Abara: Żebra

アバラ [Abara] #1-2

by Tsutomu Nihei (Author, Illustrator), Paweł Dybała (Translator)

Świat przyszłości. Miasto, nad którym górują dwie ogromne, tajemnicze bryły, znajdujące się tam tak długo, że wielu mieszkańców uznaje je za naturalne wytwory skorupy ziemskiej. Pewnego dnia jeden z obywateli zmienia się w budzącego grozę potwora. Incydent zapoczątkowuje serię niepokojących zjawisk, która może okazać się brzemienna w skutkach. Oto bowiem po wielu latach ponownie pojawiły się przerażające „białe pustelniaki”...

Kim jest tajemniczy Denji Kudou? Dlaczego przemienia się w chronioną groteskowym pancerzem istotę, podobną do tych, z którymi przyszło mu walczyć? Czy to jemu będzie pisane położyć kres serii objawieńców? Czy będzie jedynie trybem w historii przytłaczającego, pełnego symboli świata przyszłości, stworzonego przez Tsutomu Niheia?

Genres: Manga, Comics, Horror, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fiction, Comics Manga

420 pages, Paperback

First published August 21, 2015

About the author

See also 弐瓶 勉.

Tsutomu Nihei (弐瓶 勉 Nihei Tsutomu, born 1971) is a Japanese manga artist. His cyberpunk-influenced artwork has gained a strong cult following. He has a relatively large community of fans in Germany where his manga Blame!, NOiSE and Biomega were published by Ehapa. Blame! was also published in France and Spain by Glénat, in the US by Tokyopop and in Italy by Panini Comics.

At first he studied architecture and later it is shown up in his manga works with drawing huge structures. This became one of his general theme that makes his manga unique. His works are usually in black and white. He is also an avid fan of the video game series Halo, as he mentions in his commentary section in the Halo Graphic Novel.

Taken from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsutomu_...

Reviews

[E. G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

--Abara
Translation Notes

--Digimortal

[Nate D]

Not really as inexplicable as claimed. The story and action are relatively clear: this recounts the events of an apocalypse, and if the particulars may be unfathomable by design, the trajectory is familiar. The dualing-government-agencies semi-noir plot attempts to humanize this for the audience a bit, but probably serves to muddle it further since Nihei doesn't seem interested in the interpersonal dimensions in the least. His concerns are fundamentally inhuman. To the extent that this doesn't work for me, its because without that human dimension it's difficult to care about all the action sequences, or about what happens at all when it escalates so quickly. But once the scope of the disaster dwarfs the human completely (in no more than an aside, we learn that everyone in the world may be dead!!) and renders it completely unimportant, this becomes, instead, beautiful.

[SabCo T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gift from D&D [oh hai D&D!] that I was super stoked to receive. I was familiar with the artist already from the Blame! manga but a sci-fi/horror/post-apocalyptic manga with weird body horror and beautiful art? Sign me up.

For those not super familiar with Nihei's story telling, it's kind of scattered, and kinda matches the art for the book. While beautiful, sometimes its so abstract and chaotic its hard to tell what's going on in parts. There are also some parts that kinda feel incomplete? Not to the point where you can't move on, but enough to where it may make you pause and look back a few pages to make sure you didn't forget anything. Then again, I feel like most people like Nihei for the art and not necessarily the story.

Despite the negatives however, this is going right next to the Junji Ito section of my bookshelves, and can't wait to share with others.

[Dávid Novotný · Rating 3 out of 5]

Art is great, story not so much. You are thrown into the fight of two demons, white one and black one. You start putting the piecies together, and when it all starts to makes sense it's all over. So whole books stands (and in action scenes sometimes falls) on art. Which was aminly reason why I bought it, so not really dissapointed

[Bill Hsu · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is gorgeous. Nihei seems to effortlessly convey the sheer scale of landscapes and structures; vertiginous towers and endless staircases remind me of Piranesi's dungeons. I'm not a fan of creature battles, though I do appreciate the massive morphing forms. Will check out Blame eventually for more architectural perspectives.

