The Victorian horror vibes from the cover made me begin From the Red Fog believing that it would be at least somewhat intelligent. But no, it is not. It is a hodgepodge of messy, clashing ideas and an even worse execution rushed into a nonsensical train wreck of a finale, and in spite of only being 25 chapters long, you'll feel awash with the sense that you should've wasted your time on something less pretentious.
Every character is either a grimdark edgelord or a forgettable shounen Power-of-Friendship-Speech machine. Though I cringed a little at the protagonist's incredibly gory murder exploits, excessively traumatic backstory, and edgy worldview, I was willing to read through it. I thought that From the Red Fog might be a gorefest with a villain protagonist who outsmarts everyone.
I was baffled by the subsequent twists and turns. Some plot twists practically retconned the protagonist's backstory. One major character was so underutilized that their entire plotline got ignored even through the final chapter. The atmosphere at the start of the story implies that the protagonist will remain an axe-crazy loner who wants connection and gets revenge in fucked up ways, but then there's a jarring shift into everyone making cliche, preachy shounen-esque speeches about friendship and family and love. There's a timeskip that leads effectively to nowhere. There is no plot resolution. The characterization is half-assed and inconsistent throughout.
I realized, much to my misery, that this manga is an edgy, juvenile foray into exploring philosophy and human connection. The stereotypical "this serial killer is actually just lonely and doesn't understand feeeeelliiiiiings" type of story.
So if you want to read that, go ahead! But if you're anything like me, I recommend that you don't.
