After reading several of Tsutomu’s stories, I have come to the conclusion that the major flaw keeping me from enjoying any of them is the way the characters are presented and developed throughout the story. Short, long, it doesn’t seem to matter; the characters are introduced all at once and in a manner that makes it impossible to remember who is who. We get the names in roundabout ways without any characterization, making it very difficult to follow the plot. Abara is no exception.

This is because Tsutomu prefers to tell his stories using visuals rather than dialogue. Despite this, he does not flesh out any ways the reader could become attached or interested in the characters, even with the dialogue we have to work with.

The art is the high point of the manga. If I were to observe some of the pages as objective, apocalyptic, gritty stills, I would find them fascinating. Reading this as a coherent story, however, is just plain confusing. The motive of the characters is obscured, replaced by vague reasoning and urgency used to spur the action forward.

I understand that withholding information is a plot device, but Tsutomu keeps everything to himself but names and basic terms, leaving the reader with little beyond cryptic drawings to unearth some motive along the way. While people praise this as a “deep, psychological” manga, the reader simply has to work harder to uncover why anything is happening, hiding an exhausting guessing game behind psychological intrigue.

The author wanted to draw gritty, sci-fi-esque monsters and fight scenes, and the plot and characters were sacrificed because of that. Beautiful art aside, my score is low due to sloppiness. There was no reason why the author couldn’t add in a detail here or there to help the reader keep the characters in order and understand the plot.

I will say this: I am aware that I am impartial to character development and a fleshed-out story. If you don’t mind feeling a little confused or detached from the characters, this is a grungy and action-packed read that you may enjoy.