Immortal Rain: Manga Review (12/31/2022)

 I wish I could've enjoyed this manga. But, the truth is that it just simply is not that good.

I read this because I loved two of Kaori Ozaki's other works: The God's Lie and The Golden Sheep. Those series, while short, were good enough for me to want to read whatever else Ozaki published.

There is so much potential in this manga, but I guess Ozaki's writing skills just weren't good enough at this point in her career, as the execution is just short of terrible. I loved the premise of this manga, where there is a mysterious immortal man who eventually has to take care of a teenage girl. I thought that their dynamic would develop into some kind of wholesome father daughter relationship. As the series went on and more characters were introduced, I also thought that this would develop into a more philosophical series where there doesn't seem to be a good answer to the challenges presented. I thought that the important characters would go through their own character arcs and have a nice resolution. The series never really did into any of these things.

I think my favorite part of the manga was during the beginning third of the manga, when the story was still being developed. I think the villains were introduced very well, especially with the character of Yuca. I loved Yuca's introduction, and I loved the explanation of the Methuselah's past that came along with that backstory. But, after this, the manga just kind of devolves. I can tell that Ozaki had a good outline of what to do with the story, but nothing is actually followed through well. I know I said just a few sentences ago that my favorite part of the manga was during the beginning, but in truth that may be the only actually decent part of this story.

As the series goes on, many of the main characters start to feel crazy and inauthentic. The main character, Machika, starts to become unbearably annoying, and originally interesting characters such as Sharem become simplified and one dimensional. Yuca, who I thought was the most interesting character, did a 180 and started to act in a way that felt out of character.

The worst part of this manga for me was the romance. It's just so bad. I was immensely uncomfortable anytime anything romantic was shown. Machika is too young a character, and I felt that she didn't really have any chemistry with Rain. At some point it starts to feel like all the romances (background ones included) only happen because the author felt some need to include needless romance in the story.

I hate to say it, but it just feels like there is no reason for anyone to read this manga. If you want something with that same old school 90's sci-fi feel, go read Trigun. If you want a very, very good story about an immortal man who has to protect a teenage girl, go read Blade of the Immortal. If you want a good romance story that is better than this, go read anything else because the bar isn't very high.

I rated this manga a 4/10, but truth be told I think this score might still be too high. I decided to give it a few extra point(s) because the art is good and also because I'm biased due to how much I like Kaori Ozaki's other works.

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