[Edgar Cotes Argelich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nihei en estat pur. El seu dibuix espectacular, com sempre, et deixa impressionat, i la història cyberpunk que ens proposa molt dinàmica i complexa a l’estil que ens té acostumats és addictiva i funciona molt bé. Potser en aquest cas se li ha de replicar que hi ha escenes que són massa confuses del compte i costa de veure què passa. Però l’univers que ens proposa és tan interessant, que no acaba important.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Visualmente me ha encantado y aunque la historia tiene altos y bajos, está bien, pero muy extraña, deja muchas dudas.

[Sol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Abara is everything I loved about pre-Sidonia Nihei. Dark, gritty, sharp, minimal dialogue and story, maximum action. Along with Biomega, it's the final evolution of the style he'd been developing since the beginning of his career, before he began radically altering it halfway through Biomega, continuing in Knights of Sidonia and ending (for now) in Aposimz' extremely light and wispy sketches. I look at pages like these and feel a bit of sadness for the direction Nihei's career took. I don't hate what he draws now, but I do feel that it can't reach the heights of what he's done here.



It's got all the staples of Nihei - oppressive architecture (though not as anti-human as Blame!), shadowy conspiracies, disturbing monsters incorporating elements of the human form, action emphasizing speed, overwhelming power, and massive destruction. It lacks everything typically lacking in Nihei manga - differentiable characters and a comprehensible ending among them. I had wondered if reading an official translation after all these years might make the baffling ending to this manga any more clear. It doesn't. At the very least, it doesn't have quite as many moving parts as Biomega's ending, which needs to be read to be believed. About the only things I noticed was that the white insects attacking the USB-stick guy are probably the larval form of the white gauna, just as the little black insect creates a black gauna, and that the story probably takes place on some kind of asteroid/artificial planetoid ala Aposimz.



The attached Digimortal is much the same, but I think it might be from slightly earlier in Nihei's career. I couldn't find any information in English on when or where it was published.

I've wanted for a while to make some kind of chart creating a visual linkage of the various repeated concepts and motifs that repeat in Nihei's work, so I'll just note them here for myself
-White gauna -> KoS gauna + Ochiai's final form
-Black gauna -> Aposimz Regular Frames and that one woman from the first half of Biomega
-Blob transformed into black Gauna -> Aposimz Placenta blobs
-The mausoleums -> Reappear as control mechanisms for satellites in Aposimz
-Fourth Aeon guild -> Blame! Mori and Aposimz Titania
-Digimortal has suppression of immortality, womb/fetus extraction, and super-powered twin bodyguards all in one

[Sergi Oset · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Abara” és el festival de la decapitació, l’evisceració i les amputacions en format panoràmic. Sobretot, de la decapitació mil·limètrica ciberdark. Una orgia d’apèndixs mutàgens, tentacles, fiblons i malformacions tecnològiques i biològiques molt estilitzada.
“Abara” és el primer manga que llegeixo de Tsutomu Nihei i m’ha deixat amb ganes de provar amb “Blame!” o amb “Biomega”, dues de les seves obres més aclamades.
Aquest “Master Edition” és un únic tom tancat que, tenint en compte que es va publicar per primer cop l’any 2005 es veu com a deutor de l’estètica de sèries dels 80 i 90 com “Akira”, “Applesed” o “Ghost in the Shell”, però com si hagués estat ideada per Clive Barker i H.R. Giger. A “Abara” tot és foscor i violència tecnificada: humans modificats, mausoleus pretèrits gegantins, oleofactòries greixoses, ciutats rusc tecnificades, castells vampírics, cucs kaiju, bessones amb connexions sentents cíborg, alienígenes amb exoesquelets. Biologia, genètica i filosofia religiosa fanàtica al servei d’una guerra bruta entre anomalies assassines, les “aparicions” que muten en shirogauna (alienígenes invasors) i els kurogauna (humans modificats a partir dels primers), mentre la policia de les forces correccionals i l’agència secreta dels inspectors visuals (true, cenibítics) es barallen per amagar o treure l’entrellat d’unes lluites que delmen la població per milers. Un món que sembla estar englobat en una mena de pecíol biològic generacional.
El format d’aquesta edició permet gaudir a plenitud amb les vinyetes repletes d’acció ultraviolenta. L’entintat (de traç gruixut o estilitzat, segons convé a l’autor) aconsegueix transmetre una atmosfera cibernètica, tenebrosa i despietada. “Abara” és, abans que res, un manga molt visual, tot i que en alguns punts el guió i la concatenació de vinyetes d’acció hiperaccelerada poden ser una mica confuses. Amb tot, un gran viatge de caiguda lliure en picat per la follia ciberpunk més vehement, ferotge i tecnològica.

