Ningyou no Kuni
Aposimz

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Writing a review for a Nihei Manga is kind of tricky. Do you draw comparisons with the his previous works like Blame!, Biomega etc? Or do you come up with something that may capture the imagination of some other fellow readers to go out and buy the manga?

The story starts like any other generic sci-fi storylines.... it is an unforgiving world, where the people living on the surface are subjected to brutalities and hardship to the extreme. And our unlikely protagonist rises by a chance and he must travel far to defeat the enemies one by one, gathering power and allies incrementally. Very formulaic, right? ... So what makes it different?

It is the Nihei touch. It is that artwork, the death and fatalities shown in the most soul-crushing way and the transitions on the scenes with measured jumps. You feel both detached from the harsh reality of that world, at the same time be drowned by the darkness it submerges itself in. Violence of massive proportions get omitted on the next page and you just see the resulting doom and destruction in incredible details. You reach the depth of you imagination to visualize what may have happened. Yet there's a fluidity in the story here. Even if you feel lost or struggle to fill in the gaps, the rhythm feels uninterrupted. Take a deeper look and you may realize there's a master behind the art.

And our author has probably made larger strides in character development, they serve a higher purpose than to just continue the story. You can relate and tax your imagination a bit further with the characters, this is a great catalyst for the reader's appetite. Yet that trademark minimalism hasn't been lost in any way.

So that's what this manga is. It carries forward the celebrated qualities and skills of the artist, at the same time it expresses Nihei's desire to produce a "Tezuka-level mass appeal".

This might end up to be his most polished work till date.

Its interesting and strange to me that people write reviews for unfinished or ongoing manga, but in the case for Aposimz - even its now "finished" status is actually forever unfinished due to a hasty cancellation. Nihei was forced to attempt to cliff note about 50 chapters worth of story into the last 4 because of that. I won't judge Aposmiz for the hilariously rushed ending, however I didn't find rest of the story or art to hold up regardless of that forced ending.

As per the Nihei Blame usual you have a rather stoic MC with a small gun that has the power ... to punch a hole through everything, travelling around a mechanical dystopia with a female sidekick (actually 2 this time), some Abara style transformations, and at times the lighthearted goofiness of Sidonia. The biggest change is probably how generic and "not-Nehei" the manga feels; things quickly devolve into shounen battles with tiered enemies, special superpowers, mascot animals, ass pull fights, explanation of said fight/abilities, etc. Technically Nihei always has moments almost like that, but not to the same degree and frequency that Aposmiz has. It is very much a watered down and shounen-y story overall. There are hints of the expert world building of Nihei, but it feels rehashed from his older works, except now straddled by this atmosphere killing shounen battle nonsense (along with some very obvious and clear "influence" from Nausicaa).

That being said nothing here is really new for him, besides his continuation/advancement of the Sidonia artstyle, which is something I personally think just looks rather boring and lifeless in comparison to his older heavy ink stuff. Its lacking in shading at times, being mostly empty white, a single grey tone, and then ink for hair and lines of objects. I appreciate trying a new artstyle; but it feels more simplified in its shading, more boring to look at, like less effort is being put in, and honestly sometimes hard to make out what things are exactly due to that lack of shading. A look at his coloured pages are obviously a huge step down from his previous efforts, not even in a different style, they are simply just flat out worse and look like he barely tried at all. Faces and people are also far more cutesy, utterly gone are the uncanny and strangely spaced faces from his older works which stood out from other artists.

The atmosphere too is very similar to Sidonia because of how much more playful characters are and how lighthearted things look. Silly jokes and even ecchi scenes coming up again and again through the story, but are mostly just generic and played out nonsense. Nothing like the ol naked girl walks into the bathroom and then hurts the MC for looking at her titddies, never seen enough of those epic gags, right guys....? Maybe I am no longer Nihei's target audience with things like this, but I never found these "jokes" very funny even when I was younger, and more importantly is that it's so overdone that I believe it's absolutely worthy of criticism.

