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Rating: 4/5 teacups
Summary
“Always sporting her headphones to try to close out the world around her, Hikaru is clearly a reclusive teen aged girl. And within her body resides another life-form known as Ciel, a hunter in search of an intergalactic murderer intent on wiping out humanity. In 7 Billion Needles, two lives share one heart as they race to protect each other and what they most cherish.
Modern day Japan is the stage for a new form of hard science-fiction, as author Nobuaki Tadano revisits one of the genre’s Grand Masters, Hal Clement, in his debut work 7 Billion Needles. Loosely inspired by Clement’s golden age title Needle, 7 Billion Needles follows the life of a teenage girl whose quiet boring days are dramatically changed when her body is possessed by an alien life form caught up in an intergalactic manhunt.
On a clear calm night, while on a class trip to the beach, Hikaru Takabe decides to go for a walk to escape the shackles of school and peer pressure. While observing the stars above a calm dark sea in an instant she is disintegrated when struck by a meteor.
Flash forward one page, and Hikaru awakes, from what seems like a horrible daydream of sorts, sitting amongst classmates in school without a scratch on her. The meteor dream seemed so real she cannot believe she’s alive, but given her relative aloof nature, she soon shrugs off the events and moves on with life. However, one thing she cannot shake off is the strange buzzing she hears coming from her new pair of headphones…”
-From Amazon.com
Review
I’m not generally one to read Manga. I’m not sure why, but I really prefer making my own images in my head instead of reading a story that is made of images. But a change can be good sometimes. So when I was in the library I decided to find a Manga, but I didn’t want to read a really famous one because I wanted something a little different. And I also wanted something shorter. Then I found this one. Only 4 volumes (and they are really small) so I only have 3 more to go!
Unique story.
It was quite unique this story. So unlike anything else. The first thing that caught my attention was the name. It just made me curious. Then the cover. It has a girl and a skeleton on it that seems to be like….loosing…flesh. I was slightly curious as to what happened in the story for this to happen. I can’t tell you as it’s early in the Manga.
However, I can tell you that the story was really good! The 4 volumes make up the entire story. So this one was just the first part!
Traditional manga drawings.
As you can see the actual drawings are gorgeous! It’s all done in traditional Manga style with various frames per page. It took me a while to figure out which way to read it because, while I knew that you start at the back (read opposite direction) I’m never really sure which way to read a page because it wasn’t always the Japanese reading direction. I kind of just made it up as I went!
Overall it was an interesting read. Not something that I generally read but it’s nice for a change. It only took me an hour or so to get through and I’m definitely curious as to what the rest of the series holds. I will have to get to it when I can as I have so many other books on my TBR but it is certainly worth checking out if you are looking for something different.
For that I give it 4/5 teacups!
Happy Reading!
