Manga Reviews

Sunday, April 02, 2006

666 Satan

666 Satan by Kishimoto Seishi
Scanslated by Eternal Blue and Syndicate
IRC Channel: #eternal-blue @ irc.irchighway.net #syndicate @ irc.irchighway.net

Topic: Shounen, Post-Apocolyptic

Summary:
This manga is set in a post-apocolyptic world, where people weild magical items named O-Parts which contain incredible powers. But not just any person can use O-Parts, only special people who are capable of releasing their "spirit" can use them. These people are known as O.P.T.S. The O-Parts seem to have been left behind by a powerful civilization in the past, which was powered by science. No one knows why this civilization collapsed, all that's known is that O-Parts are their legacy, and that these O-Parts are often found buried in ancient ruins.

Our story focuses on a boy named Jio and a girl named Ruby. Ruby's a treasure hunter, following in the footsteps of her father died years ago. Meanwhile Jio's a kid who's never had a friend, everyone's always called him a cursed child. As a result, his goal in life has become world domination, because if he's the ruler of the world he believes he won't need friends. However Jio has a darker side to himself. Under extreme durress, the numbers 666 will appear on his forehead and his powers will grow exponentially. However, Jio never remembers these events when he come to. Regardless, Ruby decides to hire Jio as a bodyguard, and they set off on a journey together, encountering many interesting and powerful opponents and civilizations along the way. But why was Ruby's father killed? And who or what is Jio exactly?

Commentary:
The art for this series is interesting, with relatively unique faces. Jio in particular looks very odd with two different colored eyes. The background art is usually very elaborate, especially when it comes to the large sweeping landscapes. The plot is also fairly interesting, although a bit meandering at this point in time. There are currently plenty of events and characters being introduced then vanishing, giving us a sense that the author is gearing up for a very long series. There's plenty of potential at this point, so I'm interested to see how it develops.

Unfortunately, the one crippling factor is the characters, all of whom fill emotionless, stereotypical roles. Ruby is the typical smart alec girl who's incredibly weak and constantly gets into situations where Jio needs to bail her out. Jio's the stereotypical "dark" protagonist, with a hidden past who powers up whenever need be. Undoubtedly, he'll slowly begin to learn more about his other side and be forced to tap its power more and more often as the series progresses. The opponents are all extremely evil people with surprising weaknesses, etc. In general, there is not a shred of creativity amongst any of the characters, which is a pity given that it causes the plot to suffer from predictability.

Rating: 6.0/10.0

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