Stronger with or without emotions?
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Abi Umeda
Translation/Adaptation: JN Productions
What They Say
In this post-apocalyptic fantasy, a sea of sand swallows everything but the past.
In an endless sea of sand drifts the Mud Whale, a floating island city of clay and magic. In its chambers a small community clings to survival, most dying young from the very powers that sustain them.
Chakuro is the Archivist for the Mud Whale, diligently chronicling the lives and deaths of his people. As one of the saimia wielders, whose life spans are cut short by their own magic, he knows his time is limited and is determined to leave a better record than his predecessors. But the steady pace of their isolated existence on the Mud Whale is abruptly shattered when a scouting party discovers a mysterious young girl who seems to know more about their home than they do…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Chakuro is a 14-year-old boy with hypergraphia and Mud Whale’s archivist. Chakuro and 90% of the population are “marked”. They area able to use thymia, which are magical powers fueled by emotions. Those that are marked live a short life. The remaining 10% are the elders and leaders of the Mud Whale and live much longer lives. They all live on the Mud Whale, a floating island, in a sea of sand.
Another floating island comes into view, and the Mud Whale decides to make a reconnaissance mission to see what they can salvage. Chakuro goes along to note what he sees. He is separated from his friend Sami and stumbles across a girl with many swords. The girl, Lykos, at first tries to attack him, but she is too weak and ends up collapsing. This is the first human anyone has ever encountered outside of Mud Whale.
They bring Lykos back to the Mud Whale and immediately the unmarked are interested in her. Chakuro, worried about Lykos, listens in on their conversation. He finds out Lykos is an Apátheia, a human without emotions. A strong thymia wielder, Ouni, decides he is also interested in Lykos and picks up Chakuro along with her. He takes them all and sets out to return to Lykos’ island.
Lykos shows them the graves she dug for her fallen comrades, and also the Nous, which is an entity that devours emotions and that explains why she is an Apátheia. She explains that Apátheias are used in war. Ouni, who is looking for a world beyond the Mud Whale, jumps in wanting to touch the Nous, but Chakuro steps in and immersed into a sea of memories. They end up returning to the Mud Whale, but both Ouni and Chakuro are punished or incarcerated in the belly of the Mud Whale.
The Great Flying is a semi-regular migration of crickets. Chakuro, now out of the belly, sneaks Lykos out and takes her with his friends and him to watch the event. Lykos, while being absent from the Nous, realizes her feelings are coming back and struggles to deal with them. She decides to confide in Chakuro and tell him the truth.
The truth is the Mud Whale is actually Fálaina and a group of soldiers arrive and attack the island. They call the inhabitants of the Mud Whale criminals and it seems the elders of the island know the truth. In the chaos of the attack, many die and many end up uniting to form an alliance to survive and seek the truth.
In Summary
This story is definitely better the more you read it. At the beginning of the volume, I was only mildly interested in story, but it progressed fast and raised my curiosity. What did get my attention from page one was the highly detailed and beautiful art. I don’t know a lot about the mangaka, the manga or the history of this manga, but I can see why based on the art alone that Viz gave this series the signature treatment with larger size and extra details to the cover.
There is definitely a strong feeling that this manga would be beautifully animated, especially in a film format. It combines many well-liked elements such as fantasy, magic and an unknown history that truly draws readers, and if animated, viewers in as well.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Older Teen
Released By: Viz Signature
Release Date: November 21, 2017
MSRP: $12.99