Variante

I found out about this little series earlier this morning after browsing through someone's profile. Since they stated that it made them cry, I decided to check it out. I ended up reading the whole series in one sitting, which is very hard for me to do, since I often get bored and move on to other things. The story to me didn't seem like a very original one ... it reminded me of Deadman Wonderland + Elfen Lied + Tokyo Gore Police + V for Vendetta. There was a lot of blood, a lot of gore, traumatizing pasts, and female leads crying. Iadred Aiko's character though. She seemed like a typical sixteen year old girl working hard to please everyone she loves, and is utterly devestated when she arrives home to find her parents murdered. In fact, it's implied that she was murdered as well, but she came back to life with a weird genetically mutated left arm. She handled it like I would have handled it, which gave her character a very realistic feel. But I absolutely LOVED Soudo. For once, I think he was the first male lead that wasn't drowing in angst or refusing to show any emotion. I don't know how old he was (my best guess is twenty four), but he was a police detective, and actually cared about the people he was protecting! He has a sort of soft disposition toward Aiko because she reminds him of another girl that he tried to save that was also expeiramented on. All in all, he was awesome. I liked how it made the plot into more than what it led on near the end. Needless to say, I came very close to shedding a few tears, which is not normal for me. It takes a lot to get me to cry over a fiction series (Fruits Basket doesn't count!! lol) If you love blood and female angst, this is the series for you. It does tend to get a bit graphic, so if you get sick easily I wouldn't suggest reading it. But it's great for an afternoon read. 9/10

Let me start by saying that I liked the concept of this manga. Story itself is good. Still, there were some things that ruined my enjoyment: 1) Story could be much better. It reminds me of Elfen Lied, where secret organization tries to conduct researches in order to create a superior human being. In Elfen Lied everything is done right: we get a 113 chapter long story with a lot of details. In Variante case we get only 19 chapters. It is not enough for story to get developed well. It is just an action manga that tries to copy Elfen Lied. 2) With given 19 chaptersonly, characters do not develop enough. Author gives us pasts of Aiko and Hiromi, but their stories are very short. In Elfen Lied we get a big flashback which sets the drama and characters' motivations. In Variante we get really short flashbacks, which show development and motivations in some point, but cannot make us attach to the characters. We just do not have enough time to empathize them. With all being said I want to tell that this manga is not bad, but because author did not give a detailed plot, it loses its potential. I give this manga 6/10, because I expected more from this story. Thank you for reading.

I had this series on my "to read" pile for years, because it looked interesting, however I was sadly mistaken. Variante's plot is fairly convoluted and the way they explain how everything came to be was okay, but the why behind it all made no sense. It felt like the plot was derived in the last 3 chapters and was very confusing. All the characters were fairly bland as well, save the main girl and the lead guy. The major reason I'm rating this so low was the ending, it was just plain terrible, no comfort, no fitting conclusion, just emptiness. I don't recommend itat all

10 outa 10. I loved the plot. I read this in one go because of it's story. I could've learned a bit more about the characters, The one I'm pretty sure is the main character, is the typically main character dude, but there's a reason that they are the choise for a main character. They are always so kind, they have a past they want to forget, the past reaches him once again when he meets the girl (Aiko). Sadly enough, in this manga, she's not old enough for him. Normally they would come together as a boyfriend n girlfriend. NOPE, not this time. Despite thefact you don't learn that much about the characters, it's a great manga. If you love horror, gore mangas, for gods sake, read this.