false 4 0 false false Wed Mar 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 11 14:58:52 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 11 15:04:52 -0700 2009
This is probably the first truly "epic in scale" narrative that I have read in quite some time--probably since I put up some pretense that I was going to read every canonical classic while in high school. It is good too; events and characters matter, and the story is very engaging and, well, suspenseful actually.

The entire mythology developed around Franz Bonaparte (etc.) is something I've never encountered somewhere else, and the background of Fascism as a sort of larger context for the experiments on children is actually sort of chilling instead of cliche.

Tenma as a character, and this is something I really appreciated, ended up being almost wholly irrelevant to the ending. By the end, the characters were pushed aside in favor of the mysterious event that the entire span of the series has been driving towards.

I can definitely say that this has been my favorite manga series (as opposed to one-offs) that I have read. The only reason it gets 4 stars instead of 5 is the following:

A) I felt like occasionally there are "action scenes" that go on for a while that exist solely to be "action scenes."
B) The ending-- I was not expecting everything wrapped up nicely, but it seemed like some pertinent information has been withheld & Johan's bed becomes ending exclusively to leave room for some sort of sequel (or potential sequel), which in this case seems more like a marketing ploy than any sort of narrative freedom (And I think there might actually be a sequel?).

Overall I highly recommend it; it's got great art and a great, non-contrived story (for the most part).]]>