cover image BLUE INFERIOR: Vol. 1

BLUE INFERIOR: Vol. 1

Kyoko Shitou, . . ADV Manga, $9.99 (184pp) ISBN 978-1-4139-0086-6

At first, this manga seems to be a familiar tale of a postapocalyptic world. But there are considerable differences from the norm. Though most of Earth has been rendered uninhabitable by pollution, 14-year-old Kazuya lives in one of the "blessed lands" spared from the devastation. With no experience of the outside world, Kazuya and his friends take their idyllic lives for granted. Perhaps Shitou intends this "blessed land" to represent a sheltered childhood, or even Japan's own isolation from the world before the mid-19th century. Adults warn Kazuya of possible invasion by the "subhumans," beings whose blood is supposedly poisonous. Meanwhile, Kazuya, who's fascinated by the sea, finds a girl his own age washed up on the shore. She can barely remember her name, which, appropriately, is Marine. With her arrival, the formerly idyllic community turns paranoid, and they lock Marine up, suspecting she's a subhuman. The growing love between Kazuya and Marine is genuinely romantic, if predictable. By this volume's end, readers may be surprised to learn who the subhuman intruders really are. Shitou finds repeated opportunities in his story to create superb portraits of the sea, animals and vegetation, making this manga stand out artistically from the pack. (May)