 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | VIZ MEDIA | | | ▪ | AUTHOR / ART: | | NAKED APE:
SKI OTOH & NAKMURA TOMOMI | | | ▪ | FORMAT: | | JAPANESE / B&W | | | ▪ | PAGES: | | 184 | | | ▪ | RATING: | | T+ | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 03/11/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 05/07/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | SCOTT CAMPBELL |
Kai Eto may look like a squeaky clean kid, but the greater Kanto Narcotics Control Division’s new investigator hides a violent alter ego and a dangerous past. Together with his stoic partner Hal Kurabayashi, Kai is assigned to track down and stop the distribution of a dangerous new drug – Dragon Speed. But Ryugen, the syndicate trafficking the drug, is almost impossible to infiltrate. Add street violence and a jurisdiction war with the Meguro Police, and poor Kai is in for some very long days at the office. The art style and visuals in Switch are pretty interesting because the male characters look a lot like what girls might want to see from boys in manga (Switch is written and drawn by two women, so go figure), but the story content is action-filled enough that guys should enjoy this series just as much. Sometimes it’s rare to be able to produce a book in both story and art that will appeal to both genders, but Switch certainly looks like it has the potential to do just that right off the bat. Beyond that, the art is pretty unique in its use of blank whites – many things that would usually be shaded are stark white in this manga, and I have to tell you it looks pretty cool. The contrast between white and black is also very straight-up – things are usually either black as night or as white as snow within the art. This, and many other elements of the artistic style, give the visuals a very mature, artsy feel to them. The story is just coming together, but the art should pretty much sell most people on the first volume – it’s just quite different in its approach, and looks great doing it. A little about the author and artist for your educational enjoyment: Naked Ape is the collaboration of Tomomi Nakamura and Otoh Saki, who were born just three months apart. Nakamura, the artist, takes things at her own pace and feels no guilt for missing deadlines. Saki, the writer, also does cover design and inking and is called President by the assistants. Naked Ape’s other works include Black Tar and the ongoing futuristic crime thriller DOLLS.
IN SUMMARY:
Switch is an artsy bit of crime drama that has some serious visual edge to it. The art alone makes this book worth picking up, and the story has the potential to get pretty crazy once the plot thickens up and the bad guys start coming out of the woodwork.
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