I just finished reading the available chapters of Zetman and I just have to say WOW!!! What a trip! From what I've read in the superhero genre this is something extraordinary, from the artwork, to the characters, the world, and above everything else; the story. What makes Zetman stand out from the lot is the incredible well written story. For good and bad, there appears to be a long tradition of improvisation in the art of manga-storytelling. You create the characters, set a premise, and then just going where the story takes you, one arc at the time. Even if there technically is arcs in Zetman, the story is so tightly woven that everything is connected and everything overlaps, there's nothing the typical crescendo -> resolution movement, and you really need to read it from the start. Even after 200 chapters you see flashbacks to the first chapters. The effort put into the story is just incredible, and I've get come across any major "loose threads" that defiles the logic of the story.

Another thing that is really impressive about Zetman is the world that Zetman is zet into (fufufu). I can be really picky about suspending my disbelief, and I can also be really tired of long written out explanations on the (imaginary) world's logic, that many adventure/scifi mangas are burdened with. In Zetman I did not come across anything like this, the world and it's logic works really well. One interesting aspect is the neo-materialism that the story have, there is nothing supernatural here, everything is defined within the boundaries of science, and not even souls separated from the body exists (as it is written out anyway). This is not a big point within the story, it just happens to be there.

It's actually quite refreshing that this manga does not rely on existentialistic themes and philosophy and instead focuses on actual storytelling. Sure, you'll get your share of neo-materialistic (almost nihilistic) ethics, especially the question on what "justice" really is and who is worth saving, but it's not the main focus as some seinen mangas have it.

The art, just stunning. Just amazing. I can not help to feel sorry for all the poor assistants who had to work day and night to trace those crazy backgrounds, like seriously, that is one insane effort put down in those details, I'd run out of superlatives if I were to describe it with words. Read the manga already.

What amazes me about the characters is how realistic they are. They are portrayed with warmth and a sensitivity to the human psyche, in this manga things matter, and people just doesnt move on after life changing traumatic events as if nothing ever happened. Even the villains have their reasons, and even the silly appearance of the non-human cast have a great and actually credible backstory.

So hey, what's more to say? The scanlation group Evil Genius have through their work with Zetman, Berserk and others given a huge gift to the English speaking part of the world. Now I wish someone would license it in English so we can give something back to the mangaka himself (and his loyal team of assistants!(whom all have autism and are hung up on drawing huge constructions of trashed concrete)).