In the spirit of putting people onto new series before it becomes unfashionable to claim you were on the ground floor before they blow up in popularity, we’ve decided to put a manga series we previously recommended under the microscope and highlight MAD, a manga that’s well, mad—and honestly one of the best sci-fi series out right now.
MAD, the first serialized manga by creator Yusuke Otori, is essentially what Alien: Earth would be like as a manga with Jujutsu Kaisen‘s action prowess and Chainsaw Man’s pensive serenity, and if society stood absolutely no chance of preserving hope unless it submitted or adapted to its invaders. And how folks go about doing so is more complicated than clicking on a Xenomorph and hoping it plays nice.
The story primarily follows John, a normal dude who keeps getting flung into increasingly dire situations bound to drive him insane. The first of these sees him finally arrive at a bunker called Jericho. Said bunker houses a bunch of yoked-up military types who offer him safe harbor from the ever-present danger of aliens. Unfortunately, Jericho is a lot like the military holdout where Cillian Murphy found himself in 28 Days Later.
You see, everyone they take into their bunker is immediately imprisoned, with their only chance at survival being to eat the remains of aliens and pray that they survive or die a slow, agonizing death. That’s not to mention the messed-up baby factory nonsense Jericho has going among its jarheads. All of this is orchestrated by Jericho’s square-jawed, certifiably insane leader, Leon. He’s a real piece of neurotic work that the series plays up, both his menace and how much of a loser he is without the powers to back him up.
For a long stretch, MAD didn’t have much else going for it besides its manga covers clearly taking a clear homage to American-style movie posters and its whole “Alien meets Kaiju No. 8“ premise: humans can become beasts, too. That is, humans who are savvy and lucky enough to kill an alien, eat its flesh, and survive the gene-altering transformation.
But the series really started to gain steam beyond its entertaining premise when it left the confines of Jericho’s militarist sex-cult bunker and showed how the rest of its dystopian world made sense of life among a pack of quadrupedal aliens stalking the night like jackals.
Here, we see religious zealots who believe the aliens are divine beings called fallen gods, as well as a resistance group just doing their damnedest to survive the savage wasteland. All the while, John encounters newfound allies, rivals, and fellow alien transformers as they coalesce in wild battles and even wilder plot developments to further flesh out its mad, mad world.
MAD also comes with the distinction of being housed on Manga Plus, one of the less annoying manga reading apps out there, with a comment section filled with folks champing at the bit to see what new biweekly chapter updates will inevitably lead to one of its ensemble being driven even further mad at their lot in this hellscape world seemingly devoid of all hope.
As of the time of writing, MAD is starting to blossom into a series that outgrows its referential sales pitch as it fully fleshes out its world and characters, making the folks worth rooting for. Or, in the case of Leon, they see their comeuppance. So if you’re in the mood for a kinda funny, atmospheric sci-fi manga about killing aliens, becoming aliens, and finding hope in a hellscape, MAD is a manga to read.
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