Q Hayashida

Well, this is just plain weird. Caiman was (maybe) experimented on by a sorcerer from another dimension, leaving him with a lizard head. So he goes around with his female butt-kicking sidekick Nikaido looking for sorcerers so he can chomp his giant mouth around their heads so a mysterious man in his throat can look them in the eye and judge if they are the one. If they are not the one -- and Caiman can only find out by asking the sorcerer what the man inside said since he cannot hear the man show more himself -- Caiman kills them and goes looking for the next. That's only the first half dozen pages, but it gets repeated a lot. And for some reason, I find it pretty funny.

When he's not doing that, Caiman is an idiot loser bopping around a crappy town called The Hole.

Meanwhile, in their home dimension, a group of sorcerers bands together to 1) avenge the death of a friend at Caiman's hands and 2) figure out which sorcerer made this dummy so powerful so they can rip the off and use the magic themselves.

The majority of the pages are filled with gonzo violence, gore, and nudity. This could go south quickly, but right now I'm enjoying the crazy, anything-can-happen ride. show less

It feels like the creator is writing this book by the seat of his pants, throwing in zombies and an underground fighting tournament just because. And that gives the series an off-kilter tone that continues to appeal to me. The gore and nudity help too (though the abuse being heaped on the female side character Ebisu is really crossing the line).

The first dozen pages are in color, and boy, the art looks so much better with some of the sloppiness covered.

I found out this series runs for 23 show more volumes, and now my main worry is that it will follow the track of Attack on Titan and get so involved in its mythology and introducing new characters that it will lose the loosey-goosey quality that have made the first two volumes so fun. show less

This feels heavily influenced by European sci-fi bande dessinée with its goofy, clueless protagonist bopping pointlessly between strange locales and brief battles while meeting colorful characters who either like him for no reason or want to kill him for a reward.

I usually hate such Euro SF fantasy series, but maybe the manga-style art here makes it more tolerable because I'm willing to give the second volume a try.

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: Bone 1. Bloodbath Wanderer -- Bone 2. Fireball Mad show more Ax --Bone 3. Galactic School Days -- Bone 4. Allow Me to Kill You -- Bone 5. So Dark It's Scary -- Bone 6. The Hateful Four -- Bonus Bone: Shit That Happens in Space: You set off casually, then realize it's a hell of a long way. show less

My interest in this book continues to taper off as the creator seems to rely more on having a cool tone than actually having a worthwhile story. In many ways, I wish the book were inverted so the single chapter of flashback to elementary school in each volume was the main story, and the present time was restricted to a single chapter flash forward each volume. The protagonist's childish behavior is more reasonable when he actually is a child, and a kid dealing with bullies at least has some show more tension, unlike anything happening in the present day.

At least the flashback actually starts to have a more definite tie-in to the present day storyline, but I'm thinking it's too little too late at this point. I do have another volume to read tomorrow though, so we'll see how it goes.

Side note: I was pleasantly surprised when the translated script actually directly acknowledged the ongoing "Oh my god, they killed Kenny!" South Park homage.

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: Bone 25. Black Market -- Bone 26. Brained by the Hanged Man --Bone 27. The Catacombs of Memory-- Bone 28. A New Light -- Bone 29. Haunted Hunt -- Bone 30. Mount Tsurugi Day -- Bonus Bone: A scream splits through the silent darkness and shakes the gel surrounding it. A bug that bites the hand that feeds. show less