rachelmanija (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rachelmanija) wrote2008-04-16 03:52 pm
rachelmanija) wrote2008-04-16 03:52 pm
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Wild Adapter 5, by Minekura Kazuya
Oh my God, you guys, it's the flashback volume! The one that tells what happened after Kubota and Tokito first met! I knew it would be fantastic, since Minekura is consistently brilliant at extended flashbacks, but it's even better than I expected!
I think this works best if you've read the entire story up to this point, but if you tried the first volume and didn't like it, it's worth jumping in and giving this one a try, since chronologically it follows immediately after that.
A fatalistic gangster named Kubota doesn't care much about anyone or anything, though he has a soft spot for animals. One day he finds a young man unconscious in an alley, and takes him home as if he's adopting a stray cat. The young man, Tokito, has amnesia, and a monstrous hand which links him to a mysterious drug called Wild Adapter, which makes its users turn into werewolves and then explode.
The series explores the odd but strong bond between the two men as they investigate the source and nature of Wild Adapter, and assorted cops and criminals go after them. Each volume is narrated by some outsider whom they come into contact with; the tone is noirish but the characters are more realistic than archetypal; and despite the various plot-puzzles, the mystery which gets the most focus and is most beautifully and slowly unravelled is how people adapt, survive, and love each other against the odds.
In this volume, the surprising choice of outsider-narrator provides a poignant counterpoint to Kubota and Tokito's story; the art is almost unbearably sexy; there's a manga-within-the-manga that is not only the best thing ever all on its own, but is also relevant to the themes; the psychology of loneliness and emotional damage is painfully dead-on; it's heartbreaking and heartwarming and beautiful, and the best single volume of a manga I've read in quite some time.
Warning for possible spoilers in comments.
I think this works best if you've read the entire story up to this point, but if you tried the first volume and didn't like it, it's worth jumping in and giving this one a try, since chronologically it follows immediately after that.
A fatalistic gangster named Kubota doesn't care much about anyone or anything, though he has a soft spot for animals. One day he finds a young man unconscious in an alley, and takes him home as if he's adopting a stray cat. The young man, Tokito, has amnesia, and a monstrous hand which links him to a mysterious drug called Wild Adapter, which makes its users turn into werewolves and then explode.
The series explores the odd but strong bond between the two men as they investigate the source and nature of Wild Adapter, and assorted cops and criminals go after them. Each volume is narrated by some outsider whom they come into contact with; the tone is noirish but the characters are more realistic than archetypal; and despite the various plot-puzzles, the mystery which gets the most focus and is most beautifully and slowly unravelled is how people adapt, survive, and love each other against the odds.
In this volume, the surprising choice of outsider-narrator provides a poignant counterpoint to Kubota and Tokito's story; the art is almost unbearably sexy; there's a manga-within-the-manga that is not only the best thing ever all on its own, but is also relevant to the themes; the psychology of loneliness and emotional damage is painfully dead-on; it's heartbreaking and heartwarming and beautiful, and the best single volume of a manga I've read in quite some time.
Warning for possible spoilers in comments.