Doumu
Domu: A Child's Dream

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A dreary apartment complex somewhere in Japan has been suffering all manner of weird inexplicable deaths for a few years by the time this story opens with the police investigation of yet another suicide.

We follow the chief investigator as he goes through the procedural motions of trying to find out what's going on, and then by the end of the first chapter we meet our antagonist, hovering above the ground slightly, dressed in the spoils of his demented war against random working class people trying to get through their days in peace.

The malevolence displayed by this elderly man really is despicable not only because of ... his actions but because of his age which you automatically associate with helplessness, and his attitude to destroying lives. It’s the kind of evil you see in children, which is the lovely irony of the whole story.

Katsuhiro Otomo's Domu continues his fascination with abnormal powers in the hands of unstable characters that wreck havoc all around them. The apartment block serves as an interesting backdrop to the mental and psychological battles waged between the crotchety antagonist and his youthful nemesis. These cat and mouse conflicts are heightened by the fact that the population of the apartment complex are threatened as collateral damage, which makes for great edge-of-your-seat reading.

The setting of Domu provides many windows into the lives of characters inhabiting the apartment complex. This cast that populates Domu gives the story a humanising aspect rather than have it remain an isolated series of incidents involving a good guy, bad guy and things blowing up. The potential of telekinetic and mind control powers gone awry affects many people, their families and friends. Suspense is not suspense unless the stakes are high.

The scene composition and pacing in this manga is as if Alfred Hitchcock possessed Otomo, with wide angled shots of running characters shadowed by tall buildings around them, close-ups of sweating people, dead people appearing to freak out their still-mourning friends and disappearing again, the suspense is ratcheted all the way with skill in a way Otomo excels at best. The empty corridors of an apartment complex provide many eerie scenes to revel in for fans of potboiling-crime/horror thrillers.

The suspense ultimately gives way to a type of destruction that Otomo is famed for, concrete foundations are ripped, towers are toppled and glass is shattered into a million pieces in an action-packed climax that is full of masterful staging, pace, set pieces and panels of brilliant art. There is barely any dialogue for the last half of the manga, which some might deem a flaw but I deem a refreshing change from long monologues or speeches in the middle of action scenes that rip me out of the story.

Domu keeps me captivated from the first page to the last ultimately leaving me as breathless as everyone else in the end when the dust has settled.

This manga was nothing short of revolutionary. I can only imagine Katsuhiro Otomo had a vision, and suddenly knew what future manga should look like. The character designs were out of this world, and immediately copied by his contemporaries (most notably Naoki Urasawa, or even in shoujo (Banana Fish)). Every detail in his artwork was breathtaking and a giant leap forward for the medium in general.
The pace picks up a few notches compared to any other manga of the time. And the psychological mindfuckery may seem normal to anime-lovers, but it wasn't ever done this effectively, until Otomo came along and added the intensity that ... was needed in existing manga about ESPers.

It was Akira that made Otomo so influential, but Doumu was first, and I'd even call it a more satisfying read. While Akira was lengthy and could be blamed for having one or two chase-sequences too many, Doumu is a short and powerful smack in the hypothalamus. It deserved all the credit and awards it got.

Akira will be remembered, but for me, Doumu gets the extra points for being Otomo's first longer work, introducing his suspenseful, intense and at times gory style, which fan boys appreciate so much in all their current favourite anime.

Also features: beautiful drawings of exploding buildings

Domu – Spoiler Free – Mixed Feelings

TLDR
Story – 4/10 – 4 x 0.275 = 1,1
Art – 8/10 – 8 x 0.2 = 1,6
Characters – 3/10 – 3 x 0.225 = 0,675
Enjoyment – 6/10 – 6 x 0.3 = 1,8
Total: 5,175 -> 5

Story – 4/10
... Domu is a manga made by the mangaka of Akira, Otomo Katsuhiro. However, unlike Akira, which, despite its fair share of problems, is a terrific manga, Domu doesn’t have much substance. It is a very short manga – only one volume long – and doesn’t develop many things.
However, Domu has the merit of being a runner-up for Akira: there was only Akira because there was Domu. One can sense that many of the things that were included in Akira were essayed here first: the espers, the mentally unstable characters with the power to wreak havoc, the malevolence of some characters, and even the atmosphere.
Domu serves as a museum: through it, we are able to see the beginning of Akira, but on its own it doesn’t offer that much.
But again, the main purpose of this manga was to train what would become Akira, not to offer a fully-fledged story.
The story in itself is quite elementary: there is a sequence of deaths, a culprit is yet to be found, and there is a disturbing, psychic force that is disrupting the lives of the apartment block we follow.
The ending sequence is quite satisfactory and really sets the tone that we are going to find in Akira: total destruction at the hands of espers in an action-packed sequence.
Other than some aspects of the story, it isn’t all that memorable.

Art – 8/10
Page and panel flow aren’t the best, making it difficult to follow the plot along. Although we once more sense a pre-Akira: the excellence of the art style, the detail, the character design: everything reminds us of what is yet to be. This is one of the biggest compliments one can give, as Akira’s art style is quite good.

Characters – 3/10
There aren’t that many characters, nor are they well-developed, as the main focus of this manga is clearly the plot. There is Etsuko or the detectives, but little attention is given to either of them.

