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Kiyotaka Narumi is a brilliant pianist and detective who disappeared two years before the events of Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna. "I went to find the Blade Children," is the only message he left behind for his wife, Madoka, and his younger brother Ayumu. Though Ayumu is gifted in both logic and piano, he has grown apathetic due to constantly being in Kiyotaka's shadow. A murder at Ayumu's school and a new message from Kiyotaka drag Ayumu into the deadly mystery of the Blade Children.

Character: 8 (Very Good)

The characters were my favorite part of this series and were why I continued reading until the end. ... I really loved hearing about their experiences and what made them act the way they did in the series. They all have very concrete motivation. Ayumu has a nuanced personality. It is clear why he detests Kiyotaka so much and how Kiyotaka has shaped him. Madoka and the five recurring Blade Children we are introduced to all have good character development and are very likable.

Art: 7 (Good)

Spiral is full of murder mysteries, death, and near-death experiences, and I would have liked to see that reflected in the art. The characters, who are supposed to be in high school, were drawn to look too young and innocent for the amount of death in the story to be taken seriously (with the exception of Rio, who is deliberately drawn innocently to subvert the moe stereotype). Two of the major antagonists who appear later on in the series are drawn cutely, which made them hard for me to see as threatening.

Thankfully, as the chapters progressed, certain main characters are gradually drawn to look older. This especially effects Ayumu and Eyes, who really benefit from looking older.

Story: 6.5 rounded up to 7 (Good)

The series begins with some good standalone mysteries involving the Blade Children. I wanted to know why everyone seemed to hate them and what they were capable of. I was very happy to see that the story fully answered this question, and that was what excited me the most about the plot. I wanted so badly to see the present implications of the Blade Children's curse, and how Ayumu would try to break the curse.

Unfortunately, the plot deviates significantly from the Blade Children to the point where most of them actually stop appearing, and focuses on Ayumu and an antagonist who is connected to the Blade Children. The story became very muddled, moving from the concreteness of the Blade Children storyline to vague ideas like "hope" versus "despair." Spiral also gets extremely repetitive-- the characters tend to sit, talk, and over-plan for chapters on end before taking action, and certain ideas and character abilities that are repeated to the point of becoming annoying.

Enjoyment: 4 (Decent)

This is a series I really wanted to like. I stuck with it to the very end hoping that it would get better, but the story became weaker after the new antagonist was introduced. Past a certain point, I found myself only reading because I wanted to finish.

Overall: 6 (Fair)

The series is worth reading for the characters and to find out exactly what the Blade Children's curse is, because that is a cool plot point which was very well done. After that, it failed to develop on the present implications of the Blade Children's curse, and had a lackluster ending.