Livingstone, Vol. 2

Livingstone #2

by Tomohiro Maekawa, Jinsei Kataoka (Illustrations)

THE BUSINESS OF SOULS: Sakurai has been working with Y.K. Livingstone for a little over six months, so you would think he’d get the hang of things by now. However, his job—to clean and collect the physical form of the soul—comes with unique challenges that make things a little difficult… What’s worse, he’s been paired up with a partner who would rather play videogames than work. Dealing with life and death can be heavy business, from witnessing the power of emotional attachment, working with local law enforcement, to questioning whether animals have souls, Sakurai definitely seems to have his work cut out for him…

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Seinen, Comics

224 pages, Paperback

First published March 20, 2014

Reviews

[Mangrii · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 / 5

Al igual que en el volumen anterior cada capítulo nos conducirá por una historia autoconclusiva que va a tocar diversos temas, dado que la naturaleza de cada historia es diferente. Quizás en este volumen se enfrente un poco más a algunos dilemas morales y trata de filosofar en mayor profundidad dudas existenciales sobre la muerte. Un volumen continuista con la línea del anterior, mostrando nuevos casos y dando nueva información sobre el trabajo que Sakurai y Amano realizan. Fue una lectura entretenida, cada caso volaba rápidamente en mis manos, pero me da la sensación que no termina de arrancar, de que puede dar mucho más de si. La pareja protagonista sigue siendo un contrapunto humorístico peculiar e interesante y el dibujo de Kataoka es una delicia visual por su profundidad de detalles.

[Yunebooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

¡Cómo me está chiflando este manga! Si bien hay cosas que se ven venir y que probablemente sean obvias, lo estoy disfrutando mucho. Los casos que nos muestran son muy interesantes, mis favs el del hospital y el del cuervo 💔 También me gusta cómo está avanzando la relación entre los dos protagonistas, aun que ya veo venir el desenlace... En fin, que un tomo muy guay que me ha dejado dándole vueltas.

[Laura Coll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reseña completa:
https://paseandoentrepaginas.blogspot...

[duniamimpigie Anggi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baca versi terjemahan LC.
Selingan di tengah kejaran deadline *iya, saya tau mestinya gak males-malesan udah menuju akhir bulan gini ||orz

Cerita tentang gagak itu bikin saya langsung nyari-nyari tisu. Kayaknya bab itu aja yang "nempel" bagi saya untuk jilid ini.
3 bintang semuanya untuk si Gagak dan si Minoru :"(

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

The living stones are even more powerful than shown previously. They can change human personalities, even sometimes for the better, non-suicidal path. Better yet, they can control animal behavior. Hospitals are more susceptable to their influence due to the high number of deaths.

Sakurai and Amano stumble onto a couple of students contemplating suicide. The boy's soul is worthy of being saved, but the girl strayed too far from her Plan. She can't be saved, so her soul should be removed resulting in her death, but the boy doesn't want to live without her. In the end Sakurai decides to let them live in the hope that their attachment and the boy's positive influence will fix the girl's soul.

Their kind-of friend in the police Arima witnesses their process when they find a taxi driver with a death wish. The driver's soul is beyond saving, so it is removed at his acceptance. Arima can't file this supernatural event in a report, but he carefully notes what the two do every step of the way.

The first half of the story with the stained hospital is pretty cool. It features another duo of soul collectors who are a great deal more professional and experienced than Sakurai and Amano. They have their own dark side though. Their 'tool' who has Amano's job of handling the souls seems to sacrifice her own life force to create the substance to combat Stains.

[Aitor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Muy continuista del primer tomo, mismas observaciones aplicables. Aunque se atreve a tratar temas como el alma en los animales o la automatización del cuerpo en tareas laborales aun carentes de alma, todo peca de un simplismo que no le viene nada bien a una obra con tantas pretensiones. Por lo menos, las dinámicas entre personajes siguen funcionando incluso con la adición de las gemelas, el dibujo sigue siendo despampanante y sus premisas son buenas hojas de ruta para la introspección. Desgraciadamente, algunos finales de historias parecen sacados de la manga para acercarse al optimismo de formas bastante genéricas, así que la introspección se anula bastante. Lo único que me ha parecido verdaderamente interesante como cambio de las reglas del juego hasta el momento es la naturaleza de "herramientas" como Amano. Si las cosas van por donde yo creo que irán, los próximos tomos pueden por fin alcanzar lo que no han logrado los dos primeros.

[Elena Carmona · Rating 3 out of 5]

En este tomo se nota que los capítulos están más elaborados. Introduce nuevos conceptos sobre las almas y no te repite la idea principal una y otra vez. Me gustó la parte del cuervo y la del hospital. Sigo pensando que los conflictos tienen resoluciones muy sencillas, pero al menos en este tomo el personaje de Amano empieza a tener una evolución interesante. Quizá solo por eso me animo a leerme los dos últimos tomos.

[Retromantik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este segundo tomo sigue en la misma tónica del anterior, con cierto riesgo a resultar repetitivo, la verdad. Espero que en los siguientes tomos añadan algún cambio de guión o giro inesperado... En definitiva, este tomo me ha gustado un poco menos que el anterior, pero lo puntúo con 4 estrellas por el capítulo 'El lenguaje de los animales', que me ha parecido muy tierno.

[Rebo · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. Overall this volume was better. I bumped up the rating bc of the Cro story, bc it made me cry but also bc it felt like it had some real meat to it. I still think the manga doesn’t live up to the potential of the concept as well as it could, but maybe each book gets better. Guess I’ll find out.

