Finding myself with more time for leisure, I logged in to find my reading list of comics. (I say comics, but I only read Japanese and Korean comics.) As I caught up to the latest chapters of ongoing series, I realized I was longing for a completed story that would leave me with all sorts of feelings. Publishing this post--with spoilers--meant I finally got what I wanted! But first, other titles need to be mentioned:
Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective
This is a mystery adventure series I started way back in late 2020 or early 2021. Ron partners with Toto to solve cases while he plays against the M family. Obviously inspired by Sherlock Holmes--down to the bit where the protagonist is smart just because the story calls for it--Ron comes from the union of the lineages of Holmes and Moriarty.
I have to be honest, most of the story I have already forgotten. What I do remember is that the first part, with Milo Moriarty as the big bad antagonist, was a great, comedic ride. The story drags on a bit after Alice Moriarty, but the story is worth sticking to the end, which gives closure to most characters.
Recommended?
If you like reading mysteries in the style of Sir Arthur Doyle, go ahead and pick up this title. If you're looking for deeper, more complex mysteries that are given more care, there are better titles out there. (Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective is available on Manga Plus.)
Mikane and The Sea Woman
This is the first series in this post that knew when to stop before it outgrew its stay.
Also available on Manga Plus, Mikane and the Sea Woman is about a young boy living on an island, where he meets a woman on the beach. Not content with his life and hesitant to call his place "home." His fascination with the sea and the woman exposes him to a world more colorful than the blue he used to stare at.
The story is a slow-burn, building up on the mystery of the woman, mythology, and the characterization of the small cast. Not to say that the story is intricate, but the journey to the end never felt unsatisfactory. While I would have enjoyed more scenes to develop Mikane's decision at the end of the story, nothing felt out of place.
Recommended?
This title starts with mystery but ends with action, and the adventure was only in small bits of exploration. If you want to spend an afternoon reading a light story, then this could satisfy that itch.
Jinrui-Shoku: Blight of Man
Oh, boy! Another title utilizing the tried-but-true trope of a boy merging with an entity, giving him strange abilities. Would it be as good as Jagaaaaaan, Parasyte, Kaiju No. 8, Jujutsu Kaisen, Centuria, or Mad?
Nope!
The premise of the boy is even thrown out the window after the first (or maybe second) story arc. In the story's fictitious Earth, aliens have invaded and possessed numerous bodies. The main protagonist--whoever it had become after the shift in story--is able to drive the alien (and their AI) away.
Now, now. I started this series way back when it started in 2023. The fact that I can even remember some details of it is a miracle, in a way. I dropped the series but picked it up again--an awful decision on my part.
Recommended?
I can only recommend this if you have to do a write-up on what not to read. If you still want to try Jinrui-Shoku, find it on Manga Plus. However, the main trope has been done better in the series I mentioned earlier.
Silent Moon
What went wrong?
The main protagonist and his love interest win a cruise trip. One night in the seas, amid the fog, chaos ensued. Faceless monsters attack the protagonist and his friends, turning those they bite. With each piece of human flesh they swallow, the monsters regain their abilities to see and hear.
Stuck on a nearby, supposedly abandoned island, the main protagonist learns the local history. The residents, worshiping a cat deity, were wiped out--collateral damage--when the island was the setting for a manhunt. The past is revealed, little by little, in the dreams of the main character and his friends, who are reincarnations of the people from long ago.
Bah!
Such a good premise; great concepts that were ripe for the picking were there! There! So close. The art style was also good, but the story was wasted. Abruptly ending, the main protagonist and his friends die on the island as part of the process to cure a young girl.
What?!
Recommended?
The title is available on Tapas. Go ahead if you want to feel utter disappointment. Even if the earlier chapters showed immense potential, the series never gets to show the potential off.
White Hole
...And another series that had very questionable concepts and an ending.
White Hole is about a man navigating a post-apocalyptic world filled with strong, fast zombies. He survives, not by his courageousness, but by his quick thinking. He meets up with a woman in the city, half submerged in an iced body of water. They ran from a dangerous man, group, and another evil man.
