フールナイト

FOOL NIGHT

MANGA

STATUS
RELEASING
VOLUMES
Not Available
RELEASE
Invalid Date
CHAPTERS
Not Available

DESCRIPTION

The earth of the distant future is covered in thick clouds, and the sun no longer shines. Plants wither, and oxygen is thin. To fight extinction, humankind has developed a technology that turns humans into plants, providing a small amount of oxygen. Is this process sustainable? Is it ethical? Toshiro Kamiya must consider these questions as he’s faced with a difficult choice—save his family or save himself.

Kamiya is at the end of his rope. His mother is ill, and his job barely pays for her medication, much less food. With few options left, he considers the life-changing process of transfloration. Ready to give his body up for a payday, Kamiya is about to explore the limits of society’s waning humanity.

(Source: VIZ Media)

CAST

Toshirou Kamiya
Yomiko Hourai
Saeko Kanaeno
Akira Yatsuka
Jin Hiragishi
Ai Yukima
Nishi
Ken Hikasa
Hisaomi Kaburagi
Outarou Kuudai
Mei Okumura
Naoto Okumura
You Kunibe
Ivy
Hirukura
Mine Yatsuka
Shinichi Tasaki
Kaori Kamiya
Himejima

CHAPTERS

RELATED TO FOOL NIGHT

ONA DramaFool Night

REVIEWS

Ekoretto4
90/100
You like plants, dystopian stories with an adult cast? This is for you!
I love this manga so much, and no one seems to know about it. I even made a paper for school about it and its dystopian setting. The idea of a world where the sun is nowhere to be seen has many implications that Kasumi Yasuda thought all about, from how it affects people's mental health to how humanity has to find a new source of energy to survive. Of course, since there is no sun, plants cannot survive; they have to find a way to make them grow. They did, but their solution might not be ethically correct...
As I'm writing this, I have yet to read a manga with such an interesting use of plants and body horror. This world is not for the weak and is not merciful for anyone; we can see it with the main character Toshiro Kamiya and his discoveries on the character called "Ivy". A big part of the mystery involves this character, but there is a lot more for the cast to figure out about the secrets of the researchers who found the solution to the extinction of plants... The characters are involved in things that make them question everything that they used to believe was "right". Should the supposedly good people be followed like they are? Do they have the right not to share some information concerning the "plants"?
Anywho, I love Toshiro's interactions with his childhood friend Yomiko and their camaraderie. Even if they were separated for a while, their relationship is stronger than it ever was, and it is nice how two adults don't have to be in a romantic relationship to care about each other. You can also see other woman/man relationships in this story that are not romantic- not that romance is bad, I just don't believe it to always be the answer. Also, it is nice to read a story where the main cast is all adults. They are old enough to know how their world works and how cruel it can be.
Talking about said world, this story focuses a lot on the government and what it should or should not do. There's a lot of abuse of power and control in society. The inequalities between the rich and the poor are also quite sadening. To know more about that, you will have to read it yourself.
One thing that I find quite off in this world is the population. I mean, specifically the rich. They see things that are inhuman in our eyes almost every day and they do not seem to care about it. If the poor want money, there is one thing that they can do, and that thing is not recognized by the population like I thought it would be. You can compare it to a sacrifice for society, and no one is thankful to them? How messed up. Like in our world, the rich only care about their little lives.
As an artist myself, I must say that the artstyle is very refreshing. I love the movement on the hair and the plants filling the pages and brains of the people living in fear. Without naming, there are characters drawn very specifically to make them unnerving looking. You can feel the dread the more you turn the pages.
I have many more things to say about the story, but I will refrain, I don't want to spoil anything by mistake haha.~~~

Overall, this needs an adaptation or something- it needs to be on more manga enjoyers' lists!~~~~~
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SewerMan
100/100
Equal parts slow-build political intrigue and high-intensity espionage make for an electrifying eco-horror thriller!
CONTEXT & DISCLAIMERS: The latest chapter released in English as of this review is chapter 118. This is being written in response to the anime adaptation's recent announcement, and I will likely replace this review once it's significantly outdated or upon the manga's completion. In addition, this review contains minor spoilers for subject matters and thematic throughlines that appear in this manga, but it will avoid spoiling any particular plot beats.

Fool Night's world is unrelentingly cruel to its human inhabitants. The "we're turning dying humans into plants to supplant a lack of oxygen" dystopian setting makes that quite clear from the very first chapters, but as the manga continues beyond its stellar introduction, I still find myself terrified time and time again by the existential plights of its characters. Many characters precariously teeter on the edge of conscious complacency and overwhelming guilt, with surges of strong resolve being beams of light for those characters and the reader, only for that light to be cast back into shadow at a moment's notice.

Fool Night does not pull its punches--not for the hopeful young adults finding their place in the world, not for older folks desperately clinging to their long-held goals, and (as an IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER for anyone considering this manga) especially not for children. Child abuse and its consequences (and some associated painful dilemmas) are put on display multiple times throughout the series, and nobody is spared from the myriad cruelties of a world desperate for oxygen. I might skip this one if you are really not prepared to see some horrific fates befall the world's most innocent inhabitants, but truthfully, I found those moments all the more poignant as a reflection of our own world. They are gut-wrenchingly terrifying, but they are well thought-out, and they are honest.

All of this leads to the crux of Fool Night's genius: the characters & reader desperately want to uncover the truths of this world to rationalize its cruelty, and hopefully, to fix it. The political, corporate, and scientific backbones of Fool Night's dystopia are all shrouded in mystery, so drawing direct causal relationships between individual cruel acts and broader structures becomes a fascinating puzzle, and finding solutions for this society's problems feels like an impossibly daunting task. In fact, the puzzles in question are not ones the characters can sit and ponder for long, as every single question they ask will always be overheard by some individual or group that would do ANYTHING to stop them from finding the answer, leading to dozens of nested wars between parties that often don't even know who they're fighting against.

War is an endlessly entertaining aspect of Fool Night, with its deeply-layered espionage plots being the high point of the series, and its brutal action sequences being just as thrilling. Sheer strength will carry its wielders far in this world, but watching it falter beneath the twin weapons of information and influence is satisfying every time. In Fool Night, being a capable fighter only matters if you know what you're fighting for--not just vague ideals or dreams, but what those dreams really mean in a greater societal context.

As much as the thrills of war are a major draw of the series, Fool Night's lower-stakes moments can be just as painful, but also even more beautiful--enchantingly so, at times. The manga uses its downtime between major arcs incredibly efficiently, introducing well-rounded side characters and using their struggles to recontextualize our understanding of the main characters. In addition, I'm reminded of Chainsaw Man (very high praise for this particular subject) by some of the beautifully down-to-earth moments between friends in this manga, making characters more believable and providing some reprieve from the world's horrors. Hope is still present in this incredibly bleak world, even if its characters have to fight tooth and nail for even a moment of it.

The last thing I'd like to briefly touch on is the gorgeously distinct artwork in this manga--everything I've mentioned up until this point is elevated even further by hauntingly beautiful artwork, especially in Fool Night's jaw-dropping two-page spreads. I've been massively struck by so many panels, staring at them for minutes as I sit with the characters' emotions or reflect on my understanding of the world I live in.

I know giving an unfinished manga a 10/10 rating might be a faux pas, but my love for Fool Night only deepens as I descend further into its electrifying world, both its tingling undercurrents and brutal shocks. I've never been so happy to be "here before it gets popular" for anything in my life, and I cannot wait to rewrite this review later on in Fool Night's lifespan.
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