ABSORB: ABILITY - First Impression by Urizen

   I feel like I have been disappointed a bit lately. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark wasn’t great. “Fly” wasn’t particularly a good manga for the first chapter at least. The convention I went to was a bit of a disaster, among a few other things. So I am going to try again! I was going to have the next first impressions I did be a television series, but not anymore! I am determined…I am hopeful that the next manga I select will actually be good. I can only sit here with my fingers crossed and hope for the best from this. No more time wasted, let’s go!

   Okay, I am reading “Absorb: Ability”. Apparently this is a comedy, supernatural series written by Setsuko Yoneyama in 2007. It is fairly older and has not been fully translated, so I assume it is going to be great and I will never get to read the rest of it. The art looks better than “Fly" did, but not excellent. It sort of has a mix between a Shonen and Shoujo art style which is interesting.

   The story starts with a  glasses wearing character commenting on how the birds are annoying and that they are apparently carrying a virus and says something about not being able to find a girl. We then see who I assume is the main character, he is telling a paramedic I believe, that despite the rest of his friends being sick with very bad food poisoning from some stuff they had just recently eaten, he was just fine and one of his most redeeming qualities is his health. The paramedic (police officer?) insists that he should go to the doctor to at least get checked out, but the character says he is already going to a hospital so if his condition gets bad he will get himself checked out. This character really reminds me of Train from the manga “Black Cat”. He really doesn’t even look that much like him, so I don’t know why.

   We get a news report going on talking about this Theta type of influenza that was first detected five years ago. One in every one hundred thousand apparently can be saved and the cause and remedy is unknown. We then see that our main character, named Kazuma, was personally affected by the infection. His mother and father came down with it before passing away, asking Kazuma to take care of his sister Momoka. Momoka is infected with the virus as well and is still fighting the virus in an isolated room. Kazuma was the only one who was unaffected by it, with more and more people around him falling ill.

   Kazuma trips and falls in a small hole in the ground that honestly looks vaguely human shaped. A long haired guy in a suit shows up and says he looks like an idiot sitting there like that and that it had been a while. His name is Takatou, and apparently he is one of the rare ones that have survived the virus. Kazuma is acting off which is frustrating Takatou. Kazuma brings up the fact that if Takatou is one of the few that survived, then Momoka probably doesn’t have much of a chance of survival. Takatou feels bad, but does his best to try to bring hope to Kazuma, saying that laughter is good for illness and that he can't go see his sister with such a sad face.

  The two end up going to see Momoka and he introduces himself to Kazuma’s sister, saying that they work together at their part time job at a host club. Honestly, Takatou looks exactly like someone who works at a host club. He seems to have that personality as well. Takatou and Kazuma have a bit of a back and forth about Kazuma being ashamed of his job. The interactions between the two make Momoka smile, which seems to relieve Kazuma a bit. On the way to Momoka's room, a nurse passes by them, looking at Kazuma and Takatou and thinks about how “it is that person." After the interactions between the three, we see the nurse outside the room, eavesdropping and thinking that Momoka seems comfortable. This is the glasses wearing person from the first page, so I’m instantly suspicious.

   Suddenly, Kazuma freaks out and starts to scream Momoka's name. Momoka has collapsed, because timing in fiction dictates that this has to wait to happen until this group of people is around. As the doctors are doing their thing and examining Momoka, Takatou can’t help but wonder if it is his fault for making her laugh and overdoing it, but Kazuma says that isn’t the case. Apparently she would do this often where she would suddenly lose consciousness. Takatou then starts acting totally not suspicious. He says “This cold is weird….you can even call it strange. Even with the medicine, I was still feeling weird too.” “I know you are angry. It is the quenchless burn. You think you are feeling dizzy. It’s strange.” He gets this weird look on his face, followed by a shot of the nurse smiling.

   There is a loud noise followed by a doctor, bleeding and stumbling out of the room before falling down. Momoka is standing there, with the glass being blown out of the window that separated them. She looks not right. I am okay with this. This is interesting. The art is really working for it. Momoka steps out and embraces Kazuma, saying how she always wanted to be able to touch her brother. Her hand grips his shoulders tightly, saying that she thought if he got infected by the illness, it would be great.

   Momoka falls over, prompting the nurse to say that she is adapting. Not going to lie, I’m really into this manga so far. This is depressing because I know it is going to be impossible for me to find the rest of the series. Apparently those affected with the virus will go through a struggle. Takatou went through this as well. It isn’t just a normal cold, though it has the symptoms of an early cold. It has a long incubation period and even though they say that only one in one hundred thousand will survive, the doctors haven’t understood yet that the parasite changes. A parasite?? Is this parasite??

   Apparently it rewrites the RNA and DNA. The parasites enter the DNA and multiplies. It is also known as the Retro Virus. Momoka is then shown standing up, and all in shadows and is more monstrous. Then we see her and she is like covered in fur and has fox ears or something along those lines. She looks so cool.

   Sadly the chapter ends there, which is annoying. I actually really, really enjoy this manga. From what I can tell, it is a short series, but was never fully translated. The story seems like a very interesting premise and honestly, while the art threw me off at first, it ended up working out really well. The plot could potentially fall into a basic story, but I think it could be unique enough to be good from what I have seen. I don’t fully understand how this is a comedy series, it seems pretty dark. It doesn’t quite seem like it would be a mature series, but could fit into the Shonen category.  

   I really think I will continue this series.  I don’t know if I will be able to finish it given that I can’t seem to find the last few chapters translated, and the last update on the site I am on is from 2012. I want to recommend this to people to try out honestly. If you can find it, I’d say give it a shot. For something that didn’t seem to get that much attention, it seemed really good. The character designs are interesting, and the characters themselves seem okay. I think as I read another chapter or so, I will get more of a feel for them all and like them more. I want to know more about this virus, and the world. I want to see how more of the people that adapt to the virus, seeing what they change into and the affect it has. Given Kazuma's immunity thus far, I wonder if he is going to have an ability of sorts to cure the virus. I don’t know. I’m sure I’ll be disappointed to not be able to finish the full story, but I am going to go read the rest of this. Due to it not being fully translated, I’m not going to say, drop what you’re doing and check this out, but if you have nothing going on and just want to browse manga, do it.  You might enjoy it.