Scryed

(Tokyopop, 2003)
s.CRY.ed ™ and ©2001 SUNRISE,TX © 2001 Yosuke Kuroda,Yasunari Toda

In Scryed, those born in the wasteland known as The Lost Ground are “Alter Users,” born with strange powers. There, the lone defender of the weak against the strong is Kazuma the Treasoner, a bad boy who manifests a wicked cool metal arm and shoots telekinetic “bullets” to fight wonderfully grotesque villains.

In America, this would be enough to make him the hero, but it’s pretty clear the creators prefer Ryuhou of HOLY (manga creators should take better care when using English words), an organization of Alter Users from the outside who punish those who abuse their powers. He’s an officially sanctioned, officious prig with nothing but contempt for Kazuma (the one thing they have in common: utter disdain for the people they project), so naturally the two throw down at every opportunity.

But it looks like Kazuma will soon join forces with HOLY as he learns to subjugate himself to the will of a group for the betterment of all (in other words, a Japanese happy ending).

— S.A. Bennett

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