Title: Tokyo Ants
Author & Artist: Kano Yasuhiro
Chapters 1-4 (completed)
Summary:
These are actually four different stories that only last one chapter commonly known as one shots. The first is called Tokyo Ants and is about a group of skilled people who rescue a hostage. The next two, Enma 1 & 2, are about two different people who can tell when someone is lying because they spark up electricity when around them. The last is called Butterfly – Swallow Tail and is about a boy who sees Swallow Tail butterflies around people who are dying.
*Note: these are four different stories that were put into one book. Since there are four of them I am going to give them each their own separate review. It’s ten times easier than doing it all together.
The Good:
Pictures:
The artwork for Tokyo Ants was really up to par. It really reminds me of something like Card Captors Sakura only with a touch of something from the nineties…The proportions for it were really good. Their heads aren’t too big and their arms and legs seem to be the right size. When it comes to the style of drawing I like Tokyo Ants the best. The details of the eyes and the clothes made it look highly realistic while the hair brought you down to an anime level (spiky hair tends to do that).
Story:
The plot in this is really well done. I could see it going on to become a really long series. I don’t know if it could be another Bleach or Naruto, but I could see it going on to be a good series. The dialogue is really good. I mean, you can follow it and feel like you’re not reading something lost in translation. For Tokyo Ants the background story has a very good explanation (even thought it’s only a chapter long). It explains enough so that you don’t feel like you’re lost in the dark for that short time. The ending like I said earlier I could see it go on and wish it would. I could see this turned into an anime.
Characters:
Personalities were excellent and well thought out. The girl was the typical brat-like girl in manga. She’s the loud, in-your-face, I’m-the-boss type. The guys were her followers, but the main guy was the kind that shirked his duties and defied his leader sort of personality. But, the good guy in him comes out in the end.
The Bad:
Pictures:
I…couldn’t really find anything wrong…
Story:
Flow was kind of hard to follow for me. I kept turning my head this way and that. If it was put in a way that made it simpler for me to follow, it would have been perfect.
Characters:
The background was just not enough for me. I wanted to see more of who they were, why they were there, and where they were going. (100 points to anyone who can name that movie). When talking about changes…none of them really had long to change so there weren’t any that I could really see.
The General:
Generally I liked it a lot. But that’s because I love action and a good story. I’m not really sure that I would recommend this to beginners, but if you go for this kind of stuff then by all means read it. I give this story a four out of five.
Rating:
Character Names:
Main: Riku
Side: Umi
Tsukuno
