Ultra Heaven

Image that got me interested in Ultra Heaven:
Story: Akira styled dystopian future where neuroscience has been cracked open and monetized. Bars are filled with specialized drug shots instead of alcohol and any emotion is one "pump" and a couple bucks away. The first two volumes deal with these futuristic drugs and their fallout on the human psyche, where the third volume focuses more on machine aided meditation technology that has many parallels to the futuristic drugs of the previous two volumes.

The story follows a very confusing and (potentially?) non-linear path unfortunately to nowhere. After 3 volumes, the manga has been on hiatus for 10 years according to some sources and thus the likelihood of continuation/conclusion is bleak. While the mystery of Ultra Heaven is never solved due to this hiatus, don't let that dissuade you from enjoying what is here.

The story places you deep inside of the psyche of a futuristic drug addict and lets you tag along for all the bizarre and terrifying reality shattering that ensues. The psychology and world building are equally fascinating, alongside some deep dives in the philosophy of what constitutes reality and the self. Overall some pretty heady stuff, but never without a constantly insane visual flair that will keep you engaged throughout.

Characters:

Main character Kabu starts off as a cool-guy druggie, and in what we have of the story so far, actually gets a surprising amount of fleshing out and backstory. Difficult to nail down exactly the source of his motivations, but an emotional explanation of sorts is displayed in volume 2. Beyond Kabu, the other characters provide very interesting philosophies to consider, but not with much backstory.

Art:This is the Paprika (2006) of manga.
Reading this all in one go I felt borderline high myself for all 600ish pages. The raw hallucinogenic nature to the visuals places you inside of everything Kabu is going through. Visually, auditorily, physically, and emotionally. While Ultra Heaven has a very interesting setting and philosophy, none of that would hold the same impact without its unique visual representation.

If you are here, I bet you are here for the art. And boy does the art deliver. Panels stretch and warp, faces merge and melt, and the world folds in on itself both physically and in time. All expressed visually. Some of the most interesting manga art I have seen.

Overall:
Lacking any sort of conclusion pulls this manga down, but on every other account Ultra Heaven is a massive success. I highly recommend this for the detailed art and interesting philosophy. If you want to get high from monochromatic static images, look no further than Ultra Heaven.