I am seldom a fan of stories regarding space, yet this is a manga that i can't help but recommend, the basic premise is something cliche a bunch of students for some reason get caught up in a vortex that leaves them stranded several planets away from their planet, thankfully they find a ship in which they aboard and managed to make a plan so they can go back home, the kicker? there's a murderer planning on killing all of them and that's how kanata no astra basic premise is
Due to the way the plot works it starts in a certain basic way, if i could say for certain what kind of genre it has it would be adventure, yet... at some point that point fizzles out and the twists start coming and let me tell you, there's a lot of twists to this story, some of them could be foreseen with a little bit of common sense while others... just gave me the chills due to how amazing they are, of course not everything is perfect, due to the nature of the story (them hopping from planet to planet until they get to earth) it can get episodic in nature and some people might not be as into it, every planet is interesting from their topography to their own nature even the food they eat might be foreigner to them and it shows
If i were to say one negative thing about the main plot it would be how convenient it gets for the characters at times, of course the ride to their planet is full of danger and all of them come close to getting killed more than once but some devices or as some people call it deux ex machina can happen and will happen to help the characters when they are in a position where's everything is hopeless, but don't let this shy away from how interconnected and how much they struggle.as people
The characters are the best part of this manga, due to the nature of it and how there's someone trying to kill them they always have to stay on guard with each other but this is where the Main protagonist comes and acts as a beacon of trust for them, you see the MC is cliche loud guy that always see everything in a positive light is not exactly the most weird or unique thing yet it works here, he is not this cardboard box character that only exists to help further the plot or simply wants to be friends with everyone, no, he knows when to take action and how to proceed yet he can be flawed, the other characters are full of life and it caught me by surprise by how human they are, all of them have a legitimate reason to go back home, all of them have their flaws yet they help each other even if the circumstances never call for it not to say i don't have any problems with them, most people at a glance would call them cliches but there's so much underneat and they tackled a lot of strong themes on what they are and even gender issues and this is something some people might be concerned about but one of the characters is
The art is noteworthy, the essence of this manga is space and the variety of life it contains albeit not human, the mangaka managed to capture the isolism of space, the nature of it and how vast and unexplored it is, every planet is a new experience and it adheres to its own rules, there's no weird physics or plain weird species, everything of alien life can be explained and there's a reason everything is like that, the equipment and how futuristic as well is something that i personally like and i have grown fond of the mangaka art by his previous work sket dance, but i disgress some of the panels shown here are amazing and the art is not a deterrent from you, the viewer to read it
In general this is one of my favorite works i have read, the pacing, the characters, the story and how well done the ending is, i have to say, read it or watch it as the anime adaptation is also masterfully done, it is amazing, something i can say from the heart is that i'm thankful for reading this
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