[Lauren Evatt · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I began reading Abara I knew two things. The first was that it was dystopian/horror and secondly that the cover art is gorgeous. After reading this manga I still knew those two things and that is about it. Almost any aspect of the story I retained was through assumption and guesswork. Nothing is explained or even said to be happening. Characters come and go from different agencies that you aren't sure the purpose of. Major things happen that look super awesome but you don't know why they are happening or what it means that it is happening. That being said I loved the concepts presented and would love to see a more detailed work in that world. The characters too seemed to have great potential to grab a reader emotionally and have very entertaining interactions and battles. The battles were very epic as well. The artwork was very cool looking and there were some shots that were absolutely stunning. Overall this manga had a great deal of potential and perhaps if it were adapted as an anime or even movie would be very epic. I can't say that I really loved this manga but again I recognize its potential. The song I chose for this is London in Terror by Motionless in White
"Your eyes are labyrinths of lies
And all the dead will rise
And I will walk the earth searching for candlelight
And I will let you drown
Turn your world upside down
And I will walk the earth searching for candlelight"

[Phoebe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no idea what was going on but the journey was beautiful

[Bo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some people might not like how sketchy the art is in Abara, but in my book this is the peak of Tsutomu Nihei’s artwork.
The story feels like a middle step between the government coverup type thing that biomega started with (I believe this was done between biomega volume 1 and 2,) and his later Knights of Sidonia. Luckily this book has none of that awkward romantic comedy that plagued Sidonia.

[Nikita Katiyar · Rating 3 out of 5]

the pencil work is fantastic, as always with most mangas this one doesn't rely too heavily on words to tell the story. liked the artwork too much to be bummed out by the massive unexplained story background and the weird conclusion.

[Trenton McConnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

What this book lacks in story it significantly makes up for with its art. Some of the scenes and especially the monster designs look incredible in its rough, borderline sketchy style which also contributes greatly to the book's horrible and dystopian atmosphere. My only real gripe with it is that I wish it had been longer. What is here felt more like a glimpse at a larger, deeper story, one that I think might have been one of my favorites if it had been given more time to develop.

[Ali · Rating 1 out of 5]

دراپ
چه آرت زهرماریه. چشمام درد گرفت.
داستان هم هیچی. ولمون کردن وسط ماجرا. نه توضیحی نه چیزی

[kerrycat · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. annoyed that Viz did not indicate on Edelweiss that this was a 'sample' (HALF of the book - how is that a sample??). just leave me hanging in the middle of hand to hand combat with a gauna, willya?

b. this style is just absolutely despair-inducing and beautiful. I don't love this story like I adore Blame and KoS, but it's a beaut. at least the first half is. these landscapes . . . classic Nihei.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

How can I adequately describe the beautiful, confusing mind trip that is Abara? It's...kind of like if you took someone from the '70s, and time warped them into 2021, spent a few hours showing them a bunch of news articles about NFTs, cyber crime, and cancel culture on Twitter, then sent them back home. There would clearly be an underlying framework of society, technology, and politics to everything, but the time-traveler would be too far removed to really grasp much of it. They might get that Twitter is some sort of way for people to communicate, and that something called the Internet is involved, but they'd be hard-pressed to give you anything close to a complete synopsis of what they saw.

