Soil

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SOIL
Author: Kaneko Atsushi
"This person loves me too much"
"The insane here is you"
"Self consciousness only contradicted her existence, reality and time broke her"
"Why...?"

Craziness. Insanity. Mania. There is everything in this damn place, this damn city called Soil, at first glance, is just the city of dreams for many, but even the most beautiful dream can become the most horrible nightmare. The reality we see is just a false plan that hides something beyond the understanding of every living being, people who say they have seen the "strange organisms", are classified as crazy, but they saw something unusual, maybe this is the origin of their insanity , ... of course, no one would believe it, just another madman.

"Humanity's oldest and most intense emotion is fear, and the oldest and most intense fear is fear of the unknown." - HP Lovecraft

Trust no one. IN NO ONE. Even the most innocent person can be a "strange organism", and obviously you wouldn't want to meet one of them, mysteries only create more mysteries, and answers are almost non-existent, any man or woman would have given up by now, but if if they held on a little longer, they would see the truth, and as they say "truths hurt", but this one can even kill.

"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." - Plato

A masterpiece of cosmic horror, Kaneko Atsushi must surely be one of the most brilliant manga writers alive, the development is rich, the concepts in just a few pages are brilliantly developed, the characters getting insane as the story progresses combined enough with the text. The art, as usual, being by Kaneko, is sensational, but in Soil, it matched a lot with everything. Soil, it might not please most people, but for me, it's an amazing story that deserved more.

Note: 9.8

I have to say, this is my first time reading something like this... It's what you called DIFFERENT.

Story:
A FAIR 6
The story is based on your, kinda mystery a bit of detective like genre and starts off with a missing person. It then carries on and gets intense as strange things start to happen to the two detectives that have came to investigate. The unexpected and did i read right that 'aliens' called the 'foreign organisms' have like came to invade this town called 'Soil''? It makes you think...

WTH is wrong with this town?

I rated this a fair, as the plot does make sense ... but some of it don't and is completely random from time to time. Sometimes i wonder. "What is going through this author's mind"

Art:
VERY GOOD 8
I've given the art an 8 a very good since the drawing style of this is very unique. It's kind of like manga.. but then again it gives of the feel of a comic. The lines and textures are very computer like than your average pencil free kind of look. It's hard to explain if you haven't read it or seen it.
It really depends on what you like. Since i've been reading it for a while, i got use to this authors drawing style and honestly it has grown on me.

Characters:
DECENT 4
Well for the characters i have rated a 4... They are decent but none of them really did appeal to me as much. The characters are actually all unique in their own way and i find that very interesting. The way each character has their own special 'aura' given off. The artist really makes each character different and you can tell.

But i have to say for the characters 'personality' for each of them... differ from one to another.
THIS IS A MATURE READ SERIOUSLY.
when you read something that you don't want your parents reading with you then you know that feeling.
From the beginning i didn't really like how the characters interacted with one another, it was like a swearing competition between the two detectives which kind of did but me off but i still read on LOL

Enjoyment:
DECENT 4
Again with another 4. Not very enjoyable but it does keep you on edge sometimes, like when say...
Another 'foreign organism' appears your going to be like 'Oh what's goning to happen now' but too much happens and too fast and it sometimes just leaves you thinking. 'what just happened.. I don't get this at all' it really puzzles me sometimes.

Overall?
MEDIOCRE 5
I would have given it a 5.. and a half
It's something different and 'quite refreshing' in some ways instead of always reading shouji kind of based manga. I would definitely give this a try, some of the contents in it is not suitable for under 15's i'd say because this is a really whacked out supernatural horror manga.
*With a few sexual content but no where near smut*

IN CONCLUSION.
I wouldn't say i like it, nor would i say i hate it, depends on your love for manga and taste in manga. I would recommend this if you love horror, supernatural and twisted stories, this could be the one for you or you would drop it in a puddle of mud and stomp on it because you think it's very disgusting.

Give it a try, if you dare ;)

My first impression about the art while reading the prologue chapter was: Did Zainul Abedin draw this manga?

'Soil' was certainly a hard take on mystery genre from my behalf as I didn't like the art to begin with. The characters have a natural fluidity and the beginning also smelled like supernatural mystery knocking on the door which, at first, I thought could become worthwhile. But at the end, without my sole purpose of finishing this just for 'the finishing', there's no reason to continue this.

The story becomes too dense like it's art at some point & at some point it becomes really bothersome to read ... this (if you are reading this on phone like me). At the middle of the story, the mystery doesn't even remain as one and you just have to force your way out to the solution. That's all there is to it.