The Spring 2024 Manga Guide

A-DO

What's It About? 

Riko Saeki is a headstrong, scooter-riding 19-year-old woman who doesn't take crap from anyone – including her shitty boss at the supermarket job she's just quit. When she passes by an immigration protest, she rescues Eito – a young boy – from being run over by a truck, then ends up taking him under her wing. Eito is a boy of few words, but when a group of highly organized paramilitary soldiers hunts him down, he manifests disturbing body-morphing powers in self-defense. Riko and Eito end up on the run from powerful forces bent on killing the runaway boy.

A-DO has a story and art by Jaku Amano. The English translation was by Irene Nakano and was lettered by Phil Christie. Published by Kodansha Comics (March 5, 2024).

Is It Worth Reading?

Sci-fi dystopias have gone hand-in-hand with manga and anime for decades now. There's an established, expected language in the visuals of the setting and sorts of plots predicted to occur. This is to say that A-DO isn't necessarily at fault for covering beats that have been seen everywhere from Akira to Stranger Things. I'm not sure who keeps funding these research laboratories full of experimental empowered children, given how badly they regularly turn out. To say nothing about how full of holes their security often is.

Any over-familiarity with the material shouldn't matter; the execution makes a manga. In that sense, A-DO is…getting there. It's got the look-down pat. The sheer amount of grit and grain cluttering the oppressive city is part of that instantly recognizable aesthetic. Plus, it helps communicate the shift to action when it all switches into speedlines as the intensity picks up. The scenery and the characters within it are all loaded with personality, which helps, given the stretches where relatively little happens to the players. Jaku Amano knows their way around comics and visual storytelling. Panel arrangements pointedly become jumbled and angular during tense scenes. It's going for a cinematic approach, with dramatic page turns and panel flow communicating the idea of camera work and even audio aspects at points. The vibes are generally on point.

Still, as nicely executed as it is, it's hard for A-DO to shake the feeling of going through the motions for much of it. I don't even mind the relative lack of story or character definition for the initial viewpoint lead Riko. She's charmingly energetic, and I respect her desire to help Eito, feeling rooted in the simple, human obligation to help one another. But the story's ongoing elucidation on Eito himself, alongside douchey deuteragonist Renji, feels too clumsily dumped via multiple extended flashbacks. Playing so close to other hits of the genre means it isn't clear as to what A-DO is really "about" just in this first volume. Even aspects like the commentary on immigration are swiftly forgotten about after the story does nothing with them. This is an extremely attractive, energized manga to read, but it's hard to say how much it has going on for itself now.

From the outset, A-DO's debt to Katsuhiro Ōtomo's landmark manga Akira is obvious. We've got a sprawling future city, a disaffected populace protesting in the streets, weird kids with creepy psychic powers being hunted relentlessly by the military, human experimentation, brutal violence, and an unhinged antagonist who murders people with his powers. It's great!

Even the 80s-esque classic SF art style and character designs are heavily reminiscent of Otomo's, and that's a big compliment. A-DO looks retro in a good way. Although little Eito doesn't say much, his haunted expressions are those of a child who has seen too much. We've all seen plenty of anime or read a manga where the protagonist is a child escaping from terrible adults. Still, in this case, it's understandable why the military is desperate to contain him. His freaky plant-based powers are broken.

When exposed to stress, Eito's arms devolve into wriggly, squirmy botanical tendrils capable of superhuman feats. He's also capable of deforming and controlling nearby plant matter. Later flashbacks detail his upbringing in some presumably military laboratory complex along with other kids with powers. One of these is the older Renji, a 14-year-old psychopath who thinks nothing of randomly beheading people with his deformed limbs. When Eito slips through the military's fingers, it's the oddly innocent yet dangerous Renji sent to catch him.

Renji is unleashed on an unsuspecting city—a kid who knows nothing of the world. He's never heard of credit cards and, in one humorous sequence, ends up enduring a lengthy hard-sell speech from an overenthusiastic phone salesman. Less humorously, he's picked up by a hostess bar employee and, unfortunately, dismembers her for "lying" to him about her intentions. Renji's still a spoilt kid who can't understand that the adult world runs on half-truths and manipulation.

Each of the powered kids is kept on a leash, with explosive collars around their necks, set to detonate should they step out of line Suicide Squad (or Cyber City Oedo 808) style. They're also fitted with trackers, but Eito's has been removed. Renji's desperate to learn how.

The odd one out among the psychic kids and weapon-toting soldiers is poor Riko, a normal, strong-willed young woman trying her best to get by in a tough world. It's because of her soft heart and feelings of responsibility to Eito that she's embroiled in this dangerous situation. The volume concludes with a brutal cliffhanger, her life in danger, and I'm very keen to read what happens next.

Although by nature A-DO is derivative of other similar SF manga, it's interesting enough that it stands on its own two feet. I'm glad someone is still making this type of exciting, action-focused, and mystery-filled manga. It's the kind of story that attracted me to the medium decades ago.

Hey, do you guys remember Akira? Don't worry; I'm mostly kidding, but it was tough not to think about that as I read A-DO. The setup was asking for it since it's a dystopian future city with a lot of social commentary in the background. At the same time, an abrasive main character interacts with someone younger than them, who also happens to be a weapon capable of killing people with ease. Oh, and the manga has an incredibly high death toll, with people dying every couple of pages. Despite those comparisons, is A-DO something I can recommend on its own merits? I would say yes.

A-DO is a story of cynicism, a world where people are only really out for themselves. Everything is dirty, and everyone's an asshole, but there's honesty about it. We get introduced to a young boy named Eito who seems to be running away from something bigger than he even understands, but as the curtain gets pulled back, he realizes that maybe it's time he started acting a bit more selfishly as well. It's a very dark story with a lot of edge to it, even though you could argue that the entire book is mostly set up for an even larger narrative.

There aren't any questions answered regarding what our protagonist is or why he ended up that way, but there's enough engagement to elevate the book above simple window dressing status. I like our protagonists Riko and Eito's rapport with each other. It's a very big sister and little brother dynamic. Through these two broken people, there's a desire to do something good that can be appreciated in this broken world. I want to learn more about this world and its people, which I think is the main thing that A-DO was trying to accomplish. If you're in for a good sci-fi story with some gorgeous artwork, I think this is an excellent place to start.