Author: Yamada Yoshinobu
Copyright © Yamada Yoshinobu 2000

Apocalypse stories are a rather grim and depressing genre. Why do people write about the end of the world and, for that matter, why do we read about it? It seems resolve to something very simple: hope. We are at our best when things are their darkest. In the manga EX [no relation to the magazine of the same name.] Yamada-sensei takes a lot of care to ensure things are at their darkest.
The story starts off with a gang of friends on their last summer vacation before entering high school. They are headed to Kiji island. On the boat Satoshi is bugging his friend Morihiro. Morihiro complains that Satoshi is distracting him from the important work of setting up the schedule for all of their activities at Kiji. When the rest of the gang shows up, Satoshi notices that Mika-chan is not with them. Tomosaka tells Satoshi that she and Shinichi are fighting again. Just then they show up with Mika-chan gaining the upper hand. Later in the day Morihiro asks Satoshi if he wants to see the stone circle on Kiji island. At that time on the bridge of the boat radio communications are suddenly disrupted by a very high shrieking sound. As the gang plans on playing with fireworks that night Satoshi notices a falling star out of the window. Later as they are playing with on the deck Mika-chan asks Satoshi if she can join him and Morihiro to see the stone circle. Satoshi did not know she was interested in that stuff. Mika-chan is not really interested in seeing the stone circle but in being with Satoshi. Before the conversation can go any further they are interrupted by the rough-housing of the rest of the gang.
Suddenly everyone notices the sky getting dark with clouds. But what appeared to be clouds were actually hoards of birds. Before they can figure out what is going on they are ordered to get back inside the boat by the crew. Suddenly it starts raining and as they wonder what is going on, Satoshi sees a giant wave rushing towards the ship. In the chaos, Satoshi searches for his friend Morihiro. Just as Satoshi finds him the tsunami wave hits and the boat is up-ended. Morihiro and Satoshi are thrown out a window but Satoshi manages to hold on to both the window edge and Morihiro. However events play against them and Satoshi loses Morihiro.
Satoshi is also washed away and falls in to a blackness haunted by his last sight of Morihiro's face. Satoshi suddenly wakes up alone on an island.
Seven days later Satoshi stumbles across the ruin of the tour ship he and his friends were on. Does anyone survive? Is the series going to go on as starkly as it began? Or is there hope that someone he once knew may still be alive?
This is how this dark story starts. It has a pretty familiar formula: young kids stranded in a world turned upside down by some disaster. My original attraction to the series was sparked by another such apocalypse story: DRAGON HEAD, reviewed in EX issue 3.4. The pacing of EX is at times extremely fast and uneven. The reader barely gets to know more than four of the characters in a larger group before they are all ripped away from you. So little hope is left at the end of the first volume one has to wonder where it will take us next.
The art is very detailed with a fine line and copious backgrounds to fill up the pages. The characters themselves are well drawn, however there is some inconsistency at times. You can tell who a character is very easily but the faces almost seem like different people at times. Hopefully over time Yamada-sensei's work will even out and he will find his pacing.
The story does draw the reader in, though. The loss of Satoshi's friends is extremely painful. I really wished to see more of them. It goes almost too far in dragging the reader through difficult times but leaves just enough hope to make one look for the next volume. With a setup like this it is hard to see how the author will resolve things to a satisfactory ending.
The Japanese is fairly approachable, with plentiful furigana. A beginning Japanese reader should have little trouble following the main plot. The details can be important, though, and they will take more effort to read.
So if you are in to the apocalyptic stories with young people being put in impossible situations with odds so great that they should have been killed, then you may want to check this out.

Publisher: KC Magazine
1 volume (and continuing)
195 pages; Black & White
Vol. 1: ISBN4-06-312845-8
Price: ¥ 390
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