Jinki: Extend Volume 1

By Sirou Tunasima

Book Overview

Giant rampaging mecha and the girls who love them Three years ago, a mysterious explosion rocked La Gran Sabana, Venezuela. Thus began the lost life phenomenon, a series of strange occurrences ranging... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1413900526
• ISBN13: 9781413900521
• Release Date: July 2004
• Publisher: ADV Manga
• Length: 186 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.3" x 0.8" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Jinki:Extend

Jinki:Extend tells the story of a girl named Akao, who can't remember any of her past except three years ago when she was taken in by a monk. Strange things are going on in the world. There have been many cases of the strange "Lost Life Phenomenom"(or LLP), where a whole town will disappear. But later, it appears that the LLP is actually cause by giant robots called Jinki! And someone tells Akao that she has a special power that enables her to pilot a Jinki. Akao refuses to fight because she only wants to protect people, and not kill them. But it seems that she may have no choice... Jinki:Extend is a really awesome series. It has beautiful art, and an interesting story. For those who've seen the anime, they might find it to be a little more "mature" (it's rated 16+) than what's on the anime. Another thing that might be nice for those who've seen the anime is that it clears up some of the confusing "flash-back" sequences. Where is flashes over to Akao's life, and back to Aoba's etc... Reading the manga allows us to understand more about what's going on with Akao. At least it helped me. :) But so far reading it, I haven't seen Aoba. ADV (the publisher) canceled the release of the Jinki manga at vol. 3, so there isn't really an end (there were about seven or something volumes released in Japan), which is a little disappointing. So i guess to see what happens at the end of Jinki we'll have to see what happens in the anime. ^_^ Anyways, overall, Jinki is cool. If you enjoy reading mecha mangas, I would totaly reccommend it!

Don't Always Judge a Book by its Cover

But in this case, that doesn't apply. The strikingly beautiful art found on the cover--looking more like it's from an anime than a graphic novel--is not merely for show. Throughout the entire novel--the entire series--you are met, page after amazing page, with the same plain aawesome art. From half-page shots of her--Akao--that are just as complex as the cover to 1/16th of a page quick headshots, the sheer beauty of the art shows in every fluid curve. To be honest, I was thunderstruck by how amazing the art was and how it was, indeed, more than skin deep. As far as graphic novels go, I have to say that this is the best art in one I've ever seen. As for the story, it's your basic mecha theme, with its own little twist, just as they all have, so it isn't exactly ground-breaking. They use the term Angel for an organization, I think, which brought about memories of Evangelion, also a sem-mecha-based series. Heaven must be a popular naming theme. In any case, despite the story being so cliche--another inexperienced, "I never knew I was special in that I could pilot these types of machines" (which I, again, liken to Shinji from Evangelion)--it is executed well enough, with Akao being a peace-loving monk or priestess or something before this chapter of her life begins. She lost her memory three years prior to when the series starts, or around the time of the first case of Lost Life Phenomenon. (Lost Life Phenomenon is when a person mysteriously dies or a town/city is eradicated. Robots have been sighted at many cases of LLP by survivors.) I'm not quite sure why LLP is so amazing. I mean, people are murdered. And Ryohei Ogawara's introduction is still a bit of a mystery. Then again, all I've read so far is the first novel, so these will hopefully be answered in the ones that follow.