I recently read Fort of Apocalypse (Apocalypse no Toride) and figured since this is a Christian blog (lol), why not combine my two favorite things? Those things being Jesus and horror, specifically zombies. The Bible is actually full of a lot of violence and gore; people are burned alive, dismembered, impaled with tent poles…

*some spoilers*

Fort of Apocalypse is about a child, Maeda, falsely accused of murder and consequently sent to prison. Things are already not vibing for him when the world is overcome with zombies that quickly eradicate any sense of normalcy, and most of humanity, leaving the prison as one of the few safe havens.

The story begins as a pretty typical-ish zombie tale of Maeda ft. his squad trying to survive. Except the zombies move as giant zombie pillars controlled by the Bokor, who is like an advanced zombie with mega lungs and 5475489 pupils. There are (fight or flight warning: click at your own risk) zombie dogs and zombie seals. Truly an aesthetic. Maeda himself turns out to be a Bokor, with the ability to control the zombies, after one of them goes yandere and tries to eat him.

Notably, there’s a religious quack who manages to convince others, including a young woman named Daisy trapped on a yacht with a bunch of zombies, the zombies are actually angels and the Bokor is Jesus. Ideas that are bolstered by the fact that, when they step onto land, the zombies ignore them, solidifying their belief the Bokor is the Child of Light.

They also somehow manage to out-woke probably the most wokest of the woke by claiming zombies have rights.

The Child of Light Cult is introduced via Daisy and Corporal Hatt, when they arrive at the prison. Daisy and Hatt cosplay as military and promise the prisoners safety, lying to them about their families being alive and well. In reality, they’re just looking for many-pupiled Jesus the Bokor whom they believe is among the prisoners. Hatt initially comes off as a kind, fatherly figure, very similar to how Jim Bob Duggar cult leaders portray themselves as kind overseers of benign patriarchy trying to shepherd their sheep into Heaven. However, the actual, literal second it becomes clear Maeda is also a Bokor, homeboy drops all pretenses, assaults Maeda, and reveals himself to be a man only concerned with gaining immortality and power. When that doesn’t work out, Hatt ditches Daisy, leaving her at the mercy of hoards of angry men, in jail for various crimes, who have just been lied to about their families and haven’t seen a woman eons.

While Corporal Hatt is the cult’s leader, Daisy, a young, conventionally, attractive woman, does most of the speaking which I found interesting. I’ve blogged about the danger of women like Mrs. Midwest who cushion their harmful, nonsense ideologies like the red pill with cherry-picked Bible verses because they’re pretty, well- spoken, and palatable to those who aren’t extremely radical in their beliefs, which is precisely why she’s dangerous. Women like Mrs. Midwest are far more effective at propagating cult-ish ideas, despite their danger, because they cushion these ideas with fun stuff like baking, wearing dresses, being kind and motherly, i.e. good things that are worthy of pursuing.

Daisy too functions as the cults face, despite the fact she isn’t actually the leader and is left behind by the man who was suppose to take care of her. I could list other prominent super conservative women, like Tomi Lahren, Lauren Southern, Lauren Chen too but similar to how these women have been attacked by their own bases for not living up to what alt-right men claims is the ideal, feminine women, Daisy is abandoned by Corporal Hatt as soon as she’s objectively no longer useful to him.

I don’t actually have anything deep to say on this topic, but I found the comparison interesting.

Any who, while I would in no way encourage anyone to read Fort of Apocalypse because it’s pretty violent, dark, and gory (so obviously I loved it), it does illuminate how cults are often born in dire circumstances and how the men in them are happy to prop up young women, so long as those women say and do exactly what they want. But the moment those women are no longer useful to their cause (and rarely does that cause have anything to do with God’s will, so much as it is about fulfilling these men’s desires for power), their true colors come out. They aren’t really kind, fatherly figures wanting to lead their followers to salvation, but selfish individuals interested only in self-gain. Quite the opposite of what the Bible says leadership really is.

As for Fort of Apocalypse itself, it’s full of action, bromance, and scary critters. So if you’re looking to have nightmares about zombie dogs, or if you have a high-tolerance for creepy things, this is the manga for you.

Fort of Apocalypse Rating: 7.1/10