әnígmә

[iceyfw]

Originally Posted by summary

Haiba Sumio is a student at a Tokyo High School with an interesting ability... He occasionally falls asleep and wakes up with premonitions of the future written out on his "Dream Diary". With this ability, Sumio helps out people in trouble before anything bad happens, until one day when his peaceful life completely changes.

Genres: Mystery, Psychological, Shounen, Supernatural

Spoiler for first three chapters:

this manga goes straight into its plot rather fast unlike most shounen mangas nowadays. so it seems we will get more information on what әNíGMә is after they escape from the school and how sumios mom knew about it. and i'm pretty sure this arc will be one of the many subplots within its plot.

my first impression of this manga was it was going to be a 'Who will he save this week?!' but manages to turn around the stereotype on how long shounen mangas will actually show an arc having to do anything with its plot. it is definitely worth a read if you are into fast developments.

[Excorsism]

I'm interested in the childhood friend. Yeah, totally. But like all other shounen series, romance takes a backseat.

[Rickketik]

The author probably though 'What would it be like if I mix Doubt and Mirai Nikki with all the typical Shounen bullshit' ...And this came out..

[Aesthetic Shampoo]

Is that a bad thing? I'm enjoying this so far.

[Johnny]

Reminds me of another manga I can't recall the name of as the main guy writes down notes of future events and the girl sees things in windows or mirrors...

[Bonta Kun]

Originally Posted by Johnny

Reminds me of another manga I can't recall the name of as the main guy writes down notes of future events and the girl sees things in windows or mirrors...

Ann Cassandra, which I actully liked.

This is ok I guess, not great in any way but interesting.

btw both this and Ann Cassandra have female authors.

[Jin Kizuite]

I was wondering if we could get this thread's title changed to "Enigma" rather than "әnígmә" seeing as i have no idea how to actually write the latter using my keyboard, other than copying it from somewhere. I'm assuming this is also creating complications to other people trying to find this thread, seeing it has less than a page written in it because when they search "Enigma," the commonly used alternative to the title, they don't find anything.

[larethian]

finally, an Enigma thread! though there are less than 20 chapters to discuss LOL!

[yura`]

Originally Posted by Jin Kizuite

I was wondering if we could get this thread's title changed to "Enigma" rather than "әnígmә" seeing as i have no idea how to actually write the latter using my keyboard, other than copying it from somewhere. I'm assuming this is also creating complications to other people trying to find this thread, seeing it has less than a page written in it because when they search "Enigma," the commonly used alternative to the title, they don't find anything.

Ughh I agree! My initial forum search to see if a page for "Enigma" had been created didn't yield much, and only when I performed a search for posts instead of threads in the manga forum did this come up.

Anyway, chapter 31 (the latest scanlated one) was really enjoyable! There was a midpoint where the manga appeared to have hit a bit of a plateau, with just week after week of finding passwords - not that it's not exciting - but I guess I wanted more answers to the too many questions. And chapter 31 delivers, although it does bring up yet more questions!

Spoiler for chapter 31:

At this point in time, Shigeru still remains the most mysterious - I can't help wondering if she has some sort of link to Enigma itself. And Sumio's talent being taken away in what appears to be the 'final' stage makes things interesting - but the unity displayed by the group is a heartening sight.

The hijacked plane incident, and the mysterious survivor... more questions abound. Just when I thought things couldn't get anymore interesting, something is thrown into the works that make you go, 'wha-?!'

[MeroBAKA]

Originally Posted by Bonta Kun

Ann Cassandra, which I actully liked.

This is ok I guess, not great in any way but interesting.

btw both this and Ann Cassandra have female authors.

I remember the picture of her wedding with another mangaka and a cake
Apparently, she was a an assistant of the author of KHR.

I concur. The series is interesting. She managed to create a mystery/survival manga, which was lacking in WSJ's current line-up and she kept the shonen values, which could have been tricky.
There was no trick that has blown my mind, but the story telling keeps me entertained so far and I am intrigued with the character enigma and his/her motivations.

PS: I like the weird design of the skull representing Enigma

[yura`]

Spoiler for chapter 34:

Well, we finally see what Shigeru's power might be... Wasn't it a few chapters ago that Enigma/Kijima-sensei said that she has been using her power all along? I find that interesting. I can't help thinking that perhaps her power is somehow tied up with Sumio's. After all, Sumio himself couldn't figure out at the start why Shigeru had been dragged into the e-test.

