Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire is a 2012 horror manga series writing and art by Naoki Serizawa, published by Akita Shoten. At the prestigious and elite Marhawa High School in Singapore, a female student suffers a horrifying transformation. Called in to investigate, Professor Doug Wright and his nephew Ricky find themselves caught up in a deadly and growing tragedy. As things get rapidly out of hand, Chris Redfield and his team from the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance arrive on the scene.

The plot follows BSAA advisor and professor Doug Wright and his nephew Ricky Tozawa, during Wright’s investigation at Marhawa Academy of a possible t-virus outbreak. In terms of a Resident Evil story it’s actually a really good one. Yes, it’s filled with many of the Resident Evil tropes but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The first issue is pretty slow establishing our characters, the setting of Marhawa Academy, and the buildup of our story. But after that the story just deteriorates into chaos as our main protagonists are fight for their lives in an attempt to escape.

There are some predictable twist but there are some that aren’t. The story does goes at a steady pace allowing for exposition of certain characters, as well as background information on the school itself, without being distracting or overbearing.

The story serves as a prequel to Resident Evil 6 and there are some elements of the story that support it. Fans of the early games can appreciate the slow buildup, the mounting stakes, the growing suspense. However, there’s plenty of kick-ass BSAA action sprinkled about the first chapters and then as the outbreak goes into full swing it’s all out war. The climax is great, and our characters are pushed to their limits as the death looms of them. It’s what you like to see in a resident story. (4 out of 5)

Though some of the are pretty one dimensional, the characters are actually pretty awesome.  I definitely liked Doug and his nephew, Ricky, who are the main protagonist of our story.  I found they had a great relationship, they really cared for each other.  It was nice seeing these two characters who weren’t a part of this school. I do like that Ricky does develop as a character. Mother Gracia is an interesting character but she lacks presence in the entire story.  She doesn’t do anything meaningful or memorable and most of the time she’s in her office looking stoic despite the many things happening in the school.  I did like that the story does delve into her past and you realize just how important the school is to her and her family. I was a bit disappointed with the lack of interaction between Doug and Gracia, despite the past between the two.

BSAA members Chris Redfield, Piers Nivans, and Merah Biji are just awesome.  They kick all kind of ass and are just a great team and I liked seeing them do their thing. Chris is one of my favorite characters and I’ve always enjoyed him in the games. I liked Piers in the game but wanted to see more of the character. I got a little more with the interactions with Chris and Merah. Speaking of Merah. She’s definitely one of the highlights of the book. Definitely sexy, definitely confident, definitely highly skilled. She’s got the moves and is easily one of the best characters.

The main antagonists is Bindi Bergara and her friend Nanan Yoshihara.  And as admirable as her intentions are, they’re still a bit of a stretch.  She does have decent motivation but she’s just another loon in the Resident Evil rogues gallery.  She’s likable at first but afterwards she’s just the typical villain with little regard for human life despite her doing all of this because of loss of a human life. (4 out of 5)

Loved the art style which actually gives distinction to the characters. Serizawa’s artstyle does allow for good emphasis on expression. Yeah, a lot of the background characters look similar. The detail’s good with the backgrounds that capture the very essence of atmosphere.  The black and white color scheme doesn’t hurt it at all.  In fact, it helps with the horror and suspense. The action itself is good and decent enough to follow.

The zombies and B.O.W. designs were gross and nasty looking.  I especially thought that Bindi and Nanan’s mutations looked gross as hell but cool. A lot of times with this series the mutations come off as over-the-top (I doubt know, like a guy transforming into a mutated T-Rex or a giant mutant fly). There’s a shit ton of blood and gore and lots of zombies laying waste to human life. The scenes of carnage are absolutely brutal and unrelenting.

There are some oddities here and there with the placement of characters. These weird white outlines that make it seem like they’re cut and paste on the scene. I’m not the one for shots of Japanese school girls and there’s a whole lot of that so I guess it’ll appeal to the typical otaku. Also, there are some moments where the manga comes off with anime tropes such as these weird poses but it gets ironed out pretty quickly. (4 out of 5)

I’m happy at the direction Naoki Serizawa takes the manga, though it isn’t perfect.  It does a fantastic job of hearkening back to Resident Evil at its roots easily fitting into the series without the need to have played the game or read the books.  It’s a solid story defined by the horrible events that just keeps spiraling into the tenth level of hell. The characterization is pretty good and the dialogue for the most part is decent. There are some meaningful conversations (especially between Ricky and Doug) but there are some obvious over-the-top speeches (especially from Gracia and Bindi).

There’s a part of the writing that kind of mixes up the formula and I can see how some fans wouldn’t like it. The academy is full of students so there’s a harem feel to the story. The series doesn’t lend itself to such tropes such as the young protagonist goofing after attractive schoolgirls. It brings humor to the story especially during the initial investigation before the shit hits the fan. I’m not big on these goofy tropes in anime but it’s okay here. There are a lot of good elements in the mix such as of course horror, action, drama, mystery.

One of the biggest problems I have with Chris and the BSAA is that no matter the situation they didn’t really feel like they were in danger. And it wasn’t like they had a whole squadron with them. In every incident we see just the three of them handling the situation with no problems. Hell, there’s even a point where we see Merah punch a Hunter off its feet. WTF? Hell, even her fight with Bindi, she completely destroys the girl with all this anime-like fighting. (3 out of 5)

In the end, Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire is an awesome addition to the Resident Evil mythology. There’s a lot to like about this manga and will appeal to the fans. There are some problems with the writing and how some of the dark atmosphere of the franchise and the tropes of typical anime and manga don’t quite mix. However, the story is actually pretty good, the horror and action is good, the characters are actually good, and there’s plenty of violence, blood, and gore. Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire gets 4 out of 5.