Enjoyment – 6/10
Again, in itself, Domu isn’t worth that much, as it is a short manga that lacks development character-wise and has a subpar story. It has the privilege of being a relic: forever a proto-Akira, but not worth its own (aside from some action-fueled scenes). The second half of the manga is better paced than the first, and there is less dialogue and more action. For all these reasons, it deserves a mixed-feelings stamp.

-This review is in English and Spanish.
-Esta review esta en Ingles y Español.

ENGLISH

This manga is one of the first works of Katsuhiro Otomo and that I sit the bases of Akira, here begins the review.


Story:6/10
The story presents an interesting premise, a mass of mysterious deaths surrounding an apartment building,while it looks like the cops are looking for an answer, the beginning of the manga is very good,hypotheses are shown and works well, While some characters are presented, Although from the middle of the manga begins a sudden spiral of confused violence that, without any reason besides that it does not clarify many things at the ... end, I would say it starts well but from the middle it becomes confusing and has an ending that does not explain anything.


Characters:5/10
The truth is that there is not much to say, presents some characters, a police, a girl and some more but because of the short size of the sleeve attached to that half is senseless violence there is not much I can say.

Art:9/10
2 words:Katsuhiro Otomo,drawing very realistic, although it presents a lot of action without sense, is very well drawn, with unique drawings, there is nothing negative that can say.

Enjoyment:6/10

Has been interesting and entertaining, with an interesting start and a very good fight and although the end did not clarify anything has not been a waste of time.

Overall:6/10
Although it is not a great manga, it is interesting and entertaining and if you have nothing to do you should take a look.

ESPAÑOL

Este manga es unos de los primeros trabajos de Katsuhiro Otomo y que sento las bases de Akira,aqui comienza la review.


Historia:6/10
La historia presenta una interesante premisa,un grupo de muertes misteriosas en un bloque de apartamentos,mientras los policías están buscando una respuesta, el principio del manga es muy bueno,se muestran hipótesis y funciona bien, Mientras se presentan algunos personajes,aunque a partir de la mitad del manga empieza una repentina espiral de violencia confusa que empieza sin ninguna razón además de que no aclara muchas cosas al final,diría que empieza bien pero desde la mitad del manga se vuelve confuso y tiene un final que no explica nada.

Personajes:5/10
La verdad es que no hay mucho que pueda decir,presenta algunos personajes:un policía,una niña y algunos más,pero debido al tamaño corto del manga unido a que desde la mitad del manga es violencia sin sentido no hay mucho mas que decir.

Arte:9/10
Dos palabras:Katsuhiro Otomo,dibujo muy realista,aunque presenta mucha acción sin sentido, está muy bien dibujado,con dibujos únicos,no hay nada negativo que pueda decir.

Disfrute:6/10
Ha sido interesante y entretenido,con un comienzo interesante y una pelea muy buena y aunque el final no aclaró nada no ha sido una pérdida de tiempo.

Valoración final:6/10
Aunque no es un gran manga,es interesante y entretenido y si no tienes nada que hacer deberías echarle un vistazo.

Doumu is a gripping horror story about an apartment complex that’s being terrorized by a mysterious serial killer with supernatural abilities that’s left the authorities dumbfounded. If you’re used to reading manga, you might have a little trouble at the beginning as this project reads left to right like an American comic book. Doumu is a short enough book to be read in a single day so I can wholeheartedly suggest that you drop whatever it is that you’re doing right now and read this horror hit, preferably at night with an open window behind you. The art is a brilliant accompaniment to this suspenseful ... tragedy and it depicts people in a realistic manner that’s dark and off-putting but not fully photo-realistic. The story unfolds like a classic supernatural thriller that doesn’t discriminate between character status and importance but rather the characters serve as a vessel to convey the horror to the reader that otherwise would’ve been novelized had we spent more time with them. That said, I do prefer character writing that lasts over a few volumes to classical motif writing that ends as abruptly as it starts.

From the same creator of Akira, if you are a fan of that manga I would recommend this; it's a quick read and has a lot of similar elements. Fans of Stranger Things might also enjoy this.

This manga would make for a great Netflix or HBO 12 episode miniseries. There were some solid ideas here that could maybe have been stretched out a little more for impact. For example, the deaths have little suspense or gravitas because they occur so abruptly that concern for particular characters is minimal. As well, the killer is revealed so early in, it would make for a much better ... mystery in my opinion if that reveal occurred later on in the story. To be fair, this is a short one shot so a lot had to be condensed.

All in all the premise of the manga and the charming art is likely what I will remember most from it. Good, not amazing.

The manga was well-liked by a great number of people. That it was both enjoyable and disturbing at the same time piqued my interest, which I found interesting. When you see adults do terrible things, it might be disturbing. Children, with their still-developing minds, making the choice to survive gives us cause to be optimistic about the future. This is shown on a vast scale in this comic. Because of the extremes of power and the fact that the whole apartment complex acts as the background, the juxtaposition of youthful justice and adult bitterness is excellent.

While the events of the manga develop in a rather ... predictable manner, the dressing of the environment and the portrayal of the characters bring the plot to life and make it much more enjoyable to read overall.