A Thousand Miles

Smokin’ Parade

****

Smokin’ Parade is an Action Shounen manga by Jinsei Kataoka and Kazama Kondou. It began serialization in the Shonen Ace Magazine in August 2015.

Cover Appeal

Jinsei Kataoka/Kazama Kondou – Do those names ring a bell? I sure hope so. They’re the power duo behind Deadman Wonderland and Eureka Seven. That bodes well as both are solid offerings. Eureka Seven is one of my favorite animes for the sheer emotional rollercoaster that is Eureka and Renton’s budding relationship. Deadman Wonderland had a rather interesting aesthetic to it. Both, however, had at their core, the idea that struggling against unfortunate circumstances (even when they aren’t your fault) is key to making a brighter future.

Youkou/Akuta – We’ve been on something of a streak of straightforward covers, haven’t we? The back cover gives us our summary and schematics for a mechanical arm. The front, however, gives us a shot of the aforementioned characters – Youkou, the main character, on the left and Akuta, the seasoned agent, on the right. Akuta is staring off into the distance, but Youkou, is looking sidelong at the reader. I suppose this is their way of telegraphing that these two (and perhpas their relationship) is important in this volume as well as fostering the notion that Youkou may be more perceptive and aware than we are inclined to give him credit for. Considering what we see of him in this volume, as well as how he’s initially misjudged (kinda) by Akuta, I’d say that ain’t too far off.

The Gist

Youkou Kakujou takes care of his sister, Mitari, who has been confined to a wheelchair most of her life. Science, being what it is, is constantly improving. Amenotori, a transplant company, has pushed medical science to a new high, being able to create and attach new limbs in cases otherwise thought impossible. Mitari is fortunate enough to get a new pair of legs and is, understandably, overjoyed. The celebration is short lived, however, when she snaps during Youkou’s 15th birthday celebration, kills their friends and mututlates Youkou himself – all after transforming into some bunny-headed beast. Just what exactly happened to Mitari and just who the hell are these so-called “Jackalopes” that show up to crash the party?

Cast

Youkou Kakujou – Main character. Suffers some very nasty injuries during his 15th birthday celebration. Very determined and focused, he seems to have a rule for everything.

Mitari Kakujou – Youkou’s sister. Wheelchair bound due to a double amputation, she is the recepient of one of Amenotori’s miraculous transplants at the beginning of the story. Sadly, that doesn’t last long. Thinks highly of her brother – obsessively so by the standards of her friends.

Midari – A Jackolope with modified legs and horns on both sides of her head. She makes a show of her kicks and her leg motors’ ability to tie foes up with ribbons.

Matsugo – A Jackolope with modified arms. His arm can transform into a bow. Seems to idolize Midari, calling her “Big Sis” and asking her to marry him.

Akutacchi – Jackalope with a modified arm and noticeable horn. His arm has a deployable gun akin to a Thompson, or perhaps Stryker, due to the drum magazine. He’s the one that drags Youkou back after the attack at the birthday.

Shirama – Jackalope team doctor, scientist and, likely, engineer. Outfits the Jackalopes with their prosthetic and nurses their wounds. Apparently, he’s pioneered a form of metallurgy that enables such prosthetics. His robot helper regards him as a pervert.

Kurama – The head of Amenotori. Although we don’t get too much information about her, I dare not say more less I spoil things.

Kotoharu – Jackalope with modified torso and horns akin to Diclonyus horns, AKA cat ear horns. His torso can construct swords. Lowkey idolizes Akuta and gives Youkou a hard time. Jealousy or protectiveness may play a part.

The Rub

Alright folks, lets conceptualize this plot so it makes sense. Amenotori is a super medical company that specializes in transplants. Like really, REALLY amazing transplants. They can create and attach compatible limbs years after people have lost them. Great stuff, right? Weeeelllllll, like 2% of recepients go crazy and turn into monsters, called Spiders, that are gross mutations of themselves centering around some central desire. Not so great, huh? Remember Bubble Gum Crisis? Remember the whole ordeal where the Boomer cyborg models would go crazy and start destroying stuff when their human based brain structure causes “Boomer Syndrome”? Yeah, it’s that same “your soul will eat your cybernetics”, random corrupting mutation kinda thing. And that’s where the Jackalopes come in. They’re essentially an augmented “Anti-Spider” squad. They show up, shoot up the Spiders and drag them away.

That’s one hell of a premise. It’s in the same vein as Deadman Wonderland with its body horror technology and super human powers. You get to see some rather cool looking geared up battle prostethics and the kind of body fileting violence that would justify such things existing in the first place. So if Deadman Wonderland’s gore didn’t scare you away, you’ll have no problem with Smokin Parade.

We get a whole team of characters but, like the cover implies, the ones that get a bit more focus than everyone else (besides Shirama) are Akuta and Youkou. Being the main character whose perspective we follow, this is expected for Youkou. On the other hand, we get to see the defining moment of Akuta’s life through flashbacks that utilize a film strip aesthetic that I find rather interesting and inspired.

And it’s here that I arrive at my main problem: I kinda loathe the main character. Youkou, at least for the first half, is kind of a pretentious little shit. I mean, anyone that goes around spouting made up rules, breaking legs and suicide diving on cars in traffic over trash can’t help but be so. You see, when we first see Youkou (as a kid), he sees that Midari is interested in four leaf clovers and proceeds to DISAPPEAR for THREE DAYS into the mountains to find a few. That codefied as “really determined” to me.

Fast forward to the present and he’s breaking legs. What? I was expecting that they (and maybe they’ll do this in later volumes) would tie his rule mentality to some previous facet of family life (like to guide his sister), but they don’t. So, instead of coming off as character ticks with depth, they look like dispropportionate retribution doled out literally on a whim. Furthermore, the fact that these “rules” are just how he feels, it’s frustrating to hear him spot them off when he could just directly express how he feels.

Fortunately, this fases out around mid way were he joins the team and Youkou’s demeanor isn’t enough to ruin the manga. Instead, we get Kotoharu ribbing him about his difficulty controlling his new parts, which should spur him into training and getting better.

The Verdict

This whole volume oozes style and is fun to read despite the MC’s shaky start. The whole thing seems to be putting the pieces in place for a big showdown with some flashy powers and some more heartbreak around the corner. I’m definitely going to keep reading because I want to see more prostethic designs and learn about the rest of the Jackalopes.

Continue?: Sure, why not?