Oct 3, 2016
I randomly happened to pick this one up during my “walk through” the bookstore a.k.a 3hr book hunt. I’d never heard of this fairly newly released book before, the mangaka a.k.a author or the manga itself, but I decided the bad-ass looking cover coupled with the interesting title made it worth checking out, though to be honest I actually thought it wouldn’t be interesting enough for me to want to keep it. I was wrong. This was a really good read that exceeded my expectations on every point. The characters weren’t bland, the plot, though consisting of themes not entirely original, wasn’t at all generic
...
and I think Yasohachi successfully made the story his own.
I won’t go into much detail past the first couple pages or reveal anything past the 2nd chapter as the mystery and desire to put all the puzzle pieces together is part of why I’ll now be stalking each release date, but this story is set in an alternative universe where humans are immortal. Things start off with a bang…literally, and surrounds two opposing characters- Shin’ichi Kenzaki, a young detective hunting and detaining humans infected with RDS (Resurrection Deficiency Syndrome), and a mysterious woman part of those known as ‘Escape Artists’ who show up to snatch such humans away from the Task Force, generally in a very violent manner. In a world where humans have taken to killing themselves to ‘reset’ and heal from any illnesses/injures RDS is a new and very terrifying disease that turns humans mortal. Kenzaki’s job (which he is hell bent on completing) is to hunt these offending people, called Vectors, no longer considered human by the government and send them to a facility for extermination, but the Anti-Vector Police Task Force begins to meet opposition when an Escape Artist comes tearing through the scene sending limbs flying to rescue these infected humans.
Though the whole immortality thing has been toyed with many times already I don’t know of any other stories that have put this type of twist on it. It was very interesting to see the Yasohachi’s take on how widespread human immortality would change and effect human society and can’t wait to delve deeper into this world, no seriously, why isn’t the next volume out in English yet?! One thing I absolutely love about this series so far is how everything is just a big shade of grey. The good and bad sides are not clearly defined leaving readers to make their own conclusions, and the character's moral stances are often in question. Yasohachi’s world building and pacing are great and I’m pretty surprised it’s not more popular. The art was good (clean and easy to follow), and the story is amazing so far with tons of unanswered questions I’m dying to have answered.
Clearly there were plenty- characters, events, hints towards future events, and lack of information- to keep me coming back for more. I’ll definitely continue collecting this series and recommend it to anyone looking for a good sci-fi, mystery, action, or really to anyone who wouldn’t be put off by the violence.
7.5 overall for now, but with the exception of getting a higher rating in later volumes so I'm going with an 8.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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