Manga Reviews

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Ai-Ren

Ai-Ren
Scanslated by Solaris-SVU
Length: 5 Volumes (complete)
IRC Channel: #Solaris-SVU @ irc.irchighway.net

Topic: Seinen, Science-Fiction, Slice of Lfe

Warning: Mild nudity and sexual content

Summary:
Ikuru is a boy who is confronted with his own death. To ease his loneliness and pain, he requests an Ai-ren, an artificial human being who exists for the sole purpose of comforting the terminally ill. That Ai-ren is Ai. Together, the two of them provide each other with strength and love, allowing each other to come to terms with the beauty and sadness of their own mortality, and discover what it means to be human. Along the way, we learn the story of Camelo Carelen, a government official, and humanity's encounter with a mysterious and seemingly alien existence known only as Hito.

Comments:
There's two storylines in this manga - that of Ikuru and Ai, and of Camelo Carelen and Hito. The two stories complement each other, but aside from the setting, are largely unrelated. Also, the manga has a few scenes with nudity and sexual content towards the beginning that may turn some people off, but if you can keep that from bothering you too much, the rest of the story is truly touching. The mangaka, Yutaka Tanaka, also demonstrates exceptional skill with the medium, contrasting light and dark and varying style and levels of detail to really tell the story rather than simply narrate and illustrate it.

Rating: 8.0/10.0

-- Review submitted by p00kie

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