and what he plans to do with the property. Again, this next volume seems like it's going to be the best one yet, so I'm really excited to see how it all plays out. A shame this series didn't sell as well, but at least we got all the volumes in English now.
March 13, 2024
It's hard to truly say that this series needed five whole volumes. It could've ended in the first novel and it could've ended here too. I had figured that this would just present an alternate version of events from the first time visiting the Jailhouse. I was wrong, instead the narrative is a mixture between Groundhog Day and the 2009 film Gamer (very loosely) with very confusing rules. Each new novel is gonna be a new day with a new game version but with mostly the same cast of miserable teenagers. The only saving grace in this is Hiroshi, even if he isn't the main protag this time around. Well, the next novel is much shorter, an easy day read probably, instead of the month it took me to get through this.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews