Soil

Soil is a manga written by Atsushi Kaneko. This is what you would call a weird story, and it's true. This manga is different from any other you have read. Soil is a crime and mystery work, not a classic one... It has some elements that make it a unique piece of art. STORY - 7 This manga has a good story, a clearly defined plot with some main parts and a little background. The main objective in the story is to find out what happened to a missing family and a police officer and where they are. The problem begins when the autor introduce weirdelements such as those called "foreign beings" or "foreign organisms". That wasn't well carried on, since all became to be explained by these and other paranormal phenomena instead of the classic detective method I expected. I must also take into account that some things end inconclusive and in a confusing way, however, the main plot was well made. ART - 9 This manga is completely filled with a fantastic artwork. Atsushi Kaneko's style is unique and really beautiful. The drawing was the main reason I chose to read this work. It was like this: I saw some scenes and then I have a small urge to read this story. The design of all the characters, not only the main, but also the secondary and stuffing is beautiful, all have their nature. The scenery and the weird elements have also a wonderful draw art. CHARACTER - 6 This story has some interesting characters and a few of them are well built. Each character has its own nature and personality that make them react in each own way to the strange stuff that invades their daily and common life. The development in the characters didn't deepen at all. I expected some of them to end in a different way, but, at the end, there weren't any changes in ther mind or behaviour of the favourite characters. ENJOYMENT - 7 I really liked this story. It wasn't excessive long nor too short. It had its drama, some mystery and some hilarious moments. I enjoyed the main story being touched by some delusional elements, and in some way, it was also okay that some of the mysteries ended unsolved. However, the end of the story didn't please me entirely. OVERALL - 7 In conclusion, this manga has an awesome artwork and story appropriately long. It's not a marvelous work but it has many good points.

Soil is brilliant but I hated reading it. It's one of those mystery stories that takes two completes to appreciate. The first time you'll be thoroughly confused, and the second time you'll see how consistent and simple everything was, once you understand how its "rules" work. Apt metaphor for a lot of things I suppose. It's also similar to Ergo Proxy in that regard, which I reviewed positively, but Soil has nowhere near the charm for me to want to bear with it. The beauty of Soil lies in how everything goes back to its premise: oddities are sprouted by some original sin, and inturn cause even stranger things to occur if the root problem remains unsolved. The more confused the characters become from inexplicable mysteries, the weirder things get, until they have mental breakdowns and something has to give. The flat, black and white artstyle, devoid of any grayscale shading, was an intentional choice to make readers undergo derealization after immersing in the pages for too long without answers, forcing them into a similar experience. Being manipulated and made into a part of the manga's thesis is an unpleasant experience regardless of how clever the world building is. It also required the reveals to be postponed for maximum effect. Although I didn't feel it was too slow on the reread, I still wound up feeling a bit annoyed at the author Kaneko Atsushi, for how many panels there were that would only make sense to someone who already knew the story. It was clever, but also quite masturbatory. Soil is unique, no doubt about that. It's bold and expands what manga can be, but also off-putting due to the trickery involved. I didn't like it and likely won't reach for it again, but I respect it and wish more manga were as artful as Soil.

My first impression about the art while reading the prologue chapter was: Did Zainul Abedin draw this manga? 'Soil' was certainly a hard take on mystery genre from my behalf as I didn't like the art to begin with. The characters have a natural fluidity and the beginning also smelled like supernatural mystery knocking on the door which, at first, I thought could become worthwhile. But at the end, without my sole purpose of finishing this just for 'the finishing', there's no reason to continue this. The story becomes too dense like it's art at some point & at some point it becomes really bothersome to readthis (if you are reading this on phone like me). At the middle of the story, the mystery doesn't even remain as one and you just have to force your way out to the solution. That's all there is to it.

This is approaching Uzumaki in term of quality. The mystery keeps bigger and bigger, and eventually reaches an unorthodox conclusion. There are two issues with this manga, however. First, the beginning of the story (first 10+ chapters or so) is MUCH stronger than the rest of it, as plot starts unfolding, at some point it becomes less coherent and deals less impact, which is why it is 7 and not 9. The second thing is that the art takes some time to get used to as it rather unusual. The manga heavily uses lineart drawing with minimum shading, which is different from many other works. As a result inthe beginning it comes off as simplistic, or even amateurish. You very quickly stop noticing that, though. Breakdown: Story: 7/10. Starts very strong, gets weaker, but still delivers. Over time it becomes less "realisitc" and more "fantastic", but it remains servicable. Art: 6/10: We have unusual style here, focusing on lineart and with minimum shading. Side effect is that this style makes smiling faces a bit ugly. It is not horrible, and you quickly get used to it, however. Characters: 7/10: Very life-like characters, especially in the beginning. No textbook cliches here, as far as I can tell. Feel like real people for a good portion of the manga. Enjoyment: 7/10. Liked it. Overall: 7/10. Worth a read. I think if you read Uzumaki by Junji Ito and liked it, you should enjoy this title. It doesn't quite feel Ito's level, but gets close enough to be enjoyable. That's the rough idea of it.