Kurozuka

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When Genetic manipulation , Technology , Military , Utopia , High technology weapons, Immortality , Myths and legends , Samurais , Vampires and Sex mix up , in just a perfect ammount , You`d probbably get Kurozuka.
As i said , the storyline is not exactly something extravagant, but rather a perfect mix of scenarios already seen. The Graphics is pure perfection , such attention brought to details , and plenty of scenery , is just amazing. I admit i haven`t read many manga`s but this is certainly the best drawing i`ve seen . The fights are very well depicted , you can easily get ... a clear vision of what is happening.
The characters are "standard" , with few icons of great power , and a whole hierarchy underneath , well grouped into sides depending of their goals.
..And yeah , lot of sex , censored though , but it gives the characters "a human touch" :)
The length is just perfect , so you don`t get the feeling that some of the parts are too much , or that some of the story is cut, it`s all perfectly woven into a nice above-average speed development.
I recommend it strongly.

I watched the anime adaptation of this manga, and got somewhat confused about the ending and other elements of the plot. So I decided to read this to try to sort things out, only to end up more confused than I already was.
I won't go too deep on this since I'm keeping this spoiler free.

-Story-
The plot isn't told in a regular chronological way. Nothing wrong with that, but in this case the time jumps and flashbacks just confuse the readers. Eventually it focuses on one period and sticks to it, but it doesn't help much. It tries too hard to be something different and ... unpredictable, but it's nothing more than an infinite search by an immortal man for an immortal woman who doesn't seem to want to be found but in reality does want to. You following me? Oh, but it gets more confusing the deeper you go...
It does excel at delivering violence and nudity, but besides that there isn't much. In my opinion, the ending was worse and even more confusing than the anime's. Unfortunately I can't elaborate on it without spoiling.

-Art-
The art style is realistic and quite detailed. The scenarios are great, the gore and nudity well done. But, there's a major throwback for me, which is the characters faces. The females seem to be the ones that fall under this problem more often, since they all have the same huge eyes and thick lips. But besides Kuromitsu, none of them are relevant so that must be why. The males get a little more variation, but Kurou and some other young males seem to somehow have the exact same face (there's a plot excuse for that, but still). Also, there's the problem with the realistic body style contrasting with the somewhat childish face style. Kudos for the anime for solving that problem.

-Characters-
Other than Kurou and Kuromitsu, any other character that appears is usually not relevant and might be killed off a few chapters later if not on the same chapter it appears. Kurou is immortal and insanely strong and seems to be the only guy that all the females in the manga want to have sex with (male Mary Sue much?). He seems to also go through an extreme personality change that makes him go from a modest young man into a douche, which has an excuse in the plot, but it's just poor. Now, Kuromitsu is a mysterious immortal woman who suddenly disappears for most of the story and has the effect to make most of the males she meets lust for her. Then, there's another female that's pretty much just fanservice and an array of villains/allies that don't serve much purpose than to just be there. Basically, the characters are flat and somewhat unlikable.

-Enjoyment-
Despite it's flaws, there's still some enjoyment to take from this. It's an unusual story and putting the pieces of that story together might be attractive to some people. The fights, gore, nudity and sex are good enough to distract you from the fact that the plot doesn't make much sense. I wouldn't re-read it, but I encourage those interested in putting the pieces together to do so. But it sure is memorable, I don't remember being this confused in a long time.

-Overall-
If you want a good plot with interesting characters, then don't even bother with this manga. If you just want to look at blood, violence, weirdness, some naked chicks and think the plot's not that important, then by all means go for it.

When I first stumbled upon Kurozuka, I thought I found a piece of gem. After reading it, I come to realise how wrong I was.

The first few chapters were great, the characters were believable, the anticipated relationship development with our hero and heroine leaves you wanting for more, and the art promoted a sense of mystery and suspense which perfectly fit the story.

Fast forward a few chapters and I’ll guarantee that you will be utterly confused, in fact I’ll even be willing to bet my secret porn stash that you will be confused right till the end. The time skips, the introduction of ... random characters, the flash backs, I’ll assure you that no normal person can navigate through them without trouble on their first reading.

Leaving that aside, the characterisation has a lot to be said. What I disliked the most is the radical change of personality of our hero, even if it’s intended as part of the story it still feels that as a reader I was betrayed, since part of the reason why I picked up this manga was because of the authentic feelings that the characters radiated at the start of the manga. Really, the only character development or relationship development occurred just at the start of the manga.

Ironically, the only thing improved as the story progressed was the art, every other aspect of the manga pretty much degenerated.

I’ll acknowledge that the story is complex underpinned with great themes, however I feel that is no excuse to confuse us audience to this extent.

Honestly, it’s quite disappointing to see a manga that had so much potential at the start to end up like this. If only the story telling were executed better and the radical personality change were avoided, this would’ve been a GREAT manga.