Introduction:

I have a bit of an issue with Shounen Jump. Naoshi Komi has been extremely loyal when it comes to submitting his work exclusively to Shounen Jump, but the many series in question rarely get past the one shot stage. Today I will be covering a series that was toyed with. Double Arts was picked up, but then cancelled at the end of the third volume. Doing this really hurt me because I got invested in what I felt was a very good story; an opinion that is shared by quite a large cult following of the series. Unfortunately there is no sign of anything happening with the series so what you see is what you get.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary:

In this world there is a terrible pandemic known as Troy. Troy is a disease that is transferred via physical contact where toxins slowly build up in the body and, once a cap is hit, you begin to have seizures that result in you disappearing. The church is working on a cure and using sisters to treat the disease in the meantime. A sister is a girl who has a high tolerance towards the disease and they treat people by absorbing the toxins in the bodies of the patients. The sister is not immune to the disease, thus they have a short lifespan. Double Arts revolves around a sister named Elraine who has reach begun to have the dreaded seizures. When death is all but certain a boy grabs Elraine’s hand and the seizures stop. Apparently this boy, named Kiri, is the possible savior for this world because he is immune to Troy. Due to this big news, Elraine’s superior wants Kiri escorted to the main church for research. The only issue is that Elraine can only avoid having the seizures when she touches Kiri so the two have to hold hands throughout the entire series. The two need to learn a fighting style in order to protect themselves on this journey because for some odd reason there is an evil organization whose goal is to have the world infected by Troy. Oddly enough it is revealed that the reason that Kiri is immune to Troy is the fact that he has a power called Flare which allows him to multiply the power of an individual based on the number of people who are currently touching one another. With this power, Kiri and Elraine develop a fighting style that will allow them to fight their way to the main church and… The story ends there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Characters:

Kiri and Sister Elraine are our main characters. Kiri has a strong sense of justice and it is because of this that he is willing to risk his life for the sake of curing Troy even though he realizes that success means probably experimentation and death. This mindset pairs well with Elraine due to the fact that she hit seizures earlier than most sisters due to the fact that she has volunteered to go on far more treatment missions than the average girl. The two embark on a mission with the aid of a girl named Sui who is part of a warrior race that is helping them for the sole purpose of finding a challenging opponent. Sui is very disheartened when she is defeated by Fallen Denzell who is the person that teaches Kiri and Elraine how to fight while staying connected to one another. These four would essentially be the group that meets up with a friend of Elraine’s to get to the church and cure Troy if they actually went through the intended story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Impression:

I really enjoyed this serious because of the interesting characters and serious nature of the plot. I am always looking for good stories that revolve around a pandemic and this would have been a good one. You get that typical shounen vibe, but not to the point where I could see the story being completely predictable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final Say:

I suggest you read the story as if it were a really long one shot if you are interested in a world afflicted with a pandemic. So long as you don’t mind the fact that the series didn’t get a real ending, you can read it online and it is worth your time seeing as how it is only 24 manga chapters long with two side stories added at the end. It is rough trying to find the actual volumes now so I would have to say you might want to try your luck with the scans online if you plan on reading Double Arts.