Re:Birth: The Lunatic Taker

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Re:BIRTH The Lunatic Taker is an amazing, tragic, action packed manhwa (Korean Manga) that deserves more chapters than it has. Re:Birth is brought to us by the famous Korean manhwa artist Lim Dall-Young, the creator of Unbalance X2, Black God, The Legend of Maian, Koimoku and Freezing. The short 29 chapter long manhwa focuses on the life of a wimpy teenager named Reiji and his yandere older sister named Ayaka. In this world lies angel like creatures known as Tenshi and during every full moon, these creatures swarm the world in an moment between time and space where they feed upon the souls of humans ... (The victim never knows that they've had their soul eaten). Those humans who have had their souls eaten by a Tenshi will later commit suicide, but those who have their souls eaten and come across sorcery devices will become Takers. Takers also have life points tattooed onto the center of their chest and these points are basically like the amount of life one has in a video game. These points go down with each passing day and they can also go down by the Taker using different kinds of abilities. Those devices later turn into weapons to be used against other Takers or Tenshi in order to take their life points and increase one's own. Having more life points doesn't only increase a Taker's life but also unlocks new powers for a Taker to use in battle.
One average day, Reiji is walking down the street and comes across a set of bracelets that he decides to pick up and attempts to the find the owner of. In the process of doing so, some random guy snatches a woman's purse and begins to run in his direction. Reiji decides to take it upon himself to stop the thief, but is stabbed and killed in the process. On the brink of death, the bracelets begin to speak to Reiji and tell him that if he wishes to live, he must form a contract with the bracelets. These bracelets turn out to be sorcery devices and Reiji ends up becoming a Taker. Reiji is now thrown into the murderous world of Takers, where law and order no longer matters and is replaced by raw instinct.
This manhwa is definitely something to add to your reading collection even though I must warn you that you're probably going to end up really pissed off with the main character Reiji and I little upset with the ending. The older sister Ayaka is what really makes this manhwa so amazing, with her being both a Yandere and what most Takers fear in the whole world, a Psychopath. Ayaka has one seriously protective nature of her younger brother and is willing to do ANYTHING to protect him and keep him happy. Re:BIRTH - The Lunatic Taker is an absolute must read.

Yo, just to make sure everyone's on the same page, there is a "spiritual sequel" to this manga called " Re-Birth 2 The Life Taker ". But follow the official sequel for the time being "Sai:Taker"-

[STORY]9: I would actually give it a 10 at the very least, but I wanna keep this review faithfull and not biased. (Spoiler free and direct information)
-Good Points? This is a manha, and as you have guessed, yes the story does not follow standard patters like the typical japanese Mangas do. So you will have a fresh story to enjoy. It might look ur typical shounen but show goes quite ... deep to the point you could label it has Seinen, action will be part of the main story, so you won't get tiring dialogs(not that it's totally exempt of them). If you like some blood, you are going to have it. And of course, no the characters don't fight because "Yes" there is a very good motive *tic*tac*.
-Bad Points? ITS TO SHORT FFS!(Which can also be considered a good point, since it wasn't tirelessly extended like big names of the genre)
-Some ecchi is expected, moral conducts will be judged, some outcomes will look predictable (but they aren't most of the time, which is a great particularity of a manha).
-The story is refreshing, if you are open minded and taboo free... you are going to love it! Be ready for the thrill of moral/immoral actitudes tornado, its just getting started!

[ART]9
Although the manha started a few years ago, its art is a little mixed in between old and new manga style. The art follow's the korean trends/standards with a slightly japanese touch to it. The dynamics effects, makes you fell that they are alive and strong. The fight motions are what you would expect for an action based manga(nothing "Oh!Great" like, but decent enough!). I assume this manha was probably released monthly, since the art, backgrounds, artistic touches look very detailed.
Story is not by any means entirely predictable, and things won't always end "well"... (sorry, kinda repeating my self here)
I only don't give it a 10/10 because, I personally fell, most of the girls in the story wear almost the same haircut somehow(sometimes making me a little confused and hard tell them apart)

[CHARACTERS]
Main Character: The typical "I will do no wrong, and abide by justice all times!" hero. And honestly, he has lots of flaws, sometimes i have a hard time telling whos the real main character here.
Secondary Characters: Sister and Childhood Friend (yeah the classic), although sort of typical, is not like they have mindless personality. His sister, specially, personality wise is probably one of the strongest points of the entire manha. And his Childhood friend, isn't much of a letdown, she actually packs a "punch"(no pun intended)!
Evil Characters: Your typical villains, but since the story resolves about "extending your life"... most of them can't be really labeled has "evil" at all. Just blame the circumstances. And you could call them "mature villains"

[ENJOYMENT]10
Yeah, I mean, I had read this manha previously and it hooked me up entirely yet again once I decide to give it a go...again!! You will definitely vibe with this one, give ita try!

[OVERALL] 9.5

Afterword: I wish I could buy the manga but its not on sale anymore, and I think it only got translated officially in French, even if u find some old english translations be ready to pay up somewhere between 100-200€ for a volume...