365 Days of Manga, Day 86: O-Parts Hunter

O-PARTS HUNTER (666 Satan) (666サタン) • Seishi Kishimoto • VIZ (2006-ongoing) • Square Enix (Monthly Shônen Gangan, 2002-2007) • 19 volumes • Shonen Science Fiction Fantasy Action-Adventure • 16+ (crude humor, mild language, infrequent graphic violence, brief nudity, mild sexual situations)
In a vaguely sci-fi world of fantastic sights–giant cacti, giant monsters, enormous airships, everything big, big, big–the most precious technology is “O-Parts,” lost relics of an ancient civilization which only certain people can use. Ruby Crescent, an archaeologist’s daughter turned treasure hunter (shades of Bulma in Dragon Ball), is on a quest for the artifacts, during which she meets Jio, a plucky orphan with a troubled past and an evil spirit named “Satan” trapped inside him. Conveniently for the plot, O-Parts are primarily weapons, and Jio must master his O-Part in order to fight bad guys and discover the secret of Satan, which the Stea Government and the criminal Zenom Syndicate are warring over. Seishi Kishimoto is the twin brother of Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto), and their art styles and character designs are very similar, down to the weird spiral tattoos, the castoff-looking clothing, even plot elements such as the evil spirits which possess the protagonists. But whereas Naruto has a well-defined “world” and smooth story development, O-Parts Hunter all too often feels like a bunch of random ideas and spiky-haired kids strewn across the page. The story is clichéd and the plotting is crude, with lots of extraneous dialogue, charts and exposition explaining the same martial arts concepts over and over–perhaps useful in a monthly comic, but aggravating in a graphic novel. Attempts at coolness backfire, such as Ball, the possibly African-American character who fights with a yo-yo and says “yo” constantly, or the big-breasted catgirl computer hacker, or the angels and Kabalistic imagery (in the later, more serious parts of the series) stolen from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Even when attractive, the art often lacks depth, due to lack of line width. In the end, O-Parts Hunter is so inferior to Naruto that one wonders whether Masashi is simply more talented, or whether Shonen Jump’s editorial involvement is responsible for much of what makes Naruto a success.

Today’s winner is Cody T. of New Mexico. Congratulations, Cody! For those of you who didn’t see yesterday’s post, please go to kingofrpgs.com for information about the new manga giveaway, the “Tell Me About Your Character” contest!