Comic NORA 1995
Story and Art by Satoshi Urushihara
- Story is completed (3 volumes, 21 Chapters)
Summary: In the year 2202, a horrifying technovirus has taken control of majority of the Earth, after a computer system known as Gaia went past its program. One of the guardians created by Gaia, Carol, has revolted against her creator, and along the way has chosen a human as her life partner. Shiori is now drug into Carol’s past sins as the duo - along with a team of revolutionaries - head to Gaia in order to destroy it.
Review: Chirality isn’t the greatest story out there, it’s actually quite cliché in almost every aspect of its execution. From the character tropes, to the events in which the story flows. But that doesn’t stop it from being a fun read, and we even see subtle but necessary character growth throughout for everyone involved. There’s also a lot of nudity in this show, mostly for the female characters – go figure – but it doesn’t become an overwhelming problem until the final 3rd volume. Until then the nudity becomes just a victim of circumstance in the story, instead of gruesome fan-service.
I will say it’s that last part that is Chirality’s biggest sin, but for my it didn’t crucify the story. I kept reading, and what I got was a pretty pure love story of two souls who’re confidently in love, and they’re not going to let anyone change that. The supporting cast is also just that, very supporting of these two characters relationship. You may not think that very progressive, but given the small fact that this story is a yuri tale, that’s actually incredibly progressive.
If you’re not sure what yuri means, it’s another word for lesbian stories. Meaning that yes, this story focuses on two girls in love. Got a problem with that? Don’t read it, but again it’s nice to see a simple story where the difficulty isn’t centered around if the two are truly in love, or if they’ll get together, but will they be able to survive long enough to be together?
The women in Chirality do most of, if not all the heavy action lifting in this series, although there are plenty of male characters – that aren’t used for comedic effect – the women are the action stars. And they kick ass. Carol herself can change between male of female, but never does that become an issue with identity. Carol firmly wants to be a woman, but she will change to male if she needs the upper hand in battle (that gets done away with pretty quickly though).
Each character is faced with a personal delimma as well; such as Carol needing to choose whether to put Shiori in harms way but possibly kill herself in the process either way, Shiori who needs to grow up and learn to protect Carol or herself, and Patty who doesn’t know whether she wants to enter the battlefield or not, knowing full well she’s not as strong as either Shiori or Carol.
Throughout this post-apocalyptic world though these characters are able to find the good in things, and they actively try to enjoy what could be their final days. And that does give this series more of a feel good vibe than you’d imagine from the way things are, but again it was a nice change.
Though the story has its shortcomings in being quite cliché for its own good, later overabundant with nudity, a sadly under realized villain in the form of Adam, and honestly I wasn’t a huge fan of Shiori throughout the story, there is one strong suit the series has going for it: Urushihara’s art. I love his style, it’s incredibly stylized, kinetic, and crisp. He knows how to conduct a good action scene and make it look badass. He’s also not afraid to send his characters through the ringer, which ends with one of the most beautiful “simple” panels I’ve ever seen in volume 2. He draws almost every female body the same, except with some variation to breast size, but at least his looks are sleek and nice to look at. I think where he needs more work, at least at the time he made this story, is with his guys who are a little more grungy looking.
Considering this was his first major work from the 90s, I’m sure he’s worked on it.
In the end, I walked away from Chirality satisfied. It was a short, fun read that didn’t overstay its welcome to nor grate on my every being. It got in, got out and told the story it wanted to tell and I admire that. By the time the story was over, I couldn’t think of anything else in this world that could be told, so I like that a lot. I’d recommend Chirality for what it is, but don’t go in looking for a deep story. There isn’t. It’s simple and that’s all it really needs to be.
Final Score: 2.5 Children of Gaia out of 5
Derrick is a born and raised otaku with a love for comics, anime, manga and movies. The full list is pretty long, but that’s just the basics. Stories set in space are his bread and butter.
You can find more of his writing at IndieComix.net
@KazekunForever