Mardock Scramble

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First time review for me, but this manga just deserves a review/shout of praise.

For starters, I did not read the novel versions, but I've tucked 6 chapters of the maigoscans translations into my currently reading list. I stumbled upon this one quite by accident and in that moment that we all take, when one quickly glances at the synopsis, I got that feeling: "Oh, this one is different. This one might just hold my interest." And that was just at a glance.

For the beginning at least, the story is quite good, nice and dark, very well explained, with a no-holds-barred in throwing the reader straight ... into the mayhem. But really, it is far too soon in the series to get any grasp on the real story elements. Although I expect great things, and desperately want to get my hands on a translated copy of those novels, just to get back onto the edge of my seat again.

By far and large the characters and art style are my favorite parts of the manga. The artist is very explicit with details. When the characters finally explain certain aspects of the story I find myself flipping back a page or two thinking "Was that really how it was? Yup. There it is drawn right there. That's so cool!" The art also lends itself towards character depth. While the characters have their own back-story and drama, the art takes several occasions to express thing in tandem or contrary to whats being said. While not overtly clear, it gives you the nice little hint that there is something more going on in the background, that there are still surprises waiting.

I tend to drift towards darker themes in my manga, but I'm not suggesting that this one is good because it is dark. More like, it is good despite being so twisted and messed up. There are moments of levity, but the path leading there is slick with the blood of the fallen.