Double Arts

Double Arts
Mangaka: Naoshi Komi
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Length: 23 Chapters, due to Cancellation
Rating: 7/10 [Would be higher if it was longer ...]

Plot: The world has been plagued with a deadly sickness, Troi, for 700 years. The Sisters are the only ones who can treat it – women who have a high immunity for the sickness, they absorb some of the poison from the patient, prolonging their lives. However, in return, eventually they will succumb to it too.

This fate is happening to Elraine, who after treating a patient, starts having the seizures that are unique to the disease. She is saved by Kili, a young boy who was able to stop the seizures by grabbing her hand. While the Sisters all have high resistance to the disease, Kili is the one they've been searching for – the one person in the world who is fully immune to it.

After realizing this fact, Kili and Ellie go to travel to the Church's headquarters, so that Kili can be studied for a cure. However, the assassin's organization, Gazelle, is hot on their trail ...

Analysis: If you ask me, this is a totally awesome manga. Unfortunately, it was canceled after 12 chapters, which made me pissed when I found out. This manga probably would have been about 150+ chapters, with the way that it was developing [Yes, I'm so totally awesome I can predict the lengths of mangas]. Because of the short length, there are a lot of open threads left at the end of it, which is rather annoying.

The idea for this manga is interesting. I've never seen one like it. A sickness that infects everyone it touches, with a certain group of people that can heal it temporarily? It sounds really cool [not that I'd want to have it ... but you get what I mean]. Its one of the most original things I've heard [Well ... Read ... but you get my point].

The name Double Arts [which i feel is why the manga was canceled .. would you honestly read something called like that? I read it through my random search ...] comes around in one of the last chapters. Because Kili and Ellie have to constantly remain in contact with each other, they require a new way of fighting. Martial arts is the way of fighting for one person – Double arts, therefor would be for two.

This manga also has pieces of comedy built into it. How can you not, when two people have to remain in contact ... for every waking [and sleeping] moment of the day?

The fights are also well done, although not on the epic proportion. It has the ability to do that however, and it would have undoubtedly done so as the manga increased in length [like I said ... I can predict the lengths of manga. This is one of the ways to do so – if the fights in the beginning are short, and serve to show part of a character's skills, there will be without a doubt a point later in the series where the fights are much much longer and more exiting].

Character Summary:

Elrain Figarte: One of the most widely known sisters, she has cured many patients over her short lifetime, only to succumb to Troi at age 18 [or so]. After discovering Kili, she is forced to stay with him for practically forever. She is a very kind person, and her entire life is dedicated to helping others, even at the cost of her own life [in more ways than succumbing to Troi]. However, she is a very bright and happy girl, if a bit innocent.

Kili Luchile: He is a man of many talents, only one of which is complete immunality [I don't think thats a word] to Troi. His other ability is that of Flare, in which by joining hands with another person, they share strength – in other words, if five people were all touching, then each of them would have the strength of five people. He was taught how to fight by Sui, and is by nature a very artistic [if immature] person. He can carve anything extremely fast and to extraordinary detail. He has a very strong moral code, and hates other people getting hurt. He also has a sunny disposition towards life.

Sui: A pure blooded Nagin, a warrior race, she loves to fight. She would fight anyone to show that she's stronger, and she never loses. She is also a playgirl, and dates many men at once, constantly fooling with their emotions. She's even dated Kili thrice, dumping him each time [which is very funny to watch]. Her weapon is, surprisingly, a metal hula-hoop. However, even with her strength and her playgirl mentality, she is a very immature person, who loves taking risks just to see other people's reactions.

Fallan Denzel: A genius fighter, he is the one to teach Kili and Ellie how to fight. He knows all of the martial art styles in the world, even though he is a teenager [about 19 years old I think]. He has taught many an apprentice, each of them learning a different style. He is feared by many, and there are a great many rumors about his feats. However, he only fights for himself, never to protect others [which, quite frankly, is unique. I have never read another manga character who does so – most of the time, they fight to protect SOMEONE].

The rest of the characters, as important as they might become, I cannot tell you ... because its CANCELED!!! [And I'm still very sad about that ...]

Kili [on the right] and Ellie [on the left] being told by one of the heads of the Sisters that they will have to hold hands forever.

Fallan facing an opponent, who is only able to fight after being told that the opponent's main target is him, instead of the kids.

Sui riding her metal hula-hoop on the wall, using the speed to attack the opponent.

Anyways, this is an example of something that is really good, but canceled before its time [much like Firefly. Its also one of the reasons I was able to get this out so quickly - Because there's no ending to it, I didn't have to spend much time either reading it or trying to avoid spoilers.

I'm going to try and get it at a review a week, maybe 2 if I'm lucky. I can't guarantee anything though.

/Vavoysh