Tenkuu Shinpan


Status: Ongoing
This is the first horror manga which I thought I'd give a try, and I can say that it does not disappoint. Tenkuu Shinpan, or High-Rise Invasion, is set in a world which sort of reminds me of Mirror's Edge in that it's all rooftops with the addition of some suspension bridges connecting them. Soon after, it started to remind me of Hunger Games, Battle Royale and Btooom!, and here's why: main character Honjo Yuri suddenly ends up in this world and realises that it is somehow real, and consists of one goal: to reach the helicopter to leave this world or die trying. The rooftops and suspension bridges come into play as those who end up in this world can only travel via rooftops and bridges to get to said helicopter, and have access to the buildings to some extent as signs prevent them from travelling down further to reach the ground floor. 
What's more, as the image shows, people wearing masks and wielding a variety of weapons are scattered around the world to kill off those who they see alive or don't try to kill themselves by jumping off the rooftops. Yuri is unlucky as she sees someone get killed by one of the masks as soon as she ends up there, and remembered what advice she received from her brother about running away from strange people. As you can also see, she learns to defend herself against said masks and uses guns in her attempt to survive and reach the helicopter.


But that's not all either, as the story delves deeper to add more mystery as things begin to unravel on Yuri's journey to reach the helicopter and leave the world. She meets more people and decides to gather a team to help in reaching the helicopter as the rules state there's only one seat available, and is able to get into contact with her brother Rika who also ended up there. Amongst all this meeting and goal-making comes learning more about the world and things are not so simple in terms of goals, which is the reason why I started to think about the Btooom! etc., with some extra bits added to it. For example, others who end up in this world also have no recollection of how they got there and what they're supposed to do, and are affected psychologically in either a good(?) way or bad, most of the time being bad since they think that they can now do whatever they like and try to kill others or harass the women to quench their desires and what not. But this doesn't end up well for them as they're either killed by Yuri or a mask, or kill themselves by jumping off of rooftops. The psychological effect can happen as a result of the person's reaction to ending up in the world, or they find masks which have been scattered around and wear them. These add to the mystery as once a person sees the back of the mask, they have this sudden impulse to wear it and have to carry out all the orders which are given to them by an unknown voice. Failure to do so will end up in being ordered to kill themselves there and then. There are different types of masks scattered around which I will not spoil here so that you guys can check the manga out if you're interested, but I will say that not all the masks are in perfect condition.

Adding even more mystery and complexity to the story is one simple word which arises soon after Yuri settles in to her new surroundings: God. Well I say it's simple, but as you continue to read this will come up more often, and the mentioning of people who are apparently closer to God. This then means that the masks are seen as Angels of that world, and the one goal of reaching the helicopter is not the only thing on everyone's mind.

Tenkuu Shinpan does not shy away from the horror in that there's plenty of blood to go around with mystery to boot, as more people enter the world Yuri and her brother are in as the two try to find out more about it whilst finding a way to find one another, get out and go back to the real world. What's stopping them is pretty much everything I've said, but they're not dealing with all this alone. It starts off a bit slow with lots of deaths, but once you get into it, there aren't really fewer deaths, but there are more survivors and plenty of action as more masks and characters appear, and you'll want to continue reading to see what Yuri and co find out on their travels and if they ever get out of the world.
====
Summary
A high school girl ends up in a world where you can only travel via rooftops and suspension bridges with the supposedly only way to get out is reaching the helicopter and flying to safety

Anything else?: Is it just me or does Yuri like to stand in many different poses?

Comments