Its a shame to say; but with this manga, Sidonia, and the Blame CGI movie - I think I have to say that modern day Nihei is completely washed up. He seems more interested in having cute girls, slapstick humor, shounen battles, and awful romance than creating the gritty, mysterious and dark worlds he was known for. Its fine to change your style, but if your new thing is just trying to make yourself more accessible and generic - then I'm not going to pretend its anything other than bad. I don't like having to say that, but I think its the truth at this point because he threw away his own unique style and then watered himself down to be more "accessible". Essentially he sold out, which was probably clear as day with Sidonia, but I was holding on hoping that maybe it was only a one time thing. That is not the case, and really I expect him to make an even more egregious attempt to commercialize himself in the next story he creates due to the failure of Aposmiz.

I was excited to pick APOSIMZ up. Is it worth the read? Yes and no. I'm a big fan of BLAME! but Nihei's more recent works have been quite disappointing, despite the settings and concepts being very intriguing time after time.

That sentence probably summarizes all of Nihei's works – unique and exciting concepts, but time after time, I find myself thinking about how the storytelling itself could have been so much better. APOSIMZ, or Ningyou no Kuni, is not an exception. It reminds me more of a grittier version of the high-school drama that is Knights of Sidonia, instead of the doomed, vast and apocryphal ... world of BLAME!. While the latter sparks an enormous interest towards the world Nihei has created, the former always failed to do that for me. As far as I know, Nihei himself has apparently dissed or disowned his earlier works, which is a shame since there are quite a few good things about them that he could explore.

Nihei's drawing style for APOSIMZ is light and fragile, and that's what I've really liked about it. A wasteland covered in indecipherable materials, bio-mass akin to some kind of dust, ice, snow... A lot of things in existence in the world of APOSIMZ are things of legends and traditions passed down for generations for so long their workings or mechanics have been rendered unknown. Tribalism has emerged since the downfall of whatever existed before the wandering groups of the cold Surface.

Some of the things strike a resemblance to Berserk, Nausicaä or even Made in Abyss. In the unique world Nihei has created, they feel disappointingly unoriginal. It would have worked out quite nicely if they were clear homages to the works Nihei has found inspiring. I can't say I enjoyed reading the dialogue, as most of it is frankly quite boring. It's monotonous to the point I started to question whether the numerous characters have a personality of their own at all. It feels like all of the characters are simply copies of one another, mere cannon-fodder for gore.

In short, Ningyou no Kuni features biomechanical samurai armor-battles, battle droids in gothic lolita -esque outfits, gore and a little bit of fanservice. It's a biopunk re-telling of BLAME!, where Etherow is Killy and Titania is Cibo, filling the tropes of Marty Stu and Ms. Exposition, respectively.

It would seem that Nihei is searching for a synthesis of a gritty apocalyptic world and the contemporary Japanese society, but so far the amalgamation that is APOSIMZ feels rushed and not original enough. Disappointingly so, since I always keep an eye on Nihei's new works, waiting for a polished masterpiece he is more than capable of creating.

Really didn't expect this to be good for some reason. Probably because this is a very unusual style for someone like Nihei, but he somehow manages to pull it off either way. Good stuff.

>Story
It’s fairly decent. It’s your classic revenge story in an interesting, but sometimes way too subtle world.
The story follows our protagonist, Etherow on a quest for revenge against the oppressive Empire for slaughtering his comrades and destroying the settlement he lived in.
The world-building elements get the Nihei treatment, as in: most of the stuff gets left out unexplained, like the origins the relics, or the automatons, or the regular frames. Where does ... all this come from? Well, at least we get explanations as to how these things actually work and affect the world, unlike in Abara.
Then again, this manga IS ongoing, so I’m waiting to be proven wrong on the statements I made. But for now, especially after Abara, I’m not a fan of this style of world-building. Although, to give it credit, it’s miles better that the stuff I got while reading Abara. 6/10.

>Art
I’ve been hearing some people say how Nihei’s art degraded, but I disagree. He’s trying out a new style, which is very fitting for the sort of world he has created on top of being gorgeous. Even if it’s objectively less detailed, I think it’s got its’ own soul to it. Simply put, the art is fantastic. It gives of a clean, fragile, almost crystalic kind of feel, and its’ simplicity works to its’ advantage.
My only gripe with it, is that the character designs, albeit cool, are starting to feel a bit same-y, since most of the characters wear uniforms and their regular frames are made out of the same material. But that’s barely a problem, since they’re still very good. 9/10.