That's kind of what reading Abara is like. There's clearly a complex world here, with political intrigue, contentious factions, strange technology, and a lot of history, but I'll be damned if I could articulate why much of anything happened. There's some sort of biotech that can turn people into supersoldiers called Black Gauna, and I think it was developed to combat people who turn into White Gauna (who just sort of transform with no rhyme or reason), and various government agencies are clashing over this tech, but...are the White Gauna a curse? A disease? Some sort of earlier technology gone awry? What, exactly are the Mausoleums, and who built them? Why are the White Gauna drawn to them? What's the story behind the three weird-looking survivors of the Fourth Aeon Guild? Were there three other Aeon Guilds before them, or is it just a name? Etc. and so on. It has the feeling of a real world, but one that the reader is just kind of thrown into, and not given near enough time to become fully acquainted with.

That said, while Abara is a mess, it's an utterly gorgeous mess. Nihei's art is always distinctive, with its sprawling mega-cities, horrifying bio-mechanical monsters, and rough, stark line work that really makes the environments pop. It's a striking counterpoint to the confusing narrative (even if a few of the fight sequences could've been clearer, too).

Ultimately, your enjoyment of this book will hinge on how much sense you need your stories to make. I usually prefer more cohesiveness than this, but there's just enough here to keep things from getting completely muddled. That, plus the stellar art is enough to keep me from rating it too low. Your mileage may vary.

[Amarinske · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars because the execution of both the main story Abara and the extra (very short) short story Digimortal wasn't what it could've been.

The art conveys the atmosphere of the story decently and is great, but it does suffer from some problems. The art may be beautiful, but it misses some detail, which causes the implications of the concept and story to be only partly visible. Especially since about 95% of the panes don't have any dialogue and where dialogue appears it's not comprehensive enough to paint the full extent of the story.
The plot is quite cryptic, but when you understand enough about these human-eating creatures, it becomes clear what's going on. I just missed some depth. This could've been added either by adding more (detail to the) art or through more dialogue. I don't care which one it would've been as long as it had added that little punch.

Digimortal had similar problems, albeit less intense. In both cases, it also felt like the stories ended very abruptly and very fast. There were actual endings present, but not very well executed ones in my opinion.
The pacing felt off because of this and the earlier mention of the fact that too little time was taken to develop the plot and the world. I said either more art or more dialogue would've been fine and I stand by that, but more of both would probably work way better than the addition of one of the two.

In short: Abara got too little page time and Digimortal maybe didn't, but it still just ended abruptly and had pacing issues.

[Thomas Powell · Rating 3 out of 5]

★★★ - liked it

This caught my eye in a book store a few years ago, and I finally got around to reading it. I knew nothing about the plot before starting it, just basing my interest on the unique art style, which I thought was really cool. It reminded me of Jock's art style, but in manga form. I thought that the art was the best aspect of the book, but at the same time it also took away from other aspects, like the actual writing. Abara is action-packed, and Nihei likes to show, rather than tell. In a lot of the larger-scale fights and battles, I found myself having a hard time following what was actually happening on the page, mainly due to the "messy" art style (it still looked cool, though).

Otherwise, I thought that the world this story took place in was actually pretty cool, but I wanted more from it. There was little in the way of explanation in terms of the world's current situation, how these factions rose to power, etc...I still "got it", but I just wanted a little bit more.

Overall, it was a fun action romp with lots of slicing and dicing and buildings crumbling, and re-attaching of limbs and then slicing and dicing all over again.

[Melissa Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW what a book. It was great that it has 3 books in one, cause your able to read them all in one sitting. And of course the story and art work is outstanding. A really creepy story with weird fantastic graphics. The storyline is strange new creatures taking over the world and the powers to be having grown their own beings to fight the enemy. A lot of fighting and death.

I really enjoyed the books. The only thing I wasn't crazy about was that the author had added translation notes, which is very cool, at the end of book one, but he had put them in by page number. The book didn't have page numbers on every page. There was only two pages numbered in the whole book. Oh well, I still highly recommend the book.

[Piotr Nowak · Rating 2 out of 5]

Najlepszym momentem książki jest posłowie autora, w którym przyznaje się że po 10 latach od wydania sam już nie pamięta o co mu chodziło. Nawymyślał neologizmów, których znaczenia nigdzie nie udokumentował i sam już nie pamięta co oznaczają.

