Variante

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Alright, i think i will write a review for this since no one has written one yet, so here goes.

Variante is a horror sci-fi manga that all horror manga lovers will want to read(though i personally just read it because it involved a cute girl, lol). It involves a normal 16 year old girl whose life is thrown into chaos as one day her family is attacked by a mysterious monster. Her parents are killed but she somehow manages to survive the attack...even though she had apparently died from it.


Story: 9/10
Despite the gorge and bloody content that is in this manga, it still manages to ... get a great story to be told to go along with the horror content. The majority of the manga revolves around a horrific creature called chimera. A chimera, is a being who has many different cells from different creatures all living in it's body at once, and can involve a human possessing mutated parts of creatures, or even other humans. The manga explores the morality of chimeras, and killing them, through the main characters' feelings as the manga progresses; eventually revealing their origin. As the public starts growing ever-suspicious, and internal struggle for control of chimera ensues in the government; the manga comes to a explosive (literally, read the manga and you'll know) end. Everything involving the chimera research is destroyed, and the main character manages to find happiness in the end, despite what she went through.

Art: 9/10
This manga is one of the better well-drawn mangas i've seen. Facial features on characters, such as the ears, nose, and mouth, are drawn in more detail. And the artist also apparently did not omit any details at all...in all of the gore scenes you can clearly see body parts and internal body structures (like the spine if someone gets beheaded) very clearly when they are shown. Thus, i think the art is very well done for a horror manga.

Character: 8/10
Character development in this manga is decent. The main character started out as only a normal 16 year old girl, who was suddenly thrown into a mess which resulted in her foster parents' death, her own death, and then her returning to life with a strange left arm. It turns out that her left arm is actually a part of a chimera, and the government agency which captured her forces her to use it to kill and capture other chimera or she would be sentenced to death as a test subject. Through the rest of the manga, she deals with psychological issues such as her reason to keep on living, the chimera she kills actually being humans, and that she is a monster(literally, in the case of her left arm) who only serves to kill. All this is a bit too much for a normal 16 year old girl to handle, but she eventually manages to deal with it and find happiness in the end.

Enjoyment: 8/10
You'll find the most enjoyment out of this if you enjoy gore and very disgusting mutant-style monsters. But i'd say that most people will be able to enjoy this anyway. This manga has a interesting story, mystery, drama, and will keep most people wanting to read it to the end to find out everything about the situation in the manga. I also think this manga is enjoyable because it is only 19 chapters, and you won't get bored before you finish it.

Overall: 9/10
i'm not a fan of horror manga usually, but this manga had a great story. It had drama, wass concise, and kept me excited until the very end. I also liked how everything worked out end the end for aiko, even though she basically was forced to become a murderer and even though everyone she cared about died.

Great manga overall, read it if you have time, its not long.

I found out about this little series earlier this morning after browsing through someone's profile. Since they stated that it made them cry, I decided to check it out. I ended up reading the whole series in one sitting, which is very hard for me to do, since I often get bored and move on to other things. The story to me didn't seem like a very original one ... it reminded me of Deadman Wonderland + Elfen Lied + Tokyo Gore Police + V for Vendetta. There was a lot of blood, a lot of gore, traumatizing pasts, and female leads crying. I ... adred Aiko's character though. She seemed like a typical sixteen year old girl working hard to please everyone she loves, and is utterly devestated when she arrives home to find her parents murdered. In fact, it's implied that she was murdered as well, but she came back to life with a weird genetically mutated left arm. She handled it like I would have handled it, which gave her character a very realistic feel. But I absolutely LOVED Soudo. For once, I think he was the first male lead that wasn't drowing in angst or refusing to show any emotion. I don't know how old he was (my best guess is twenty four), but he was a police detective, and actually cared about the people he was protecting! He has a sort of soft disposition toward Aiko because she reminds him of another girl that he tried to save that was also expeiramented on. All in all, he was awesome. I liked how it made the plot into more than what it led on near the end. Needless to say, I came very close to shedding a few tears, which is not normal for me. It takes a lot to get me to cry over a fiction series (Fruits Basket doesn't count!! lol)

If you love blood and female angst, this is the series for you. It does tend to get a bit graphic, so if you get sick easily I wouldn't suggest reading it. But it's great for an afternoon read.

9/10

Let me start by saying that I liked the concept of this manga. Story itself is good. Still, there were some things that ruined my enjoyment:

1) Story could be much better. It reminds me of Elfen Lied, where secret organization tries to conduct researches in order to create a superior human being. In Elfen Lied everything is done right: we get a 113 chapter long story with a lot of details. In Variante case we get only 19 chapters. It is not enough for story to get developed well. It is just an action manga that tries to copy Elfen Lied.

2) With given 19 chapters ... only, characters do not develop enough. Author gives us pasts of Aiko and Hiromi, but their stories are very short. In Elfen Lied we get a big flashback which sets the drama and characters' motivations. In Variante we get really short flashbacks, which show development and motivations in some point, but cannot make us attach to the characters. We just do not have enough time to empathize them.

With all being said I want to tell that this manga is not bad, but because author did not give a detailed plot, it loses its potential. I give this manga 6/10, because I expected more from this story.

Thank you for reading.