>Characters
I’m really torn on them. Most of the enemies, apart from maybe Yiyu, Biko and the main baddie are blank slate jobbers and the protagonist is way too OP. He barely even struggles when he deals with his enemies. This has been a problem in Blame as well, except in Blame it’s not a problem at all, because Killy isn’t out to get his revenge on a supposed powerful and oppressive government, unlike our MC here.
The characters in general have goals and motivations. Etherow wants to get revenge on the Empire because they killed his friends and his mentor, whom was like a father to him. Titania wants to stop the Empire from conquering The Core. The Emperor wants to conquer Aposimz. But what do they have going on besides that? Barely anything. Maybe the main villain doesn't count right now, since he's just barely been introduced, but the MC and Exposition-chan over here have no excuse. The only thing I can remember about Etherow and Titania besides their common goal is that one likes grape fruits and the other has two scenes in where she "pisses" and makes the MC drink that in order to restore his abilities. Phenomenal.
What about them having their own unique philosophies? What are their personalities about? What are THEY about? Say, what about if Etherow wasn't fond of being a regular frame? What if him becoming that was a split second decision that he regrets? Wouldn't that make for a more interesting story? You could also develop this trait towards the end, where he would realize that being a regular frame doesn't get in the way of being a human, or something cute like that. Just feels to me like something like that would make Etherow a more complex and deeper character, but that's just my imagination going off. Anyway, I really hope the author touches up on the feelings and personal qualities of the characters more in the later chapters.
It’s got some good characters in it too, though. Like Kajiwan, a village ruler who’s jealous of Etherow and Keisha for their regular frame abilities, he works very nice as a side character. Titania and Keisha show potential to be great characters, as well as Biko. 5/10.
[MILD SPOILER]
Edit: right as I write this review, chapter 21 has Etherow actually fail and fall into a coma of sorts, on top of that we get a little more time to look at the supposed main villain of this story, which was really nice to see. Kajiwan is also becoming a much more interesting and vital character now, with all the cult stuff going on. I'll bump the score up to a 6/10.
[MILD SPOILER END]

>Enjoyment
So far this manga has been amazing to read, quite honestly. I love the vibe it gives off, you can actually immerse yourself in the atmosphere of it so damn well. Maybe it’s the style that’s giving it this unique type of feel, or maybe it’s all the quiet moments that we get to fully observe the locations this world has, or maybe it’s all the creative and fun, albeit quite lacking in explanations of them, abilities that the characters have.
There’s really a lot here to enjoy in this manga, even if I can’t in good conscience ignore all the technical mistakes of it. 9/10.

>Overall
I like Ningyou no Kuni. I like it a lot. Sometimes it gets way too shonen for me, but I can forgive that. All the cool designs, all the gorgeous and interesting locations, all the soulful covers. Even if the story and the characters may be just a tad lacking, It’s still very interesting to read, at least for me. And it’s definitely so much better than Abara. 8/10.

Aposimz is a mixed bag, but I'd still recommend it to Tsutomu Nihei superfans.

Tsutomu Nihei has an incredible ability to craft unique sci-fi worlds that function on their own rules of nature. He then crafts epic stories that slowly reveal those rules to you through exploration and character interactions. Sometimes, on the way, events lead to those rules fundamentally changing, requiring you to figure things out all over again. To me, this is the main appeal of Tsutomu Nihei manga.

So will you find this in Aposimz? The short answer is yes, but it takes a while to get going.

I'll say right now that if you ... love Tsutomu Nihei and you're thirsting for more of his work, you're gonna want to read this. If you've never read anything by Tsutomu Nihei, you should probably check out his more polished work first. Blame!, Biomega and Knights of Sidonia are all great.

If you're interested, I recommend you stop reading this review now and just start. But I'll share my spoiler-free thoughts below anyway.

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The biggest difference between Aposimz and other Nihei works is that, here, the main driver of the plot is the characters' emotional motivations (at least at the beginning). This is in stark contrast to Blame! and Biomega, where the characters barely have emotional motivations - and if they do, it's something larger than life like "become god" or "see heaven." Even in Knights of Sidonia, where the characters' emotions were on full display - the primary motivator of the characters from a plot perspective was the existential threat of extinction, and any cheesy romance tropes were intertwined with unique sci-fi concepts. But Aposimz isn't like that.

