Dragon Eye 1 [Anglais] [Broché]

Here's a brief history of what's going on it the story. Humanity was close to becoming extinct when a virus called the "D Virus" infected the majority of the populace; including animals. Those infected turned into vicious beasts called "Dracules," which quickly lose their mind and go on murderous rampages.

Those who survived the virus were ones who posed strong antibodies; they were able escape infection 99% of the time. They developed an anti-Dracule civil organization and built cities to protect all future citizens (ones who do not have the high-level of antibodies.) This group also gathered super-warriors called "VIUS," who use techniques incorporating sorcery and martial arts. Their purpose is to fight off Dracules and protect those not infected. Those who become infected have only one cure: death.

Story overview:
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Forty years or so after the infection, in the city of Mikuni, candidates go on a hunt for Dracule in order to pass their final test to become a VIUS. There's an unexpected turn as high-level Dracules show up. These creatues attack the candidates in order to prevent future, potential enemies, but thankfully there was a hidden enlistment exam inspector named Issa Kazuma.

Issa reviles the secret Dragon Eye (hidden in the center of his forehead) to one of the candidates, Leila Mikami, who said it was her life's mission to possess one in order to avenge her parent's death. Easily defeating the foes, Issa tests Leila and finds that her motives may one day be genuine. He tells her that, in the future, he will give her his eye if she has a good reason (other than revenge) to use it.

Leila finds herself as part of the dreaded Squad Zero, only to learn that Issa is the leader. Since the old Squad Zero had been disbanded, she is the only member. Because of the small group, volunteers join Squad Zero on a mission. In the process one of the volunteers named Sôsei Yukimura attacks Issa. We learn that he was waiting for an opportunity to face Issa so that he could kill him. He claims that Issa killed his twin sister many years ago. Rather than be mad about the accusation, Issa convinces Sôsei to join his squad. The young man agrees as a way of getting more info from Issa and an easier way to fulfill his revenge. On their first mission together as a team, Squad Zero discovers that an extremely powerful Dracule was able to get into the city limits and it's up to them to work together to stop it.

My thoughts:
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I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I love the casual personality of the main character, Issa, who has a serious side he covers up. The other characters are very dynamic as well and a pleasure to watch interact. I also liked the chart of Japanese Honorifics at the beginning which explains the different indications of relationship/status when characters speak to each other. For example -san is similar to "Mr. or Ms." and can be used like Isaa-san (name first, then the honorific).

James D. Maxon
Author of Traphis: A Wizard's Tale

Great manga with great action scenes to thrill the reader but beware you will find yourself torn into a different world and will never want to leave I PRESENT TO YOU DRAGON EYE 1*cheer

I first read this series from the library at my school. And let me tell you, I was so surprised at how great it was. Just...wow. I was stunned. This manga is great. It's just so well done. Obviously, it's not one of those huge mainstream, crazy popular manga like Naruto or One Piece, Soul Eater, ect.
In fact, if you were walking down a street full of otakus and asked them if they've heard of this manga, about 90% of them would probably say no.

Now why this story isn't popular really confuses me. The story itself is nothing new. It's your typical world saving organization saving world from evil creatures plus magical skills and huge weapons story. That alone might drive people away. Because what does this sound like? That's right, it sounds like a knock off of Naruto. And to be honest, I don't really care for Naruto that much. This is one of my favorite manga. Yes, over Naruto.

That said, what makes this story different from the countless other ones like this?

A few things actually. The art style could be a bit more mature, but to be honest, it's one of the best things about this manga. I absolutely love this artist's style. Good gosh the coloring and cover art is stunning.
Along with that comes character design and oh gosh does this manga nail character design. It's got every anime cliche for character design in there, but at the same time it's just visually pleasing. The characters are just so well done and their uniforms and outfits...it's just so well designed and unique! The outfits are very shonen, but still unique. The girls are dressed nicely and are drawn respectfully (yes, I'm looking at you, Oda-sensei.) and the artist still manages to make them look beautiful, which I give kudos for. (Not that I mind other anime girl character designs, I certainly don't. I just like that this artist was still able to do what they did.)

Now since we're on the subject of characters, we have character development. I've noticed that anime in general is often weak in this department, but this story is really great with it. Without giving too much up, you see the female lead go from very Sakura Haruno like and clumsy(except much stronger and much more likeable) to more tactful and more accepting of other peoples' personalities.
One of the male leads in the story is very shrouded in mystery and as the story progresses he becomes less and less of a Naruto and more and more of his own character and a more realistic character. And good gosh these characters are fun. I love every single one of them because they're just so creative and fun.

Now, on to the story. Like I said above, this story isn't anything unique or unusual, but we have art and character development to back it up.
Though, the story just works. The characters just work with it. Story, art and characters play so well off of each other it's hard not to push past the cliche-ness of the main story and outright enjoy this. The story does, though, get progressively more complicated and unique as it goes on and gains its own personality as a story. Which is great. The villains are pretty good characters too and the monsters have such visually pleasing designs.

One last thing about the art.

This is incredibly action packed. There's a fight scene in almost every other chapter, which is great because I'm sure the usual formula of "fight for like three pages and then spend a chapter and a half talking" gets a bit obnoxious. The fight scenes are amazingly drawn and the angles are so great, which then plays off the sound effects and movement, it's just awesome to look at and flows very well. You see exactly where the characters are going and what they're moving and how they move. It works. So. Well.
Fight scenes are quick and to the point while still managing to explain what's going on and what attacks they're using and what they do without panels and panels of standing around and talking.

In short, this manga is great.
So go read it.