As it turned out, the virus was made by man to survive the abrupt change in climate caused by an asteroid strike (though I don't quite know if I got the asteroid part right). The main female character's mom purposefully distributes the virus to a select few, but she didn't stop there. No; she created an antidote in the most ridiculous way--even more absurd than her solution of making zombies to survive the apocalypse. The antidote was left in a bunker for survivors to find and inject themselves with.
Her message was a ruse.
The antidote wouldn't save any survivor. The antidote would only save the zombies, reverting them back to their human selves, albeit horribly disfigured with human flesh in their guts.
The main female character, upon seeing her zombified mother, sacrificed herself. With the antidote in her bloodstream, she offered her flesh. The antidote worked, and her mother grieves over her daughter.
Yet, the mother was human.
There was an error in the antidote. The cure only worked for some minutes. Everyone who had ingested it turned back into mindless zombies. The main male protagonist escaped and decided to live, with a braver look in his eyes in his last scene.
The end!
Recommended?
Yes. Despite the weird backstory of the virus and ending, the story is focused, and the main protagonist is great. He learned to brave himself, though he still ended up alone.
The series is on Tapas.
Return Survival
A man returns in time before the zombie apocalypse occurs. With the knowledge of the future events, he is determined to survive.
If the premise sounds anything like the other reincarnation or return titles, then you know to expect that the protagonist is overpowered to the point of making the story boring. Add to the story's list of flaws the poor development of supporting characters, meaningless deaths, and uncomfortable messaging of dictatorship.
Recommended?
I dropped the title. If you want to sample the first chapters, it is available on Tapas. (I heard it was also on Tappytoon.)
20th Century Boys (and 21st Century Boys)
20th Century Boys and its sequel, 21st Century Boys, follow Endo Kenji and his companions as they fight against a strong force threatening them and the world: their Friend. In a story that spans Kenji's childhood to middle adulthood, Friend expands his influence; the resistance, inspired by Kenji's heroism and led by his companions, continues to fight for good.
I would broadly split the story of 20th Century Boys into three parts: first, when Kenji was in the front and center of the story; second, when Kanna, his niece, takes over the protagonist role; and lastly, when Kenji returns. In 21st Century Boys, Kenji and his friends fight in the last battle against Friend.
Volume 1 is one of the best pieces of mystery I have ever read. The masterful way of presenting the mysteries and threat left me wanting more--and I mean more. I blazed through the volumes, finding myself happy (but also sad) that the story ended.
In Volume 1, you're already presented with multiple possibilities of what the story might contain. Psychics? Cults? Smokescreens? The length of the story allows each element to be expounded on, though not all answers fit their respective questions.
After the events of Bloody New Year's Eve, the story skips to Kanna in high school. Mystery remains to be a huge element in this arc, but the supernatural takes the stage as Kanna exhibits her powers. Honestly, the story dips in this arc; I found Kyoko's part to be the most entertaining, and Kanna didn't really have an impact on me after the end of this part or the whole story.
The second part of the story also ends with the failure of Kanna and Kenji's friends. Friend is venerated as a savior--a god!--after shielding the pope from a bullet. With Japan sectioned off with tall walls, the third part of the story starts with everyone separated once again.
Returning and beating the rumors of death, Kenjie returns with a completed song that inspired those who listened. The story is faster in this part, and the answers will never satisfy everyone. Yet the callbacks to the first chapters (or first introduction of some characters) reward the reader for following the lengthy story.
But the ending of 20th Century Boys is incomplete. The story continues onto 21st Century Boys. Here, the story is also rushed, with Kenji's revelation of Friend's true identity happening off-screen. We, as readers, can only imagine that he was able to piece everything from information from his friends, memories, and the virtual-reality world.
Recommended?
I strongly recommend reading this series. There is without a doubt in my mind that 20th Century Boys is one of the best stories I have ever experienced. Even considering the lows--and there are plenty of them--the series knows how to maintain the mystery and suspense until the final scene. All the characters are respectfully sent off, and you'll be left with the thought that your first read is special. The second read will never be able to capture the feelings that the series invoked in the first. The experience is impermanent, but I am glad that I had it.