[AsianMerr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Way better here, it’s very episodic so I’m worried that there might not be much to this story since it’s only 4 books but then again I see the potential, the nuggets of info about the world that’s sprinkled throughout the story so far and be used to fuel something bigger later on, the new duo is cool, the ensemble is interesting, but I hope there’s more to this, I do get the message though.

[Victoria Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, the story and art is unique but I'm still not super comfortable with the fact that they basically advocate suicide.

[Zafiro Ryuichi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Más de lo mismo, pero a mi me sigue encantando.
El capitulo sobre si los animales tienen o no alma me ha conmovido bastante. Hermoso.

[L. Luck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reread: 3☆

[Jessica George · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually liked this second volume more than the first, which is unusual. The plot layout was better.

[Solim · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a unique concept with this sci-fi manga. Amano is finally understanding feelings. Who knows what is to come in the last two volumes?

[Lory Blanco (areaderheart) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars.

[n [larrythelatypus] · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish someone would motivate me by buying me a Gameboy

[Cornerofmadness · Rating 4 out of 5]

Due to the episodic nature of this manga the star rating wavers a bit but it's a solid 3.5 stars. Sakurai and Amano are a team that collect/clean bits of soul and if they see a life off track they try to get it back on track, well Sakurai does. Amano is all for ending their life so their next life can start. Theirs is an uneasy partnership and relatively new.

In the episodes tehre's one of young lovers that might end up in a suicide pact and another where they help a police detective (something they apparently do often). There had apparently been a break in the series of a couple of years and the stories that came after are even more interesting. One deals with the possession of a little girl by the spirit of a courtesan who loved her job, a terribly sad one about a crow and a young boy and the most fascinating one which was a two parter.

Sakurai and Amano meet up with a team of psycholith collectors (souls) who are working at a higher level of collection, a team of sisters. In this it hints that Amano (and one of the sisters) aren't human and Sakurai's attempts to help Amano grow a conscience will spell trouble for Amano.

I'm reading a lot of episodic manga right now and this is one of the better ones. the art is very nice as well.

[Judyth · Rating 3 out of 5]

~3-3.5/5

This series is very intriguing. It’s odd, and very dark at times, with odd humor. It’s enjoyable, but it’s also not really grabbing me with its characters.

There are several cases in this volume, each one violent and sad. A couple in which the girl keeps turning violent and beating up her boyfriend; a surgery that went wrong and the father who knows the hospital did wrong; even a little girl who’s possessed by an adult seductress. A little boy and his pet bird who gets hurt, when his father is remarrying a foreign woman.

We do meet another partnership collecting souls, who argue with our main characters.

I find the characters interesting, but I don’t really feel like I know them, and I’m not attached. The humor can be funny, but there isn’t much of it. I’m intrigued, but only half-heartedly. I probably will pick up the next one when I get the chance, though, since this is a short series.

[Read more at my blog, Geeky Reading!]

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first volume had me interested with the idea of these two soul collectors who find suicides and either stop them or help them along painlessly with the purpose of saving their souls. Looking forward to more from the plot the second volume didn't quite deliver with its series of unrelated "cases". It was an entertaining read but only just slightly hinted at perhaps a plot element towards the end being more concerned with individual cases for the team to work on. They are interesting and philosophize about various aspects of death and souls, but I don't think I'll continue with the series at this point as I'm reading plenty of others at the moment more exciting. I may pick it up again at a later date when more volumes are out.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

This series remains interesting, if not a little safe. The two characters play well off each other and I love that each chapter is basically it's own story. The reason I believe this is a good idea is because the structure. Life has many stories, just as many as death, and we need that to show in a broad way. So to get one sad story about two lovers about to kill each other to another about a boy losing his mother really does well to show the whole spectrum of death.

I just wish it had a little more though. They're fun reads, a little sad, but never leave a huge impact. I enjoy myself reading, but I doubt I'll remember much a month from now. For now it's a enjoyable series that still hasn't hit it's stride.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dibandingkan dengan volume 1, cerita-cerita di volume 2 ini terasa lebih ringan dan kurang mengesankan. Garis gambarnya juga terasa berbeda dibandingkan volume sebelumnya. Satu hal yang menarik adalah "logika" ceritanya ketika menjelaskan mengapa sebuah rumah sakit bisa menjadi "angker" dan mengubah nasib banyak orang.

[Vina Nurziani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ceritanya berkembang ke berbagai sudut pandang. Di situ arti menjadi 'manusia' dan 'ruh' atau 'jiwa' dilelehkan menjadi filsafat. Dan berhubung saya juga suka membaca filsafat (ini bohong besar!), arti sesungguhnya dari alur cerita menjadi lebih dalam.
Oke, saatnya nabung buat beli volume 3 dan 4 :v

[Febyan Kafka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yah.Ternyata binatang juga punya jiwa,walau dalam esensi yg berbeda.Kali ini ada rekan seprofesi Amano dan Sakurai.Tapi si Azusa dan Nagisa ini beda dengan Amano dan Sakurai.Baik dari cara relasi mereka dan kendaraannya.Beda jauh.Ceritanya sederhana dan mengajarkan banyak hal pada pembaca

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty good manga series, I would like to read more... 3.5 stars!

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this at work on breaks. Really enjoying the storyline for this series. the lore behind it is unique and and the characters are lovable. will definitely keep reading this series

[Eva Lectura eterna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me ha gustado más que el primero, se empieza a desarrollar la historia. Su nota 3'5