I rather liked the cover on this book, especially the airy, supernatural tone of the colors, but what really drew me to this comic book was the name of the writer: The Nevermen's Phil Amara. I thought this might be a new Amerimanga title spearheaded by the Dark Horse writer/editor, but it seems this is an adaptation of a project establishing by popular names in anime and manga. The script is a confusing, incorporating what seems to be two different worlds and two different storylines into the same issue without connecting them. At first, this seems like a cop drama, but it quickly shifts into a tale about a dystopian society in which anthropomorphic animal creatures are hunted by the agents of an powerful dictator. Not only does the script not make sense at times, it fails to get me involved with the characters. This is typical Japanese fare, complete with magical armor, swordfights and cute animal pals.
In the near future in Tokyo, a mysterious, powerful and corrupt being known as Eko seeks to build an unstoppable army, and he sends his men out into the city to capture and recruit the kindly and intelligent animal creatures who lurk in the dark corners to avoid detection. A young doctor has been recruited by a force for good to combat Eko, and he gets his chance must sooner than he expected. The champion, dubbed Karas, sets out to face Eko, but he soon discovers his villains counterpart, complete with magical armor, was expecting his visit.
Peris and Sandoval do an excellent job of capturing an authentic manga look in this one-shot... at least, they do in the first half of it. The more genuine look fades a bit in the latter pages, as a more conventional, North American influence creeps into the art on occasion. The action does not flow smoothly, and some scene transitions are sudden and confusing. The designs for the title character and the chief villain are similar by design, I understand, but they're definitely too similar.
I honestly have no idea how the opening scene featuring an older cop and a young detective fits in with the rest of the story. Do they just live in the same city as the other, more fantastic characters? I would normally suspect that their role would be incorporate later on, in a future issue, but this unnumbered comic book seems to be a self-contained one-shot.
Of course, it's not self-contained. The core conflict is introduced here, but there's no resolution. It's not even clear how the hero extracts himself from danger to reunite with his allies by the end of the book. The characters' motives and circumstances make them far too alien to connect with, and the reader is left distanced from the story as a result. Everything about this property seems to be quite generic; I didn't find anything new to be excited about. 3/10
Note: This comic book was not among this week's new releases.
