Chain

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Quite a strong one-shot from the author of Kagurabachi. Many have felt ninja manga is an overplayed trope since the obvious giant in the space, but manga of these sorts are a staple of shonen all the way back to kamui-den, and greats like Go Nagai have produced their own ninja manga like Kuro-No-Shishi. In recent years, there is a bit of an attempt to revive this format, we also saw this with Black Torch which took the same cyberpunk/tech bend that is pushing in the genre. Chain takes a similar attempt with a more 'modern' settings compared to the historical version of ninjas most ... readers have come to be familiar with, but in this version they operate like something of a CIA, or Soul Society.

The characters are pretty contained, and the strength of the one-shot is on the focus on the main duos personalities. They are imbued with a swagger that typically is found specifically in ninja manga, an almost silent killer vibe that persists across the genre. Personality, this is an appealing personality trait, but I would admit some readers might find it extremely cringe, so out of self awareness it's hard to fully co-sign the intense confidence of the characters.

The drawing isn't exactly the strongest, and some of the characters blank stares aren't sold the best, but in a way that works with the trope at hand. Much of this is also found in Kagurabachi, and if played right can work, but I've found the authors unique style isn't exactly the most suited for drawing faces. However, the action is very strong, with the pacing of the movement working well with the characters personalities. There is more expression in their movement and interactions than in the actual drawing, which is a drawback for a manga and limits this from rising to a higher rating.