By Kazuya Minekura (TokyoPop)
ISBN: 978-1-59816-978-2
Despite a definite homoerotic subtext this tale of modern gangsters can be read as a crime story with the lone protagonist as the proverbial alienated outsider. Makota Kubota is cool. A High Schooler, he seems immune to all the pressures of a teenager’s existence. He only comes alive when playing Mah Jong.
When he is sought out by a local Yakuza boss to take charge of the local youth gang he goes along with it. He is told to keep all other gangs out of his area – he successfully complies. Makota is extremely capable, and can handle himself in a fight. There seems to be nothing he can’t do. And still, nothing seems to penetrate his aloof exterior…
Slowly though he establishes a relationship – almost a friendship – with another young Yakuza, Nobuo Komiya, and learns about a semi-mystical mutagenic drug that’s just reaching the streets. Wild Adapter is not just another narcotic. Some of the addicts are turning into strange animals and dying.
What is happening and what does Makota’s uncle, the famous detective, know about all this?
In this first volume, almost a prologue, Kazuya Minekura lays the groundwork for a fascinating adult crime thriller, but that’s all. The threads and settings are in place but there is no real narrative here yet. Engaging and intriguing, dripping with Gangster Chic and wonderfully drawn, it will still take a few more volumes before we know what’s going on and whether or not it’s worth pursuing.
This book is printed in the ‘read-from-back-to-front’ manga format, and carries a parental advisory notice of explicit content.
© 2000, 2001 Kazuya Minekura. All Rights Reserved.
English text © 2007 TOKYOPOP Inc.