Edgerunners Creator’s New Manga Collection Is Distinctive

We would by no means get a second season of Netflix’s Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime, however its creator is protecting us fed with a cool new manga collection with a contemporary premise.

NoName, written by Edgerunners creator Rafal Jaki and manga artist Machine Gamu (Gachiakuta), is a supernatural manga collection the place the that means behind individuals’s names presents them powers related to their that means. For instance, its predominant characters, two detectives named Ralf and Ursula, have the ability to regulate wolves and remodel into large bear, respectively.

Fairly candy, proper? Effectively, not precisely, as a result of the world of the darkish manga collection is ruled by the Nordic Identify Bureau—a form of police state that maintains order by assigning names to new child infants. In doing so, the NNB takes company away from its residents, deciding what powers they’ll develop as much as have and, successfully, what socio-economic class an individual is destined to exist inside for the remainder of their lives. The primary chapter of NoName is accessible to learn free of charge on Manga Plus Creators.

Learn Extra: Netflix’s Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Tells The Story I Wished For In Cyberpunk 2077

NoName’s first chapter follows Ralf and Ursula—workers of the NNB—as they settle for a job from a charismatic politician named Bodil to look into the whereabouts of his spouse and son, who shares his identify. After a little bit of sleuthing, they uncover that the state of affairs isn’t what it initially gave the impression to be; Bodil’s spouse, Kara, left to free herself and her little one from Bodil’s abuse.

Bodil, whose identify interprets to human commander, forcibly used his powers on Kara, whose extra frequent identify gave her weaker powers. Along with some actually terrible bodily and sexual abuse, he additionally used his powers of psychological affect to persuade her that she wished to maintain their little one. (Mainly, his powers work like Zebediah Killgrave’s from Jessica Jones.) It’s additionally revealed that Bodil used his political affect with the NNB to have his son inherit his identify, and with it, his horrible energy.

Whereas most manga collection middle their energy methods on arbitrary scales that change relying on issues like the ability of friendship, coaching, or birthright, NoName’s distinctive premise of putting energy in an individual’s identify, having that course of strictly policed, and having all of it rely upon a toddler acknowledging their identify for the powers to manifest, has my thoughts racing with the narrative avenues and thematic prospects the collection may discover in future chapters.

I gained’t spoil how NoName’s first chapter ends, however I’ll inform you that its unique energy methods, coupled with its enthralling political overtones, make it one of many extra intriguing manga reads of the yr.