Immortal Rain/Meteor Methuselah Mini Review (manga)
September 27th, 2007 by Nothayama
PG-13/16 for violence, darkness, maybe sexuality…I forget; official series website
Take Trigun, then turn Wolfwood into a semi-pubescent girl. I don’t know if it’s intentional or not, but Immortal Rain takes situations, character archetypes, and even particular poses and panels directly from its popular predecessor. Everything about this manga is well-constructed and pretty, but every plot point, every sudden revelation, and even the art style is very reminiscent of other manga/anime and a number of RPGs. People new to manga or the sci-fi western genre will probably like it a lot, but seasoned fans have seen this before many, many times.
Educated impression: Worth a try for genre newbies, otherwise don’t bother. (NotHayama)
Hi! I agree with your review, in that Immortal Rain is similar to Trigun in many ways. I read a lot of your other reviews and totally loved them! ^^ I really enjoy your thoughts on a lot of these series, whether I agree completely with them, or disagree, getting a new viewpoint on things.
If you read farther into Immortal Rain, though, past volumes one and two, up to three and four, and beyond, it really begins to stand out, making itself separate from the same-old same-old similarities it shares with Trigun and other series.
The characters are amazingly vivid and well-portrayed, even the creepy Yuca, who I can’t help but love. (Is it wrong to love a deeply disturbed little kid? Hehe, probably.)
You may have already read all of the series so far, in which case this is little more than pointless rambling, but if you haven’t, I highly recommend it. (Eight volumes have been released so far. Release speed is slow both here, and in Japan.) Of course, I may not have been exposed to enough manga to understand when something is just a carbon copy of others, but in many places, Immortal Rain seems refreshingly original and interesting, despite some similarities to Trigun. It makes itself stand out by relating over-used situations to well-developed characters and making them that much better.
Actually… if I’d started at the beginning, I probably wouldn’t love Immortal Rain as much as I do now. I actually picked up the fourth volume because of its cover illustration while sitting on the floor and bored to tears, when dragged along, unwillingly, with my Magic the Gathering obsessed family to a card shop.
Umm… I’m sorry for rambling. I’d be honored if you had a chance to reply. I’m overly obsessed with this underrated manga, and can’t find anyone to talk to about it. I’d love to hear someone else’s thoughts.
Man, I love Immortal Rain. I thought it looked nice and so I picked up the first four volumes. Now I’m dying to read the rest of it. Give me more Immortal Rain!
Thank you both for your comments. I totally understand why you would like Immortal Rain — it’s one of those series that I think I would have liked a lot had I read it earlier. I was a big, big Trigun fan about six years ago, and if I didn’t know that series so well it probably wouldn’t have bothered me that Immortal Rain takes so much from Trigun. But as it was, I couldn’t get into Immortal Rain at all — the obvious borrowing of major plot points and even individual panels was really distracting to me. The five-or-so volumes of Immortal Rain I read just felt like a prettier, sanitized rip-off of a series I loved. I haven’t read the latest volumes, and maybe the story takes a dramatic turn in volumes six-through-eight. If I have a chance I might take another look at it, but I probably won’t have the time for a while.
hi.
I can relate to miss alaena night. Immortal Rain, is by far, the most beautiful manga that i’ve ever read, although i am not really sure of its “originality” as what miss nothayama has said. Honestly, i don’t know trigun that well. I’ve just started reading the manga and if not for it’s awkward art, i may have given it a ten.
yes, i may be biased but if i were to choose, of course i’d pick immortal rain. well, how can i say this? the first time i read it, it moved me. i don’t usually cry or show emotions but this one manga, due to its compelling storyline and adorable and relatable characters, inspired me a lot. god, the script is just so amazing that many dialogues (or monologues) can actually be considered as “quotes” themselves. It’s simple yet complex at the same time. Sorry, it’s just that i don’t really have the ability to explain it well but i just so love this manga.
This is one of those things that made me really thankful that manga is ever made at all.
i’ve been waiting for volume 9. well, i’ve always been willing to wait..
P.S. sorry for my crappy english..and thank you very much for the review..
I love IMMORTAL RAIN. My friend introduced me to it and now I am addicted. I have just read volume 8 and would like to know when volume 9 is if anyone knows TELL ME!I love the story line. It reminds me of Twilight by Stephenie meyer-If you have not read it then you REALLY need to its phenominal! All the books are! The order if them is Twilight, New moon (sob), Eclipes and then Breaking Dawn- sorry about my rambling. Im obessed. Soz. I recomend Immortal Rain to everyone! All the characters are amazing I love them all
!
I can see where there are similarities to Trigun- the two ‘brother-like’ people, one of which is the traitor who kills the romantic lead hundreds of years ago, and is now trying to take over the world.
That, and the steam-punkish theme really seems to be the only similarities that I can see at face-value. Volume three was what really made me fall in love with the series- it introduced so much necessary plot that set it apart from many other manga like it. Of course, it’s a common stereotype that the immortal character wishes to die, but the reason WHY Rain cannot die is so much more compelling. Vash, to my knowledge, hasn’t experienced a wish to die at all (on the contrary, he loves being with people so much I don’t really think he’d want to), and although his sole purpose seems to be eliminating Knives, a la’ Rain and Yuca, I think comparing Machika to Wolfwood is… sort of unfounded. She lacks a guilt complex type angst, religious undertones, the theme of betrayal(after the second volume, at least), the extent of Wolfwood’s brooding and, I might not be looking deep enough, but I don’t recall Wolfwood and Vash ever making out.
They may seem like comparisons to Vash and Wolfwood, but as time progresses, both the plot and the characters themselves develop into something far different from Trigun. From your review, it’s honestly hard for me to tell if you’ve read past the first or second volume.
I really think you’re over-exaggerating in trying to make this out to be a carbon copy. There are similarities, yes, but it’s not some cheap knockoff like it seems you’re making it out to be.
The art is extremely standard for manga- pretty much the epitome of manga art- but it’s not unendurable.
Anyway, that’s my two cents. Take it how you will.
Actually, I hated the plot of Trigun ‘cos it was just so cliched. I never could finish it ‘cos there was an overload of angst, melodrama and the characters were too dumb to kill one another, even if they had the chances to.
On the other hand, I really liked Immortal Rain ‘cos I found it a refreshing take as you can’t even kill the person. And instead, it opened quite a few of somewhat philosophical questions that even lightly touched on ethical conundrums. Btw, the mangaka is known for her pessimistic and possibly nihilistic take on writing which was present even in Knife.
Though it seems the reviewer tends to dislike concepts of nihilism, so perhaps that extended onto his or her review of this title. I myself have no issues with concepts of nihilism ‘cos to me, it’s just a state of thought and philosophy, a consequence of a series of factors like socio-political, cultural, faith, religious, war, neurological, psychiatrical, etc. Though, I must admit to finding nihilism fairly depressing as I do value myself.
To me, all fiction is derivative + contrived since thousands of years ago when humans invented pictorial, symbolic, oral and written storytelling. So no, nothing is really original.
As for the art? Well, it’s not the best and I’ve seen much better out there. However, I’ve also seen much worse in alternative manga or 24-gunmi era manga. So to me, it’s just average and not too bad, though it does improve by quite a lot.