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伝説 #1
悲鳴傳
少年vs.地球 新的英雄傳說開始！ 他的名字叫作空空空。
是一個既不平凡也不常見的十三歲少年。
當怪異的少女劍藤犬個出現的時候，空空空原本或許還算稀鬆平常的某個部分就此宣告終結。
在終結的同時，一段壯闊無匹、荒唐萬千，可是卻出乎意料時有耳聞的故事也拉開了序幕。
為了拯救人類而挺身對抗巨惡的英雄究竟能否奮戰到生命的最後一刻呢？
是一個既不平凡也不常見的十三歲少年。
當怪異的少女劍藤犬個出現的時候，空空空原本或許還算稀鬆平常的某個部分就此宣告終結。
在終結的同時，一段壯闊無匹、荒唐萬千，可是卻出乎意料時有耳聞的故事也拉開了序幕。
為了拯救人類而挺身對抗巨惡的英雄究竟能否奮戰到生命的最後一刻呢？
592 pages, Paperback
Published November 23, 2016
4 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
About the author
NisiOisiN
244 books966 followersNisio Isin (西尾維新 Nishio Ishin), frequently written as NisiOisiN to emphasize that his pen name is a palindrome, is a Japanese novelist and manga writer. He attended and left Ritsumeikan University without graduating. In 2002, he debuted with the novel Kubikiri Cycle, which earned him the 23rd Mephisto Award at twenty years of age.
He currently works with Kodansha on Pandora, the Kodansha Box magazine, and Faust, a literary magazine containing the works of other young authors who similarly take influence from light novels and otaku culture. He was also publishing a twelve volume series over twelve months for the Kodansha Box line; Ryusui Seiryoin was matching this output, and the Kodansha Box website stated that this is the first time in the world two authors have done twelve volume monthly novel series simultaneously from the same publisher.
In February, 2008, his novel Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases was released in English by Viz Media. Del Rey Manga has already released the first volume in his Zaregoto series. His Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari and Katanagatari novels have been adapted into anime series. Nekomonogatari (Kuro) has been adapted into an anime TV movie, and Kizumonogatari will be release in theaters this year. Monogatari Series: Second Season, adapted from 6 books in Monogatari Series will air in July 2013. Another of his works, Medaka Box (manga), has been adapted into a two-season anime series.
He currently works with Kodansha on Pandora, the Kodansha Box magazine, and Faust, a literary magazine containing the works of other young authors who similarly take influence from light novels and otaku culture. He was also publishing a twelve volume series over twelve months for the Kodansha Box line; Ryusui Seiryoin was matching this output, and the Kodansha Box website stated that this is the first time in the world two authors have done twelve volume monthly novel series simultaneously from the same publisher.
In February, 2008, his novel Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases was released in English by Viz Media. Del Rey Manga has already released the first volume in his Zaregoto series. His Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari and Katanagatari novels have been adapted into anime series. Nekomonogatari (Kuro) has been adapted into an anime TV movie, and Kizumonogatari will be release in theaters this year. Monogatari Series: Second Season, adapted from 6 books in Monogatari Series will air in July 2013. Another of his works, Medaka Box (manga), has been adapted into a two-season anime series.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 31, 2024
This story is known as Nisio's take on superheroes, or maybe his longest story (at the time it was written; I figure Bakemonogatari can just keep going indefinitely). But it does have an interesting premise: what if the Earth itself suddenly killed one third of the total population with a sudden "scream", and there were organizations with sci-fi-like weapons trying to fight the Earth and the "monsters" it produces, in order to protect humans?
Enter our main character, a small boy, chosen precisely because of his ability to not let anything faze him (to give a positive spin to it). I don't usually like when Nisio Isin writes passive characters, like the male main characters of Katanagatari or Imperfect Girl, but there's something charming about the way our seemingly uncaring, unfeeling boy (that might care and feel more than he himself thinks) uses his wits and his minimal equipment to make the most of these new situations he finds himself in and to defeat powerful adversaries.
It's a sizable volume, easily double if not triple of the author's usual offerings, but you kind of feel like you don't want to give away much of the story; still, it gets a recommendation from me.
Enter our main character, a small boy, chosen precisely because of his ability to not let anything faze him (to give a positive spin to it). I don't usually like when Nisio Isin writes passive characters, like the male main characters of Katanagatari or Imperfect Girl, but there's something charming about the way our seemingly uncaring, unfeeling boy (that might care and feel more than he himself thinks) uses his wits and his minimal equipment to make the most of these new situations he finds himself in and to defeat powerful adversaries.
It's a sizable volume, easily double if not triple of the author's usual offerings, but you kind of feel like you don't want to give away much of the story; still, it gets a recommendation from me.
December 10, 2025
What I kept thinking about while reading this novel was the theme of escaping from reality.
