Sleep Is For the Weak

PG-18 for violence, drugs, sexuality, language, nudity, gang stuff, etc.; official series website and info on the bizarre anime

A drifting, aimless young man gets involved in Tokyo’s underground just as a drug named “Wild Adapter” is flooding the streets and turning people, seemingly, into crazed beasts of some sort. He eventually takes in another young man whose beastly qualities are limited to a super-strong, creepy right hand, and together they try to not get killed by all the nutcases around them. I think this series is considered by many to be Kazuya Minekura’s strongest work, and it’s not hard to see why. The pacing and story construction of Wild Adapter are deliberate, artistic, and effective. The entire first volume works as a sort of prologue with a definite beginning, middle, and end, and the second lead doesn’t appear until the very end of said volume; it’s simultaneously self-contained and an excellent starting point for a broader premise. I like Volume 2 even more. Wild Adapter has its fair share of homosexual themes, but with the exception of a silly yazuka kiss, they’re handled with surprising care and subtlety–a far cry from the ridiculous nature of most Boy’s Love stories. I can’t ethically comment on Minekura’s Saiyuki series since I work on them for Tokyopop, but I can say that the pacing and point of Wild Adapter are different enough from Saiyuki that it’s worth a try regardless of how you feel about the latter. There’s an animated music video for Wild Adapter and a strange AU anime OVA called Araiso Private High School Student Council Executive Committee…but I haven’t watched that OVA, and the concept behind it is too weird for my tastes.

Initial impression: Worth a try if you’re of age. (Lianne)

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