Raqiya
Raqiya: The New Book of Revelation

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Raqiya is a manga based on Gnostic mythology. No idea what that is? Don't worry, you can still enjoy it. Except if you are a strict believing catholic, then you might want to burn this blasphemy.

First, be warned: Raqyia is full of tragedies. The story follows Luna Hazuki, a girl who apparently was chosen to destroy earth. There is no great adventure to save the world, there are no bishounen demons or angels fighting on her side. The story plays on our normal Earth where most people are normal. Or in a creepy cult that prays the Gnostic gods and defiles virgins.
The story already ... starts rather dark but it gets more and more dark and obscure. Especially in the last few chapters you might either sit infront of your screen in awe or shake your head wondering what the hell is happening.
This review seems to be rather vague, but simply splicing it up into parts wouldn't be able to capture the uniqueness of the manga. I just can recommend to try it out yourself.

Raqika ( Rakiya) is a supernatural fantasy horror action manga based on Gnostic religious and apocalyptic themes.

This is drawn by the mangaka of Sun-Ken Rock – Boichi – but it is very different from his other works - as it is not written by him. In this, I personally think it’s better, although people who like Boichi for his near hentai eichi will probably disagree with me. This manga has much less of that and the story is much more complex which is no doubt why it does not have as big an audience as his others ... -since sex sells. Don’t get me wrong, I do read and enjoy Sun-Ken Rock as a gangster manga, but it also has a lot of things I take issue with as well, especially as a woman, although I understand it goes with the setting. What you will like if you like Boichi - is of course the art – the characters in this look very similar to Ken and Yumin and the backgrounds are just as wonderful, detailed and well drawn.

However, instead of gangsters and whores, we have demons and a goddess. There is also a lot of violence and death and nudity; it is also a manga for mature audiences. The story has a strong plot and it is headed in a direction without waste and filler. And that direction is the apocalypse - a biblical type apocalypse.

It is the type of manga that calls for you to just drop assumptions and pre-conceptions and read the plot as it happens. It does move along well too with plenty of action. Sometimes it seems more supernatural and other times more action thriller horror.

A girl’s family is killed and Luna enters in a pact with a demon becoming something not human, and whether that is a goddess or the anti-christ still remains to be seen at this writing. So her life is changed and there is no going back. There is quite a lot of violence that follows Luna because of that pact.

This manga is based on the obscure doctrines of Gnosticism – so the revelations and apocalypse that is shown is not the one from the more familiar Christian Bible but from Gnostic scriptures instead. So the nature of God and demons is rather different from that generally accepted in the Christian view. So whether you think her or the young priest (who is a Ken look alike) as right or wrong may be colored by your viewpoint as well.

Since I am reading in translation I have only read the translated chapters although it is finished in Japan so I will only be reviewing that.

I would rate Rakiya an 8 since it has a strong plot and great art, the characterizations could use a bit more but it is plot based rather than character based.

~ Reviewed by inzaratha for reviews for the unreviewed. ~