Humans, please read this...a sick manga that you'll enjoy reading 'em!

... Last updated on December 23rd, 2006, 6:25pm

Shapes are misleading, always have been.

As someone who struggled with his own identity, gender, appearance and hopeless nothingness for the future, Homunculus knocks way too close to home. Yes, especially Yukari's sand descent. It's all about the actual grossness of everyday living as a man with an unexplainable burden: not being special nor rewarded. Being alive is not a choice for us, but mere result, and that's a scary, unrelentless thought that can make us rot around as faceless, fetus-like beings. Enclosed in our non-places. Homunculus made me dwell deep inside images I didn't know I still carried around. Those shapes, distinct pieces of suffering. But it also made me a wiser man. There's always another way. Another opportunity to get out of the car, look upfront, and do something. After all, homunculi are just a framework. Trauma can be surpassed; avoidance can be defeated, but you have to put the work. Not only from the incessant closures of depression, but also from your own super ego that, really, always wanted you to be a narcissistic monster. The mind is a terrible thing.

Marvellous and excessive manga, like the human body and its clockwork.

It's starts fine, way more outlandish than the ending. I personally was about to drop it after the sand girl, since it's a bit heavy and the later meta conversations of vol11 bored me a bit, but I'm glad I didn't. After vol 11 the story goes back on track and ties everything down.

My complaint would be that the MC and the sand girl have a grotesque habit.

... Last updated on June 29th, 2022, 10:16am

By and large, reviewers like Mizura have this manga on the nose. There is, for those who may have sought it out based on category tags, one thing I would like to add: This truly is one of the relatively few cases where the direly overused "Psychological" category tag is in fact well and truly applicable. It seems people tend to use it for any manga where a character... thinks. In this case, it's actually a primary, focused theme (in fact, probably THE primary theme).
Anyway, my opinion may be a little more charitable, as I rather appreciated the use of really intense one-on-one interaction scenes as the primary drama and catalyst for plot, and the way it shucks the somewhat cliche direction the plot initially seems headed for. But ultimately, there's a lot of subjective fluff, head-up-own-backside "artiness" for its own sake, and wrist-tossing internal melodrama that kind of hampers that, even if it's still fairly intriguing. The story could easily have been shaved down to half its length with better pacing and less navel-gazing and lost no dramatic impact. It teeters on the verge of what I'd call pretentious, but that the same author gave us Ichi the Killer gives me a bit more faith they aren't completely up their own backside. If nothing else, it's a gutsy series unafraid of taking risks.

... Last updated on October 5th, 2013, 3:16am

Oh wow, awesome..The trepanation, human natures, Nakoshi's visual when using the power, psychological explanations. This manga really interesting..


... Last updated on January 20th, 2013, 11:19pm

I also didn't expect to like this series as much as I do, but after reading the very first chapter, I was pleasntly surprised.

Most of what I'd like to say about this series has already been said, so I'll just let my thoughts on it rest for now. Once the entire series has finished, then I'll give it a solid rating and a thorough review.

So far so good!

Very cool. Brings all sorts of symbolisms into psychiatrically challenging situations...

He literally gets an eye to see symbols of different types of madness/moods/thoughts in a person.

Very interesting, anyway. I recommend it.

... Last updated on February 20th, 2007, 1:52pm

Really great manga. Funky art, but that's not really important when you read this manga. Check it out.

It started very good.. the concept of homunculus was quite attractive.
But after volume 4 or 5.. you know the plot mustn't be that much sofisticated!
I just didn't get characters motives and it seems like the author just draws whatever
he wants not concerning if the reader understands it or not.

Anyway, 2-4 volumes were very interesting!! Regret a lot it did't last long..

... Last updated on November 12th, 2011, 7:11am

This manga's art & story are really realistic (sometimes creepy), so I don't think shoujo manga's fans would like it. ^^' Nonetheless, it's worth reading. I wanna know how my homunculus looks like. ^__^