Double Arts: Best new Shounen

In my eyes there are only 3 reasons you could not be reading Double Arts at the moment:

1. You don’t know what it is

2. You don’t like shounen

3. You are a foolish, foolish human being

Bullet Summary

Within the world, there are Sisters known for their ability to heal the mysterious, fatal illness known as Troi. One such sister, Elle, comes across a boy who is not only immune to Troi, but is able to suppress the disease in others, but only while touching them. She herself, within the diseases’ final stages, will die if she lets go of his hand. Together, they set out in order to understand Kiri’s ability and to try and find a cure for the illness.

I haven’t read many manga in my meagre years on the planet, but there are few things which strike me as inherently good right from the outset. Double Arts is one of those things. I’m a sucker for a semi-medieval setting (no high-rise buildings blocking all greenery in sight) and the plot is one that is both unique and has good potential. Kiri and Ella’s characters is extremely likeable, and though not incredibly complex, their natural sence of justice, kindness and all that jazz don’t come off as stale as it should.

All the other characters ( except the standard throwaway villains) each have a defined outline, and though its early days to tell, I belive the more permanent ones will only become more intriguing as time goes on. The art is crisp and clean, with well-drawn and emotive facial expressions and awesome character designs.

There are only two other mangas I read which are (I think) in Shounen Jump and they are Bleach and Naruto. The first has become relatively impressive on recent weeks due to the Turn Back The Pendulum arc, and the second has become relatively unimpressive since every time I read the damn thing Idont come back with more than two pieces of information (Take last issue: Jiraiya Dead, Naruto Sad). Anyway, the point is that Double Arts is better than both of them combined at the moment, and its only been 13 chapters!

Top 3 Reasons to Read Double Arts

The Comedy

Every second time I turn a page in this manga, I laugh. Not titter, literally LOL. Not only do you have the natural situation with the boy and girl embarrassment thing, but the mangaka really knows how to use facial expressions to emphasise comical reaction. The timing and setup are almost always on point as well.

The Action

In some manga the action doesn’t flow well or seems to be all over the place (i.e Gantz). Within Double Arts however its fast, consistent and extremely surprising and enjoyable. I’m always fully engaged when I’m reading it.

The WTF moments

There’s almost always a moment within the manga you don’t see coming, be it the arrival of an enemy, an attack, or just something someone says. It takes real talent to be able to surprise a reader almost every time, and so far, hat’s off to the mangaka for doing that.

In summary, any fan of the action, romance (it’ll come, it’ll come) or comedy genre in manga should be reading Double Arts, I may be a noob to manga, but in my opinion it really is going well so far.

Extra

FUCKING AWESOME! PWNED!