To keep the review from getting too long, I’ll focus on three characters who resonate with this theme:
Kendou Kenka:
A girl who, since childhood, lived under constant stress from the fear that she could lose control of her actions at any moment. This perpetual anxiety eventually led her to fear suicide.
I’d like to highlight three key moments:
1. She mistakenly believed herself responsible for a past incident in which a small group of children died from the “Scream”, while she survived because of her unique trait of being unable to hear the “Earth’s Scream”.
2. Later, because of that same unique trait, she was discovered by the Army, which killed her entire family. After brainwashing the child, the adults convinced her that the Earth—not they—was to blame for her family’s death, so she had to become a hero and protect humanity.
3. The “Great Scream” that wiped out a third of the planet’s population—an event she failed to stop and in which she “failed” as a hero.
Afterward, to avoid breaking down under the weight of her failed heroic mission, the inflated expectations, and the grief and hatred over losing her family to the Army, she redirected all those feelings toward the Earth.
This self-deception doesn’t let her move forward, but at least it keeps her on her feet. All she has to do is pick up a sword and keep killing monsters. Even if slaughtering monsters (and sometimes people) puts her on a path of self-destruction and flight from the reality in which she’s supposed to stand on the Army’s side—the same Army that burned her family and orders her to live in the same flat as the man whose family she was ordered to kill.
I’m glad that, thanks to the doctor and Sorakara, Kenka finally stepped off the path of self-destruction by the end and did something after which no one could ever say she wasn’t a hero.
Hidari Zaizon:
Perhaps the only character presented who doesn’t flee from reality but patiently accepts it. A nine-year-old girl whose mother conducted experiments on her in the Army. As a result, the entire world began to perceive her not as a human but as a dog.
Until the very end, she stayed true to herself and refused to accept that reality—not the one where others see her as a dog, but the possible future in which she herself might start seeing herself as an animal and die a dog’s death.
After patiently waiting six months for a chance to escape the Army’s control, she places her bet on Sorakara. It doesn’t matter to her whether she dies in five minutes or in a year—what matters is remaining herself until the very end, no matter what.
Even though she only appears in the middle of the book and leaves us quickly, she might be my favorite character from the first volume.
Sorakara Kuu:
A thirteen-year-old boy who can see monsters without pain.
Here, just like with Kenka, I want to point out three moments:
1. At the beginning of the book, he doesn’t understand why he feels negative emotions toward a baseball club senpai who jokes about the death of a third of the population. The doctor explains to Sorakara that he perceives reality exactly as it is, without emotions like joy or grieve. Because of this trait, Sorakara has to act according to society’s template of “normal” behavior. In turn, when he sees others who don’t fit that template, he starts envying them—those who can escape reality and still remain “normal,” unlike him.
2. A minor incident occurs when Sorakara enters Kenka’s room without permission and sees her changing.
Right after that, Sorakara almost decides to kill himself over such a small thing because he feels his action falls outside the boundaries of socially acceptable behavior.
This reveals Sorakara’s fear of being rejected by society because of his personality trait.
3. In the end, thanks to the doctor’s words, Sorakara confesses to Kenka that he, too, escapes from reality—by envying those who can live in a way he cannot.
Even though he acts not out of his own free will but according to templates or other people’s requests, his actions still touch people’s hearts. Kenka is saved by Sorakara from being killed by an ally, which becomes the trigger for her liberation from Kakigaki. The doctor, in gratitude for helping his daughter, decides to help Sorakara and Kenka at the end of the volume. Or Zaizon, who chooses a foreign car with the driver’s seat on the opposite side.
By the way, I should note that Sorakara’s first kill and the way he generally fights his opponents feels realistically simple yet incredibly cool. He constantly does things no one expects from a thirteen-year-old child, without any superpowers or fancy weapons.It’s interesting that the Earth’s “monsters” outwardly look no different from humans. You can’t tell whether someone is a monster without sacrificing another person’s life (losing your eyes and sanity). So killing monsters looks exactly the same as a soldier killing a civilian. I think it’s awesome that the book has a scene where Sorakara’s task is to report how many monsters are hiding in a kindergarten. Kuu decides to lie and say that all the children and staff are monsters—just to make his colleagues’ job a little easier. Of course, not all the children in that kindergarten were monsters. And the mission itself was a test of humanity conducted by Earth. By the way, the concept of the planet having consciousness that can manifest in human-like form reminds me of Kinoko Nasu early works (Notes and Tsukihime).
I didn’t really like that the first half of the book has way too much Sorakara and too few dialogues.
Compared to the author’s other works, the protagonist here feels different from his previous ones. The story also seems grander and more epic. The cover of the tenth volume of the original edition is insanely cool.
I started reading this series largely because I wanted to learn more about the character Chinou Nomi, whom I had encountered in the story ‘Nomi Rule.’ I am pleasantly surprised that I enjoy Sorakara and the other characters from the first volume so much.
