Ex-Arm

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: EX-ARM エクスアーム

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 14

Chapters: 98

Status: Finished

Published: Feb 18, 2015 to Jun 26, 2019

Genres: Action, Sci-Fi

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Shounen Jump+

Authors: Komi, Shinya (Art), HiRock (Story)

Statistics

Score: 6.38¹ (scored by 897 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #16879²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #3996

Members: 5,119

Favorites: 25

Resources

Wikipedia

6.38

Ranked #16879Popularity #3996Members 5,119

MangaShounen Jump+Komi, Shinya (Art), HiRock (Story)

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Volumes: /14

Chapters: /98

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Synopsis

Besides his extreme phobia of electronic devices, Akira Natsume lives his life as a completely ordinary teenager. In contrast, his brother Shuuichi is a university student who excels in many aspects of life. Wanting to follow in Shuuichi's footsteps, Akira becomes determined to better himself. But before he can accomplish this goal, he is hit by a truck while attempting to rescue a girl from delinquents.

After regaining consciousness, Akira is astonished to find himself inside a machine; furthermore, 16 years have passed since the truck accident. Amid Akira's confusion, police officer Minami Uezono explains that Akira's brain resides inside an EX-ARM—a highly advanced weapon capable of causing immense destruction. Accompanied by an android named Alma, Minami is currently aboard an enemy smuggler ship to complete a crucial mission: retrieve Akira's EX-ARM.

Despite initially being bewildered, Akira quickly learns to utilize the vast power of his EX-ARM and eventually meets the head of the EX-ARM Countermeasure Division, a police department that prevents crimes caused by the machines. Subsequently, Akira takes on the task of eradicating these heinous crimes—which may lead him to discover the reason behind his present state.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Ex-Arm was serialized in Grand Jump magazine until issue #1 2018, and then moved to Shueisha's digital platform magazine, Shounen Jump+ on December 20, 2017.

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Related Manga

Alternative setting:	Ex-Vita
Sequel:	Ex-Arm Exa
Adaptation:	Ex-Arm

More characters
Characters

Natsume, Akira

Main

Alma

Main

Through Hand

Main

Uezono, Minami

Main

Rokuouin, Chikage

Main

Kondou

Supporting

Yggdrasil

Supporting

Kimura

Supporting

Shiga, Soushi

Supporting

Himegami, Alisa

Supporting

Reviews

Jan 16, 2021

ManWild

Recommended

Preliminary (17/98 eps)

I decided to check out and read all the translated chapters for the Ex-Arm manga shortly after watching the first episode of the brand new, yet already infamous anime adaptation and to put it shortly, I was pleasantly surprised with how my experience with it turned out.

The story is pretty simple and easy to keep up with as it mainly follows the 3 main characters (Akira, Minami and Alma) through a continuous well-paced story which without a doubt, made it a lot more enjoyable. It does have a substantial quantity of ecchi/fanservice which could make it a difficult task for people to want to get ... into but subjectively, it didn't hinder or heavily subside any enjoyment towards the actual content presented. The use and pacing of the character introductions and plot points were one aspect of the story which I believe they nailed. Some series I've experienced in the past are guilty of introducing a daunting plethora of characters and plot points in a short-period of time which obviously isn't bad at times but it's something in literature that can come back and bite if it's not executed properly. With the possible exception of the first few chapters it usually doesn't go overboard when it comes to introducing characters and plot points, allowing the dialogue and introductions to have a natural feeling and pace to it. The entirety of the story as a whole was done quite well from a subjective standpoint and I never found myself getting bored or tired of what I was reading.

The Art is actually one of the biggest standouts in the manga and if not, it IS the main standout. The art was wonderful and when reading it there were never panels that conveyed a feeling of un-intentional confusion as in "wait what is going on??" or "yikes... this looks bad." every panel was well done and I strongly believe that the art is a perfect fit for the type of story presented and it really does an impressive job giving off the futuristic feeling that the narrative is trying to achieve. Character designs and action scenes are completely brought to life and the art does the best job possible to convey that. The one possible qualm with the art would be that in the earlier chapters it does rely on plain white backgrounds a little bit more than necessary but it improves immensely at a fast rate as the manga goes on.

The main characters in Ex-Arm may appear flat or uninteresting upon first appearance but as the story moves forward the three of them do get more likable. Rather than feeling flat they end up feeling like characters that actually have personalities and are quite entertaining to experience. I've only read all the translated chapters (17) so I'm unable to speak strongly about the side-characters but from what I've seen they do have lots of room to grow but thankfully I'm quite confident that they will. From what I've seen, antagonists are unfortunately lacking heavily in comparison to the main characters and possibly even the side characters in terms of almost everything from character design, dynamics with other individuals and memorability but I don't view them as poorly written or objectively bad by any means. The character designs are possibly my number one favorite aspect of the series because although there are a few exceptions such as some side-antagonists and even Akira, The main two female characters (Minami and Alma) have incredible and memorable character designs and the art style that the manga has allows the designs to pop out and shine in the most ideal way possible. Character dynamics and character interactions are another aspect that I believe was done quite well, especially among the main trio. As the story goes on it's presented quite clearly that the characters are growing as the story moves forward and it's also clear that HiRock (the author) has taken lots of time when it comes to making Ex-Arm's main trio get significantly more likable over time.

Enjoyment is usually always dependent on the individual, thus making it a very subjective topic especially with a series like Ex-arm where the manga is sometimes avoided due to the poor quality of it's more popular adaptation but personally, I would still recommend this manga even if you have a negative opinion prior to reading it because it could end up being a really surprising experience like it was for me.

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Jul 15, 2022

Curiouswanderer

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (7/98 eps)

I'm quite surprised that there isn't anyone on here reviewing Ex-arm the manga because my god, everyone's been talking about its god awful anime non stop! So I decided to read the manga because again,everyone's been talking about it such as Trash Taste, Moist Critical and many other Youtubers. The art is a lot better like the faces, the visuals and the actions scenes were pretty decent. I think the artist Shinya KOMI does deserve recognition for his work on the series like I really wish he could've involved more on the anime. I'm honestly shocked that they weren't asked!

However I really didn't get ...

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Recent News

Manga 'Ex-Arm' Gets TV Anime

Mangaka Shinya Komi has announced that the manga by him and HiRock titled Ex-Arm will get a TV anime adaptation. The announcement was posted in the 12th compiled vol...read more

Dec 18, 2018 7:20 AM by tsubasalover | Discuss (33 comments)

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blue1 - Apr 19, 2021	2 replies	by AnimeLover45678 »» Oct 6, 2022 10:06 PM
akira blue1 - Mar 20, 2021	0 replies	by blue1 »» Mar 20, 2021 10:40 AM
Poll: Ex-Arm Chapter 9 Discussion IrrelevantGuy - Mar 7, 2021	0 replies	by IrrelevantGuy »» Mar 7, 2021 12:30 PM
Poll: Ex-Arm Chapter 6 Discussion IrrelevantGuy - Jan 21, 2021	0 replies	by IrrelevantGuy »» Jan 21, 2021 3:05 AM
Poll: Ex-Arm Chapter 5 Discussion Stark700 - Dec 25, 2019	1 replies	by Dika12345678 »» Jan 13, 2021 11:37 PM

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