Murder Incarnation

Have you ever been at the scene of a horrific car accident? You know you shouldn't look. Most likely, you're driving yourself and you need to keep your eyes on the road, anyway, but you just can't help it. The sights of miscellaneous debris, a twisted heap that's barely recognizable as a car anymore, and possibly even emergency responders on the scene, all draw your eyes in. It's too horrible not to look.

This is the rough manga equivalent of that phenomenon. Words cannot do it justice. It has to be seen. Even so, for me seeing was not believing. I could not understand what I was seeing for most of an entire chapter. Finally, it dawned on me. This manga was rendered with some kind of computer-generated imagery software.

It had never occurred to me before now that this was a thing someone might try. Furthermore, that it would be printed in an ordinary manga periodical, and blithely reproduced on Crunchyroll's website. The result is horrifying. One might chance upon this manga on CR's site, or on an aggregate site such as this, if he is unlucky. It is deservedly obscure. Even if one does happen upon it, he is likely to shy away from it because of its terrible promotional image. As far as I can tell, it only has the one.

The promotional image is baffling in how it is both indicative and nonindicative at the same time. It is indicative of the general quality of the manga, but it doesn't seem to be made using the same model as it appears in the manga. The poor promotion seem to have extended even to the adaptation work. Some obvious mistakes were left in, some panels weren't cleaned appropriately, and there was even an image that wouldn't load.

Considering how slipshod the work itself is, I can hardly blame them for the lack of effort. There are backgrounds that are obviously just photographs. This isn't unheard of in manga, but it's just egregious here. There's even one that appears to be from a timelapse photograph, which is a really bizarre choice. Was it the first picture he found? The CG models are desperately lacking in detail. It really doesn't make a lot of sense in a situation like this where rendering is barely even a consideration, so the only reasonable explanation seems to be a simple lack of effort and/or skill.

I've barely talked about the story itself to this point, but to be blunt these visuals made the story sort of moot. Even putting them aside, it's like a bad version of Hell Girl. But even this comparison highlights the main failing of this manga. Hell Girl nailed the aesthetic qualities. Hell Girl had style. This is liable to make one bleed from the eyes. I hope I won't be spoiling anything by mentioning there are murders in this manga. Those are probably the most important scenes of all, but they look retarded. It looks like somebody's stabbing a goddamn mannequin. It's impossible to take them seriously, much less with the gravity they're supposed to possess.

So, in the end, what even is this manga? In the first place, is this actually manga? Even the aggregate sites don't seem to know what to do with this thing; there are almost no tags used. It's only a "psychological" manga in the sense it's likely to drive one insane. The only thing horrible about it is the way it looks. In the end, perhaps it is only a freak show.

P.S.: Do not read Crunchyroll comments for any reason. You are liable to lose some of whatever little faith in humanity you had left. Even MAL users have eyes.

Murder incarnation is a very short episodic manga, so i'll try to keep things as vague as possible to avoid spoilers.

Story+Characters-
Murder Incarnation tells 4 different stories over the course of its 10 chapters. They all revolve around the goal of bringing someone dead back to life through the killing of 3 people.Each story has a different twist and i thoroughly enjoyed all of them, the last one being the highlight for me.

There is only one constant character throughout this manga, Mikuni Maya. The mysterious girl with twin tails who has an interest in corpses and offers to bring the dead back to life in exchange for 3 murders.The other characters of a story will only be around for 2-3 chapters, but they all bring something new to the table. Some characters make you want them to succeed in the killings and others don't.

Art-
The art has a strange style to it. It seems as though the artist has created 3D models and then altered them digitally to look black and white.I don't know the exact term for this style, but it added greatly to the manga's tone for me, as everything looked very "otherworldly".

Final thoughts-
I stumbled upon this manga whilst browsing Crunchyroll's manga section and i was a lot more than just pleasantly surprised by it. The only negative for me was that we didn't really learn anything about Maya. Why does she do this? Where does she come from? One chapter from her perspective would have been perfect,as this just held it back from that perfect 10 for me.

If your looking for something short to read in one go that has interesting stories with twists and turns give this one ago, it might surprise you.

It's hard to review a work that is episodic, but here goes nothin'-


Story:
Episodes span 2-3 chapters long. This works perfectly because most of the stories are only worth that much. Although I would have loved to see the first story continued (as it was potentially strong enough to be a stand-alone work) it ends on a note that was mysterious and haunting, just like our 'Murder Incarnate' is.

Each episode is different, and by different I mean significantly. It's great to see that each piece was it's own stand-alone narrative that kept me reading for its own specific reasons. I enjoyed certain characters in some, and others I couldn't wait to see killed. It's a fun read, and there really aren't any complaints other than the swift ending. I hope to see a spin-off or potentially a 'Part 2' in the future.

Now, to bring up a negative, 2 of the endings are really... well, they're stretching it. There isn't a lot of time for the episodes to expand on characters beyond the single dimension we get from a few pages, so when the ending has a twist pertaining to characters, it's sometimes a shock, and not the good kind. I kept reading because, "Mehh, whatever." Becuase I knew there was potential in the next episode, but it made a few of them kind of stupid.


Art:
Digital. Let's get that out of the way first. Deep breaths, everyone.

It's good, though. Scenes aren't overly crowded, and characters look unique and have their own defining characteristics. Some digital works fail because the motions don't translate well, but in this manga it's clear that motion is taking place when it needs to. The 3D models never got in the way of my reading, but when it comes to murder and blood and all that jazz, nothing beats hand-drawn.


Character:
This connects back to the story. The error really comes down to some of the character drama. If this manga had a higher chapter count, it's possible that this problem could have been saved, but it's already too late.


Enjoyment:
A fun read. It's a time killer. For its short chapter count and basic subject matter, I was surprised at the urge to read further (but to my chagrin there wasn't anymore.) I'll never re-read this, but I may suggest it to someone who's stuck on the bus in traffic and needs to kill some time.

I'll suggest the same to you! Read it if you want to kill time but don't want to invest too much! On break at work? Pop this sucker open. Waiting in the car for a friend? Read another chapter. Don't be afraid to give this sucker a try.


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