| Black Magic (manga) | Very good | I read this manga awhile back. I had been reading 'Appleseed' and still worshipping Shirow. I had already owned my first 'Intron Depot' and the illustrations for 'Black Magic' were included in that installment. When I read this book, I found that it was nothing like the OVA 'Black Magic-M66'. However many of the references about the battle droids that appeared in the OVA came from the manga. The original "MA-77" models were droids that were used in combat. They were originally designed with 4 limbs instead of 2. And moved around in a more predatory-like state. In an interview with Shirow they had asked him about the 2 battle droids (MA-66 F6 and MA-66 F5) in the OVA. He stated that he originally wanted the MA-66 F5 to have 4 arms (like the original MA-77 in the manga), but changed his mind because at the time, it would've been too hard to animate. Most of the background behind 'Black Magic' is derived from 'Greek' mythology like 'Appleseed'. Plus, a few other myths. Further observation will show that 'Black Magic' is considered the ground work for 'Appleseed'. Duna Typhon is a prototype for Deunan Knute and Yasha was the prototype for Hitomi. They're like incarnations of each other. There's even a Hecatonchires, which would be an early prototype for 'Briareos'. Considering the world of 'Black Magic', while most of it delves in a techno utopia the bioroids that live in this universe resemble both humans and beasts. Most of which are from Asian mythos. You can almost see an early connection here with the manga 'Orion'. The use of "magic" here revolves more around "esper-like" powers. It's a facinating one-shot. It's definitely worth a read, whether you're a Shirow fan or not. |
