The Ship of Theseus

Theseus no Fune was a complexed and interesting read. It draws inspiration from the well known paradox of the Ship of Theseus and it makes it into a mystery thriller. Originally thought about in Greece and expanded into modern times, the paradox of the Ship of Theseus has been talked about amongst philosophers and thinkers, but the concept has remained the same: is an object the same object after its components have been replaced over time? This is what the manga tries to analyze under different points of view. However, at its core this manga is first and foremost a mystery thriller, as it tries toget the reader to think critically. You start the series with the classical whodunnit story, and it expands it into something more, with a focus on the family and destiny. The characters are three dimensional and real, with dreams, aspirations and flaws. This is where the paradox of the ship gets talked about throughly, in the stories of each of the characters and their “stories”. A tv show has been made from this series, that I have no idea if it is loyal to the manga, but I’d give it a try if you prefer a different kind of media. All in all it’s a series that I highly enjoyed for its critical thinking but felt a little disappointed under the mystery aspect. Granted, it does play an important role in the series to work well, but it felt like a subplot in the grand scheme of things. A very very interesting read for the people who want to “big brain” on their manga.

This was really a very good and interesting read. A mass murder of people, a large portion of whom were children, marks this family with a lifetime of shame and condemnation. San...father, husband, and policeman is accused of this horrific act, but even 28 years later, he still claims he is innocent. Shin, his now grown-up son, lives with his pregnant wife, and it is clear that the consequences of that event still haunt him. Unfortunately, his wife dies during childbirth, and Shin, for several reasons, decides to investigate his father's case more thoroughly, in an attempt to prove his innocence. Here, the manga begins to shine, andthrough an unexplained time-travel event, it transports Shin to 1989, just a few months before his father allegedly commits that monstrous act. Armed with knowledge of many things, as well as several other unfortunate events that befell that village, Shin decides to change the fate of many people, but primarily his own and his family's — a family he now gets to know in a completely different, much more beautiful, and brighter light. This dynamic leads to some very interesting conversations but also some very tense moments of distrust and lies. Despite all of this, it is still his family, and while they don’t know who he truly is, they begin to build a friendship, one that he may have always wanted. Without getting into details, for me personally, this was a really great, tense thriller-drama with some sci-fi elements and a very good touch of mystery. 8/10.