Chikyu Hyokai Jiki

A manga about an accident at a space mining facility that forces a group of survivors to risk travel across the frozen surface in search of help.

We’ve discussed this on a recent podcast.

I ended up picking up this book because while I’ve read Jiro Taniguchi‘s manga, I wasn’t aware that he’d written outside the genre of slice of life. And I was pleasantly surprised that his realistic art style worked well with this science fiction story. I will say that I got huge Alien vibes as the miners reminded me of space truckers. They were blue-collar workers that seemed like a perfect cast for men trapped on a facility that was losing power and supplies. When the group of survivors venture to the surface they meet an indigenous tribe and learn of a prophecy that foretells the resurrection of an alien race. All of this lore really makes it close to Prometheus or something of the sort. I enjoyed this.

~dakazu