I reread some of the earlier chapters, and noticed something interesting in the chapter where they had to find the puzzle pieces in the rapidly flooding shower room. This is where the image of the final piece's location flashed across Sumio's mind - could this be Shigeru's unconscious doing as well?

And Shigeru meeting her younger self - that was very interesting. I almost thought that at first perhaps Sumio had died in some freak incident in their childhood, but Shigeru's power somehow revived him, and he's being sustained by her or something like that!! I don't know if that makes sense, but anyway I'm sure other more discerning readers can come up with better and more coherent theories! Haha.

[LeaD36]

I guess the manga is ending soon=/

[larethian]

no this is probably only the first arc. but if the quality doesn't improve, it will.

[larethian]

wow! just when I was thinking this manga is going down the path of doom, a nice twist came in chapter 35!

[kayote]

i'm liking this manga. it's a nice change of pace from the big 3(one piece, naruto and toriko).

it keeps me entertained and i am looking forward to the new chapter. the powers are very well thought out. it's not just the turning back time and the sort of crazy distruction.

ch 35. great twist.

[yura`]

I agree, larethian! Chapter 35 definitely shook things up!

Spoiler for ch. 35:

The more discerning readers might have already seen it coming. I mentioned that I suspected Sumio's power was tied up with Shigeru's - and the answer wasn't too far off! The water puzzle, the phone call with the other guy - telepathy, of course...! Reading back, suddenly it just made so much sense, especially how Sumio was the only one who could communicate on the cell phone with the occult dude from outside. It's amazing how Sumio's actual power has been well-hidden from us so far.

But I'm looking forward to seeing how the next part of the story plays out. Shigeru is shown to be more intelligent than we've given her credit for (in the way she quickly analysed the situation and put two and two together). I'm still fascinated by how both Sumio and Shigeru's powers have combined in such a way... very interesting. And the third friend 'Silence'... I won't be surprised if he appears somewhere in the plot too.

There's still so many questions to be answered though... the plane hijack incident and how it coincides with Sumio's birthday (Feb 29), Enigma and his plans, the shadows, Sumio's parents... and with this latest development, the long set-up and 'introduction' is finally over, and it feels like we've only really just begun!

[MeroBAKA]

No surprise here, but Enigma survived to Ikkyu. I don't see the series make a long run though, the sales seem low for a WSJ series. It's better fate will be to join series like Psyren, Mx0 or Hokenshitsu no Shinigami. I wonder if the ranking will improve with Ikkyu gone. I have the feeling they share the same readers.

New arc is intriguing especially because of the colorful people inside the train. I am interested in seeing this bunch of weirdos.
And in the previous chapters I did not understand if there is someone that traps Kirio or if it is because of the power of the skull. I have the feeling it was the skull, but Kirio's anger seems directed towards a hidden enemy.

[LeaD36]

So did Hokenshitsu no Shinigami already get the axe? what was the last chapter?

[LeaD36]

Well here's my guess, which is probably lame and cliché and everything, but : Cannibal's the president, was kinda obvious when they were only left with haiba + 2 possible candidates for being cannibal, whereas in reality there were 3. . . Cannibal steals everything, even their . . talents..
My guess for the masked man is Haibas dad, but that's just me

[yura`]

It would be disappointing if Enigma is canceled. I had no idea that it's been at the bottom of rankings for quite a while now - I imagined that it would have been more popular. Or perhaps the whole psychological thriller/mystery doesn't quite cut it for the WSJ audience? (I'm reminded here of Bakuman and issues of being mainstream vs. non-mainstream. Although Bakuman is itself doing quite well, haha.)

In any case, I feel as if we've barely scratched the surface of what's really going on. There's still too many questions left to be answered. With regards to Cannibal... LeaD36, that's what I thought too! Admittedly, it will seem cliché if the president really turns to be Cannibal after all (the least suspected person is often "it" right? lol), but I'm still curious to find out what the explanation would be. Who or what exactly is Cannibal, and what is its connection to "Enigma" and the skull? Then there's Haiba's dad as well, as well as his mom who appears to know more than she lets on...