Unlike most Nihei works, Aposimz starts out as a simple revenge story, entirely driven by the main character's motivation to get back at the bad guys who crossed him. There are hints of the epic Nihei sci-fi plot going on in the background, but that takes the backseat for the first good chunk of the story. This makes it awkward to read since, in my opinion, Nihei really struggles to write characters you're supposed to empathize with. This makes the first act feel like a generic plot with generic characters in an interesting world.

However, about halfway or a little over halfway through the story, more actors enter the mix which makes things a lot more interesting. This continues into the rushed ending, which many reviewers here disliked but I personally enjoyed. It was very reminiscent of other Nihei works which I love. That's all I'll say about the ending to avoid spoilers.

One other thing to comment on though is the fight scenes. Many of the fight scenes in Aposimz take the opposite approach from Nihei's typical "show-don't-tell" style of writing. This manifests in many ways including shounen-style narration, and the moment-to-moment thoughts of both characters engaging in battle. It usually reads pretty cheesy, but it helps you appreciate the decisions the characters make in a way you otherwise wouldn't.

That's pretty much all I have to say. Nihei takes a very different approach to storytelling and writing in Aposimz - mostly for the worse, but it does shape up by the end, and the uniqueness does make it interesting to read as a Tsutomu Nihei fan. That's why I only recommend this series to existing Tsutomu Nihei fans, and say everyone else should read his better works first and come back when you run out of Nihei content to consume.

When I saw the cover art caught my eye before I recognized the author. Personally I think the art is quite beautiful, but a significant departure from his previous works and some could be put off by that.

Besides the art the world building is alright - nothing special. In some parts the way it introduces you to new elements can be a bit blunt. This could be a problem with the translation I was using but other facets of the manga make me doubtful I can place that much blame(!) on the translation.

Story is average. I couldn't put up with it for more ... than 12 chapters but till that point it felt pretty hollow, witht the main charecter not being fleshed out enough and not enough time being dedicated to the scenes in between fights and setting to figure out why things are going the way they are. In fact there isn't much time spent on building scale in the world - which is something the manga seems naturally set up to do.

Still enjoyed it, though not sure that would've been true if I decided to go through the rest of the chapters. Has potential, and makes for relatively quick reading. Do I recommend checking it out if you like the art or the author? Yes, absolutely. Perhaps the story will get better in the coming issues - it seemed to be heading in a different direction and started to pace itself better.

Foi totalmente compactado o final, o que foi engraçado e triste ao mesmo tempo.
Porém, recomendo lerem one-shot antes de ler este mangá, vai fazer uma diferença muito grande em certas partes, diferença que fez eu ficar muito feliz por ter lido tudo! :D
Embora o final tenha sido feito de forma rápida, conseguiu sanar todas as dúvidas!
Recomendo muito ler o one-shot antes e depois, faz muita diferença...
-
The ending was fully compressed, which was both funny and sad at the same time.
However, I recommend reading the one-shot before reading this manga, it will make a big difference in certain parts, a difference that made me very happy ... to have read it all! :D
Although the ending was done quickly, it managed to solve all doubts!
I highly recommend reading the one-shot before and after, it makes a lot of difference...

Aposimz is an engaging and wonderful exercise in world-building the Nihei way.

It is much more in line with his most recent work Knights of Sidonia though, in terms of the simplicity of narrative and overall morality presented. As in, you don't need to struggle too hard to figure out who you're meant to support, oppose, etc. It's QUITE black and white here. Honestly that is a problem! I much prefer the author's work in BLAME (and its spinoffs) or even Biomega, where events are presented in a more neutral way like you're just observing situations and can make of it as you wish. For ... both Knights of Sidonia and Aposimz, Nihei turns into a very primitive shonen style of an extremely blatant set of protagonists and quite diabolical villains. Whenever there is some hint of grey or ambiguity he seemingly snuffs it out rapidly. It was disappointing.

Nevertheless, the main reason to read it is the sci-fi aspects, world building, and just the various interesting action scenes. And some of the characterization is at least sort of novel or engaging.

Overall I'm giving it 8/10 although, again, I'm disappointed by how simple the morals and narrative overall have been... it CAN change but at this point I really doubt it significantly will.

