Neji
Screw

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Screw is written and illustrated by Kaori Yuki who also wrote and illustrated the Godchild series. In comparison to most of her works which are gothic fiction and mysteries this manga is science fiction and action oriented. In 1992, Neji and his fiancée are kidnapped and brutally murdered. Neji for unknown reasons, is cryogenically frozen by a mysterious organization GERA. In 2033, Neji becomes a Reverent, a scientifically made undead with incredible supernatural powers. He is a skilled assassin with blurred memories of his past. GERA puts Negi along with two other undead killers, Luzer, and Batsu to kill their enemies. Negi learns ... that GERA is going to perform medical experiments on his fiancée so he turns against them and goes rogue. He teams up with Luzer and Batsu intent on stopping the evil GERA organization.

The design of the futuristic world was very detailed and comparable to the fantasy oriented works of Kaori Yuki.

The manga is broken up into 3 chapters with each having its own story. The lack of padding and filler meant everything moved at a fast pace with only a brief amount of time to know who is who and their place in the story. Plot twists are effective and you never know what to expect. The story is similar to The Crow graphic novel by James O Barr and both share similar motifs and writing style along with the themes of Kaori Yuki’s works like Godchild.

The undead characters still have human traits and have all lost their loved ones at one point during their respective lifetime and have retained the painful memories of how they died. Each page reveals a bit about the past lives of the characters and this serves to humanize them elicit some sympathy from the reader. Neji and his friends finds it difficult to adjust to the new environment and try their best to survive.

Overall, the story ideas were interesting and thought provoking even more so when some people are having their bodies cryogenically frozen with the hope of being brought back to life sometime in the future. The book has a highly detailed art style and the readers can immerse themselves in the page. The character designs were unique and had very relatable goals. The character’s personalities don’t feel fully formed either and much of the world has a lot of lore left unexplained. Some characters don’t really have that much to do in terms of story and just serve as plot devices to move things along. There really was not much in terms of character development in the story.

The villains are not really memorable and GERA is another type of evil corporation that can be seen everywhere. GERA’s goal is to use illegal methods from human experimentation and slavery to take over the world.

This was an ok manga story which could have been better.

A story set in a futuristic world that mixes elements of sci-fi (cryogenics, automatons, etc.) with a light touch of supernatural powers.

Story, 7: Despite a short length of only three chapters, the world is fleshed out quite well. Readers get a sense of the state of the Earth, the implications of human experimentation, and what (if any) difference exists between artificial intelligence and human consciousness.

Art, 7: The action scenes were nice and the character designs felt fresh and distinct from each other.

Characters, 6: While I thought the main characters were interesting and certainly had a unique relationship, I was a bit underwhelmed by the ... GERA organization as a whole ( and Luzer in particular). The female characters mostly seemed like plot devices to push the protagonists along, which also irked me.

Enjoyment, 7: I finished this much quicker than I had anticipated. The world-building and potential for growth really attracted me, so it's a shame that the series is complete (though I think it wraps up nicely as it is).

Overall, 7: I would recommend this to fans of sci-fi or anyone that might want to try a more action-oriented shoujo series. Fans of Yuki Kaori's other works would probably enjoy this as well. A quick but entertaining read.