Land Volume 2 Reveals the Dark Purpose of The Beyond
The volume shifts the series from a mystery about parallel worlds into a pointed critique of how societies discard the old, with the creators of The Land implied to be playing out a cruel social experiment.
Reporting from 1 sources: Anime News Network.
The second omnibus of Kazumi Yamashita's Land expands on the divide between the Heian-era village and the modern city beyond it, revealing that the elderly are sent to The Beyond as cheap labor and that the twins' world may be a manufactured experiment by two brothers, one of whom appears ageless.
The second omnibus of Kazumi Yamashita's Land does not resolve the central mystery of what lies beyond the Heian-era village, but it does make the answer uglier. The elderly who reach chimei-age fifty-are not taken to a spiritual afterlife. They are sent to the modern city to work menial jobs no one else wants. The revelation reframes the village's reverence for the aged as a comforting lie that masks a system of disposal.
The volume also fills in the backstory of Kazune, the deceptively young associate of the village leader. Flashbacks show him as a boy in an elevator with his brother Amane when an unknown disaster strikes. In the present, Kazune looks like a teenager while Amane is a decrepit old man who watches the village through Kazune's video-equipped contact lens. The two appear to have created The Land itself, raising the question of whether the entire society-including the child sacrifices-is their design.
The review notes that Kazune seems to be growing weary of the arrangement, which may signal that the system is not as stable as it appears. The translation is by Kevin Gifford, with lettering by Madeleine Jose and Darren Smith.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.
Sources
- Anime News Network Land Volume 2 Manga Review