7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you thought that `DEATH NOTE' was dark and full of suspense, definitely give `BLANK SLATE' a try. Dark but very enjoyable!, December 13, 2008
This review is from: Blank Slate, Vol. 1 (Paperback)
A story about a twisted killer.
I have to admit that when I started reading "BLANK SLATE", I was surprised the manga was under the imprint "Shojo Beat". So, far from the first manga graphic novel by mangaka Aya Kanno, this is definitely not a serious about romantic relationships, love triangles or happy times.
This is actually a pretty unique storyline that almost reminds me of a "DEATH NOTE" style of manga. Not that the series has any comparisons but I compare "BLANK SLATE" in the fact that the villains are stylish and despite their dark nature, somehow the charm of the main character (Zen), a killer bent on destruction has a quick wit and manages to find trouble but yet alludes the authorities who are on the manhunt to stop him.
"BLANK SLATE" is definitely a refreshing and unique storyline from Aya Kanno, a mangaka who started her career as an assistant to "Psychometrer Eiji" mangaka Masashi Asaki and began her own career in 2001 with the manga "Soul Rescue".
Her fifth manga "BLANK SLATE" known in Japan as "Akusaga" is just an interesting storyline that revolves around a person named Zen. A charismatic man but also the worst criminal in history, the most sought out villain for his role in killing people.
Zen has an interesting history. He doesn't know much about his past. In fact, he just woke up one day with urges to destroy and kill. The only two words that has consumed him since he had woken and has done just that.
Before I scare anyone off and thinking this is a manga about some sadistic individual, fortunately the story doesn't focus on psychopathic murders but features how people who come across Zen, change. How his evil ways, end up changing people and he enjoys seeing people who were once good being corrupted by evil.
In one chapter, a bounty hunter who is hired to kill Zen ends up somehow siding with him.
In another chapter, Zen who robs a bank ends up in a middle of a terrorist plot and while escaping, ends up kidnapping a daughter of a general. The daughter who is blind and is literally stuck in her home and only able to wander in her back yard feels as if Zen is the person who can free her and destroy her world (ie. her life imprisonment).
This is just an example of Zen. His ability to use people for his own purpose and literally watch them crossover from purity to their way towards becoming evil or helping evil.
But at the end of the chapter, it seems that Zen has met his nemesis and as a person who likes to be in control now knowing he can be controlled by someone doesn't set well with him and now he wants to know why it happened.
Definitely an exciting first volume and the storyline and the artwork by Aya Kanno are just beautiful to look at. The men are drawn in bishounen, cool style and overall, the artwork was done quite well. In fact, the character designs for Zen and various pages featuring him in sinister mode or a withdrawn, everything is well captured. Especially in the eyes. Kanno does well in making Zen a handsome man but showing that those eyes can not only be beauty, it can also be death.
"BLANK SLATE" definitely has a lot going for it. A very cool storyline and well-done artwork from Aya Kanno. And the fact that she was an assitant to Masashi Asaki who created one of my favorite series "Psychometrer Eiji", it definitely makes me excited to see what she has planned for this series.
As for why "BLANK SLATE" is under the Shojo Beat imprint. I'm not entirely sure but perhaps its because the men are bishonen and even the first chapter had some yaoi vibe going on.
But the suspenseful storyline definitely draws you in. You have a good balance of action and suspense but most of all, a refreshing story that focuses on a killer who has enjoyed destroying and murdering but now finds himself in a disadvantage because someone has one upped him.
"BLANK SLATE" is a fantastic title that fans of "DEATH NOTE" can probably get into and enjoy! It's not a happy storyline by no means. It's dark, gritty but yet it's written well and the artwork manages to capture the storyline very well. Definitely check this manga out!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
sorta a wonderful mishap, October 20, 2008
This review is from: Blank Slate, Vol. 1 (Paperback)
Blank Slate by Aya Kano is about a criminal named Zen.
The chapters in this volume are sort of episodic. If you read the preview in Shojo Beat mag, then you might be disappointed because the 1st chapter is completely unrelated to the following. As well as the 2nd chapter to the 3rd. But the last are related and are the same story.
So you might get confused, but the individual little stories involving Zen are great. He's tye type of criminal everyone loves to read about. Daring yet with a good cause. Sexy to boot. With a character like that, the writing must be good. And it is. The supporting characters are really well designed and defined.
The art is beautiful. Very elegant and mature. Which calls for this type of shojo story. Keep in mind while there might not be any romance in this story, it focuses on the relationships the characters have with one another.
I only gave it a 4/5 because of the chapters not relating to each other which made it sort of confusing.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Kanno is One to Watch, November 24, 2009
This review is from: Blank Slate, Vol. 1 (Paperback)
The amnesiac Zen, protagonist of Blank Slate, is like a force of nature...of the senselessly destructive, hurricane-blew-your-house-down-and-your-mama-away-too kind. He needs to be that way, though, because it's a rough world that he finds himself living in. The nation of Galay has been waging wars of aggression against its neighbors in the name of law, order, and civilization. Among the people subjugated are those of Amata, who face both squalor and discrimination under Galay rule. Some of them have become freedom fighters--or, if you prefer, terrorists.
Some of these terrorists are plotting to kidnap the Galay General's daughter, Rian, and use her to extort concessions for the Amata people. Zen, spreading his amoral brand of chaos and killing, gets caught up in her disappearance. While hiding out at the General's summer house, Zen sees a strange graveyard that, he will later discover, is connected to his past and his unexplained memory loss. He also sustains some grievous wounds, and one of the terrorists tells him to seek out her brother-in-law, Dr. Hakka, for treatment. He does just that and subsequently decides to help the doctor with his illicit acts of rebellion against Galay. But Hakka is not at all who he seems to be, and little does Zen suspect that hanging out with him may mean the loss of the one thing he values most--his freedom.
Superficially speaking, this two-volume shoujo manga series is an action-packed, hardboiled noir storyline, perfect for anyone in the market for cathartic, gratuitous violence and gun-toting pretty boys with ambiguous relationships to each other. However, it also makes some intriguing, albeit at times heavy-handed and awkward, gestures toward more profound themes. For example, the reference to (and implicit criticism of) the United States' wars in the Middle East is obvious. The people of Galay are Western and light-skinned, while the people of Amata are dark-skinned and vaguely Indian-looking. The manga was first published in Japan in 2004, and the war in Iraq would certainly have been foremost in readers' minds in its original serialized context.
Also, it would not be too much of a spoiler to note that Zen's "real" name is Zero and that these name choices are no coincidence. Aya Kanno intends him to be a Zenlike figure who lives by instinct and in the now, with zero regrets or anxieties, unburdened by guilt. Though his acts may seem evil according to a Judeo-Christian moral system, by Kanno's way of thinking, he is no more evil than the lion that kills the gazelle. He is simply existing according to his own nature.
Kanno has tremendous range when it comes to her artwork. The soft, sanitized style found in Soul Rescue barely resembles the self-conscious satire of Otomen. Blank Slate sports yet a third look--bleak, brooding, and beautiful. She really takes the opportunity to strut her stuff here. The subtlety and dynamism of her layouts are top notch. You will find it hard to believe that she made her professional debut as recently as 2001. Recommended. Kanno is one to watch.
-- Casey Brienza
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