Print Review: Qko chan volumes 1-2 (complete)

Review Qko chan volumes 1-2 (complete) Written by Warpshadow Rating good

While the appearance of originality is very important to the success of any given piece of art there is also an underappreciated necessity to make the art translatable to it’s consumers otherwise it is nothing more that weird stuff.

One of the eternal truths of adolescence is that it is kind of boring. That is true for Kirio even though his country is now fascist and is locked in constant war. This boredom changes the day that a giant robot in the shape of a young girl crash lands on his front lawn. The robot calls herself Qko and informs Kirio that he is Qko’s new pilot. The event is what brings Kirio and his friends into awareness of the wider world and themselves.

Qko Chan is just one of those manga that kind of throws a normal reviewer like me for a bit of a loop with how different it is (I know the synopsis makes it look generic although don’t believe that). First of all the art style is something rather different than what one would expect in most manga. It has a deliberate blockiness to it that makes resemble the works of Jhonen Vasquez far more than what many would call the “manga style.” This manga is a title with a very odd and sometimes dark sense of humor sprinkled about it’s pages as well as a very subtle and touching look at adolescent life. I am sorely tempted to give this manga a higher rating except for the fact that this manga is so arcane that I have a strong feeling that it will be lost on the majority of readers. Overall I found this a difficult manga to recommend although if one is in the mood for something different and maybe a bit arty.