By Kia Asamiya
Udon Entertainment, 200 pp.
Rating: Older Teens (16 +)

Initially released in the early ’90s, Silent Möbius is set in a distant future where the world is beset by ecological disasters, demonic incursions and super hi-tech crime. Tokyo’s best hope of weathering the new breed of crime that’s developed in such an environment? The Attacked Mystification Police Department, an all-woman unit, comprised of magicians, priestesses and more. This is the beginning of their story.

The initial volume is split into three short stories, each one focusing on a different team member, giving us a glimpse of their background, history and special talents that make them ideal for AMP membership. The opening story is the longest, accounting for nearly half of the book. It’s needed, though; not only does it introduce us to Katsumi Liqueur, but it sets up the entire premise of the book and the world as well. We get background info, some tantalizing hints as to why the world is the way it is, why the Lucifer Hawks (the demonic invaders) are here and more.

The second story focuses on Nami Yamigumo, a young priestess, as she undergoes a ritual to test her skills and see if she is worthy of becoming the next head of her family’s temple. The third, and my favorite of the volume, focuses on the super strong Kiddy Phenil and moves away from the supernatural aspects and into the realm of hi-tech crime. Kiddy’s story ends with a “to be continued” and I’m chomping at the bit to find out more about her and the cybernetic serial killer with links to her past. While none of the tales is really amazing or groundbreaking, they’re all fairly solid supernatural/sci-fi yarns that give me hope for the future development of the characters and the world.

Kia Asamiya’s artwork is okay, though at times the action sequences can be a bit muddled and difficult to puzzle out. The demons are suitably inhuman looking, and even the dragon that pops up is given a unique twist and looks more like a freakish insect than a traditional dragon. Unfortunately, Asamiya’s faces can be a bit difficult to distinguish from one another, and if it wasn’t for the differing hairstyles, telling the characters apart visually would be difficult.The backgrounds are nice and really shine with the depictions of the sprawling urban mass that Tokyo’s become, or the crumbling ruins of off-limits districts.

Visually the book looks a bit dated but I didn’t find that to be a bad thing. The hair, costumes, and depiction of the city definitely hearken back to the cyberpunk cityscapes of ’80s and ’90s pop culture, with huge glistening towers of steel and glass and crumbling sections of the city that are all but abandoned and forgotten. Of course, it is from that era so it’s to be expected, but I didn’t really realize how long it’s been since I’ve seen it in a manga until now. While most of the book is in black and white, there are a number of full-color pages included in the beginning. These range from the opening pages of the manga itself, to several pages full of promotional and pin-up artwork for the series. It’s a nice little extra and I kind of dug it and hope they continue this throughout the rest of the volumes.

In the end, despite my small issue with telling the characters apart and trying to keep all the names right in my head, I enjoyed this book. I wasn’t quite blown away or floored by it, but it was definitely an entertaining read with a certain “everything and the kitchen sink” mentality to it that really worked for me. Fans looking for something a little different from the contemporary action/adventure offerings might find something worth checking out here, and fans of the ’90s in general should definitely give it a read.

Volume one of Silent Möbius: Complete Edition is available now.

Review copy provided by the publisher.