Aion is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yuna Kagesaki. The series was published in Japan by Fujimi Shobo and serialized in Monthly Dragon Age magazine. The manga has been distributed in English by Tokyopop. The story is about an immortal girl, Seine Miyazaki, and an orphan boy, Tatsuya Tsugawa, who gets involved with her.
Plot
After both his parents died in an accident, Tsugawa Tatsuya is now left with millions in inheritance that he cannot use. In the weeks after, he is still mourning and thinking about his father's last words, "A Tsugawa family's man must be a man of great caliber". However, Tatsuya is not confident he can fulfill his father's last wish. One day a week after the accident, he meets Seine Miyazaki, a strange girl who seems to enjoy being bullied. Tatsuya believes he can help her although his friends only see her as a masochist pervert, and Seine herself told him to mind his own business. Seine hunts creatures of the sea, a kind of parasitic bug that controls humans and influences them to do hateful things. She possesses an immortal body and a beast called AiON that is used to lure and devour the bugs from inside the human host. She and the bugs naturally have an impulse to kill each other on contact. Even so, Tatsuya still cannot just leave her alone. He wants to help her.
On July 2, 2010 Tokyopop announced it had acquired a title license for Aion's release in North America at Anime Expo with a first volume release set at January 8, 2011. Tokyopop released three volumes total before closing its North American publishing division in April 2011. It remains unclear if the series will ever be picked up again by another licenser for North American release.
Reception
Reviews on the manga were mixed, overall Anime News Network gave the first two volumes a C rating while ANN praised the story's "fantastical mix-and-match of ideas" and "Lively conversation and psychological gamesmanship in the later chapters" however, it was also seen to have plain artwork and too many subplots. The second volume also was said to focus too much on secondary characters with no plot advancement. Newsarama called the artwork of the series so far "definitely appealing" and states it has great deal of potential with occasionally quite creative angles. Newsarama also goes on to say that the relationship is left unexplained between the two main characters and although the questions being put forward are intriguing they are not really suspenseful and that sort of slow build between the two main characters can sometimes make it difficult to judge a series solely by its first volume. The Manga Critic did a short take on the first volume calling it "maudlin, nonsensical, and boring" with bad artwork the bottom line being that the story is both predictable and emotionally flat, making it a tough sell for all but the most ardent Chibi Vampire fans. Sequential Tart gave the first two volumes both a grade of 7, saying that the first book was a solid set up for the series and has a lot of possibilities on where it can go, the review goes on to say that the plot has a serious flaw in having Tatsuya's parents and aunt and uncle out of the picture fast to get him and Seine living together in the same house. The second volume had more mixed feelings with the focus on Seine and learning more about her background and relationships being good but the fan service at the start of the volume being questioned.
