Franken Fran

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Review in Haiku: Franken Fran

Horror-Comedy
about artificial girl
who is a surgeon.

STORY:

Episodic tale
with occasional reference
to prior chapters.

Overarching "plot"
about "Franken Fran"'s father
sometimes, it shows up.

Individual
stories are usually OK
Seven out of ten.

ART:

It's horror manga
So prepare for lots of gore
And gross visuals.

Art quality's good
Slightly better than average
But nothing too stellar.

Still, this manga's gorn
Is super engrossing, so
Eight points out of ten.

CHARACTER:

Fran Madaraki
Is adorable and weird
Doesn't quite get things.

She MUST save a life
Regardless of end results
Fates are worse than death.

Her sisters show up
I won't spoil them for you
Eight points out of ten.

ENJOYMENT:

I lack any doubts
On the enjoyment of this
Crazy horror tale.

Like watching train wreck;
What's going to go wrong next?
Cannot look away.

Left with some nightmares.
One of the best ones around.
Ten points out of ten.

OVERALL:

If you like gore
Karmic deaths and surgery
You'll love Franken Fran.

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10/10 Would Fap Again
Huh, this porn manga looks pretty good, I love something new, or so you might have thought, when seeing the cover of the first volume of the manga in any of the book stores in your country. If you, just like me, had the same guessing, I cannot blame you. This piece is considered a science fiction manga. Though, it is not the usual science fiction you will expect to see. What I mean is the fact that it has nothing to do with space battles, giant mechas and technical wonders. However, Kigitsu Katsuhisa has his own understanding of what science fiction is. His characters, as it has been mentioned before, do not fly in space and do not jump in time. Nevertheless, the main "technical miracle" is one of the main themes of this manga. And I cannot say I do not like it.

Cute Little Girls Doing Cute Experiments (Or Not?)
World War II, a talented biologist, named Madaraki Naomitsu, uses his skills in medical practice. During the war time, the professor does whatever he wants and no one cares about how horrific his experiments might be, even the government turns a blind eye on the work of the caring professor Naomitsu. But, it turns out, he is not a happy professor, trying to help people, he is actually a psychopath with a scalpel. But no war lasts forever and The Second World War is finally over, too. However, the problem is that the crimes of the professor Naomitsu are now noticed and to escape the punishment, the professor vanishes. The end.

Not quite. The madman leaves his daughter, as well as his best creation behind and this “daughter” is actually the professor’s best masterpiece: she looks like a female Frankenstein. Madaraki Fran does not look like her father, but she is very similar to him, because she adores experiments and has incredible skills in all possible areas of medicine. She is an underground doctor, pursuing a single goal. She is able to fix any problem, cure any sickness, and can even give people eternal youth! Unfortunately, not many people can afford her help, since any cute little girl needs money for her cute little experiments. However, these moneybags are just unfortunate souls, because if you do not mention how you see your recovery, you will regret it.

That Is Unjust
Truth be told, the plot is impressive. Already the first volume is already very enjoyable to read, it is violent, it is funny and disgusting. Another thing to mention is that every two-three chapters there is a separate story of Fran helping her poor patients. Later on, however, this formula is broken. But, I must admit, it is even better. The readers do not feel burdened, since a new story starts quite soon and you do not have to wait that much. In addition to this, you will appreciate the originality of every chapter and enjoy the black humor. But I am not quite sure, if you will find any of her ‘creations’ funny. But give it a try, nevertheless.

Who Needs Two Hands When You Can Have Six Hands (Duh)
So, let us discuss the main pieces of this manga. Madaraki Fran, as it has already been mentioned, is one of the best creations of Madaraki Naomitsu. She does not have any features making her look like her father, but she has all the skills the professor has, she might even be more talented than her father. A cute creature, striving to help people. She is always ready to help, even for free, if you have a tearful story. She is a smart girl, she understands that having six hands is better than having two for any surgeon. The father should be proud! By the way, oh yes, she also has a credo: if humans’ life can be saved, this must be done! Simply put, no matter how terrible a person’s life might be, the main thing is that they will live. What a good doctor, you might think! Anyways, onto Fran’s assistant. He is called Okita. He is a handsome guy, his face looks like he is a popular idol of a jpop boys band and he also is a half human, half cat. He likes criticizing his mistress. And he also enjoys becoming human again, who would not, and Fran gladly helps her cute assistant with that.

