I just finished reading the short shonen manga Double Arts by Komi Naoshi. It was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump (WSJ) this year in Japan. I'd recommend anyone to read it, because in my opinion it's very well done even though in Japan it wasn't received very well. It can be cheesy and awkward at moments, but the story is great and the art is awesome. So I'm going to give you a synopsis of it below to get you interested, because I think everyone here would love this!
Double Arts is centered around female and male protagonists named Elraine and Kili. Elraine is part of an organization of women called Sisters that dedicate their lives to treating victims of a fictional illness called Troy. Troy is a universally fatal disease in the Double Arts world that wracks its victim with seizures and coughing, and then causes the victim's body to disintegrate and vanish completely. It spreads through touch.
Sisters are special people who have very high levels of resistance to Troy, which makes them able to stand treating normal people who fell to it. They "Drain" the poison out of the victims, collecting it in their own bodies. This treatment is not permanent, but it will halt the effects of Troy for a little longer. Although Sisters have high levels of resistance to the disease, they are not entirely immune to it, which causes most Sisters to eventually die of Troy after some years.
Elraine is a teenage Sister and her dream is to one day find a permanent cure for Troy. After treating a patient one day in the town of Turm, she begins to finally succumb to the effects of her years of draining the Troy poison into her system. Collapsing in the street, paralyzed by her fits of coughing and seizures, she thinks she is going to die until a very special someone comes to her rescue.
Kili, a teenager with several unique talents and a generally easy-going kind of guy, sees Elraine collapse and, without thinking, runs to her aide. After grabbing her and trying to figure out what was happening to her, she suddenly recovers. This shocks her, because nothing besides the healing power of the Sisters has ever done anything to halt Troy, even that drastically. Kili also showed no sign of being infected by Troy, even though he touched her. They eventually figure out that he has the unique talent of being able to cure someone of Troy-under one condition. He has to be touching the victim to stop the disease. And if he ever let go, they would die.
So basically, Elraine and Kili are left with only two options: Hold hands forever or Elraine dies!
This manga is a comical, action-packed, story of the journey of Kili and Elraine as they try to make it back to the Sisters' far away headquarters to further study Kili's ability. Both of them grow and learn about each other and themselves as they progress.
For you Kingdom Hearts fans, this might be a special treat-the art style of this manga is, in my opinion, a little bit similar to that of the art in Fullmetal Alchemist and Kingdom Hearts. Also, Kili looks A LOT like Sora. It's actually a very striking resemblance for so different a character. Hair and everything.
Above: Kili Bottom: Elraine
