Alien 9

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Alien 9 Complete

Japanese: エイリアン9

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 3

Chapters: 30

Status: Finished

Published: Jun 9, 1998 to Aug 24, 1999

Genre: Sci-Fi

Theme: School

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Young Champion

Authors: Tomizawa, Hitoshi (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.15¹ (scored by 3,904 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #7090²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #2127

Members: 11,145

Favorites: 364

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7.15

Ranked #7090Popularity #2127Members 11,145

MangaYoung ChampionTomizawa, Hitoshi (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /3

Chapters: /30

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Synopsis

Sixth-grade student Yuri Otani is elected by her class to be one of the three members of Elementary School 9's "Alien Party," alongside fellow "Alien Fighters" Kumi Kawamura and Kasumi Tomine. They are expected to preferably capture, not kill, any aliens that invade school grounds. Aiding their endeavors are advisor Ms. Megumi Hisakawa and symbiotic aliens named "Borg" that attach to their host's head to protect them from danger.

The main reason why Yuri hates to be in the Alien Party is due to her fear of aliens. If she doesn't outright faint at the sight of them, then her fear keeps her frozen in place so that she can't get the job done. As such, Kumi, Kasumi, and Yuri's Borg have to pick up her slack. Ms. Hisakawa tells the girls that the better they can fuse with their Borgs, the more effective at their job they will be. But could there be another reason behind the existence of the Alien Party and the relationship between girls and Borgs?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Alien 9 was published in English as Alien Nine by Central Park Media from May 1, 2003 to September 10, 2003 and in Russian by Comics Factory in 2010.

The series was republished in one volume on May 2003 under the title Alien 9 Complete.

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Characters

Otani, Yuri

Main

Kawamura, Kumi

Main

Tomine, Kasumi

Main

Borg

Main

Hisakawa, Megumi

Main

Tamaki, Miyu

Supporting

Knife, Yellow

Supporting

Iwanami, Hiroshi

Supporting

Reviews

Sep 24, 2012

Wombstone

Recommended

Alien Nine is a stunning and evocative little series with tons to offer in each of its attempted facets. It commands the reader's attention with a starkly idiosyncratic approach to visuals, appeals to the emotions, makes you care for its characters and gives you plenty to think/cheer about.

One of the first things I noticed when I began reading was the nuances in visuals, namely, the juxtaposition of intentionally crude, cutsey character designs with frighteningly detailed, angular, gross images of alien's and their appendages. The effect this dichotomy creates remains consistent throughout the series, as the violence is never suppressed; Tomizawa pulls no punches in his ...

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Jun 22, 2019

GrayRealm

Mixed Feelings

Those are bizzare and surreal series that strongly resemble "Propeller Heaven".

However, the problem here is that story leaves less impact than propeller heaven.

The story revolves around a group of school girls that have to fight aliens by wearing helmets (That are aliens themselves). It is not really possible to explain more without spoiling it.

The series have old school character graphics with round and slightly cartoonish faces, but this is contrasted by detailed depiction of aliens, surroundings and the like.

It is very difficult to make sense out of the story, until at some point it goes and explains half of it in an informational dump ...

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Oct 26, 2025

BustedBayou

Not Recommended

Preliminary (6/30 eps)

This manga has a unique, extravagant-looking concept of alien symbiosis, plus psychology, surrealism and some hints of horror. Add in an apathetical society that is willing to risk children's lives (while also putting them in... questionable situations -let's just say that for now-) and you have the recipee for quite an experimental work. The cover art looks colorful and creative too, so it looks like it's worth a shot. At the very least you would expect it to leave some kind of impression. If not positive, deep or memorable. But no, sadly, that isn't the case right here.

You know how sometimes japanese mangaka sprinkle-in some ... weird, off-putting scenes of fetishization in their works? If the vast majority of the contents are good world building, well written characters or a promising enough plot, sometimes you can ignore those other awkward, unfortunate parts of it. Some say that is the case with Made In Abyss, especially manga readers. Other times, you thankfully don't have to deal with those aspects while the existential dread of the innocent having to face a hopless threat outside of their control is succesfully explored. Madoka Magica is a good example of that.