Lektura Abary przypomina mi pierwszy seans filmu Diuna. Gęstość neologizmów sprawia, że każde zdanie wypowiadane przez postacie brzmi dość abstrakcyjnie.

Największym plusem jest oprawa graficzna. Co prawda nie jest to poziom szczegółów typu Kentaro Miyura, ale groteskowa stylistyka dobrze oddaje charakter historii. Szczególnie na kolorowych stronach. Bez kolorów czasem ciężko określić na co tak na prawdę się patrzy.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gun to my head, I couldn’t tell you what Abara is about/what any of the characters’ motivations are, BUT I can tell you that it’s a gorgeous experience with many exciting action sequences and lovely backgrounds chock full of wild buildings, as to be expected from Nihei.

All the girl characters in this look like that one Evanescence album cover.

[Riello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brakuje mi wprowadzenia do świata, a tak to jest bardzo dobra.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is cool but the story is basically incomprehensible most of the time.

[Paul Spence · Rating 4 out of 5]

It seems like, after BLAME!, Nihei took a couple of reference points to sketch-out his next long[-er] series:
* he knew what his strengths were;
* he wanted to branch out from them & grow; and,
* he wanted to do all sorts of anime-ass-kicking that hadn’t *QUITE* fit in BLAME!.

He nailed it.

ABARA (which I literally just sped through a 2nd reading of) is called out as having a confusing story because there are a few competing organizations (cops, scientific, para-military, shadow-society, etc.) that are never completely explained, and the ending doesn’t adhere to the preconceived Western framework of what constitutes a “story.”

In fact, ABARA has all the information you need in order to understand everything you need to, as what Nihei found his way to, and thoroughly followed through in the execution of, given his [above-listed & obviously reviewer-surmised] goals for ABARA, is almost more along the lines of a cyberpunk/police-thriller/seinen-battle-manga FAIRY TALE...

— with a psychedelic ending that would make Watchmen jealous!

The story follows a number of people whose [battle-manga/superhero-style] abilities/interests are tied into a worldbuilding element that both gives them their powers, but is also, when left to run out of control, a threat to the survival of an already-post-apocalyptic humanity. Each “interested” character has a personal connection with a “powered” character, but these are awesome, tense, plot-propulsive relatonships that play out in tense glances & remembered feelings, not that awkward superhero-sidekick nonsense.

There’s even the pure, unadulterated CREATIVITY of introducing a few not-exactly-human characters, with more than a dash of humor to them, and still using them as & insisting the reader treat them as Perfectly Serious Characters. Nihei, firing on all cylinders!

I really wanted to get through a 2nd read-through & come back here with enough to say to write a positive review, because the idea that this isn’t a fully-formed & realized Nihei work is just preposterous, and can only be missing the point of what the artist tried, and succeeded in achieving, with this series!

[Lorenzo Danieli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dopo questa seconda lettura credo di aver capito come leggere le opere di Tsutomu Nihei.

Abara va letto come una sacra scrittura. Il punto non è l'ordinamento logico-scientifico del mondo presentato, il punto è il sentimento e l'interpretazione filosofica/morale che il lettore si trova a provare ad attribuire all’opera.

Il mondo presentato è di sua natura alieno. Non si può dire se funzioni come il nostro. Se le leggi di causa ed effetto esistano nella loro interezza ed in ogni angolo del cosmo. Quello che rimane quindi è approcciare la lettura come la manifestazione di un mistero. Non c’è sensatezza nell’immacolata concezione, non c’è sensatezza nel baccanale greco: sono irruzioni nella realtà umana di qualcosa di sovrumano (divino, alieno, metafisico).

