Themes and Style
The narrative of Earl Cain—Forgotten Juliet, The Sound of a Boy Hatching, Kafka, The Seal of the Red Ram, and the sequel series Godchild—primarily consists of various mysteries involving the protagonist, Cain Hargreaves, although he does not appear in two of Forgotten Juliet's mysteries: "The Boys Who Stopped Time", a murder mystery set in an early 20th-century boarding school, and "Double", a modern mystery about an actor. The first four parts contain "pulp stories of madwomen, incest, murder, and premature burial," while Godchild's mysteries deal with "séances, sinister nursery rhymes, sadism, and murder," according to Jason Thompson, manga critic and author of Manga: The Complete Guide. Yuki also incorporates tales for children and lullabies into the mysteries of the series; for example, the chapter "Solomon Grundy's Sunday" uses the nursery rhyme "Solomon Grundy", while "The Twisted Fairy Tale" refers to the Brothers Grimm fairytale "The Juniper Tree".
Reviewers have focused on a range of themes in Earl Cain. Noting "themes of incest and suicide" in the first four parts of the series, Thompson finds that Godchild's portrayal of incest adheres to "a more classical tormented sense" which results in "guilt, madness, and the punishment of heaven" for the characters. According to Lori Henderson, reviewer and contributor to School Library Journal's blog Good Comics for Kids, Yuki frequently uses the "power of love" as a theme in her works; Godchild focuses on "the darker side of love" and its effects on the characters, although the manga does explore love as a source of empowerment. Henderson also notes the theme of betrayal present in the sixth volume. Writing for IGN, A.E. Sparrow identifies the "issues of beauty, loneliness, jealousy, and family ties" that occur in the first volume of Godchild's mysteries. When discussing character relationships in the series, Sparrow commented on the close relationship between Cain and Riff that had the potential to turn romantic, and suggested that Mary serves as "a living doll, too precious for Cain to even let outside." A French reviewer for Manga News wrote that the theme of "the soiled childhood" occurs throughout the series, depicted by abused children or children's items, such as dolls, pudding, and puppets, playing a role in some mysteries. The children's items appear either in the background as in "The Little Crooked House" or as a major part of the plot as in "Solomon Grundy's Sunday".
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