Search and Destroy (サーチアンドデストロイ), 2018-2020, Kaneko, Atsushi, Tezucomi

STORY: 8

Meet Hyaku, an angry girl searching for her identity. Follow her clashing with a politically unstable world divided between Humans and Creechs, with the help of a little thief from the city.
Creechs are synthetic creatures whose place in society, after being so useful in the last war, is uncertain, but no spoilers here. This story is actually the author’s modern take on the manga Dororo by the legend Osamu Tezuka, so you know you are in for something good.

Swift and nervous with 3 volumes, there is zero feeling of the usual pressures or annoyances of weekly publication. Instead, we are completely taken for a movie-like experience that is perfectly executed. Did you know that the author Atsushi Kaneko actually does have directing experience?

ART: 9

Clean, bold, framed like cinema. The rock aesthetics and strong US-comics inspiration of Atsushi Kaneko are mixed here in a soviet futuristic dystopia and it’s gorgeous.

POLITICAL POTENTIAL: 7

The madness of man, the folly of science, the horror of war, the crimes of the wealthy, are subtly part of the story.
While individual fights at the forefront, we see interesting collaborations within different factions and even an uprising in the background!

FEMINISM: 7

Hyaku is a fantastic female character (while it was a male in the original story), she is powerful but not invulnerable, and she learns and grows along the manga. Bonus points for her being not sexualized even once!

CONCLUSION: 8

The only reasons you would not want to try this tittle are the violence and dark art style. Otherwise, great storytelling, powerful art, Search And Destroy is a joy in the pile of cliches manga we are subjected to today!