MAD Manga Overview- Beautiful Minimalism and Existential Horror

MAD is a manga that thrives in all aspects of horror: cosmic, psychological, and body horror. The only one it doesn’t touch is supernatural horror, which isn’t needed, as this is a gritty, minimalistic sci-fi story that revolves around humanity and its desperate struggle to survive. As with most stories of this kind, we don’t focus as much on the aliens as we do on the surviving humans and how they behave in such a merciless and brutal new world.

MAD masters multiple aspects of horror

The strongest aspects of this manga are the psychological and body horror. Yusuke Otori is a master of minimalistic art and minimalistic dialogue. There are little tidbits of foreshadowing, some wholesome dialogue, and some atmospheric scenes. Those are the core pillars of MAD, and they work excellently together. There’s also a bit of mystery, but it’s very scarcely used.

Our protagonist is John, a former farmer who lost everything once the aliens landed on Earth. Since then, he’s been a tiny bit suicidal, wandering around the place with other survivors, looking for a haven. As you can imagine, NO PLACE left is safe for anyone. If it’s not aliens, you’re going to be eaten by deranged humans that turned into cannibals. Very reminiscent of Fire Punch, isn’t it? The witty and organic dialogue reminds me a lot of Fujimoto’s work, as do the horror and gore scenes.

Not all is grey, though. John manages to find tidbits of happiness by bonding with other survivors. But for each happy encounter John has, MAD throws him a curveball full of agony and suffering. Thankfully, John is a survivor. A trait he inherited from his deceased sister. Even though he wants to die, he stays alive to honor her memory. Then, a fanatical group of soldiers lures him into their base and feeds him alien meat.

To battle aliens, you need to become an alien

So, what, are they that short on food that they eat alien meat? No, they eat the meat to evolve. You see, this alien species (which LOOKS A LOT LIKE THE XENOMORPHS, BY THE WAY) has godly regenerative capabilities. So, even though these humans have advanced technology, they couldn’t keep up with these monsters. Amidst total despair, a group of soldiers started eating alien carcasses. What did they hope to achieve? Who knows, but it was better than constantly fighting a losing battle.

After the entire group of soldiers dies in the most horrible way possible, a single one regenerates. However, he is no longer a normal human. He’s an adaptor—a human who bonded with the alien DNA and became a hybrid, a terribly powerful and scary being. That’s when the rest of the army decided to attract as many survivors as possible.

To, you know, feed them alien meet and create more adapters. Naturally, the majority of these people die in the most gruesome way possible. This is where the body horror aspect of the manga thrives.

To evolve, you must suffer first.

So, now our protagonist has to deal with captivity and the insane people who want to feed him alien meat. But John refuses to eat the meat; he refuses to be used in their sick and twisted experiments. Unfortunately, they had already fed him this meat before when we were still under the impression that they were a military unit that was out to help people. And in their own twisted way, they are trying to do just that. They are trying to save the human race. There is just no other way to battle these cosmic demons.

John and the other man who was brought with him to this place completely lost hope. Their bodies are deteriorating more and more each day, losing teeth and hair, slowly turning them into an unrecognizable sack of blood and organs. But that’s how it has to be in the beginning, and if you’re compatible, you get to become an adapter—a being capable of slaughtering the aliens that conquered Earth.

John, depression, and hope

At the very start of the manga, you see John constantly battle with depression. He lost it all; he doesn’t see a reason to go on. Yet, when facing certain death, he still chooses to run. He picks life over death, as that’s his sister’s dying wish. We get bits and pieces of their relationship in the currently available chapters, and you can see how he sees his sister as a source of inspiration. She’s his reason for living, and in the end, John accepts his cruel reality. The military, their self-righteous reason for these sick experiments, the feeling of overwhelming despair. He faces all of it head-on and decides that he’s going to live and kill every last one of them.

His sister taught him a good luck ritual: doing push-ups. Those are hard as is, but for someone who’s physically falling apart and missing an arm, well, you can only imagine. Still, John keeps doing the push-ups, and then he adapts to the alien DNA and becomes an adapter. That’s as much as I’m willing to share. Read the rest yourself on Manga+.

Should you read MAD?

MAD, to me, is a breath of fresh air. It’s unforgiving, its art style is weird as all hell, and it packs a punch. The build-up to the creepy panels, the constant eerie feeling that spreads through each scene, and the body horror. It is a sci-fi horror manga that keeps the story simple but throws enough curveballs to keep you constantly on your toes. John and all the side characters speak like people, act like people, and suffer like people. Yusuke Otori sets the stage perfectly for a truly mad world, and it’s organically built so you understand why everyone became insane.

Shuiesha rarely lets dark stuff like this survive for long. Still, I think MAD has a bright future with its atmospheric world, unsettling art style, and truly disturbing psychological and body horror aspects.

I recently recommended another promising new manga, Ichi the Witch, which is excellent for fantasy fans. For those that want to see people eat more weird shit, check out our Delicious in Dungeon review.