Daydream Sanctuary Features

Thursday, July 23, 2009

New Flavors: Planet Waves


Planet Waves
by Wakasugi Kiminori
Yoshirou has a unique ability: The ability to read people's minds. He claims that he has noticed it recently and like tuning a radio he can listen to what others are thinking. He then realizes that using his powers, he can probably save others, like Saw, who is the new transfer student who is in the same class as Yoshirou. Meanwhile, two unknown people are driving discussing about the abnormal increase of people being able to use psychic powers. Who are these people and what is going to happen to Yoshirou? (Manga Helpers)

The art isn't exactly. . . pretty . . . but the story was pretty interesting and I'm a huge sucker for supernatural abilities stuff (like telepathy, telekinesis, etc.). Besides, I'm not really that picky on the art style as long as the manga's interesting or entertaining enough for me, so I gave it a try.

If I understood correctly, Planet Waves was a phenomenon that gave several people extraordinary abilities. There's a character that has been researching about it for years and is now very happy that what he had worked for is currently happening. It hadn't been clear to me on what type of people exactly gain these powers though (most likely it was just random), nor how they had exactly obtained them since they just happened.



Anywayz, I am impressed on how the supernatural aspect of the story has been applied to the real world . . . because it was realistic. The reaction of the main character (who has telepathy) was that he wanted to become some superhero that will save mankind. That's an example of the idealistic type of person in the real world. The world is so chaotic that whatever extraordinary ability we will have will make us believe that we'll become invincible like the heroes we see on television. Another reaction, which is the character who has telekinesis, uses the ability for selfish desires. I believe that's an even more natural or common reaction if you have something extraordinary. The main character had actually been selfish too, in a way.

Moreover, this series had also not been ashamed to expose how dirty the human mind could be. What people think aren't simply just about what they'll eat for dinner or what they dreamed about last night; their real inner thoughts could be very vulgar, extreme, disturbing, and shocking. In other words, mindf*cking. LOLz~ This series got me so intrigued~

It's also very hilarious actually. Well, if you can dig in to its type of humor. Some of its comedy are just crack, most of them had been mature.

I don't exactly have a favorite character here, but I think characters have been good. Nice characterizations and they fit to the story nicely. I only wish the part on how they got their powers will be explained.

This is not the type of series that I get addicted to, but the story's really pretty good and interesting, and it had been a fun read. I think it's seinen, and a really mature seinen because of mature talk (more on sex, wtf relationships, and other disturbing stuff), so people who appreciate or could tolerate that kind of stuff may appreciate this manga. Its supernatural side may be a little cliche but it's interesting, so if you're into that kind of stuff, you should give it a try too. However, people who are very picky on art will totally not appreciate it. It's not exactly bad, the art style is just not the "pretty" type that is attractive to the majority. Ehehe.


Sapphire Pyro
READ: 2 chapters out of 2 translated chapters of a new ongoing manga
VERDICT: May Read from Time to Time
I'm a sucker for telepathy stuff~ Of course it had my attention!
It was disturbing though, but it got me entertained! Story's pretty interesting and hilarious too!
It's not the type that I'll be addicted to, but I have appreciated it.