From Cosmos to the Cosmic, we're spending a lot of time in space lately, aren't we? Once again we're unable to believe it's not Shogakukan with another Titan Manga release, this time Ryuchi Sadamatsu's Cosmic Censorship. (Though Sadamatsu did eventually go to Shogakukan as seen below!) Big shout out to them for providing us with a review PDF and physical copy.
The Author
Ryuichi Sadamatsu
Sadamoto-sensei wears many hats, being a book illustrator, mecha designer and of course manga artist. He's been an illustrator on the ultra famous Monster Hunter series starting in 2014 --specifically the Famitsu novelization version. Of which there are several versions with different authors and artists. I could probably write another entirely too lengthy article on these novelizations --Monster Hunter is a huge video game franchise after all, but alas. This cover artwork is tantalizing, though:
©Goro Nishino/Ryuichi Sadamatsu/Capcom
Sadamatsu-sensei's artwork is detailed and, for lack of better terms, cool. Which is fitting for a game series about hunting larger than life monsters.
He was the mech designer for Ryunosuke Azuma's light novel series Eilun Last Code, kakusekai yori senjou e (Eilun Last Code: From a fictional world to a battlefield). This work was published by Kadokawa and ran for 10 volumes from 2015-2019.
©Ryunosuke Azuma/Akemi Mikoto/Ryuichi Sadamatsu/Kadokawa
Again, super cool looking --Sadamatsu-sensei's artwork is amazing to behold. Though, the medium shift between drawing a series of one-off illustrations and a serialized story is a challenging one. How did he pull it off --and several times to boot? Sadamatsu's first serial was Mortal Metal, written by Junichi Sato and was serialized in Monthly Comic Blade. After that he hopped over to Kodansha's Bessatsu Shonen Magazine with Buster Dress, which is followed up by Cosmic Censorship (i.e the subject of today's review) after which was Gattai Atoranger. The theme between all of these are being about mechas or having mechs in them. (The last of which, Atoranger is based on a toy line of robots that started in the 70's.) In this line up he went from Kodansha, to LINE manga --and now he's with Shogakukan. You know I have to do it to 'em, er, you.
©Ryuichi Sadamatsu/SHOGAKUKAN
Starting 2024 on Shogakukan's web manga hub MangaONE comes one heck of a swerve from Sadamatsu in Pan o Nameruna! (Lit: Don't underestimate Bread, though it could also mean “Don't lick/taste the bread!”) about a NEET girl slowly reintegrating with society by....becoming a baker? Not surprisingly, the artwork is much different than Sadamatsu's other works due to the theme, but so is the storytelling. This is much closer to a “cute girls doing cute things” manga. Unfortunately, it seems to have been on hiatus after its 8th chapter, with no date for the next installment. Which is a shame since Aki Hamazi (Bocchi the Rock) gave it a recommendation. Maybe if it returns, I'll do a review on it? Hmm.
The Series
Cosmic Censorship
Cosmic Censorship or “Uchuu Kenetsukan” Lit: Space/Cosmic inspector ran on Line Manga from 2020 to 2023 for a total of 39 chapters over five volumes. A oneshot with the same title ran in Monthly Comic Alive's January 2014 issue. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find this issue digitally to compare the difference between the prototype and the series --which would have been interesting I think since it took six years and the leap to a different publisher to get this series off the ground. But alas.
The Premise
Maki Makino is a normal girl who's a part of her track club. She has a fairly ordinary life until one day she's saved by a mysterious man. From there her life completely changes as she finds herself involved in a battle against a universal threat, and if that wasn't enough, she's developed powers of her own. Oh, and she's also got a literal deadline, as the man who saves her reappears in her life and reveals he's from the future and knows she'll die soon.
I'll give Cosmic Censorship this...it moves fast. We're barely into the story when Maki is attacked by an invader, as they're known in the story, and don't get much further before the mystery man explains that she doesn't have much time left. Contrast this to COSMOS where the first volume focuses more on developing the characters in their unique viewpoints and that figures into the world they inhabit --despite having a very similar premise, and the pacing is even more noticeable. I'm not necessarily saying this is a bad thing as both series are doing very different things (and COSMOS is ongoing) but if you've been around this blog (or the twitter) you'll know I favor the Shogakukan way of meticulously telling a story.
That said, this first volume has a lot going for itself, first and foremost the artwork. Sadamatsu-sensei is an extremely talented artist, and every page has a level of detail and care that is evident from page one. The dual page spreads and character designs ooze coolness, confidence and are the highlights. The story itself doesn't reinvent the wheel, but I don't think it has to. It has a very Terminator-esque approach where Maki's death is what spurs the enemy to action, which is why Roger (yes the hero in this is named Roger Penrose, which I assume is an alias.) travels to the past and saves Maki more than once. On that note, despite the pacing and stakes, Maki and Roger have a casual relationship. Despite his looks, Roger is plenty affable, and Maki takes what she's hearing about her fate and the future in stride, which honestly? I like it. I could see how it might be more realistic for introductions to be awkward at first. I feel like this approach saves on a lot of back and forth and in that way allows the characters to breathe despite the story moving at top speed.
I mentioned Terminator before, and I think what sums up this first volume well is the vibe feels closer to a Hollywood movie with some manga tropes rather than a full on anime. It has that confidence of knowing that there are more volumes to come after this, which is to say a lot of the dialog comes off as the characters are all in on a secret that they're purposely leaving readers out of. This is mostly fine, however, it does come off just a bit like Sadamatsu-sensei isn't sure where the story is heading yet rather than crafting a mystery to keep readers engaged. In that way, dialog feels fragmented rather than coherent but layered, not helped by the series breakneck pacing and events feeling like they're humming along to the next stop rather than having rhyme and reason.
Speaking of the dialog, the translation is spot on, syntax is good, and comes off as natural. Readers shouldn't have a problem with character voices, even if the actual conversations are slightly offputting. Lettering is standard “subtitled text” for sound effects, and the character dialog is easy to read and uses a consistent font. The subtitled SFX aren't obtrusive, and again fit the scenarios they're used in. So the localization gets two thumbs up from me.
The Verdict
Cosmic Censorship concluded around two years ago as of this writing. I don't know if it ran its course as Sadamatsu-sensei intended or was cancelled, however. I bring this up because at this speed, I was surprised to see it ran for a fairly decent amount of time. Compared to long-running shonen manga, five volumes doesn't seem like much, especially when in a lesser known manga hub compared to Shonen Sunday, or the like. That aside, it has many elements that pay respect to the genres and works that inspired it (though I can't say for sure), while doing its own thing. Roger and Maki are endearing protagonists, and that I think will keep readers engaged throughout this first volume. What Cosmic Censorship needs now is to give them some more breathing room to be fully actualized characters and not plot points on a storytelling shopping list. Those who like futuristic sci-fi hunters doing battle against monsters will be right at home with this series. However, if Sadamatsu-sensei wants to appeal to more than that singular demographic, he will need to slow down a bit to let readers in and let them see what his work all about before warping to the future. If it can allow this, then Cosmic Censorship can be more than a temporary blip in the time stream.
Translated by Molly Rabbitt
Lettered by Tom Williams
Edted by Louis Yamani
Designed by David Colderley.
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