Abara Review: Nihei's Vision of Biological Weapons and the Ruins They Leave Told in Near-Wordless Architecture
by Tsutomu Nihei
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Quick Take
- Nihei at his most purely visual — Abara is told almost entirely through architecture and action with minimal dialogue, which makes it both his most demanding and his most formally striking work
- The Gauna biological weapon designs are among the most unsettling in manga sci-fi
- 2 volumes complete in English; short enough to read in one sitting, dense enough to reward multiple
Who Is This Manga For?
- Readers who engage with Nihei's visual storytelling and want his work in a compressed form
- Anyone interested in wordless or near-wordless manga as a formal achievement
- Fans of body horror sci-fi with sophisticated visual design
- Readers who want complete Nihei that requires minimal time investment to access
Content Warnings & Age Rating
Age Rating: M (Mature) Content Warnings: Extreme sci-fi violence; body horror and biological weapon designs; near-wordless storytelling may disorient; mature content throughout
M rating — the body horror and violence are genuinely extreme.
Yu's Rating
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Story Depth | ★★★★☆ |
| Art Style | ★★★★★ |
| Character Development | ★★★☆☆ |
| Accessibility for Non-Japanese Readers | ★★★☆☆ |
| Reread Value | ★★★★★ |
Story Overview
There are white things. The white things are Gauna — biological weapons that move through the city's infrastructure with the systematic efficiency of something that was designed to destroy exactly this kind of space.
There are dark things. The dark things are something else — or someone else — that move through the same space in opposition.
Abara is told almost entirely through visual sequences: the architecture of a city being moved through, the movement of Gauna through that architecture, the response of whatever opposes them. Dialogue exists but is sparse. The story is told through action and space.
What emerges is a narrative about biological warfare, urban destruction, and the specific tragedy of things designed to destroy and things designed to stop them meeting in the ruins of what both were presumably made to protect.
Characters
The protagonist — A dark form who moves through the Gauna-infected city; their nature and motivation emerge through action rather than explanation.
The Gauna — Biological weapons whose design — white, architectural, moving through urban infrastructure with specific purpose — makes them more unsettling than traditional monster designs.
Art Style
Nihei's art in Abara is exceptional even by his own standards — the city architecture, drawn with the technical specificity that characterizes all his work, becomes the primary visual grammar. The Gauna move through the city's spaces in ways that the art makes spatially coherent. The near-wordless storytelling demands visual literacy from the reader that rewards the investment.
Cultural Context
Abara was published in Ultra Jump and collected in two volumes, positioning it as Nihei's most condensed complete work. Its visual storytelling approach — treating the narrative as something that happens through space rather than through dialogue — reflects the influence of European bande dessinée on Nihei's work, particularly the architectural science fiction of Moebius.
What I Love About It
The Gauna don't explain themselves. They move through the city with purpose that the visual storytelling implies without stating. The horror of a biological weapon that is doing exactly what it was made to do — in a world where the thing it was made to destroy has already been destroyed — is the series' central image, and Nihei communicates it without requiring a single line of exposition.
What English-Speaking Fans Say
Western readers describe Abara as Nihei's most formally pure work — specifically noted for the near-wordless storytelling being more accessible than expected, for the Gauna designs being genuinely disturbing in ways that elaborate designs aren't, and for the two-volume format making the commitment easy for readers who want to understand Nihei without beginning Blame!. Frequently recommended as an entry point for his work.
Memorable Scene ⚠️ Spoiler Warning
Any sequence where a Gauna moves through city infrastructure — specifically the architectural way they negotiate space, which implies intelligence and purpose without human movement — demonstrates the series' visual achievement at its most effective.
Similar Manga
- Blame! — Nihei's major work; similar visual language and city-as-character
- Knights of Sidonia — Nihei's more narrative work; Gauna appear here too
- Biomega — Nihei's post-Blame! work; similar biological horror elements
- Noise — Nihei's other short work; similar compressed storytelling
Reading Order / Where to Start
Volume 1 — the two-volume work reads as a single complete story.
Official English Translation Status
VIZ Media has published the complete English series. Both volumes available.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Nihei's most formally pure visual storytelling
- Gauna designs are genuinely unsettling
- Complete in 2 volumes — minimal commitment
- Exceptional reread value as visual experience
Cons
- Near-wordless storytelling requires visual literacy
- Minimal narrative explanation — ambiguity is intentional
- M rating content is genuinely extreme
Format Comparison
| Format | Notes |
|---|---|
| Individual Volumes | VIZ Media; complete in 2 volumes |
| Digital | Available |
Where to Buy
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Written by
Yu
Manga Enthusiast from Japan
I grew up in Japan and manga literally saved me during a tough time in elementary school. My English isn't perfect, but my love for manga is real — and I want to share it with you.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.