Scryed Recommended

Publisher
Tokyopop
Writer
Yosuke Kuroda
Artist
Yasunari Toda
Country of origin
Japan
Year
2001

S-Cry-ed Volume 1

By David Rasmussen
9th Mar 08

Remember way back in the day when I reviewed the Anime?
I’m personally hoping to one day forget that since it seems BANDAI has long ago pissed away all that I once praised it for and went somewhere bad (and it went there with NAMCO of all people). Occasionally I do find a great game to review from the new SquareEnix of companies but it’s not like the old days when I had LOTS of praise to heap on them, because they had lots of things worth praising… not anymore.

One of the things from the bygone days I gave a decent score to was this title, S-Cry-ed.
It’s been nearly forever since I last reviewed the Anime, so let’s go fresh and review the manga as if the Anime reviews never happened (OK?).

22 years after the catastrophic seismic event that turned a part of the Yokohama area into a tall tall wasteland in the sky, the struggle for survival continues in this desolate domain. Mostly a desert wasteland (with a small area reclaimed by humans splitting the population remaining on Yokohama into the haves (in the city) and the have nots (trapped in the wasteland)), the people struggle with the “heritage” born of the devastation of 22 years ago, the birth of super beings called Alter Users (who have grown up to become either saviors, punks, or crazies/monsters. Into this land a sometimes irritating “hero” in the form of Kazuma, a long Alter User with an “empathic heart” (really) and a hir trigger temper (so I noticed), as well as a unique power (the power of “Eternal Conviction”) fights against the darker side of Alter Users… like the psychotic who runs his own “School” where he ransons off his “students” for money… or the strangely hot black widow (“Mantis”) lady who drains young men of their lifeforce so she can remain hot… I mean young… both… both hot and young.

Is it me or are these stories far more stranger than the stuff from the Anime?!? Let alone packed with “Evil” Alter Users that are far weirder (or mind blowing) than the Anime? Well, I guess that has to be so since this DOES have a OT for Older Teen 16+ rating on it.

Oh, since this title won’t live by crazed ego mongers and black widow supermodels alone, the title also brings up that wacky evil group HOLY and their perfectly uniformed goons.
And this is only the beginning… there is more to come, if I can swap for anymore volumes that is (more reviews to follow).

If you were a fan of this series then you should enjoy it now in manga form (if you missed it when it originally came out way back when, which makes this “new to you).
Me? I wasn’t that great a fan of the series, and I’m not that great a fan of the manga… but I’m not going to let my criticism of it weight it’s score down since it is done well (drawn well and written sharply), and (again) if you liked the anime you’ll like this.

S-Cry-ed (which thankfully drops the “-” from the title to just be SCRYED) should be a solid read if you either liked the series, or want something new for your post apocalyptic reading material. 4 trips to Alter User rehab out of 5.

-- David Rasmussen 9th Mar 08