Aug 29, 2021
Ender Geister is a callback and love letter to many action movies and other great films. Takashi Yomoyama calls inspiration from all sorts of movies using their best qualities to write a manga that is just a fun read. This manga feels like an action movie, it is easy to relax and enjoy it. This is paired with some of the best art of any currently publishing manga. Nothing is skimped on, it is high detail, and extremely professional. All of the line art is super clean leading to some of the most satisfying fight scenes. A large part of the reason why this manga
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is so good is because the art creates the same enjoyment as a top tier big budget action scene. This manga truly is an action movie recreated as a comic.
The inspiration from movies could not be clearer. Each chapter is named after a movie, with tons of easter eggs and references thrown in, and Takashi Yomoyama has some really good taste. Movies spanning all genres, decades and countries are thrown in. References often aren't only an easter egg, it is a tribute to how these shaped the author’s style. I love that a chapter references Deathproof, Quinten Tarintino’s B-Movie, and once you know that Takashi Yomoyama takes inspiration from him, it becomes clear why some scenes are written in a similar style. Scenes with meaningless dialogue building the characters and suspense is very reminiscent of Tarintino.
Takashi Yomoyama is an extremely talented artist, so even if you are not a huge movie buff, the art can easily carry any reader through the story. It is hard to match the sort of passion and dedication that he has. It is a shame if anyone were to overlook this manga because even just paging through it is a treat, every page full of detail. It is a manga produced through passion and it is apparent.
Although I am a huge fan of this manga, Ender Geister is not perfect. The writing can be hit and miss. Generally the character writing and dialogue is great but the overall world building can be confusing and complex. It is often hard to figure out how the greater world works as a whole, and not because it is kept as a secret. It is just strange to have a modern setting, with sci-fi elements that sometimes work from ghosts and other fantasy elements. Regardless I don’t think it is a big deal, it doesn’t detract from the enjoyment. It just leads it into a pitfall as many other action movies where it is hard to take it seriously.
Ender Geister deserves more attention. The author is dedicated and passionate and this passion’s effect cannot be understated. Often with manga it is difficult to see why the author is writing it, sometimes feeling even soulless. But this manga is different from that, there is a huge sense of love and care given to this. Takashi Yomoyama wants to create the same sort of feeling that the movies that he derives inspiration from gave to him and that is a really wonderful thing. This is an easy read and very well worth a shot.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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