About the Mangaka
Tomizawa Hitoshi is a self taught mangaka, as in he hasn’t had any formal training. Alien 9 is his best known work, though he has worked on several others including Battle Royale II.
About the Manga
To be honest I’d never heard of Alien Nine until I found it on eBay, and bought it along with some other titles. While waiting for it to be delivered I did some research, and read the first chapter as a scanlation.
Initially I liked what I saw. The first chapter was funny, but not really anything special. So I was sort of looking forward to getting it.
Sadly it fails to live up to expectations, and in fact gave me a head ache trying to keep things in order.
First things first, the art is gorgeous, there’s no two ways about it. I love the way he draws his characters, though the aliens are a bit weird, even for aliens hehe.
The problem lies with the story, it’s totally crap. I don’t think I’ve ever read a manga that’s so far all over the map. Trying to follow the story is a nightmare. By volume three I had no idea what was going on or who was who anymore.
The story started out okay, but got so convoluted and with so many twists and turns it was almost impossible to get a grip on it.
Hitoshi is famous for his short manga, and I think this is the problem. Alien Nine has to much going on in it for it to be only three volumes long. Truthfully I don’t think even three volumes would have been enough for the story to have breathed properly.
Hitoshi has written a complex and interweaved story with so many layers it’s impossible for it to be three volumes. What happened to the girls? What is Otani? Who are the clans? And a slew of other questions are left unanswered, including questions about Otani’s actions.
Sadly, to much is left uncertain in this series to be enjoyable. While Hitoshi’s art is awesome, the story and flow are so bad it’s painful. When reading it make sure you have some aspirin close by 
This series (and the one volume sequel) were released by the now deceased CPM. Sadly it’s not given the the same quality as the Lodoss Saga was. in fact, it’s as bad as some TP releases have been. The paper quality is abysmal off white that looks and feels yucky.
The translation could account for the flow problems, however when I checked the translations of the scanlated version against the CPM version, they were almost exactly the same.
I think Hitoshi probably just lost the story he had in the volumes, and got caught up in the art. It’s a shame really, since the premise of the story actually had me interested, he just failed to tell it in a coherent fashion.
Needless to say, I have this series firmly planted on my Junk Pile, and to be honest I’m actually glad it’s out of print. Being out of print isn’t enough though, it should be burnt at the stake for it’s crapyness!!
I do have the sequel, Alien Nine: Emulators, but to be honest I’m not sure if I really want to try reading it. I think I’d rather do something less painful, like having a full body wax :p
Where to Buy
As I said, this series is now OOP!, though it can still be bought through the likes of eBay, and the Amazon Market Place. Though be prepared to pay through the nose for it, $200 in both Canada and the US
- Amazon UK has it for £52
- Amazon US has it for $198
- Amazon Canada has it foe CDN$210
You can also check out eBay, where you can find the collectors edition going for around $5-$20
August 15, 2008 @ 11:59.
I really like Alien Nine, but I’ll admit that it’s told in an oblique and hard-to-follow manner. I had to read it several times before I really understood it. And it doesn’t help that CPM’s explanation, at the start of volume three, is partly wrong. (I don’t know if this is in your edition or not.) But the information needed to make sense of the series is there, albeit in fragmentary form.
Show ▼