Adabana(徒花) Japanese Manga Thoughts (Vol.1-3)

    

   I'm back again after being away for some time. in all honesty, I was just being lazy by constantly putting off writing another post. I don't think I should promise to be consistent anymore. Although, I want to try. I've been reading a-lot of manga recently. Most of them on the shorter side since I'm a busy adult.[insert me laughing] One of these series was titled Adabana. 

  Adabana is a three volume manga series that was written and illustrated by NON. This series felt very mysterious to me when I first picked up volume one. The cover has a dark feel that's very eye catching. I'm also have a big love for murder mysteries with a an evil edge so i dove right in.

   A story of two female best friends is one that we have read multiple times. You just have to add Japan's creativity of a small town and black hearted adults destroying the live of a high  school student. I won't give too much away however, the real magic of Adabana isn't in it's "who done it?" set storyline that's used to draw readers in during volume one. It's the gruesome nature of the human spirit that makes this manga such a compelling read through. You will honestly figure out the mystery by the end of volume two. You are still wanting more because something feels off and thats where the final volume ties everything together. I did expect this story to be a tad bit more dark.... It's dark or one would say even sad.... I just think that I've become desensitized to violence in stories at this point. Whats really sad is the idea of how far one is willing to go for their friend? Especially when they didn't have to. The little pitfalls the story tries to throw at you to trip you up were fun as well. Friends turning on each other creates an addictive story all the time. 

   The art is some of the best you will get from a series today. Each character model was given fine detail. A lot of sharp fine lines and panels that really match the sinister scene with falling snow. Children shouldn't be reading this manga as the content is bloody and sexual. Many might find the overall subject matter to be disturbing. Trigger warning to victims of sexual assault or sexual blackmail. 

   Adabana is a hard hitting quick read that won't waste your time. It's not a long read either if you have access to all three volumes. I'm tired of seeing adults terrorizing female high school girls in Japanese stories. Enough is enough.