Ultra Heaven: Manga Review (12/23/2025)

 Spoiler free short review:

Trippy psychedelic and unfinished manga that has the semblance of a story, but seems more interested in showing you the trips and hallucinations of the main character. Also has surprisingly strong world building with the establishment of a pretty interesting dystopian sci-fi world (think Blade Runner), only filled with drug addicts. Worth a read if you want a trippy experience.

Real Review:

I've read a couple of Koike Keiichi's works recently. For the most part, they are these very trippy experiences that feel like nonsensical dreams without any set plot. The whole manga is supposed to feels like a psychedelic trip, and Koike Keiichi does a good job of adding to this feeling with creative paneling and some breathtaking art. There's rarely any dialogue in his works, but that plays to his strengths as the progression of each manga is led directly through the artwork and paneling.

Ultra Heaven, although unfinished, may be Koike Keiichi's magnum opus. There are only three volumes, but a remarkable amount is covered in these volumes, especially with the details on each page. Unlike much of his other work, this manga actually does manage to follow some semblance of a plot. I think you really have to work to uncover this plot, however, as much of the manga is focused on the main character Kabu's trips, and subsequent flashbacks and dealings with past trauma. The first volume is focused on setting up the world, where drugs are commonplace and people can even go to bars where instead of drinking cocktails, they take drug concoctions, called pumps, which is really just a needle that is stabbed into the hand.

However, through the next few volumes, the story gets a bit weird as we delve a bit more into Kabu's psyche and some of his unsolved trauma, and eventually a sort of mega cult that uses technology to connect people's consciousnesses together is also introduced. It's weird but I think there is a good amount of enjoyment to be had trying to piece together what exactly is going on, as well as what is real and what is another one of Kabu's hallucinations.

It is a shame that the story is unfinished, but if I'm being honest I feel as though this story only would have another volume or two to give anyways. It did feel like the author didn't exactly know which way to take his story, and although there still was a bit left to be explored, I'm not exactly confident that this author would have been able to resolve everything in a satisfactory manner. Still worth a read though, if you want a very unique manga and you also love psychedelics or something.

Strong 6 to maybe a very light 7.