Levius (Volume 1) by Haruhisa Nakata (Review)

Title: Levius (Volume 1)
Creator: Haruhisa Nakata
Type: Fiction, Sequential Art, Manga
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: VIZ Media: VIZ Signature
Date published: November 19, 2019

A digital copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Having fought his way into the top grade of Mechanical Martial Arts, Levius faces an ever-changing world that grows more threatening by the day. The shadowy megacorporation Amethyst wields its military might across the world through advancements in the arena. Can Levius be the fighter who changes the course of the world’s fate?

⤖ My Review ⬻

This manga was published in English last November, but I hadn’t heard about it around its pub date. I actually came across volume 1 of Levius while browsing Edelweiss when a lot of publishers moved to using digital ARCs due to COVID-19. I’ve been meaning to read more manga and I really liked the artistic style, the use of space, the colour choices on the cover of Levius. It gave me Akira vibes, but a little more to my taste visually. I read the synopsis and became even more intrigued. I was approved for a digital copy of the book and started reading! Something to note for people moving to reading manga in digital format through platforms like Edelweiss and NetGalley is that most manga is still read left to right (like the original Japanese version) but that can get a little tricky when combined with a tablet.

I can’t get my Kobo to work right now (so I can’t speak to how these files function on there), so I’ve been reading digital books on my iPad and was a little frustrated with the progress bar in the book apps I was using starting on the right side even though you’re reading left to right. It got a bit glitchy, which I wanted to point out because it might have affected my initial reaction to this manga specifically. I was kind of figuring out how to turn the pages properly and was a bit frustrated, so I couldn’t get into the story quite like I normally would have.

That being said, once I got the hang of it, I was still a bit confused by the story in Levius and was not really being pulled into what was happening. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and only really enjoyed the art style and the world. But while I’m not tempted to pick up the next volume in this series, don’t let that discourage you from picking up this manga if you find it intriguing! This is purely my personal opinion after all.