Quello che ci viene presentato in Abara è una sorta di apocalisse del mondo. Questa apocalisse avviene attraverso la comparsa di Corpi Rivelati, o Gauna Bianchi, che quando divorano tutti i Mausolei dell’Eterno Distacco porteranno la fine dei tempi. Ad essi si contrappongono i Gauna Neri, la risposta umana-tecnologica (ex bambini addestrati proprio per prepararsi al pericolo della fine dei tempi) alla minaccia dei Gauna Bianchi. Entrambi i tipi di Gauna hanno sembianze umane e sono rivestiti di terrificanti esoscheletri ossei: combattono ad una velocità istantanea, quindi gli umani quasi non li vedono se si muovono. La storia ha il suo climax quando il Gauna Bianco sta per divorare l’ultimo Mausoleo e portare la fine dei tempi, ma viene fermato dal Gruppo della Quarta cronaca, i custodi della conoscenza dell’apocalisse, che con un dispositivo segreto distruggono l’intera umanità ed il pianeta, salvando però i Gauna Neri. Il Gruppo della Quarta Cronaca riesce anche a salvare due umani, uomo e donna, che si risvegliano in una sorta di mondo alieno, chissà dove, forse in un’altra dimensione, forse su un’altro pianeta.

Come si può notare da questa sinossi, Abara non ingaggia il lettore in un discorso sulla realtà. La fruizione estetica non passa attraverso funzioni pedagogiche, morali, di analisi dell’umano, di analisi del sentimento (o le decine di altre funzioni dell’estetica classiche al romanzo o la poesia). Tutto si concentra sulle immagini: c’è il bianco ed il nero in lotta perenne; c’è il dualismo uomo-donna; c’è una società segreta che porta alla fine del mondo per salvare il mondo; c’è la fame dei Gauna Bianchi che mangiano i mausolei, ecc ecc… Siamo nella posizione di fruizione estetica del sacro e della visione: vengono toccate realtà fondanti-basilari della psiche umana (archetipi di Jung?) le quali ci stimolano qualcosa dentro. Probabilmente domande, a volte certezze e sicurezze: del sentimento o della morale. Venire a contatto col dualismo che significa per me?, uomo e donna sono due facce della stessa medaglia? Bianco e nero si possono mischiare o sono perennemente separati? Che cos’è la fame,? ogni essere umano è condannato ad avere fame ed alla ricerca, come i Gauna Bianchi? Si potrà mai soddisfare questa fame senza portare alla fine del mondo? Si potrà mai, nel controllo della propria fame, rischiare di causare la fine del mondo? È crudele o no sacrificare dei bambini a diventare Gauna Neri per proteggersi in futuro dalla fine del mondo? Che cosa significa il finire del mondo?

Alla fine dei conti il punto di un’opera laica che mima una rivelazione sacra è la nostra relazione umana con le visioni, col manifestarsi del mistero. Possiamo credere o non credere, possiamo venire toccati dalle verità misteriche e prenderle come una veridica scoperta della realtà più profonda, o meno. Il manga ci dice davvero poco su come “dovremmo sentirci”: l’unico vero dispositivo retorico usato è una sorta di brutale realismo nel mostrare la sofferenza — realismo che da tanto è forte quasi diventa lirismo e dramma universale. Ma non ha a che fare con la storia, ma solo con la presentazione di essa: la nostra libertà di essere nello spazio infinito dell’interpretazione del mistero ci rimane. L’unica cosa è che magari ci è evidente e ci viene evidentemente detto: è un mistero tragico.

