Ibara no Ou
King of Thorn

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Given the recent popularity of the horror survival genre in games and live action in the west, it’s a bit surprising that the east hasn’t shown too much keen in this rich genre, needless to say there will be some oddballs such as Iwahara Yuji who try to give it a go, and he achieved this with a few shocking results.

With a cure yet to be discovered, the disease Medusa scourges through the human race, leaving only suffering, sorrow and ultimately death in its wake. It is in such a world that Kasumi finds herself in, and with the disease already plaguing her, it’s only ... a matter of time before it catches up with her. Hope however comes her way when she is among the lucky 160 patients diagnosed with the disease to undergo an experiment, they will be put into cryostasis where they will remain until a cure for the disease is found and they eventually get healed. However when the patients do awake they find their surroundings in ruin, covered in thorns and overrun with monsters unknown to the human race. Inevitably what ensues is a struggle to survive and to find out what happened to the world in the time they were in deep sleep.

One of the points that will really draw readers in is the whole mystery in the experience, this holds true not only for the reader but for the characters as well; not knowing what may lie in wait around the corner really creates that edge of the seat experience. Of course survival isn’t the only objective, they have to also discover what in the world is going on, which prompts them to look for clues and make those all important discoveries, most of which provide some very startling and interesting plot twists, it’s a nice form of storytelling in which both the characters and reader have the world open up around them, be it in a subtle or explosive manner. Dialogue and pacing are also on the positive side of things, you will rarely want to skip panels or quickly skim through as almost every conversation holds strong bearing to the story, be it how they choose to progress or brainstorming on some ill-fated secret they come upon.

Of course not everything goes according to plan, the monsters that roam the area are plentiful, each more fearsome and bloodthirsty than the last, when their paths cross, it leads the characters to some very tense encounters, sometimes characters are lucky enough to escape by the thin of a hair, but the opposite is also quite on the realistic side. Another nice note is that running maybe the primary, but is not always the only survival option, as most times the characters will have to scan their environments and use it to their advantage, this though isn’t as easy as it sounds as a few of the other monsters employ other means apart from sharp teeth to kill! Monsters are of course not the only thing to fear, the characters are all infected with the virus which is quickly spreading throughout their bodies, so its presumably both a race of survival and time. Equipment such as weapons, food and first aid are quite scarce to come upon, this prompts the characters to make smart usage of their limited resources and always have to stay on high alert, couple all these things together and you find that this is a manga that rarely has any dull moments.

A lot of detail was worked into the surrounding to really give it that post apocalypse feel, the thorns that run almost all through the facility really states to bare how long the place may have been deserted which is further emphasized with the abundant depictions of destruction all around. Character designs had a great depth to it but maybe a bit lacking in some areas but with the effort put into other areas this quickly becomes an afterthought. A large amount of praise has to be given to the paneling, the word lazy did not in any way cross the artist’s mind, you may find yourself surprised at how well the panels are well detailed and information moves almost fluidly from one section to the next, if not for the manga being in white and black, it can in more ways than one be mistaken for an anime.

In comparison to the story, the characters fell a bit short of expectations, while they all had a single objective, their personalities were nothing to get people charmed. Shizuku is an introvert and always wished she could be like her more open extroverted twin sister, her guilt over being chosen for the experiment instead of her sister often overwhelms her and threatens to throw her to lose her sanity, the frequent flashbacks to their time together is something that really could have featured a little less often. Marco Owen however is a computer hacker who after a short time in prison has come out as a macho ‘man of action’, his knowledge as a geek coupled with his new physical prowess makes him easily the most interesting character in the group. The remaining characters while are never forgotten and do make reasonable addition to the plot never come off as interesting enough to talk about.

However where the characters in my opinion more than redeem themselves is how they interact with their environment and each other. These people are all strangers to one another, given their current situations they have no choice but to cooperate if they intend to have any hope to come out of this alive, now being human you can tell that it will never always be flowers and roses. While they all move together as a unit, more often than not for some it’s a chance to use others as a shield to protect themselves, topics such as leadership of the group and what action to take next often lead to disputes or even a times fist fights, alliances are formed, betrayals are wrought and conspiracy is something that always seems to be in the air.

Take the survival horror genre that is so popular in the west and Europe and add in the more superior storytelling of the east and you have you a roller coaster ride that never stops. It’s a read that the seeds continue to sprout right from the first chapter and all the way to its grim conclusion. Placing so much emphasis on not just surviving but very detailed aspects of how this takes place coupled with some very interesting plot twists really shows what captivates most people about survival horror.

Sooo.... I just finished this series like a few minutes ago.
It was incredibly intense~!
I loved it, even though it didn't seem like something that really fit my style. So even if you're not into the whole "what happens in the future" thing, you should at least try it ^^
It was surprising. There were some things that I totally wasn't expecting. AT ALL. But that made it so much more enjoyable :D After all, nobody likes a predicable story ne?
Also, despite it being mainly action, there were some sentimental moments. Those moments that just make you cry. (kinda... ^^;;)
You could get pretty attached to ... the characters (if you're like me and obsess over them ^^;;)

So anyway, I didn't give it 10/10 for a reason. It wasn't the ABSOLUTE BEST manga I've ever read, but it came pretty close but I can't go into decimals.

TL;DR, not worth time investment, but short and concise enough for an afternoon binge, if you are a fan of cheap thrill and early 2000s edge.


