Land

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In the historical and superstitious village called "Land", the birth of the twins is considered a bad omen. Due to this, the father of the twins is forced to bring one of them to the woods and leave it there. The story is told from the view of the remaining twin, 5-year old An, as she looks around the world she lives in and wonders where are all 50-years old villagers disappearing.
The art of the story is consistent, clean, and quite simple. It reminded me a lot of Yoshida's Banana Fish and Yasha.
The story has a promising idea and full of mystery elements. ... The characters are probably the weakest part of the manga, as their behavior is confusing sometimes and I feel a lack of their greater development. But at this point in time it is hard to predict, how far will the story continue, so I hope this will change in the future chapters.
For me, solid 8/10 and looking forward to continuation.

Land is an award winning manga and for reasons that make a lot of sense, the incredible world and mystery put forth really draws the reader in a way that keeps you captivated in their system, with the rule of the land being nobody lives past the age of fifty and the presence of the 4 gods watching over the village keeping a system in place.
Everything requires answering and the character and plot revolves upon slowly uncovering the system in place and the beginning really gets the ball rolling on what to me is just an amazing mystery manga. Unfortunately I found the ending ... and final part of the manga very subpar with explanations just meant to give a conclusion to the plot in a manner that seems forced. This does not erase everything else the manga is and was giving the impression off.

For the art and panelling itself, I find it really well done with some really cool volume covers for the English version as well as the appropriate creepiness for a lot of the "creepy" stuff in the manga and really gets the unnerving feeling that the characters might themselves be going through.

I personally recommend it to anyone who's interested in manga that are mystery focused and involve a lot world building that is not forced upon the reader in a boring way.

I've read 26 chapters as of now.
Whooo boy. This started out as an interesting story about an alternative fantasy world in a secluded village, ruled by strict gods and even stricter customs and traditions - and one very curious girl's journey to find out what lies beyond the mountains. If the story had continued that way, I would've probably given it a 10/10. It gave me heavy Dororo and To your eternity vibes.

However, I literally have no idea where this story is going anymore or what the author wants.





(The following lines have spoilers)
...



I have a deep seated hatred in my soul for fantasy stories that turn out to be: "actually this isn't an alternative fantasy dimension, it was all a government experiment/training facility/reality TV show thing all along and we're actually in the modern age."
The reveal of this plotline was just..... frustrating. I was crying in pain. Another fantasy child has been ripped away from me in service of always having an explanation for something, no matter how stupid it may be.
All i can ask myself is just. Why. Literally why?? Why does it have to be like this??
Who is this in service of? Is this some kind of convoluted allergory about the nature of humans?? A statement about Japans rising average age in the demographic, falling birth rate and the aging of the population??? Welfare and pension??? Is it cultural relativism all along?? "The goal of capitalism is breeding loyal, good, unquestioning workers"?? No matter what excuses I can imagine, all of them involve the story going off the goddamn rails and becoming messier and messier. Just what the hell does the author want??
Why?
Just why?