Manhole

Well this wasn’t a actually bad horror manga after all, yes it’s not really showing nightmare fuel BUT it did have its intense moments with showing the scientists figuring out who is causing the mosquito plaque and why is it contaminating people. The detectives Ken and Nao were a pretty decent duo. I will say though to those who plan to read this manga, it is definitely not for the fainted heart because you will get gross images that can be easily frightening to some so take caution everyone (kids, don’t read this please for your sakes!)

I did find the whole thing was rather too fast paced in its 29 chapters, like I really wanted to get to know the main leads a lot better than just them being detectives.

It may not be perfect but if you are able for horror, mystery and gore, or all three combined, this one is for y’all!

For a manga that is only 29 chapters long, the plot moved a little slow.

The premise of the manga, a biocontamination crime thriller seemed apropos during our current pandemic of 2020-2021 and so that attracted me and perhaps it would you as well. I enjoyed the characters in the manga, especially the two main detectives -- I cared for their well-being and felt that their personalities were nicely fleshed out and three-dimensional.

The biggest draw-back for me about this manga is that it seemed to drag on a bit. For example, when the main antagonist committed a crime in one chapter, it felt like the entire following chapter was just about explaining to the reader what had occurred. It had some interesting ideas in there, but it didn't grab me in suspense to eagerly read the next chapter. If it wasn't for it's short length I probably would've dropped it.

I don't mean to come off as harsh; I did enjoy the manga, but in my opinion it was alright, not great. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys crime narratives as long as they are aware that it is slower-paced.

----------------------- Manhole review ----------------------

This manga is a police/detective one, not so much horror or psychology in it.

Story :
Not the most original, but not too bad either.

Art :
Below average. Some pages have no shading, some other pages have some photoshopped textures that felt really cheap. Towards the end the art gets a bit better but it was so mediocre overall that I cannot give it a good score. Some main characters looked pasty white and flat because the mangaka put no shadi g, nothing on them.

The characters' faces are almost always crying, fr0wning, suffering. For 3 volumes straight. Such a variety!!

The background is laughable. Just traced over a photograph. 4/10

Characters :
Shallow presentation, unexplored, generic. In 3 volumes we don't have the time to have so many useless side characters. Too much time is wasted on some nobodies that nearly advance the plot, yet the main characters are overlooked. What about their families? Their routine? Their house? They feel like props because nothing is explored.

Instead we are shown some of the bad guys/ victims and their backgrounds only to move on to something else right away. The whole plot cannot be for into 3 tiny volumes.
Either the writer should have made more volunteers or decreased to scale, reduced the number of characters.

Enjoyment :
It took me 4 days to go through 3 volumes. They were just half baked. It felt like the magnitude of the plot needed more volumes to develop. It felt very impersonal, as we spend more time on random people than the main protagonists. The pacing is another problem : sloooow then everything is solved in 2 chapters way too easily.

The conclusion almost felt like a parody. The writer tried to keep things scientific and grounded in realism but instead made a half baked mediocre piece.

5/10 would not recommend

This manga is a mix of detective, psychological and horror. It has a good story-line that progresses at an even pace if it can at time be a little predictable, and characters are slowly developed throughout, however only to a certain extent, although i felt close to the characters it wasn't like i was overly bothered about what happened to them. The art is generally good and at some points can be amazing while at other times lacking detail. Its a relatively short manga and definitely worth the read if you can spare a couple of hours of your time ^^