This time though, it seemed to me that the entire concept was built AROUND the "lolicon" sub-culture. So much so that the first couple of chapters have almost no substance to them other than putting the girls in this weird inappropiate situation. And I say weird and innapropiate because there's a sexually reminiscent aspect of the symbiosis, where the aliens lick bodily sweat to stay alive and in exchange they protect their host. One of the girls is understandably off-put by that, but has to put up with it eitherway since her teacher assigned her to the task. The main characters are shown naked too while the aliens feed, which is totally unnecessary for how it's handled. Not only that, but they get covered in alien slime from enemies and the mangaka makes sure we notice how the symbiosis is very organic and biological (at least they connect head-to-head and not some other way, but those alien-hats have "fleshy" insides and cover the connective part of their bodies with their hands like it was a private area or something).

These kinds of aspects, and others like the tasks and enemies they have to deal with, are usually handled in the typical light-hearted slice of life way, but it still ends up being quite uncomfortable and sometimes even disgusting. The way the symbiosis is framed intially doesn't help, since they were supposed to "feed off of bodily waste" so it sounded even worse than it was and perhaps it gets worse after, I don't know. Up until chapter 6 I gave up putting up with the situation, I wanted to form an opinion and check for myself if the series at least improved after, since the psychological aspects had potential, but I couldn't. The whole thing gave me an upset stomach.

It's only fair to say though that, after skimming through the rest of the manga, the stakes go up. Horror and psychology do seem to deepen in some degree. Not so much to make it the serious story it could be, but I did catch some shocking scenes. The aliens got more imposing and with more inspiration to their designs and the plot did seem to get a bit more convoluted. Still, it didn't look interesting enough to go to those lenghts.

All of it seems like an excuse for the author to work on the part that he really cared about. I say that because the aliens, even if weird, are not really remarkable or interesting. The hints of psychology and character development are generally no more than a background and barely seem to evolve further than giving context to the cast. There's also barely any horror other than the premise itself, the awkwardness of it and the bleakness of having adults in that world that are letting all of it happen. That's not explored directly either, it's almost all implicit. In some degree that is certainly the author's intention, but in other regards, it doesn't look like that was the element he cared about in this story (and you know what I mean by that).

Perhaps the author should be given the benefit of the doubt, since the icky aspects are not depicted as badly as it sounds and Japan does have some weird cultural tendencies that could be mixed-in with some mediocrity on the actual story and end up with this result, without further ill intentions. But, even if that could be the case, it wouldn't reedeem the missed opportunity to make something good with the psychological horror potential this manga provides. Further than that, I have to insist on the fact that I did feel disgusted about it, since it really felt like an excuse for the "loli trope" to develop.

At the end of the day, this manga gives the impression of being a bad twist on Evangelion: The aliens, an MC that is not up to the task but is pressured to do it, children having to save the day, the psychology of the characters, tidbits of horror, and the weird sexually reminiscent aspects in that context. A bad twist because it's mediocre in all those regards and in Evangelion there were at least thematic or psychological references in a coming-of-age kind of way that made the awkward aspects make sense to an extent. It may as well be a predecessor to Madoka Magica, Made in Abyss and perhaps even Dead Dead Demon's too, but all in bad taste. In my opinion, it has the worst approach you could make for a story like this, and that is, turning the whole thing into a gimmick to justify inappropiate situations. Not like they happen all the time or most of the time, but it's the basis of it all and that becomes almost evident when you realize there's not much else to it. With all the potential the concept has, it ends up not having almost any substance to it.

*Edit: I should add something else to the icky factor that maybe didn't get across correctly. The reason I got an upset stomach at the time I read it is because there's sort of a sadistic exploitative theme of the innocent. It's not direct or super clear, but perhaps you can get the hints from some stuff I wrote in my review. Someone else pointed it out on a review so credits to them. Since it wasn't very clear or easy to back up, I decided not to include it because it could have been just my impression. But time has gone by, I have let the topic sit and I still stand by my intuition that this mangaka had a "thing" for putting little girls in forcefully compromising scenarios. It really felt, disturbingly, like a sort of humilliation/control kink regarding the defenseless or submissive that he was projecting in this manga. I kinda didn't want to write about this, but I think readers should really consider it as well before making their decision.

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