Title: Platinum End
Author: Takeshi Obata, Tsugumi Ohba
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Digital
Page count: 70
Genre: Shonen
Publication Date: November 10, 2015
Every human being is born for the sake of being happy. Every human being lives for the sake of being happier. That is the mantra of Platinum End, a new title by Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Ohba. The creators of Death Note and Bakuman have returned with a brand new series and the first chapter makes things feel pretty familiar if you’ve read their previous works, but at the same time, there is that unique spin that sets it apart from their previous works as well.
In Plantium End we come across a boy named Mirai. Mirai cannot find happiness in this world any longer and has fallen into deep depression. He has fallen so much that he makes his way to the top of a building and jumps with the intent to end it all. He would have succeeded, too, had it not been for Nasse, an angel who saves his life and convinces him that she can bring him the happiness that he’s been looking for.
Mirai is then given two choices. The first is to be granted wings that will make him fly so fast that he’ll become invisible or to get a Cupid’s Arrow that will make anyone fall in love with him as well as allow him to have complete control over them. Mirai, still skeptical, chooses both and Nasse grants him his wish. The power of having such abilities goes to Mirai’s head once he is made a believer in said powers and now we have ourselves another tale of morality on our hands. While this story does focus on Mirai, another big plot point is introduced in the fact that a new God needs to be chosen as the current one doesn’t have much longer. Nasse is one of thirteen angels chosen to find a human that can replace him.
Final Thoughts
The first chapter threw a lot of information at us and seemed a little bit rushed, but not to the point where it left you dissatisfied. The pacing could have been a bit better, but the main story and plot points were well established and by the end you had a clear understanding of what was going on in the world of Platinum End.
The Nasse character is an interesting one. I like the fact that there are no such things as demons and that angels, themselves, can play devil’s advocate. The bigger overarching plot of having to choose a new God seems straight out of the pages of Mirai Nikki (Future Diary), but at least we’re not being subjected to a Battle Royale-esque tournament to decide that… for now.
I would imagine we are going to run into the other twelve chosen humans throughout this series and, perhaps, this may end up as a shonen battle manga. In fact, I am willing to be that it will because Ohba and Obata talked about things like this during their Bakuman manga and it wouldn’t surprise me if Platinum End went in that direct as a nod to the manga creation process they foreshadowed in their previous work.
All in all I liked the first chapter and can’t wait to read more of it. If this is handled correctly, it wouldn’t shock me than an anime adaptation will be made a few years from now. If you would like to read this chapter for yourself, VIZ Media has this licensed and available in their digital manga service at www.vizmanga.com
This chapter was provided for review.
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