World Embryo

World Embryo

The cover of the first volume of the original Japanese manga release
ワールドエンブリオ
(Waarudoenburio)
Genre Action, Supernatural
Manga
Written by Daisuke Moriyama
Published by Shōnen Gahosha
English publisher
Demographic Seinen
Magazine Young King OURs
Original run 2005 – 2014
Volumes 13

World Embryo (Japanese: ワールドエンブリオ Hepburn: Wārudo Enburio) is a Japanese manga series by Daisuke Moriyama. It was serialized by Shōnen Gahosha in Young King OURs from 2005 to 2014 and collected in thirteen bound volumes. The story follows a group of humans who combat monstrous creatures that spread around by using cell-phone signals. The series is licensed for an English language release in North America by 2009 from Dark Horse Comics, in Australia by Madman Entertainment, in Singapore by Chuang Yi, and in Russia by Comics Factory.[1] The series ended in May 2014.[2]

Plot

At the start of the series, high-schooler Riku Amami receives a cellphone picture from his dead step sister Amane with a hospital in the background. When he visits the said building, he is attacked by electromagnetic monsters called Kanshu, which travel and reproduce using cellphone signals: if a human hears his cellphone giving off an eerie static sound, his body is then gruesomely converted into a Kanshu or suffers irreversible infection. Riku is saved by two warriors, Rena and Youhei, who wield Jinki weapons designed to destroy Kanshu. During the battle, however, Riku finds a cocoon, out of which hatches a toddler looking exactly like Riku's dead step sister Amane. As the situation goes downhill, Riku ends up receiving his own Jinki and gets drawn into the shadowy organization that fights the Kanshu.

Main characters

Riku the story's protagonist, is a high-school student who lives with his father (absent for most of the story) and stepmother, Shizuru. He was in love with Shizuru's younger sister, Amane, but she is presumed dead two years ago in a fire. After sustaining, at the start of the series, a fatal wound from a Kanshu, Neene turns Riku into a special Kanshu that can retain his own consciousness as long as he has a Jinki. His Jinki, gained through Youhei's sacrifice, takes the form of a chainsaw-like sword with trigger grip. Despite his desperate efforts to keep Neene out of harm's way and public knowledge, F.L.A.G eventually sets its sights on the young hybrid and puts Riku under custody, only for the two of them to escape with the director as hostage. After the source of infection take Neene he has disappeared. He reappeared in the battle of the rubble tower only to disappear for three months in the aftermath, reappearing in a cocoon of light. In his Jinki form, Riku retains his white hair and markings from his kanshu transformation; due to multiple sightings, the online community has started to call "Suraga". He is an extremely strong Jinki user, able to damage Kagomari while others can not touch them.
Neene is a "Coffin Princess" who appears to be a toddler about two years old, but has an uncanny resemblance to Riku's dead aunt Amane. Neene was hatched from a cocoon at the start of the story, and grows at a rapid rate, experiencing a growth spurt triggered each time she uses her powers in a Kanshu fight. As the series progresses, she demonstrates various powers, such as turning Riku into a Kanshu after he is mortally wounded in a fight as well as creating a giant ball of light that disintegrates anything it touches or envelops. She is eventually revealed to be a Kyuki, a queen Kanshu who receives the memories stolen by other "drone" Kanshu, and her growth is directly linked to the absorption of additional memories. She has recently gained more power and is capable of manipulating memories and manifesting wings and has left with the source of infection. During the battle of the rubble tower she fought off ende but was seemingly killed off protecting Riku. Due to her two protectors' close proximity, Neene has started calling Riku "papa" and Rena "mama". After realizing his feelings were for Amane despite her feeling being for him the most important thing. Her last words were "Liar." She later reappears about three months after the incident at the rubble tower, having already grew up into a teenager, close in age to both Riku and Rena, and established a living quarters inside an abandoned building overseeing the city though no motives for her return and where she vanished to after her fight with Ende have been disclosed, as of the moment. Her most recent growth spurt can be speculated to be due to feeding off the cores from inactive Jinki users slain by a "kamogari" or black kanshu, which it returns to Neene's side to deliver her the cores and keeping her company as a way to protect her. When this black kanshu slaughters some Jinki users whom Riku made friends with, he follows in pursuit alerting Neene of his presence. Neene, then, has the black kanshu to lure Riku to where she is hiding much to the boy's shock and skepticism once she finally reveals her new self before him. Neene's current form, after the three months time skip, suggests that she's developed a yandere-like personality given that her eyes now look vacant and dead, but still she affectionately fawns over Riku when she greets him as her "Papa".
Rena is a young Jenki user who is depicted as a quiet and serious person focused on her job, who frequently takes the lead when fighting Kanshus. Her Jinki is Shingetsu, a pair of chakrams with a trigger-like grip that allows the four blades of each Shingetsu to spin. After Youhei's death, she becomes Riku's partner, whom she appears to have become attracted to, after their meeting with the Source of Infection. Later on, it is revealed she is a "lost re-bound" victim; the person who disappeared was someone she considered a mentor. She then had a flood of memories ending with the vision of a masked person. Her hometown was on Hatsumi island, which everyone had forgotten due to a Kanshu attack. She is currently looking for Riku and Neene, who disappeared after holding F.L.A.G.'s director hostage. In the battle of the rubble tower she fought a black kanshu who fought similar to her father. She disappeared with Riku for three months after the end of the battle.
Youhei is a Jinki user and Rena's initial partner. He is depicted as an optimistic and cheerful person. Before the series began, he and Riku met during their stay at the hospital and became fast friends. At the start of the series, Youhei and Rena rescued Riku when he was first attacked by Kanshus. His Jinki resembles a short blade and was given to him by his teacher, to save him from Kanshu-inflicted wounds. In an ironically similar situation, Youhei ends up entrusting his own Jinki to a wounded Riku. At his own request, he is beheaded by his old friend before he could become a complete Kanshu.

Manga

Written and illustrated by Daisuke Moriyama, World Embryo premiered in Young King OURs in 2005 and is currently on-going.[3] Shōnen Gahosha is publishing the individual chapters in tankōbon volumes, with four released in Japan as of August 2008.

The series was licensed for an English language release in Singapore by Chuang Yi,[4] in Australia by Madman Entertainment,[5] and in North America by Dark Horse Comics.[3] In Europe, the series is licensed in Italy by J-POP Edizioni,[6] and in France by Kazé Manga (formerly Asuka).[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Comic books index" (in Russian). Comics Factory. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
  2. ↑ http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-04-27/world-embryo-manga-by-chrono-crusade-moriyama-to-end-in-may
  3. 1 2 "Dark Horse Adds Daisuke Moriyama's World Embryo Manga". Anime News Network. July 27, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
  4. ↑ "World Manga". Chuang Yi. Archived from the original on December 15, 2008. Retrieved 2015-11-20.
  5. ↑ "World Embryo (Manga)". Madman Entertainment. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
  6. ↑ "World Embryo n.1" (in Italian). J-POP Edizioni. Retrieved March 21, 2010.
  7. ↑ "World Embryo" (in French). Kazé Manga. Retrieved March 21, 2010.
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