Heads

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Identity is an extremely fascinating subject matter for a horror manga.
However, much nuance and skillful character work is needed to handle it with effectiveness, whereas authour Higashino Keigo seems incapable to write even a single multifaceted character, instead proposing a cast of flat caricatures that do not go through any type of development whatsoever during the course of the story. The lack of character depth makes it even harder to stomach the plot: a few interesting ideas and pleasantly unsettling scenarios here and there, but overall a painfully childish spookfest with a complete lack of imaginative developments or interesting psychological explorations. The author refuses to ... go for a more subtle, quiet horror that would've better suited the premise's potential and instead opts for cheap distasteful scares that dont even pack a real punch either because they're insanely predictable or they're not set-up properly, all of it relying on a ridiculously exaggerated, cartoonishly binary view of good and evil that makes you cringe more than it makes you scared. Heads isn't even a good trashy read: as entertaining as watching bread getting stale.

Heads is the first manga that I have read from Keigo Higashino. Without putting too much spoilers, here goes my review.

Story (8/10): What I like about the manga is the plot. It is about a guy who underwent a brain transplant that changed his life. The way it was written was good. Although in real life, the possibility of a successful brain transplant is very low to impossible because of incompatibility and rejection. But here, putting reality aside, a story was made out of it that turned into something interesting. It is also showed the effects and consequences of fusing one brain from another ... for was they say, each brain is unique. However, what I disliked about it is the pace of the story and it was a bit anti-climatic. It was a bit predictable so the hype of any plot twists was borderline low. Also in the summary, it was stated that the effects felt and experienced by the main character was either due to the transplant or medication. But, the emphasis was more on the former and there was no focus on the latter or explanation. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed it.

Art (8/10): The art is great. It was well-drawn -- shadows, lines as well as the emphasis of the characters' facial reactions.

Character (8/10): I particularly liked the main character.

Overall (8/10): It's good for a thriller and psychological series. I would definitely recommend this to anyone.

My apologies for I am still new at writing reviews about manga/anime.

**There are NO spoilers in this review**

This is one of the most underpopular manga out there. It deserves more recognition. Hence I am writing this review.

STORY -
The story is about a hypothetical situation that deals with what would happen if part of a person's brain is replaced by another's brain. What makes it interesting is that the replaced part is from someone with a completely different personality. We see how it affects the protagonist ... and how he changes, and what he goes through during this change.

ART -
The art is clear, looks good and is a bit towards realistic style. It suits the mood for the story very well.

CHARACTERS -
There are around six recurring characters in the story. The characters are not very deep, but believable. The interactions between characters is believable and is not exaggerated.

ENJOYMENT -
If you like seinen genre and psychological themes, you will love this manga like I did. It has only 36 chapters - so you can pick it up and finish reading it in a day. It is well worth the time spent. I hope we can get an anime adaptation for it sometime.

------------ HEADS review ------------

Predictable but OK manga.

Story :
starts very sweet, quite predictable, not overly dramatic. I wouldn't say it is sci-fi, more like a thriller. It is not action packed at all. See it as a slow burn thriller. My criticism is about how some chapters acquire firearms so easily in Japan. Obviously for plot convenience all stories have a necessary "bad guy with a gun" but this is what actually took me out of the realistic approach the most. I'm sure most readers will overlook this point.

Art :
Good! But not consistent. It shines and looks incredible beautiful at times but dips in quality ... at other moments. Still, it remains a high point.

Character :
Very real, all of them had normal reactions to the story and people around them. None of them felt like caricatures and it gives a very adult-like them.

Enjoyment : 6-7 out of 10.
Most readers will guess how events unfold quite early on. There aren't crazy twists, it's quite predictable. I enjoyed it. It's only 4 volumes.

7/10 overall