Manga Review: Livingstone, Volume 2, by Tomohiro Maekawa and Jinsei Kataoka

Rating (Out of 5): ~3-3.5

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

Release Date: March 2016

Volumes: 4.

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository.

Volume: 1. 3.

Goodreads Synopsis:

THE BUSINESS OF SOULS

Sakurai has been working with Y.K. Livingstone for a little over six months, so you would think he'd get the hang of things by now. However, his job—to clean and collect the physical form of the soul—comes with unique challenges that make things a little difficult… What's worse, he's been paired up with a partner who would rather play videogames than work. Dealing with life and death can be heavy business, from witnessing the power of emotional attachment, working with local law enforcement, to questioning whether animals have souls, Sakurai definitely seems to have his work cut out for him...

Review:

This series is very intriguing. It’s odd, and very dark at times, with odd humor. It’s enjoyable, but it’s also not really grabbing me with its characters.

There are several cases in this volume, each one violent and sad. A couple in which the girl keeps turning violent and beating up her boyfriend; a surgery that went wrong and the father who knows the hospital did wrong; even a little girl who’s possessed by an adult seductress. A little boy and his pet bird who gets hurt, when his father is remarrying a foreign woman.

We do meet another partnership collecting souls, who argue with our main characters.

I find the characters interesting, but I don’t really feel like I know them, and I’m not attached. The humor can be funny, but there isn’t much of it. I’m intrigued, but only half-heartedly. I probably will pick up the next one when I get the chance, though, since this is a short series.

Manga Review: Livingstone, Volume 1, by Jinsei Kataoka and Tomohiro Maekawa

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

Release Date: November 3, 2015

Volumes: 4.

Spoilers?: Minor.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 2.

Goodreads Synopsis:

At the beginning of the 20th century American Doctor, Duncan MacDonald, engaged in a series of unethical experiments. Those experiments concluded that should one suffer a death not ordained by fate the human body lightened by an average of 30 grams, the weight of a man's soul stone.

Today, two men, Sakarai and Amano, are in the hunt to find people who are about to die before their time and either prevent their unnatural death or recover these stones, "Livingstones."

Review:

Since the artist is from Deadman Wonderland, I was intrigued. I’m a little unsure, though.

This is definitely a dark series, and the artwork is of course the same as Deadman Wonderland, which is very nice to look at. The expressions are dark and striking. There are a few color pages at the front of the book, and those are always nice to look at.

The concept—that people have a set path but sometimes stray when imprints get dark, and there are people who can see these things and fix them—is very interesting. And of course get dark, when people get depressed and angry and want to kill themselves. That’s when the main characters step in, to clear things up and set them right.

Sometimes the story lines are depressing, like the first one; conflicting, like when a women doesn’t really want to end things and comes to a compromise; or just depressing, like when there’s an accident and a dog gets angry in the aftermath. There are some interesting characters, and I’m sure there will be more depth and more characters introduced later.

I’m intrigued, but not quite sucked in yet.

Wishlist Thursday[130]: Livingstone by Jinsei Kataoka and Tomohiro Maekawa

Livingstone 1 by Jinsei Kataoka and Tomohiro Maekawa

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

Release Date: November 3, 2015

Volumes: 4.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

                            

Goodreads Synopsis:

At the beginning of the 20th century American Doctor, Duncan MacDonald, engaged in a series of unethical experiments. Those experiments concluded that should one suffer a death not ordained by fate the human body lightened by an average of 30 grams, the weight of a man's soul stone.

Today, two men, Sakarai and Amano, are in the hunt to find people who are about to die before their time and either prevent their unnatural death or recover these stones, "Livingstones."

Why?:

This would not usually be up my alley for books. I don’t tend to read much shonen or seinen, especially the violent ones. But I guess I can’t say that anymore, since the reason I’m picking this up is because of Deadman Wonderland. Having one of those authors on this new series made it an automatic buy for me. I’m not too sure what I’m getting myself into at this point, but I’m intrigued. I hope I like it.

What are you looking forward to?