The third installment of DAEMONIUM was released on Friday 13, December 2013. I had PC issues, my sound card was malfunctioning, so my review is later than planned.
I came across this series by chance. The prevcious episode La Hora Cero, attained the Grand Prize at Wastelands Festival. I learnt this from the organiser of the festival Jared Butler who I know through his work on Judge Minty, he was the voice of Judge Dredd.
So with Jared thinking it was good I judged it worth a watch. I’ve reviewed La Hora Cero and you can see that and episode 1, Bautismo, in that article here. I’d suggest you watch those films first, it’ll only take about 45 minutes to watch both.
There are spoilers below the video, for all 3 episodes, so I encourage you to watch the film first if you haven’t. The video is all the buffer there is. Please go like the Facebook page too if you enjoy the film.
An excellent addition to the Daemonium Saga.
In the first part we were introduced to Loli and Rebecca. Loli was on what appeared to be a training mission to kill Daemons. We were also introduced to Razorback and his lieutenant Ursula.
In the second part we learnt the origin of Razorback, from the mercenary Razor to the Daemon empowered Razorback. We also met the power hungry Montalban, the mercenary Cortes and the mage Lucio Fulcanelli. We saw a box traded to a Daemon in exchange for power.
In this installment we learn how Razor came to be in charge of the rebels. We also meet Montalban’s charming sister.
I personally assumed Ursula was Razor’s wife; Fulcanelli refers to him having a wife when he tries to talk him round to his way of thinking in La Hora Zero. But we meet his wife, Lisa, as he leaves to join Montalban’s doomed expedition.
The idea of breaking someone’s spirit then building them back up to be something more than they were before is well known. The concept is used here turning Lisa into a vengeful force, Shibari. Her mentor, Arteeka, is rather interesting, is she a Daemon or a mutated human… perhaps we’ll learn more about her next episode.
Razorback is on borrowed time and this episode very neatly brings together everything from Episodes 1 & 2 to show us what is going in in his world. He’s been seduced by power but that power is borrowed and the owner wants it back.
We see more of the city, it is featured in detail in the web-comic by Jotar that is a prequel to Bautismo. So the situation as described in La Hora Cero is quite clear. We still don’t know how or when this problem started but what Montalban did in the wilderness hasn’t made anything better for anyone.
The fight scenes are brilliant, some excellent choreography. Loli and Rebecca have quite different fighting styles; two of the four strange girls with some dark secret… Shibari’s skills with her ropes would seem to have some form of magic involved. Arteeka’s special attacks could be in part gadget but again I’m suspecting magic is involved.
And talking of magic… what a range of powers we see on display. Fulcanelli used Tarot in his magic but in this episode we see the use of many different foci, fetishes and talismans. It seems a wide variety of magic inhabits Teo-City.
So the two sides are set and both have suffered losses. In the middle is Fulcanelli, perhaps the best hope for Teo-City?
The title refers to Hanya, a mask used in Noh theatre to depict a female vengeful spirit, and Shibari, which evolved from Hojo-jutsu, a form of binding prisoners used by Samurai.
The direction is brilliant and the acting superb, many of the main parts are lip-synced with voice-artists from the Latin American versions of shows such as The Simpsons and Dragonball Z.
I understand there only two more episodes to complete the arc. Hopefully once finished a full length feature will follow.be the final edit.
Judge-Tutor Semple 