Ibara no Ou (InO) or king of thorn, is a manga written in 2002 by Iwahara Yuji. While most people are probably familiar with him through Dimension W or character design for Darker than Black, I got to know him through Koudelka. His style can really be best described as everything good and bad about the 2000s. I love the 2000s, but there's so many things wrong with it that carried through to the modern day.

InO is about a bunch ... of people waking up in a facility, in a world infected by a mysterious disease that turn people into stone. Through the course of the surprisingly short and concise story, the backstory of the cast is revealed, along with the plot behind the facility, the monsters, the disease, conspiracy, military, government, "hacking" and so on. It encompasses a lot of things, touching on a few subjects. It reminded me the most of visual novels, even the plot can be structured into a visual novel, easily, in my opinion, which is strange that it got turned into an animated movie instead. A 12 episodes anime would be able to narrate the entire plot, the movie couldn't and basically hacked it apart to fit it in. It focused instead on the survival aspect of it.
The story did start with a focus on the survival aspect, which is a little strange, because the atmosphere don't really reflect that. The character's capability sort of nullify the survival aspect of it a few chapters in, which wasn't great when the cast discussed among themselves how to proceed. I don't feel particularly attached to any of the cast as well. They have backstory, but that's about as much I can say about them. They are neither well done nor poorly done, they just are, which don't leave much of an impression. But before that, the story shifted to survivor horror with the "challenges" they faced becoming more deadly, or to be exact, gory. Too bad, while the monsters are well drawn, they aren't interesting nor nightmarish enough to leave an impression as well. That's the gist of the entire thing, basically.
It's not exactly interesting. The 2000s was plagued with a lot of ideas, but not a lot of guidelines on how to deal with ideas effectively. This wasn't the only victim, the most notable case for me is still Ergo Proxy. Like that show, InO had a lot of ideas, tried to cram them all into one package, and ended up doing nothing well. Like Ergo Proxy, InO's art was actually amazing on its own. The environment is detailed, the characters look fine, stylistically. the monsters are cool. But, put together, there's no punch. Ergo Proxy was the same, but it just done everything better. The story is better, the world building is better, the art is better, the style is more distinct and creative, yet they both lacked that real emotional punch and the staying power of popular show of the era. This is the core issue of 2000s experimental Japanese culture, there's no punch, not enough substance.

This small, short comic reminded me of the biggest question in one time of my life. Why did Ergo Proxy, RahXephon failed where Lain or at least GitS, Evangelion thrived? It's the weight of the story and design. Another very unfortunate unfulfillment of potential is Witch Hunter Robin. That show too was very beautiful, very captivating, but lacking in weight. While it would be unfair to compare Ergo Proxy to, there's no nice way to describe this, trashs like WHB, they were all really shallow and uninteresting at the end of the day. Personally, I suspect the problem comes from the script not focusing enough on the characters. The problem with edgy shows is that to be able to leap over the impression that the violent, uncomfortable elements were added only for entertainment, or edginess as I defined it as, the script has to expand on the cast sufficiently. Often, I find them to be lacking with the 2000s wave. If the characters are not relatable, you must be able to admire them to keep the story together. An example would be in Evangelion, the entire cast had emotional problem and trouble connecting with others. That's something relatable. Meanwhile, GitS, the Major, despite being mostly a hunk of machine, was so powerful, so professional yet so curious, you can't help but admire her. The other part of the equation is the villain. The villain of those shows are weak. RahXephon's more spiritual journey lacks a clear "enemy", which ended up not really delivering that impact. Meanwhile, Evangelion literal Impact hung over the show the entire way, affecting every aspect of the world. GitS dystopian cyberpunk future has the perfect villain, an AI trying to understand humanity. Ergo Proxy much weaker villainous "concepts" took away the personality of the villain, rendering it rather bland. I can think of a few ways that can make Ergo Proxy works, but I don't think it without a total rewrite, it can be done.

But I digressed, yet, the points I made above apply to InO just the same. Its main cast emotional depth wasn't great, the villain wasn't well done. It never gives me the tingle when I flip the page. There's no anticipation of what's happening next, nor was I curious about the mystery. Despite having decent mystery, and explaining it sufficiently, I don't walk away feeling fulfilled, I walked away feeling just fine, like I had just spent the afternoon doing anything else. There's no lasting memory, no reminiscence, I just know I will forget it in 10 years. Which, plot twist, I did. I read the first volume a long time ago, and just finished this last year. It slipped my mind until I read the newest chapter of his latest work.

That is to say, I don't think InO is really worth anyone's time. It's a decent story, but it is nothing special. The art was great, but also nothing special. But, I still enjoyed it. What's great about it, is something I mentioned above that works today sorely lacks, ideas. The world of WN created the rat race that is to write the most popular genre, the thing that people keep clicking on, the Isekai, the redo, the power fantasy. InO had a good idea about a survival, mystery, horror, adventure story. The works of today are no longer derivative, they are at the point where they are all the same equation with different variables. That's worrying. The sad thing is the only thing they learned from the early 2000s variety, is that they should focus on the fun elements and reduce let all the building up, background. This was very unfortunate. Reading InO sent me back to the time period where I was excited for new works every week, using all the money I had to get the latest work, one way or another, because each books promised something different. The bookshelf today just gives me depression, or confusion, because there's a few of them with Arifure in their title, because they follow the same set up. It's so blatant what they are doing, and yet Japanese strict copyright law don't protect against that kind of nonsense.

Here's hoping that the 2020s will bring a revolution. But my gut is telling me it's all downhill from here. Talented artists and creators are successfully transferring to the world of streaming.