it seems people are very confused over this title so let me say a few words
I think that Tsutomu Nihei is brilliant in his ability to create dark and unique atmosphere, his art is superb although very rough, and that seems to be a problem for some people, and his plots are very unique living in an unique settings witch is why i give him high rating, also I like dark stuff, but he doesn't bother explaining the plot with a lot of text which again poses a problem for some people who don't have good ability in non-verbal communication

to sum up he has top rated works, but due to his unique style of presenting it people often don't understand what's what, plus his plots are somewhat deep which adds to the confusion

Abara's ending is one of the coolest parts of the manga btw if u can see what's happening

Abara is a good example of what a seinen is like. Mystery, action, intrigue and whatnot, the main focus of this series is the actions and the events of the plot, not what happens at the fate of the characters. Sure, the gist of the story is nothing new--it sort of resembles Variante, Elfen Lied and others, but it has its own twisted quirks as well.

And for god's sake, WHO ARE YOU TO SAY NIHEI'S ARTWORK IS CRAP!?

I dare all of you to even duplicate a single action scene with all the details in ink and pen without the help of Adobe and see if it resembles his even in resemblance at least.

The main problem, lies in part with Nihei's storytelling ability in paper. Not in how he draws.
Honestly, understanding the action scenes of the manga isn't that hard to do if you really take a good look and immerse yourself in the story.

I have to say I was surprised to find so many people disliked this, both the story and the art. Seeing as it is without a doubt the best comic or manga I’ve ever read (forgive me, perhaps I just haven’t read enough) I felt I ought to defend it. Clearly it is not for everyone. But it is a far cry to say the man is a bad artist – I don’t hesitate to put him up there with other illustrators such as Gustav Dore, because I think he did an incredible job in creating an atmosphere.

The plot is intangible, true, but I found this left more room for imagination than the common easy access harlot of a storyline. And it’s short enough that it doesn’t matter if you’ve seen this theme before, subtle enough to leave you guessing, strange enough to catch your attention and just when you think you will never get close to the characters something heart warming or tragic crops up. So perhaps for those who don’t want to be spoon fed, this is definitely a story worth reading.

Finally, the art is not designed to look entirely realistic (if that’s what you’re looking for go watch a movie, it’s not the point of comics) – nor is it your stereotypical bug-eyed nonexistent nosed carp. I’m so unbelievably happy to FINALLY find a mangaka that is not afraid to draw people with noses! There is also none of the over the top expressions stuff – the faces are calm more often than not, and then suddenly so full of expression it’s terrifying. I find this far more real, far more interesting. He has an individual and interesting style, and the architecture is undeniably good.

... Last updated on October 15th, 2008, 8:06am

The people who don't understand this manga's plot must REALLY be confused if they're blaming the plot itself and not the art. The mangaka is just not a good artist at all and is terrible at portraying what he intends to portray. Detail alone does NOT make for good artistry. And that's basically a lot of what this is... a mass of details to distract the reader from the fact that the artist does not know how far apart the eyes on the faces should be set. It probably also has the dubious pleasure of distracting people from the plot and thus confusing the hell outta them.

The plot itself is pretty straightforward. Monster vs. monster with humans struggling to survive and the high ups in the government/military seeking to control some of them and use them. Anything that talks and looks white and isn't obviously human on sight is a white guana (the uncontrollable monsters). The other type are the black guanas: these seem to have a symbiotic relationship with humans that keeps the humans alive even if they've been ripped to pieces. It wasn't hard to follow at all, but it was hard to look at all the bad art. Ugh. I read through the first volume and don't think I could stand the art anymore, so I won't even try to read the second volume.

Anyways, the plot wasn't exactly something I hadn't seen before. It's been done before.

... Last updated on July 18th, 2008, 2:08am

the art is hella cool, and so is the action, but the plot is really hard to follow. and the ending isnt to great either. it seems unfinished. but nontheless, i still think is really awesome and worth reading

The only reason I didn't give this a 1 is because the art is very detailed, as shown in other comments. However, the plot is so confusing that it might as well not exist at all. The action scenes aren't as clear as they could be, yet they're the only thing that makes any sense in this manga.

What I've seen so far, Tsutomu seems to have an issue with storytelling. I'm sure he knows exactly what he's happening, and I bet some of you do too, but there's no talent in creating something that only a select few have the talent or luck/misfortune to comprehend.

The art is nice. Dark but typical manga-featured faces coupled with awesome "demon-armors" and unorthodox characters (my favourite part of any seinen). The transformations are by far the best-looking pages.

But again, the only thing that'd probably appeal to most people would be the visuals. The setting is very promising; I thought time and time again that it was a shame that a more talented story-teller hadn't made this. Perhaps there's something in the culture- or languagebarrier that makes this (and a few other select titles, among them every work of Nihei Tsutomu's) so damn hard to follow. But I just don't, and I'd rather read something like Baka & Gogh than stare at some impressive pictures. I'm not four anymore. Unfortunately, neither is Abara.

the masks and bodys of the gauna remind me of Hollows from bleach... a darker verson perhaps but thats what i was thinking the whole time.
story line is unclear... arts great imo

... Last updated on January 30th, 2008, 12:39am

The story was pretty decent, nice art, cool fights and nice drama sept erm, good luck trying to follow the plot. Not exactly clearly laid out, it jumps around to much and makes it hard to follow. Still, good fights just could only make sense of WHO was fighting half the time >.>

Really, i don't get this at all. I tried to understand this but the art was sketchy and story confusing. And is vol 2 really the end? It feels like the mangaka just dropped the project.