Shohei Manabe - Dead End

Somewhere in Japan there's a man who isn't very happy with his life. He has a poor job, lives in a small apartment and has only thugs for friends. Life is boring according to him. One day while strolling around through the streets a woman falls from the sky. Yeah, she falls from the sky. For a moment there I went "Aw fuck, here we go again!" thinking that this would be something along the line of Kannagi and similar "mystery woman meets a nihilistic boy" type of crap that Japanese authors really love to write. Alas I was mistaken! Dead End starts slowly in the first volume and it really seems like it's just another slice of life manga. Lucky for me (and you) the story is anything but slice of life/harem shit. The story is populated with some rather interesting and colorful characters who aren't exactly the avatars of all that's good and worthy. The plot isn't exactly something new or groundbreaking but it is very interesting. I always wondered where it would lead next and how will the characters overcome their next obstacle. The ending "explanation of everything" somewhat disappointed me but not that much so that it would make me dislike the whole thing.

The art I guess could be best explained as a mixture of Niheis and perhaps Asanos styles which is always good in my book. The characters are drawn well and are quite different from each other so you won't be wondering who is who (unlike in some other mangas I could mention) and the urban scenery (which is where Niheis influence is present at most)  is drawn beautifully. The author also does not hide any violence or gore so there are plenty of action scenes here. You'll see a lot of limbs being cut off (yay!) and other various unpleasant deaths.

Check this one out, it's certainly worth a read if you're into a bit more bleak and violent mangas.

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