Aug 18, 2025
Set in a near future where humans have developed artificial gills, nacuN opens with our protagonist, Ishii Mitsunari, looking at a video that ran for 2 hours and 51 minutes, exclusively showing footage of a pod of dolphins wandering around the ocean with some random close-ups here and there. Recorded by the world-renowned mathematician Francis Dullam, the video doesn't show anything eye-catching until an idea struck Ishii's head, one that'll make him king of the world. Elated by this discovery, Ishii forgoes living in America and instead sets his sights on working on this project in the northernmost point of the Komiya archipelago. It is
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here that he'll be faced with a new lifestyle that'll bring many new challenges with it, such as some of the island's bizarre traditions, working together with a local fisherman named Gen, as well as meeting a mysterious mute girl who's interfering with his dolphin research. But perhaps this trouble seems minor in comparison to some of the darker points nacuN manages to reach.
I'll have to say I was pleasantly surprised by this work, especially after reading one of the author's other works, Mushinuyun. The characters in this manga, as well as their mindsets, evolved unlike the former; the concepts were given room to breathe and weren't obfuscated by content that leaned more on the shocking and explicit side of things. The world of this manga expands with each passing chapter until it presents a rather vast array of characters that each have an important role within the story. What begins as a mystery that concerns one specific island escalates into a race that concerns itself with finding God first through the use of a polymind procedure that'll allow humans to create a massive supercomputer which may initially sound like jumping too hard into another narrative altogether but it's something the manga manages to land quite well. The journey Ishii traverses starts off with his goal of world domination seeming childish, but once it shows the lengths he and other people go to apply Dullam's knowledge, the plan appears to be more dangerous. I'd say it's worth the read, especially because of how many interesting questions about the understanding of matters such as religion, God, human cruelty, and suffering it poses. All tied together with a well-rounded cast of characters, where the main character can be absent in chapters without the story losing any steam. My only complaint lies in the story's conclusion; many things felt like they were getting resolved far too quickly near the end of the story, and the last chapter is weak in comparison to some of the better moments of the series. Unlike the other work I mentioned, here the author managed to create a narrative that didn't implement comedy at the expense of unnaturally fitting in the existential themes, here it doesn't take away from the experience, far from it, it's the moments of levity a reader may appreciate after some of the more gut-wrenching moments nacuN has to offer.
To conclude, I'd say to pick up the series on the basis that it presents a lived-in environment that is the island of Makei (with its weird all-female traditions wary of foreigners such as Ishii), as well as the neighboring islands, such as Erabu (with it's historical shipwreck parts displayed at the entrance to the island), which plays a pivotal part in the story's second half. But the scope doesn't stop there; the Vatican, with its supervision of Dullam's ideas, which also has a conflict of interest between conservative and science-defender factions, is also an important participant, considering one of the cardinals in line ot be the next Pope, Zephias, is a strong advocate of "finding God" via the polymind method. One of Dullam's students, Zelda, becomes a major player in the story, and the times her subplot intersects with Ishii give way to some of the key moments in nacuN. It's well-fleshed out, with impactful visuals, complex characters, and will give you many themes to reflect upon.
SPOILER-TALK SECTION (Likes and Dislikes, also kind of spoilers for Mushinuyun)
My favorite arc has to be the one with Zelda and Zephias in the forefront since both of them are participating in a real-time race to prove the existence of God, but where Zelda uses pigs for her experiments on linking a massive sum of brains allowing what's essentially telepathy by exciting the same part of their brains and making them share information, Zephias uses actual humans on the Africa which goes surprisingly well at the start but eventually turns sour. I was glad it wasn't in vain since it's stated later in the manga that he managed to achieve the equivalent of the Garden of Eden, but by that point, his character was out of the picture. I also like the development Ishii has through the manga and what eventually becomes his understanding of "finding God," and that is filling a gap in our brains, the way he turns the ocean into a brain is brilliant, and the fact that he thinks of Kimara and his child in THAT moment is kind of sweet though the context of their relationship isn't the best. I think that, due to the circumstances is less a hedonistic view of humans (unlike Mushinuyun, which we'll get to later) and rather a portrayal of how, even if broken down and in a "Tower of Babel" situation, humans are still able to make a connection despite the dire situation. Almost forgot to mention Kurz and Zelda's relationship, which stays strictly platonic if anything, which I didn't expect, making the moment where Zelda gives out her email address to Ishii all the more hilarious as if she didn't torture the guy. I like the exchange, but it's kind of ridiculous at the same time.
Now, to some of the aspects I disliked. I think that overall female characters where well utilized and weren't just bodies for out characters to lust over like in Mushinuyun, especially with the village elders and tsukasa, but I'll be damned if I don't mention Doruko (the name Ishii gave to the girl, I forgot her actual name despite the fact it's said like a hundred times in one chapter lol). The series is guilty of using the silent bombshell/love-interest trope to a tee, she gets to shine in some scenes, but her relationship with Gen in the latter part of the manga is just so ill-fated from the start I just knew where it was heading and once Gen becomes so over-protective and abusive to her, I lost all sympathy for him, it didn't turn into the usual "gotta rescue to damsel in distress" but that's mainly because of Ishii's uncaring personality which in turn makes his romance with her all the less earned. For Gen I think that his yakuza makeover should've been explored a bit more, especially regarding the "prince" and "his majesty's" involvement which we do get to see bit of but he didn't do a natural 180° degree turn in my eyes until he catches wind of Doruko's and Ishii's affair, I would've liked to see things from his perspective, the only good thing in his life being Doruko admist all the darkness but that's something I'm just assuming since his personality isn't that different from the start of the series until the aforementioned point, though he resets by the end. My final complaint would obviously be the ending, since I found most of the US stuff to be rushed, since the emphasis on the only world power being aware of developments on Dullam's "God searching investigation" was on the Vatican, it just seemed like a tacked on threat for the final stretch of the series which itself is rushed and reminded me a lot of how mishandled Mushinuyun as a whole was. In fact, the endings are kind of similar, with the world returning to a relatively normal state, sure, change has happened, and humanity as a whole has experienced something unbelievable, but it kind of undoes the accelerating pace at which everything goes wrong, with everyone just moving on. The author doesn't finish the series by giving a big ending and is far too forgiving of the characters, especially in Mushinuyun, which, by the way, gave me the equivalent of a cheap jumpscare once it was nameddropped in nacuN. I physically flinched when it was mentioned, same when a character named Shinjou appeared.
It's a series of highs and lows, I think it evens out since most of the series is interesting and gives justice to some of its wilder concepts, such as the illegal deals carried out by the underworld who're free at large since they do it in the deep sea thanks to the advanced breathing technology. So the fact it ended on a weak note is par for the course for the author, considering the other work I've read from him; it's like two extremes that meet at one point: a calculated series that follows through on an overarching narrative with interesting themes and another which is just extremely indulgent in sexual fantasies that soil the existential elements at play, both with a weak final chapter, and strangely enough, both worth reading in their own way.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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