TLDR:
Story: 4.5 Stars
Art: 4 Stars
Characters: 4 Stars
Uniqueness: 5 Stars
Mind frick: 3 Stars (Lower then usual for this author!)

Aposimz is a manga series written and illustrated by Tsutomu Nihei. The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where the remnants of humanity live on a frozen wasteland, forced to constantly fight for survival against monstrous beings known as "Gaunas." The series explores themes of power, oppression, and the consequences of war, while also subverting traditional manga tropes and delivering a compelling and unique story.

The world-building in Aposimz is top-notch, with an intricate history and mythology that gradually unfolds throughout the series. The setting is bleak and ... oppressive, with a sense of hopelessness that permeates the story. The Gaunas are terrifying creatures that are a constant threat to the characters, and the various factions and organizations vying for power add layers of complexity to the narrative.

The characters in Aposimz are also well-developed and nuanced, with their motivations and allegiances shifting over the course of the story. The protagonist, Jihl Nabaat, is a former soldier who becomes involved in a rebellion against the ruling class. His journey of self-discovery and his relationships with other characters are the heart of the story, and his struggles with morality and loyalty make him a compelling and relatable protagonist.

The characters in Aposimz are one of the strongest aspects of the series, with each character being given a unique personality and backstory. One example of this is the character of Samira, a young girl who is part of the rebellion against the ruling class. Despite her age, Samira is shown to be intelligent and resourceful, with a strong sense of justice. In one memorable chapter, Samira confronts one of the ruling class's soldiers who has been harassing her and her fellow rebels. Rather than resorting to violence, Samira engages the soldier in conversation, appealing to his sense of honor and decency. Through this interaction, the reader gains insight into Samira's character and her approach to conflict resolution. This scene is just one example of the many nuanced and well-written characters in "Aposimz."

One of the strengths of Aposimz is its subversion of traditional manga tropes. The series eschews the typical "shonen" or "seinen" archetypes and instead presents a story that is more nuanced and complex. The female characters, in particular, are given agency and are not merely relegated to love interests or supporting roles. The series also has a diverse cast, with characters of different races and backgrounds.

The art style of Aposimz is unique and striking, with a mix of detailed linework and stark black and white contrasts. The character designs are distinctive, with each character having a distinct silhouette and personality. The action scenes are also well-executed, with a sense of weight and impact that makes them thrilling to read.

Overall, Aposimz is a subversive and interesting story that is well worth reading. The world-building, characters, and themes are all well-crafted and engaging, and the series' subversion of traditional manga tropes makes it stand out in a crowded field. Fans of post-apocalyptic fiction, political thrillers, and manga in general will find much to enjoy in Aposimz.

that was the correct word to identity this manga , after a Fabolous begging and mysterious introduction we found ourselves facing a shitty sorry end I felt he mast battle as so simple and rushed I read it twice almost didnt ge t what just happened I questioned myself am I dumb the thats it thats the end of it besides that when I was dying of curiosity to know what the true nature of the core world and it turned out to be some thing as matrix like seriously , I believe our author here was wondering to put and of his story so ... just give us something random lol regardless it story has some good moment that keeps you going throughout every chapter specially in the half way , I dont spoil most of my time in my reviews so if curious how it end just read it and dont expect something unusual as his previews manga BLAME because you will get frustrated

Additionally the art style was not the thing You enjoy looking at it , the whole manga was white yeah WHITE kinda all characters looks the same , the world looks the same and sometimes it will get you confused at the end imma gonna say it just something fine read it when you bored .

Small gun with a big bang, and cool expansive pipe-filled architecture, Nihei staples.

As others say though, the ending came on very abruptly, and the story lost all of the impact due to that. Very unfortunate.

Otherwise I'd still recommend this if you're a fan of his illustrations, or enjoy the works of Jean Giraud aka Mœbius. It seems like this manga has more natural looking plains which is what reminded me of Giraud, as opposed to Niehei's usual gargantuan industrial innards (which are still featured under the surface). Also the way that nomadic people adapt to technology, or fuse technology to their sandstony looking architecture fits ... that bill as well I feel.

The plot is pretty standard though; shoneny edgelord armor fights, got some fanservice in there. There isn't much inner conflict going on with characters, and any character development is unfortunately cut short by the abrupt end.