I had this series on my "to read" pile for years, because it looked interesting, however I was sadly mistaken. Variante's plot is fairly convoluted and the way they explain how everything came to be was okay, but the why behind it all made no sense. It felt like the plot was derived in the last 3 chapters and was very confusing. All the characters were fairly bland as well, save the main girl and the lead guy. The major reason I'm rating this so low was the ending, it was just plain terrible, no comfort, no fitting conclusion, just emptiness. I don't recommend it ... at all

This is my first review (yay!) so please bear with me.

I finished reading Variante in a week time... Which means i really liked it!
Even though the story isn't that original, what struck me was the psyche of the characters, especially the main ones,which portraied masterfully, inspiring deed thoughts about life and righteousness of the methods used seeking the truth.

About visuals, there were times where I stared at some panels just admiring the expressions and details. The gore was a bit excessive at times,so much so, I couldn't even make out what was going on, fortunately these panels were enough far apart from each others not ... to make it annoying.

As for downsides, the story is the weakest point of all; likely due to the low number of chapters, interactions between the characters feel rushed and unrealistic (at the end I was like: "Oh! So there was a love story!").

In the end:
+ points: amazing art style - points: predictable story
Really good character introspection. Unrealistic interactions
Action, blood and gore YEAH!

So, if you want a short, powerful read with action but still like a bit of psychological thriller this is for you.

Thanks for reading!

From the beginning to the utter, compelling end, Variante delivers a disturbinglly satisfying plot to entertain the twisted minds of those who dare read it.

A simple story that starts off with a seemingly boring murder scene and detectives evolves into something much more. The existence of extraterrestrial beings--or so it seems on the surface--gives reason for the Atheos "police squad" to round up these monster-like beings, called "Chimeira", and bring them back to the scientific community for examination and extermination.

These monster-like beings exhibit inhumane physical qualities but very human feelings, emotions, and thoughts, as seen through the female main character, Aika.

Throughout the ... story, the author juxtaposes the inhuman world with the inhuman Aika, as Aika discovers her own humanity amongst the horror that is her own body. This transition within itself entails interesting and disgusting thoughts that will haunt one for long after reading, but every moment is well worth.

However, the action is often repetitive, although showing character development at every turn, the development seems slow for the pace in which the manga proceeds.

The author finally concludes his manga with a seemingly twisted ending as paradox within paradox come to conclusion, understanding, and solution.

As if a cruel tiwst to fate the protector and rescuer becomes the rescued, and
in turn the two roles are once again switched to complete the compelling, dramatic ending.

Ultimately, Variante is a manga that is a must-read for all sci-fi and gore lovers.

4.5 out of 5 stars for the well developed, well written, and well drawn Variante.

10 outa 10.
I loved the plot. I read this in one go because of it's story. I could've learned a bit more about the characters, The one I'm pretty sure is the main character, is the typically main character dude, but there's a reason that they are the choise for a main character. They are always so kind, they have a past they want to forget, the past reaches him once again when he meets the girl (Aiko). Sadly enough, in this manga, she's not old enough for him. Normally they would come together as a boyfriend n girlfriend. NOPE, not this time. Despite the ... fact you don't learn that much about the characters, it's a great manga. If you love horror, gore mangas, for gods sake, read this.

I decided to read Variante on a whim and it was an entertaining read. Nothing groundbreaking or particularly original, but it was certainly entertaining and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a bloody horror manga that is driven by the characters.

The art is solid with a distinctive style that has aged well - Sugimoto makes each of the central characters look distinct and unique and does a stellar job drawing Aiko's arm, the Chimera and all the gore that comes along with them. I believe the art shines best when drawing the monstrous enemies and in the characters' expressions, all of which suit the ... situation and the characters' own personalities.

Speaking of the characters, Aiko is very well written, reacting to circumstances exactly how you would expect a traumatized teenage girl to react. The rest of the main cast suffer from inconsistency on occasion but are otherwise solidly written and any minor characters just don't appear enough to have a real personality beyond their roles. The villains are pretty flat and have no depth beyond being assholes, while allies are either nudged to the side to focus on Sudou, Aiko and Kochigawa or appear too late in to get adequate screentime. In general, when attention is paid to the characters and their development, it's satisfying and believable.

The story is, as said above, nothing exceptional or unique. The story is a standard formula with very few twists put in place; If you're familiar with stories with this premise, you'll see everything coming from a mile away which does put a damper on enjoyment. The handful of more original plot threads put in place felt shoehorned in for drama, or because they realized they had no explanation for something.

Overall, it's a solid manga. I recommend it if you're a fan of series with similar premises and don't have a weak stomach.

Horror and tragedy genre fans should try this manga,it isn't one of the best out there but it was good.

1-Story (7):-
Though it's a short manga,the pacing didn't seem too fast for me,it was ok but some events really did suddenly escalated (especially in the last chapters).
i liked the story but i was i bit upset from the last volume.

2- Art (6)
Suitable art for a tragedy story,the terrified facial expression of the characters were very good,but some panel seemed to be unclear for me...especially in an battle panel,i couldn't exactly tell what is going on until i read the next panel or page.

3- Character (7)
well i ... don't want to talk much about this,but the personality of the main characters was pretty good,especially Aiko.


4- Enjoyment (5)
Honestly speaking i was focused on completing this series as soon as possible so i didn't enjoy this work so much but i didn't hate it