A lot of people love manga but some don’t read it for its literary merit but just to enjoy the story line. Some just pick a good series to read, scan it and pass on to other people to enjoy. Others keep the manga for their own satisfaction by reading it and rating it on a manga ranking website such as the killing stalking manga wattled. Here are some points I want to talk about on this new site that rates and reviews manga the same way I rate and review comic books.
A lot of people have become fans of the series “Killing Stalking manga”. I have personally become one since I started it about three months ago. The first time I came across this series, I was a bit worried since I do not read fantasy like manga. But boy did I get hooked. The main character, Mina Hasek (aka “pins” in Japan) is a professional bodyguard who has a serious case of killing stalking on her mind.
The story line is about a schoolgirl, Mio Amatori, who wants to start a new life in Tokyo, but she is caught up into the world of killing stalking manga. She was once a perfect student but lost her memory during an attempted mugging. While in a coma she suffered a stroke that left her with some abilities only a God’s chosen person can possess. She now uses these “powers” to protect the streets of Tokyo from supernatural threats.
What makes this manga so good is that unlike most story based manga it does not have a plot. It just has Mina and her strange powers battling villains and trying to save the city. If you want to start reading a killing stalking manga, this one is the one to start with. The first few chapters are slow going but as I went on I just kept getting drawn into the story.
The storyline has four distinct parts, one is Mina Hasek trying to figure out a reason why she is being targeted by a group of hooded figures she terms as “the Ones”. The Ones are after something they know inside out and it involves killing. They are after Mina and what she knows and this is where the manga got my attention. The fact that Mina was able to fight off these hooded figures made her into a very formidable character. The rest of the gang of killers were quite terrifying too.
The second part of the manga involves Mina going back to the scene of the crime and confronting the killer herself. The whole scene is set in a hospital where a hit man tries to kill her. This part was quite thrilling to me, especially when I remembered that I was reading about killing stalking people in this story. It got me interested to see how Mina would react to this situation.
The third part involves Mina dealing with her past. It is here that I started to lose myself in the story. Sure, I knew that this part was supposed to be a kind of psychological journey on Mina’s part but somehow it kept me reading because of its emotional content. Mina and her friend decided to help a young boy who was severely injured in a car accident. As the story goes on we get to learn more about their lives as friends and family, and as individuals. And it was during a moment when I wanted to cry.
I cannot say that I was surprised with how good this short manga is. I just wish I had started it sooner. I am sure that other people who have read it also enjoyed it as much as I did.