To keep the review from getting too long, I’ll focus on three characters who resonate with this theme:
Kendou Kenka:
A girl who, since childhood, lived under constant stress from the fear that she could lose control of her actions at any moment. This perpetual anxiety eventually led her to fear suicide.
I’d like to highlight three key moments:
1. She mistakenly believed herself responsible for a past incident in which a small group of children died from the “Scream”, while she survived because of her unique trait of being unable to hear the “Earth’s Scream”.
2. Later, because of that same unique trait, she was discovered by the Army, which killed her entire family. After brainwashing the child, the adults convinced her that the Earth—not they—was to blame for her family’s death, so she had to become a hero and protect humanity.
3. The “Great Scream” that wiped out a third of the planet’s population—an event she failed to stop and in which she “failed” as a hero.
Afterward, to avoid breaking down under the weight of her failed heroic mission, the inflated expectations, and the grief and hatred over losing her family to the Army, she redirected all those feelings toward the Earth.
This self-deception doesn’t let her move forward, but at least it keeps her on her feet. All she has to do is pick up a sword and keep killing monsters. Even if slaughtering monsters (and sometimes people) puts her on a path of self-destruction and flight from the reality in which she’s supposed to stand on the Army’s side—the same Army that burned her family and orders her to live in the same flat as the man whose family she was ordered to kill.
I’m glad that, thanks to the doctor and Sorakara, Kenka finally stepped off the path of self-destruction by the end and did something after which no one could ever say she wasn’t a hero.
Hidari Zaizon:
Perhaps the only character presented who doesn’t flee from reality but patiently accepts it. A nine-year-old girl whose mother conducted experiments on her in the Army. As a result, the entire world began to perceive her not as a human but as a dog.
Until the very end, she stayed true to herself and refused to accept that reality—not the one where others see her as a dog, but the possible future in which she herself might start seeing herself as an animal and die a dog’s death.
After patiently waiting six months for a chance to escape the Army’s control, she places her bet on Sorakara. It doesn’t matter to her whether she dies in five minutes or in a year—what matters is remaining herself until the very end, no matter what.
Even though she only appears in the middle of the book and leaves us quickly, she might be my favorite character from the first volume.
Sorakara Kuu:
A thirteen-year-old boy who can see monsters without pain.
Here, just like with Kenka, I want to point out three moments:
1. At the beginning of the book, he doesn’t understand why he feels negative emotions toward a baseball club senpai who jokes about the death of a third of the population. The doctor explains to Sorakara that he perceives reality exactly as it is, without emotions like joy or grieve. Because of this trait, Sorakara has to act according to society’s template of “normal” behavior. In turn, when he sees others who don’t fit that template, he starts envying them—those who can escape reality and still remain “normal,” unlike him.
2. A minor incident occurs when Sorakara enters Kenka’s room without permission and sees her changing.
Right after that, Sorakara almost decides to kill himself over such a small thing because he feels his action falls outside the boundaries of socially acceptable behavior.
This reveals Sorakara’s fear of being rejected by society because of his personality trait.
3. In the end, thanks to the doctor’s words, Sorakara confesses to Kenka that he, too, escapes from reality—by envying those who can live in a way he cannot.
Even though he acts not out of his own free will but according to templates or other people’s requests, his actions still touch people’s hearts. Kenka is saved by Sorakara from being killed by an ally, which becomes the trigger for her liberation from Kakigaki. The doctor, in gratitude for helping his daughter, decides to help Sorakara and Kenka at the end of the volume. Or Zaizon, who chooses a foreign car with the driver’s seat on the opposite side.
By the way, I should note that Sorakara’s first kill and the way he generally fights his opponents feels realistically simple yet incredibly cool. He constantly does things no one expects from a thirteen-year-old child, without any superpowers or fancy weapons.It’s interesting that the Earth’s “monsters” outwardly look no different from humans. You can’t tell whether someone is a monster without sacrificing another person’s life (losing your eyes and sanity). So killing monsters looks exactly the same as a soldier killing a civilian. I think it’s awesome that the book has a scene where Sorakara’s task is to report how many monsters are hiding in a kindergarten. Kuu decides to lie and say that all the children and staff are monsters—just to make his colleagues’ job a little easier. Of course, not all the children in that kindergarten were monsters. And the mission itself was a test of humanity conducted by Earth. By the way, the concept of the planet having consciousness that can manifest in human-like form reminds me of Kinoko Nasu early works (Notes and Tsukihime).
I didn’t really like that the first half of the book has way too much Sorakara and too few dialogues.
Compared to the author’s other works, the protagonist here feels different from his previous ones. The story also seems grander and more epic. The cover of the tenth volume of the original edition is insanely cool.
I started reading this series largely because I wanted to learn more about the character Chinou Nomi, whom I had encountered in the story ‘Nomi Rule.’ I am pleasantly surprised that I enjoy Sorakara and the other characters from the first volume so much.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews