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ZOMBIEPOWDER.
30
4
Finished
Jul 20, 1999 to Feb 15, 2000
7.4/10
Average Review Score
69%
Recommend It
16
Reviews Worldwide
Zombie Powder is a bit of a mixed bag. It's really impossible to not compare it to Bleach, since Zombie Powder was the mangaka's previous work (a relatively commercially unsuccessful one, I should probably add). It's probably not altogether fair to make the comparison, but it can't be helped since I already saw Bleach (both the anime and the manga) so I might as well just go ahead honestly with that perspective in mind. As far as art goes, it's very similar in style to Bleach-- good but not quite great. I would say that the mangaka's style hasn't really changedtoo much. People who have read/seen Bleach will notice very obvious parallels between Ichigo and Gamma, both of which utilize ridiculously large swords and whose bodies contain some greater, dark being holding tremendous power. Both of these darker sides are at once the protagonist and not, and you see Ichigo/Gamma noticeably suppress them. There are some other character similarities (Inoue and "Wolfgangina" [<--- that really is her name, I'm not kidding] look very similar) but they're not quite as evident. The characters are fairly well developed, better so than in Bleach, if you only go up to volume 4 (the last volume in Zombie Powder) to be fair. Some of the characters are pretty cool, my favorite of the bunch is probably CT Smith, a charismatic gunslinger who offers some of the best humor in the series. The characters are a bit more balanced than in Bleach (where Ichigo is by far the strongest of the original team that went to Soul Society) and can take care of themselves fairly well without always having to rely on Gamma-- something I appreciate. In terms of settings, the Bleach and Zombie Powder universes are almost polar opposites. Bleach is a supernatural Japanese universe complete with swords and spirits while Zombie Powder is a sci-fi Western (think cowboy movies w.r.t to the Western part) universe with guns and outlaws. Between the two settings, I honestly prefer the supernatural Japanese one, although I will admit it is rather trite and Zombie Powder's setting is much more original (though it has a possible cousin in the form of Trigun). As Zombie Powder is an action manga, it would be a tremendous oversight to discuss it without mentioning a bit about the action scenes, which I think are fairly good. They're actually quite similar to Bleach-- clean art, lots of plot twists in which it'll seem one guy is coming out on top but hey, go figure, he actually isn't, a generous helping of humor both during and between action scenes to keep the mood light. Also lots of bizarre "special" attacks and villains, ranging from a crazy circus magician to a titanic fat woman. It's a bit wacky, but if you've read the Bleach manga up to the latest chapters (with the rather bizarre and gruesome Szayel vs Mayuri fight) it's nothing you haven't seen before, anyway. In conclusion, not a bad manga but I can't help but feel something is missing. Maybe that is due to the fact that this manga never really ended, the mangaka stopped abruptly. Maybe it's because some of the mechanics in the manga are a bit too similar to Bleach. It might also be because of the really cliche premise of the story-- essentially a search for "Rings of the Dead" to construct Zombie Powder to gain immortality. I think in the end, this was a worthwhile read for me, if only for historical purposes. If you like Western settings in manga, or if you really liked Bleach a lot and would like to see a similar series, or hey if you just have some free time, maybe take a quick look at Zombie Powder and see if you like it.
Gamma Akutabi is a mysterious figure, drifting through the western desert with a giant sword slung over his shoulder and a right arm made completely of metal spreading up and over his cheek. He searches endlessly for a mythical set of 12 Rings of the Dead—jewelry said to give life to the possessor. These rings are hunted by mercenaries and outlaws alike for a wide variety of reasons, but Gamma seeks to grant himself eternal life by possessing all 12. Gamma comes across teenager John Elwood Shepherd in his travels, who decides to follow Gamma after a brutal fight claims the life of his sister. Elwood seeks to use the Rings of the Dead to bring his sister back to life and quickly develops an admiration for Gamma, whose combat prowess saves Elwood's life time after time. Along the way, the two travelers encounter new friends and old allies from Gamma's past, working with them to defeat enemies who seek to use the Rings of the Dead for their own nefarious purposes. [Written by MAL Rewrite] Included one-shots: Volume 2: Ultra Unholy Hearted Machine Volume 3: Kokumashi Urara (Rune Master Urara) Volume 4: Bad Shield United
This is my first review, so please bear with me if it's kind of bad. This Manga could go either way for the reader really, it had quite a bit of potential and could have went further if it had a little more support. It is a shame that it didn't, Zombie powder had an interesting story and plot line, the story of the Rings of the Dead and the Zombie Powder is rarely something seen in Manga making its story more original than most, along with good action scenes excellent fight sequences and some bizarre moves, and plot twists, it's more than enough to keepsomeone interested. The artwork was good and clean with attention to detail, there was isn't a scene where to much there is to much happening in one image that could be eye distracting for the reader. Good character art, loved the main character Gamma's hair do. The only real downside is that it could be considered somewhat simple. The characters of the story, are fairly well balanced and developed, each have their strengths and weaknesses, and can take care of themselves during a battle without relying on the main character to help them out all the time, compare it to the Bleach Soul Society arc, Ichigo being the strongest of the group, was depended on the most , this annoys me in Manga's when most of the main cast are dependent on the main character, it lowers the value of the characters till later on in the series (clearly evident in Bleach). The main character Gamma along with his partner/friend CT Smith provide the major fighting power for the group and action scenes for the story, Gamma providing comical humour usually more present in his actions whereas CT Smith provides more sarcastic, subtle and somewhat mocking humour to balance it out. Gamma being the swordsman uses a wide variety of techniques and battle skill easily over powering the majority of enemies (with some techniques vaguely reminiscent of Ichigo's techniques), CT Smith provides marksmanship with incredible skill seen shooting out the pins of the wheels of a moving train without missing a shot. These two provide the main force and best battle scenes of the story. The setting for the story is in a somewhat futuristic/sci-fi western universe, with guns, outlaws, bandits,etc, has a slightly more original setting and is similar to the Trigun series setting. Overall, if your a fan of Bleach, then you should enjoy Zombie Powder (since it was done by the same Mangaka Tite Kubo), or at least give it a look. The story, characters and action scenes are great and it gave me a good laugh. My only problem is that it ended to abruptly and was left with that unfinished feeling, so for that i would give a 7 overall, i would like to have given it a 7.5 but that score isn't there, and if lasted longer and finished off without leaving such an open ending i would have probably given it an 8 or 9. Still worth a read anyway.
It's obvious that this is an earlier work of Bleach's Tite Kubo. The art isn't quite as polished as her later projects and some of the story elements carried over. The characters are interesting, yet they seem like prototypes for some of her later series. Pros: Interesting story, great chance to check out the development of a famous artist's/author's progress, unique character designs Cons: Ending leaves the reader hanging, unsatisfying if you're read Kubo's later works, basic "searching for 'forbidden' things" plot
Melodux should do more research to find out it was canceled, "The rating for this manga is going to suffer because it's incomplete/If Kubo wasn't planning on finishing the manga, then he should've planned out the story better to fit 4 volumes," this means not by choice. Publishers have all the power and that it doesn't sell(as well as projected) = no money means they cancel it. I can see why angelsreviews compares it to Trigun i can see that but Trigun devolved from space faring into a desert like western. With a near-pacifistic antagonist. This planet doesn't act like a western desert, but a morelawless land and this guy has no qualms killing every "bad guy", that looks at him funny. ~SPOILERS~ I really like this series i literally started this before work and finished it about 50 min ago so 10 hours and 400+ pages +2 shitty extras. I don't like the Multi bajillion bounty as a Trigun/One piece thing it's a shonen thing calm your ass down Collecting things like DBZ for a wish well no these items give only one thing depending on how many you have; ?<12 - death, ?=12 - this magical Zombie Powder which is life. Given to someone dead will bring them back to life, unknown if it restores them to actual life or some zombified version of themself, but given to a living person it makes them immortal. This is an awesome premises. The fights were very good and bosses except first was good the gangsters was a garbage person whom any old "hero" could've killed. The circus boss was lame his lieutenants were extremely good if short. Characters were introduced perfectly, except their reasons(other than pickpocket kid and girl).The pacing was very good it didn't feel rushed even though i was blazing through it. This is what i'm talking about making you want to read the next chapter and the next with getting tiring and you asking yourself how much more. I do have an issue with it though....where's the rest some many loose threads that need a conclusion it has all that potential but alas we will never get them unless the re-serialize it which is unlikely. Read, Read, and read again it very good like a better version of the beginning of Trigun.
Story: I really liked the idea of the Rings of Death, and that gathering them together can do something for the gatherer{s}. However, I felt like Zombie Powder was Dragon Ball Z meets Trigun. We have the aspect of gathering many of the same item to grant a wish, and the aspects of the main character having a large bounty on his head and the setting of a futuristic western. I feel like Kubo could squeeze a little more originality in there somewhere. Pace was a thing with me in ZP. It moved at a pretty quick pace, but I'm not sure if it was TOOquick of a pace. At some points, I feel like the story was rushed to get to the main objective, that side-plots were suddenly cut off. The rating for this manga is going to suffer because it's incomplete. The stopping of the serialization left a LOT of lose ends that I was really looking forward to having tied up. Like the mystery behind Gamma's armored arm, and how the surgery turned out. If Kubo wasn't planning on finishing the manga, then he should've planned out the story better to fit 4 volumes. Art: The art was nice. Very proportional for the main characters. And where people were supposed to look ridiculous, they looked ridiculous. The action scenes weren't unclear, but they weren't a moving picture, either; you could tell what was supposed to be happening. There weren't a lot of background images to admire, and the setting, as I said before, was a futuristic western. Thus, there was only really a flat landscape. But it looked like a beautiful flat landscape. Characters: Again, the rating is going to suffer because Zombie Powder is incomplete. The characters had nice little spices to them, but I think that the story was too short to get in to some character development. You learned a little bit about Gamma and Elwood. But I would've liked to see more inner monologue from Elwood, some mysteries about Gamma resolved and what the hell was with Smith. All the lose ends and stunted plot lead to weak character development. But they were original characters, so I give them a 9 out of 10. If you like Tite Kubo's work, then you should give this a look. It's short and sweet, but don't expect too too much out of it, because it's not finished. I think it's something you should read on the side, when you get sick of whatever long series you're reading.
