The year is 2032, after a solar flare destroyed the ozone layer, humanity escaped to the relative safety of the underground. The RSC in a joint venture with the government, however, develops the Re:Anima System. Able to replicate a humans body not only does it allow humans to live on the surface again it has made pain and even death obsolete. Thanks to this people have started modding their Re:Anima, allowing them to turn body parts into everything from knives to bombs, and while they may not be able to kill people these modded "suits" not only cause chaos but ensure those who encounter them suffer the long terms effects from the trauma of watching your friends and family "murdered". That's where the Enforcement Bureau comes in, their job is to track down and eliminate these modded Anima. And for Shinano that's fine, she has her Re:Anima to keep her safe, but Kara her partner at the Bureau fighting people who can turn their severed fingers into bombs is a little bit more dangerous because Kara, somehow, still has his own body.

I thought this was going to lean a little harder on climate change and while I would have enjoyed that as well, I found the conversation around the fact that the whole population is just a little crazy and most definitely suffering from PTSD far more interesting. It isn't just that these people are snapping because killing someone simply doesn't matter, it's the fact that people are witnessing a robot for all intents and purposes that resembles their family members being killed in some of the most messed up situations with the killer being fined at best because they didn't actually kill someone. So you've got half of the population who are mentally unstable because hey they can get away with murder and the other half trapped in a PTSD cycle because even though they watched someone they care about die, for all intents and purposes, they didn't actually die. That would mess anyone up for life. Honestly, it's a way deeper conversation on the human experience and trauma than I was expecting. And I think what makes it even more interesting is Kara is the only one who can truly understand why all of this is so traumatic as he's the only one who is actually at risk of not just feeling pain but actually dying. He mentions multiple times that the Re:Anima "suits" should include pain receptors and he's get shut down time and again. And while I believe the people shutting him down believe it's for a good reason it's almost impossible for them to understand how by taking away a little thing like being able to tell when you step on a Lego is literally depriving humanity of, well, their humanity.


Overall, I'll definitely be continuing this series. This is just an incredibly unique dystopian world that offers a glimpse at how much simply being able to feel pain contributes to our ability to not just empathize with people but genuinely not lose your freaking mind.


As always thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha for the eArc!

i liked where the story was going but the characters are not my cup of tea, too comedic for me, some seriousness is needed throughout the story, maybe some back story would be great as well.

I really liked the worldbuilding - with the post-climate disaster world and humanity’s inability to give up normalcy even in a completely unliveable environment. It reminded me of The Ones We’re Meant to Find.

But the characters were a little too unserious for me. I would have liked a bit more of their backstories and less of their buddy-cop comedy routine / railfan nonsense. If the story was darker in tone, I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

Interesting concept! I found the book kind of boring but its not bad. Trains being a special interest is an interesting character trait, and I find it amusing now that I've been to Tokyo and used their train system!

I find the idea of an unlivable world because of climate change and the fact that now people have use this synthetic bodies to be able to live on the surface while the real bodies are confined underneath very very interesting. When I realized the manga would be about a police group that fights against moded synthetic bodies I was really excited for the infinite fighting posibilities. Instead, the three episodes that compose this volume were quite underwhelming in my opinion. The bodies are not real and they can't even feel pain and you can use mods and programming to make them do anything, but the fights are just... not that interesting? That's a death sentence on a fighting manga.

I have to be honest and say that I find the pacing quite slow. The episodes feel like they are a bit too long and drag on. I don't know if I would rather the manga was serialized weekly but I do think it would benefit from tightening the chapters (either by adding more content or by making them a bit shorter, or perhaps adding subplots? Although to be fair, it's still a bit early to do that, we're only three chapters in)

Regarding the art, I think it's quite good? It's not super original in this genre and demographic but I do enjoy that women aren't super stylized (so far) to have gigantic breasts or hips, that's always a bonus point for me.

I think the plot of the manga has a LOT of potential, but it needs to be exploited FAST.