Fa ridere leggere il commento dell’autore alla fine del libro. Per l’edizione speciale Tsutomu scrive 10 anni dopo una brevissima retrospettiva sul suo lavoro. Lo odia. Non lo capisce. Viene tediato da tutte le mancanze ed i buchi di trama e la generale incoerenza di presentazione. Si chiede chi era 10 anni prima, perché doveva fare le cose in un modo così ostico ed apertamente ostile al lettore. Ha ragione. Ma credo che per me come lettore ora le cose siano diverse: apprezzo questa insensatezza. Non la apprezzo in una maniera cool, per sentirmi misterioso e fico: ma la apprezzo perché mi viene data la possibilità come umano e lettore di confrontarmi con qualcosa di sconvolgente e (probabilmente) veritiero, ma che non capisco. Io credo che Tsutomu non sapesse cosa stava disegnando, ma era qualcosa di importante: un mondo ed una storia empirea, proveniente davvero dalle profondità inconoscibili dell’animo (o del cielo); si confrontava e metteva in disegno qualcosa di sublime che toccava davvero i temi fondanti dell’umanità. Probabilmente lui si voleva sentire cool e misterioso usando termini come Mausoleo dell’Eterno Distacco e Gruppo della Quarta Cronaca (e che fine hanno fatto le altre tre Cronache?, booh!): ma non ci interessa, perché questo manierismo fine a sé stesso rimane coerente e potenziante di tutto il resto dell’opera. In ultima analisi, forse a volte l’arte non deve essere sensata per avere valore per noi. Per me questa è stata un’opera davvero importante ed appagante nella lettura.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like a 3.5/5. The artwork is great, very kinetic and frenzied, which occasionally makes things hard to follow as there isn't a ton of dialogue. But most things did make sense after a little bit of backtracking. The setting is cool as hell, but the characters are pretty hollow and underdeveloped. I really think this would make a killer action anime OVA or film, one sort of like Ninja Scroll, where you just turn your brain off and enjoy the ride.

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tsutomu Nihei created an interesting world. There were too many agencies with competing agendas involved and it was hard to keep track who was on what side. The ending was satisfying but still left me wanting more.

[بـــد ر · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5; cool.

[Colvet · Rating 2 out of 5]

not horrible, not great...overall just feels unfinished

I give the artwork a 3.5/5 and the story telling a 1/5 so that averages to a 2.25 or a 2/5 stars

Man oh man did I really want to enjoy this one. Body horror/genetic mutations, dystopia, governmental unrest, gore, and horror are all some of my favourite additions to storytelling. I am a sci-fi/horror freak at heart. But I feel like all of those aspects did not mingle with one another well in this book at all and I think the large reason is because the storytelling method left the book unfinished in my opinion. Some people say that the story is all there, but it just takes some intense/deep level of thinking to understand. Maybe there is some background lore I am missing but from reading this entire book in one sitting with multiple instances of flipping the pages back to make sure something wasn't missed and referring to the internet....I can definitively say that it is not due a lack of understanding or intelligence on my part.

So I understand that a lot of people will say to me that Tsutomu Nihei simply enjoys using his illustrations to do the story telling and that the lack of dialogue is intentional. Sure, that's fine. However in this book, his style just made it seem as if the book was unfinished. There are so many unknown questions about the reasons for dystopia, the origins of the guanas, the entire backstory of the fourth aeon, who the fuck the skeleton riding on a missile was, how/why the black guanas operate, the science behind these augmentations that seemingly happen at random to civilians, why they guanas are invisible and how, etc. etc. (I could go on). I understand that maybe the intention was to keep this vague to let the reader fill it in, but some of the questions left unanswered are vital to understanding the story at any depth in my opinion. I feel a lot of people likely resonate with this feeling.

The artwork was gruesome and the depictions of body horror was great. In some pages I will admit that the pen work/hatching was a bit lazy/rushed though, but I did not think that this impacted my overall positive notes of the artwork. Definitely not the best in the game and far from the worst. I often like scribbly art, but there were some instances in this piece where it was a bit too scribbly for my liking. However, the large architectural aspects were vividly displayed. I have a huge fear of large open spaces in real life, so that added to my interest in reading.

Digimorphs was decent and gave more backstory in it than all of Abara despite being a tenth of its length. I liked the story, but failed to see how it was any different than what Abara offered. Are we supposed to infer that this is happening in the same world as Abara? How do the digimorphs differ from the guanas? Is the technology different, and why? Also what is Abara.?..name never explained or used in the book at all.

Also, if the world is in a dystopian state and people are seemingly sleeping on the streets (like in the scene with the man visiting the hospital at the beginning)...how are is the government affording genetic engineering services and not offer food or shelter? I am confused as to how that makes sense or how the dystopia and science blend. Or even why the dystopia happened in the first place.

Once again, the story and the world is unfinished. Unless there is another one of the author's stories I was supposed to read first in order to understand this one. But judging by his bibliography, this does not seem to be the case. I would love any and all feedback on my review.

I had such high hopes for this title :(