Shinazu no Ryouken
Immortal Hounds

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As per usual, let's start with the categorization:
- Action
- Mystery
- Supernatural / Sci-Fi (unclear based on the story by volume 6)
- Over-the-top: this isn't really a category, but it's worth mentioning for this, the action scenes are very over-the-top and not realistic at all.
- Drama: despite its over-the-top nature, there isn't much comedy outside of that, it tends to have a more serious tone. There's one character that tends to do silly stuff, but he doesn't get much panel time.

Story: 6/10
The premise / synopsis for this is quite original for me. The story is interesting and has a lot of potential. However, it is only ... 6 volumes long, so not too many of the mysteries get answered. The sequel hasn't been licensed yet in English, so I have no idea if this story will get an interesting continuation or not. That makes it hard to judge, so I kind of have to only consider what I know from reading these 6 volumes..

There are interesting things happening in those 6 volumes, but I just wanted to get more of it and get more answers. Ultimately, it feels inconclusive and I'm just hoping that the sequel will be licensed in English at some point.

Art: 9/10
The art is great, the backgrounds are generally well done, the characters are easily identifiable. I usually don't have much to say in this section other than for outliers, so let's leave it at that.

Characters: 8/10
I'm always more interested when the characters are NOT in school. In this case, the characters are mostly relatable because, while they are immortal, they go about their daily lives in a similar fashion to how we do. Work your day off, go to have a beer after work with friends once in a while.

We get to explore only one or two characters more in depth in those 6 volumes, but given how short this is, I don't think you could do too much more. You mostly get to learn their motives and the forces at play behind them.

Enjoyment: 7/10
My enjoyment for this is hard to rate, and it ties back in to my points about the story. I liked the experience this provided, but the reasons why are very much conditional to some unknowns.

If this was the ending point for the whole series (e.g. the sequel turns out to be bad, just as inconclusive or never gets translated), then I would be very dissatisfied, as this is not a conclusion by any means, hardly any of the mysteries are solved. I feel like this series was meant to run for more than 6 volumes.

As such, with my current knowledge and having only read these 6 volumes, I feel like this is an inconclusive manga. However, it has me hooked and wanting to know how the story will unfold in the sequel.

I randomly happened to pick this one up during my “walk through” the bookstore a.k.a 3hr book hunt. I’d never heard of this fairly newly released book before, the mangaka a.k.a author or the manga itself, but I decided the bad-ass looking cover coupled with the interesting title made it worth checking out, though to be honest I actually thought it wouldn’t be interesting enough for me to want to keep it. I was wrong. This was a really good read that exceeded my expectations on every point. The characters weren’t bland, the plot, though consisting of themes not entirely original, wasn’t at all generic ... and I think Yasohachi successfully made the story his own.

I won’t go into much detail past the first couple pages or reveal anything past the 2nd chapter as the mystery and desire to put all the puzzle pieces together is part of why I’ll now be stalking each release date, but this story is set in an alternative universe where humans are immortal. Things start off with a bang…literally, and surrounds two opposing characters- Shin’ichi Kenzaki, a young detective hunting and detaining humans infected with RDS (Resurrection Deficiency Syndrome), and a mysterious woman part of those known as ‘Escape Artists’ who show up to snatch such humans away from the Task Force, generally in a very violent manner. In a world where humans have taken to killing themselves to ‘reset’ and heal from any illnesses/injures RDS is a new and very terrifying disease that turns humans mortal. Kenzaki’s job (which he is hell bent on completing) is to hunt these offending people, called Vectors, no longer considered human by the government and send them to a facility for extermination, but the Anti-Vector Police Task Force begins to meet opposition when an Escape Artist comes tearing through the scene sending limbs flying to rescue these infected humans.

Though the whole immortality thing has been toyed with many times already I don’t know of any other stories that have put this type of twist on it. It was very interesting to see the Yasohachi’s take on how widespread human immortality would change and effect human society and can’t wait to delve deeper into this world, no seriously, why isn’t the next volume out in English yet?! One thing I absolutely love about this series so far is how everything is just a big shade of grey. The good and bad sides are not clearly defined leaving readers to make their own conclusions, and the character's moral stances are often in question. Yasohachi’s world building and pacing are great and I’m pretty surprised it’s not more popular. The art was good (clean and easy to follow), and the story is amazing so far with tons of unanswered questions I’m dying to have answered.

Clearly there were plenty- characters, events, hints towards future events, and lack of information- to keep me coming back for more. I’ll definitely continue collecting this series and recommend it to anyone looking for a good sci-fi, mystery, action, or really to anyone who wouldn’t be put off by the violence.

7.5 overall for now, but with the exception of getting a higher rating in later volumes so I'm going with an 8.