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For a manga built around the tropes of almost a century old genre, the Ghost tower manages to tell completely unique scenarios and stories you can't currently find from anywhere else but it. The story itself is captivating, although some aspects of it are very by the book, the mystery somewhat trails off by the end, but in by that point you're more interested in the character relations. The mystery's connection to the characters keeps it incredible, not the mystery itself. Dialogs, conflicts and complicated, everchanging inner worlds of the characters are crafted with a lot of intellect and depth.

Despite some of it's horrid ... misunderstanding and choices with it's queer rep (CW intense transmisogynistic imagery in the last chapters, equation of homophobia with pedophilia and pornographic depiction of the main character some transfolk can find fetishistic/disrespecting/dysphoria inducing) I think this manga is a ahead of its time among queer lit outside trans circles. It isn't just about some trans characters within a crime story, this story genuinely couldn't have been made without transness and gender fluidity. The mystery is build around queerness, character relations are built around betrayals, validations and guestions of identity, however without making the characters story only about being queer.

For people less interested in radical queer questions, this story offers a well crafted and thrilling crime story with matching ambience. For little transsexual overanalysers it offers a lot of interesting rare discussion of transmasc fetishation, depiction of trans excellence, a really rare and interesting depiction of gender fluidity, the complicated way queer identity interacts with heteronormative society, and more broad guestions of "in what form are you the most you" pondered through the trans experience.
Overall, it's probably my all time favorite depiction of the transmasc experience.
Also the art is very very good.

There's this dilemma with most dark magical girl shows, in which i come specifically for dark material, but get put off by... dark material.
What I mean by this is that i have no problem with horrible things happening in a story, but its the tone they are done with that really disturbs me. Most of these shows are clearly done by and for people who romanticise and find some kind of pleasure in the torture of young girls. Pages are littered with these underage characters almost naked being tortured both sexually and violently in compromising positions and with great focus on things that leave little ... need for analysing the authors intent. And these scenes are treated with little repercussions for the evil character doing them (often these predators are redeemed or treated with the "look at this morally grey lovable goof") or with discussing the mental scar they leave on the victims. I think the over all pedophilia problem with anime and manga becomes so prominent and clear here where it isn't just immoral titillation but full on guro on minors.

So Tl;dr is that im not sure if it's morally sound to support or follow series like this.


However, I have personally finished it myself so here goes. The manga is honestly really enjoyable on all other accords. The art is incredible and all the combat scenes are choreographed both with incredible artistic skill and tactical understanding of combat and its different styles. Almost to a point that makes you wonder if any of the authors have legitimate military history.

Characters are mostly jus best girl caricatures made to please the viewer, but come off kinda likeable in the end and have clear motives and actually kinda multidimensional personalities. Most of them have some incredibly heavy and powerful scenes and personal struggles in the story. Personally I found Asuka's relationship to her military service and the PTSD it caused her a really interesting and well written. Kurumi might have been a trope as all of the girls are, but I found myself really loving her contrasting personality and the burden she carried.

In the end I indulge with pieces of media like this less from a plot or thematical standpoint and more so for the shock factor, tropes and aesthetics. Mahou shoujo Tokushusen Asuka delivers that. Even the plot keeps you interested in the mystery, be it a bit underwhelming in the end. It's like a mindless blockbuster action movie. You go into it expecting very little and leave it happy, remembering maybe a cool one liner and some showdown, explosions still present on your eyelids when you close them.

So if youre really ready to push through all the shit for a few mediocre but kinda shiny crystals, I think this show is a little worth it. It has some incredible scenes among the dirt.