Usually when I get paid every month, I'll try and at least buy something different from my usual reads. I've been a slight fan of Astro Boy and the sort of spin-off Pluto series. I looked up some of Osamu Tekzuka's other works and had a look at Ayako. After reading the synopsis, I thought it would be an interesting read seeing how much darker than it seems in comparison with Astro Boy.

The start of this was very promising, you get a good feel for each of the characters, their motivations and all of that. The culmination of the first arc, so to speak, led for an interesting read. However, as the manga continues, it sort of begins to lose its momentum in terms of plot and how the characters were used.

The art is what you expect of a Tekzuka work, one of a kind. It still surprisingly holds up to this day and was great to look at.

My gripes are more to do with maybe mid-end of it. Without spoiling anything, the titular Ayako becomes character of circumstance and faces punishment. The timeskips, which were well done, I have to say, show how she has been affected by this. However, it becomes very frustrating when the same thing happens over and over.

The ending is very confusing in terms of how I felt when I finished it. I suppose it's punishment for the characters involved and justice for Ayako but it ends very abruptly with a couple of lines of text that basically say "and Ayako was never heard from again." I suppose it just came down to constraints on the author at the time of creation.

Overall, I wouldn't say i'm disappointed by this by any means. My gripes are more to do with some of the plot and character development. I would recommend this definitely if you're a fan of Tezuka's. The journey is definitely a strange one and some of the stuff will have you cringing at the mere thought of what happens on the way through it.