Blank Slate - Reviews

Blank Slate, or Akusaga is a short manga - it has only 8 chapters, but it certeinly is an interestiong position. 

Story:

The main character of the story is Zen, a man without any restraints, who thinks nothing of law. He steals, he kills, he destroys the world. He wants to be completely free and if anyone dares to control him, he will suffer greatly. 

But Zen has one weakness - he can't remember anything about his past. In fact, he doesn't even know his own name... And as a 'perfect weapon', he cannot let himself posses the slighest weaknes. 

Art:

Well, i took up this manga because of the artwork. The mangaka did great job on this one. Each character has it's own style and their facial expressions are all diiferent. Moreover, the backgrounds are full of details and you can tell, that while drawing weapons, the author made some research.

Characters:

The main character is certainly a very interesting person and he is the main attraction of the manga. His "friends", or rather partners in crime are also quite interesting personas. For instance, the bounty hunter, who was supposed to kill Zen, but after seeing him in action decided to help him. I can guarantee, that every person you will see in Akusaga, will eventualy surprise you greatly.

Overall:

For those who like military and action, this manga is a definite must. Interesting plot, with fascinating main character (not to mention, that all the characters, both male and female, are drop-dead gorgous) and amazing fighting scenes make this story a truly exceptional manga.

I think the first chapter (which is a largely standalone prequel) gave me false expectations for the manga. I expected it to be a series of encounters based around Zen's lack of compassion and proclivity for acting based on whims instead of planning. And while the second chapter could be said to still follow that pattern, from the third chapter onward it became clear that the manga was going to have vastly different vibes. Zen's actions started to have clear purpose to them, the massacres and killings were far more practical and less random, and Zen seemed to actually develop some bonds with people. So on some level I was disappointed in the direction this manga went, but I can also appreciate that the search for Zen's past was a reasonable direction to take the plot in. And the way it was all tied together in the end was...okay, I guess. I'm not sure if I cared for the twist concerning the doctor. Like, it felt like one twist too many.