Angel's Share by Tsutomo Takahashi & Go Ohinata.

Synopsis: The Afterworld Bar, a place between Heaven and Hell where all the people stuck in limbo go to. And he is no exception, but even when he knows which path to take, he just wants to have a drink first, for it may be his last. But little does he know that his cursed luck as a living one ends here.

____________________

Weird in every aspect. Tsutomu Takahashi (Alive, Blue Heaven, Route 69 & Skyhigh) pairs up with Go Ohinata to come up with a refreshing manga that not only mixes the art styles, but the viewpoints as well. The 8 pages it takes to cover the story seem more like a conversation between the two mangakas and it is pretty obvious who is who. A pessimistic side of death (Tsutomu Takahashi) and the optimistic side of death (Go Ohinata).

The extremely limited length of Angel’s Share makes it almost impossible for the main character to have any background and development. Yet we learn about his past life, even when it is just two sentences, it manages to work and it gives us a nice idea of the kind of man he was. But besides the two sentences of background there is nothing else. True, it works, but there is no reason given to his actions and that leaves me with an awful taste since instead of reading a story I end up drawing conclusions that may not correct.

The art has one main purpose, to indicate the state of mind and complexity of the characters. The character that was drawn by Takahashi is dark and emanates a heavy and obscure atmosphere that fits his dark and obscure past and personality and it also enhances it. While the rest of the art was done by Ohinata which is very bright and has almost no shadows, sometimes one might think that a child did those drawings, but that is the point, to lighten the mood and give a light of hope. And while the art does what it was meant to, it ends there, it doesn’t do much else, it is just there.

In the end Angel’s Share offers a nice view at the mangakas opinion on death. Yet the lack of more character background and development makes it hard to like. This share of manga, is just like a taste of a great dish, you will always end up wanting more.