Aposimz vol. 4

Let me tell you a bit about how I arrange the manga side of my comics collection.  There’s one series of shelves where everything is laid out front-to-back like you’d see in a bookstore.  Another series of shelves has the volumes double-stacked: You can see half of the volumes on the shelf while the other half is behind them against the wall.  Whenever a series reaches four volumes I move it from the former series of shelves to the latter.

Except in this case.  After four volumes of “Aposimz” I am done with it.  Tsutomu Nihei started his career with an ideosyncratic style in “BLAME!” and slowly began sanding it away into something more mainstream and conventional with subsequent works “Biomega” and “Knights of Sidonia.”  While his mainstream aspirations were abundantly clear in that series, it always maintained a spark of weirdness that kept it from feeling like Nihei had completely sold out.

“Aposimz,” however, feels like he’s given up on that weirdness completely and is just trying to deliver something that will sell.  I’ve tried to be patient with his latest sci-fi adventure in the hope that it will finally blossom into something interesting. Vol. 4 just tells me that it’s time to cut my losses before the series takes up any more space on my shelf.

I mean, this volume ends with main character Etherow in a… disassembled state and I can’t bring myself to care about finding out how he gets out of it.  The thing I liked most about the first volume was that our protagonist wasn’t the exuberant-yet-annoying kid it felt like the series was setting up to be.  After four volumes, Etherow hasn’t really displayed much of a personality beyond “grim determination.” It’s kind of fitting since while I only read about the world he’s in, he has to live in it.

I’d say the same goes for the rest of the cast, but that assumes they have personalities to begin with.  Female lead Keisha doesn’t even seem grieved by the loss of her village in the previous volume. Antagonists Jate and Toshu are only distinguished by their particular abilities.  The villainous turn by Keisha’s brother Kajiwan is the only notable character development in this title and it’s still handled completely by the book. Same goes for his attempts to use his newfound power to take the fight to the Rebedoan Empire, only to have it blow up in his face.

Oh, and about the Empire:  We get some more time with its leader Nichiko and are told that the reason he’s been able to rule so long is because he’s got precognitive abilities.  The catch being that the special all-piercing bullets Etherow uses have the ability to change the future. No, being extremely limited (there are only five left after this volume) and able to pierce anything wasn’t enough for these bullets.  Now they can change the future as well!

Maybe I’d be more willing to forgive how blatantly this information is exposited at us if it were dressed up in a more exciting visual style.  “Aposimz” has a distinct look to it, a thin-lined refinement of the style Nihei was working on towards the end of “Sidonia.” It, like his overall storytelling chops, is now starting to feel like a shadow of its former self.  This style has competence and clearness. What it doesn’t have is any style or excitement.

Which sums up my overall feelings on this series itself.  I feel bad giving up on this series because up until now Nihei was always a creator I felt I could believe in.  After this, I’m going to have to take a “wait and see” approach regarding whatever he publishes next lest I wind up expending time and money on a series that just isn’t very good.  “Aposimz” will wind up moving to a different series of shelves in the end. Only it won’t be to the one where they’re double-stacked by me, it’ll be on the shelves of the next Book-Off I make a visit to.