There is also a police officer, Kuhou Rumiko. She is fascinated yet terrified of Fran. Fran sometimes pops up near her, sometimes to help her, sometimes to get some bodies for her lovely experiments. There are also other "creations" of Professor Madaraki, but telling you about them is something I will not do. Anyways, as mentioned before, Fran's patients change very often, so I am not going to list them all. However, I want to assure you that all the patients, as well as all other characters are unique and very interesting to follow. Almost forgot, Fran also created many other servants of her lovely self

Too Many Difficult Things I Know Nothing About
Of course, there will be many things, you will not understand anything about. As it has been already mentioned many times, the manga contains many medical terms, biological terms, etc. - the average reader will not understand many things. And even despite the efforts of the translators, who inserted explanations, it is not always possible to figure out how and why exactly what happens is happening. Perhaps this is one of the main disadvantages of the manga. As for the drawing - the details of all the small elements is simply amazing.

This Is Not Something Kids Should Read
It might sound as if it is a very dark comedy and that that is the only thing about it, wrong. You already know from my review that this manga has many 18+ scenes, I would even say you might feel bad even if you are older than 20+, when reading this manga. You need to have good mental health to read it. Otherwise, I would not recommend you reading it, it is very disturbing.

Masterpiece Many Will Not Understand
You might have an impression that this manga is a sick abomination and you will be right and wrong at the same time. There is one clear message the writer tried to show the readers. AND HE IS RIGHT ABOUT IT! Of course, I am not going to do all the work for you, silly, I will never tell you the message Kigitsu Katsuhisa wanted you to understand. Go read the manga, now. If you can, of course.

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Ok so this is my first review, so bear with improper format or an un-standard review i guess. This is one of the most unique things I have ever read; Franken Fran in short is a twisted, deranged, genius, conceptual, moral questioning work of art.

This manga is currently my favourite manga, but first off before I say the good and why you should read it, here is why you might not want to read it:
It is filled to the brim with an extreme level of gore and horror, and is not for the weak of stomach or mind, and If you are one of these don't bother reading it.
_____________________________________________________________

If you are still reading this, your probably are not weak of mind or stomach or at least want to test your luck. So now I will say why I liked this manga so much:

The Characters: All the characters were very creative, but most importantly was the main character, who I thought was very well designed in both appearance and in their personality and actions. They mean well and only do what other people want and believe will help them, but the twist is, that those people clearly didn't think through well enough and so most of the conflict results not from Fran's failures, but from her patients.

Art: Pretty decent in general, characters are very well drawn, but the best drawn stuff is the gore, and detail and level of accuracy on peoples limbs, organs and internal anatomy.

Story: I put this last because it doesn't really have a plot in particular that goes throughout the entire thing, I'm not sure If this is the correct term seeing as this is a manga, but it has an episodic plot, that is different every chapter.

Overall the reasons behind my liking this manga so much are this; It was really interesting conceptually and it questions science and morality, in many different lights and offers tons of legitimate solutions and shows the reason why they fail or succeed. The most interesting thing about this manga is how all the problems that are fixed amazingly are all unethical or immoral, but leave people happy in general, and all the failed experiments are from negligence in the patient not thinking things through, or In the patient and then Fran, taking on an experiment on something not quantitative, but qualitative. (You will know what I'm talking about if you read it)

All in all; 10 out of 10. And It was very interesting.

Sorry for the massive review lol, I kinda started ranting...

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Franken Fran is honestly one of my all time favourite series, and I am not ashamed to admit tearing up a little when it ended. It's such a unique manga that sticks out from the crowd, partly due to it's absolutely insane premise, but also because of the sheer joy it gave me.

The Story - Each chapter gives you a fresh new story line meaning that it never gets stagnant or feels repetitive. Obviously there will be some chapters that are weaker than others, but I never disliked one or felt bored reading it; I always wanted to keep going!

The Art - The art is very refreshing and fits with the story; gruesome in places, detailed and intricate through out, and not afraid to hold back. The gore was also very well illustrated, so if you don't like that kind if thing, I reccomend you to back away from this series.

The Characters - I can genuinely say that I liked pretty much every character in this manga, even if they were the 'bad guy'. All are shown to have flaws, all are shown to have strengths, and Fran is just so perfect in every way - she holds everything together perfectly.

Enjoyment - My personal enjoyment was 10/10. Every moment kept me reading on, I never once got bored, and I will definitely read again in the future. The dark humour kept me laughing, Fran kept my emotions running, and I was thoroughly gripped right to the very end.

Overall, this is an almost perfect manga for me. I wish that some of the characters had got a little more 'screentime' (I won't name anyone, out of possible fears of spoilers) but apart from that, I loved it.
I would recommend Franken Fran to anyone who enjoys dark humour, horror and gore elements, and to fans on Junji Ito's work (as I found myself thinking about some of his works whilst reading this). However, anyone who doesn't like gore, I suggest you stay away... far away

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