For the vast majority of this series, which, adding up to 163 total chapters, takes no small amount of time to finish, the scenes and the characters shine through the page and allow you to simply sit back and enjoy it like you would with any high-tension Hollywood blockbuster. Indeed, much of this manga feels like the stereotypical action movie with all of the traditional values turned upside-down. The main character is often mute, extremely unpredictable, and given to fits of violence. The sidekick is a nervous kid with an aptitude for explosives and a wavering sense of morality. The hook is that meanwhile, agigantic and still growing threat is tearing its way through the country.

What really drives this manga is the characters. Each one of them has their own unique way of making you remember them and care about them, and they all tend to exist outside of the "stock character" tradition. The characters in this will really make you think about the complexity of human emotion, and whether the taboos and values that have been imprinted on society and on each of us can really withstand the scrutiny of the human soul.

The problem then, is that this manga has a horrible tendency to start something that simply does not ever come to serve a purpose, and/or is never explained in any way. The main character has an unusual fear of dogs, the sidekick has a sudden urge to blow everything up, the useless chick goes from normal to manic in a heartbeat, the gigantic monster has no origin or destination, characters appear and disappear without reason; all of these things along with the shockingly over-the-top finale may leave a bitter taste in your mouth.

So in conclusion, I advise those of you with an interest to read this manga in the same manner that the main character lives: moment by moment, page by page. It IS an enjoyable manga, and until the very, very end it keeps up a consistent level of tension and constantly leaves you wondering what is going to happen next.