Infinite Ryvius: Voyage 1

Infinite Ryvius #1

by Yosuke Kuroda, Shinsuke Kurihashi (Illustrator)

It's 2225AD and all mankind has populated outposts in the outer reaches of the solar system. The story follows a group of teenage astronauts in-training on a space station. During a routine dive procedure, the space station plummets into a "plasma field" called the Geduld that links all the planets like a nervous system, and crushes any ship that strays too far into it. Unfortunately, all the adult instructors are killed, leaving the trainees to survive on their own via a ship called Ryvius. All seems to be going well until one of them wants ultimate control. Infinite Ryvius has shocked anime fans as it portrays the rivalry, friendship, anxieties, and conflicts of youths placed in extreme situations in a disturbingly realistic way. Unlike the anime the comic is told from the perspective of the heroine of the story not the hero, which provides an interesting twist.

Genres: Manga

200 pages, Paperback

First published April 5, 2004

Reviews

[Amy B · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a Manga book which is first in a voyage series. In the beginning three friends are at odds with each other because they used to be really close as kids but as they entered the seventh grade and started changing classes, they started drifting apart. One of them signs up to learn how to be a flight attendant, the other two boys want to be pilots. But this is for space ships, not airplanes. While they are at the space station training school, the spaceship gets a leak and the instructors are killed. The kids must all evacuate to a smaller space ship within that space ship and get instructions from an instructor from another space craft. This becomes a drama in which nobody is over the age of 17. The characters come from different planets. There is a space school at a space station. People enhabit all of the planets around earth as well as many space stations. Space travel is common. The teens must learn to survive without the adults. They learn to create special interest groups and learn how to cooperate. The teens go through the social aspects of being teens; but with adult responsibilities. The teens learn to work with other space ships and planets. Politics is serious business, because their space ship can be fired upon if they don't get along with other ships and planets. The vocabulary in the series is not difficult. This would be good for students with an imagination for space travel and a penchant for survival after being abandoned by adults. The reading level is easy but not too easy. It is written in dialog and told through pictures. Since it is Manga, it is read from back to front and right to left. This is different from what American students are use to reading. Students might be excited they have found something different. The quality rating for this is a 3. The popularity for a certain reader my well be a 5.

[Lord · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, I must say I haven't seen the anime (or better say I've seen the first episode but it didn't catch my attention) but the manga was a pleasant surprise because it's an anime adaptation and because it received some harsh words in Manga - The complete Guide (that contains some ridiculous reviews anyway). The art is quite simplistic (but sufficient and cute in its own way) and the story is an interesting turn-pager. There are lots of unexplained and weird things going on, so I hope everything will be clear come next volume. Sure, it's no Planetes or To Terra... but it's an enjoyable read. Very underrated manga.

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