La Femme Kilico
When Omanga and Kotonoha work together, you know the result is gonna be nasty. After Uncivilized Planet and Keep on Vibrating, I’m excited to announce our third collaboration: Kilico, a 4-volume action drama that would even make John Woo proud with its heart pounding action sequences, raw emotions, riveting drama and unrelenting characters.
Created by the talented, but unfortunately under-appreciated Kôichi Kiba, who was originally going to work in the movie industry, Kilico’s visual style seems highly influenced by its author’s knowledge of cinematography and mise-en-scène. However, what makes this manga worthwhile is its complex story and the multi-layered characters. Like Woo, Kiba manages to take a classic revenge plot and instill it with both enough “style” and “substance” to turn it into something vibrant and engrossing.
Both an all-out action feast and a character study, Kilico steeps in fundamental and emotionally powerful themes such as obsession, hate, loyalty, guilt, sacrifice, friendship, even love. The author takes time to carefully construct a rich frame around the characters, which serves to make their actions and motivations all the more believable. More importantly, none of the characters are purely good or evil. Both the assassin and her pursuer are ruthless and cold-blooded when it comes to achieving their goal.
Like every action story, violence is one of this manga’s central motifs. It’s violence that brought the main characters together and that nurtures their relationship. However, Kiba also depicts how violence consumes both the “good” and the “bad.” It doesn’t matter who uses it for what purpose. In the end, everyone loses to its destructive force. The most important question that the story raises is not who is going to win or lose, it’s who is brave enough to stand against his/her inner demons and breaks the circle of violence even if that means sacrificing him/herself.
I can’t thank zzled and Jinchi from Manga-Sketchbook enough for their excellent translating and editing work. They are the driving force behind this project which I hope can be finished in a timely manner. 
Wow, your synopsis are always so riveting. Thanks as always, Kotonoha.
Ladholyman May 14, 2006 @ 9:57 pm
Excellent. Love to see Zzled’s tsl’d work being done.
And thank you Jinchi! 
Ruroni May 14, 2006 @ 11:38 pm
Holy shit this series is awesomeness. Thanks everyone :DDDDD
anonymous May 15, 2006 @ 12:14 am
Hmmm…yet to see any of the character depth you spoke of (after all, it was only the first two chapters), but stylistically Kilico is certainly impressive. His art is a bit bizarre, but he can really create some dynamic action sequences. I’m eager to see Yusa go psycho (more than he already is) in future instalments. It’s been a while since you guys did action, and this looks like an exellent choice.
Huff May 15, 2006 @ 12:37 am
seems interesting. thank u very much
QH May 15, 2006 @ 3:50 am
It’s been fun to edit something, that I knew would be good, for a change.
Jinchi May 15, 2006 @ 6:38 am
One of the best manga out there. Nikita meets Miike Takeshi. Thank you!
magamura May 16, 2006 @ 7:42 am
Kilco is some great stuff =)
myran-san May 16, 2006 @ 2:43 pm
Trust me, it gets better.
Nomad Soul May 16, 2006 @ 5:33 pm
Thank you so much for bringing manga to us that we might otherwise never have a chance to see. You guys are pumping out these releases damned fast … Thank you!
Daniel May 17, 2006 @ 7:32 pm
Thanks for chapter 5 of Seizon life! It’s really tense!
Beatrix May 17, 2006 @ 11:55 pm
Damn, you guys are on a role. Gotta love being able to read a new chapter every day. Some great new projects (Yusa is finally going nuts) to add to your already amazing line-up. Can’t wait till Music of Marie and SOIL get rolling again!
Huff May 18, 2006 @ 12:44 am
We live to serve.
Seriously though, “Kilico” is only progressing so fast because of zzled and Jinchi.
Nomad Soul May 18, 2006 @ 1:54 am
This is excellent. Keep on choosing interesting works like this!!!
The tension is awesome!
DvorakQ May 18, 2006 @ 2:45 pm
It is a pleasure to work with Kotonoha and Nomad Soul in particular. Hope you all enjoy the ride!
Zyph May 18, 2006 @ 5:31 pm
Thanks a lot. Kotonoha is one of the few groups of which I leech new titles without checking the synopsis before. And I was never disappointed. Appreciate it.
Elbart May 19, 2006 @ 5:56 pm
Isnt there a dayli release anymore?
Evi May 22, 2006 @ 9:04 am
@Evi: As you can see, we only made a little break over the weekend.
Nomad Soul May 22, 2006 @ 5:48 pm
My goodness, you are shrooming through this. Nice.
Ladholyman May 22, 2006 @ 6:43 pm
Wow. I didn’t think Kilico would grab me but, I gave it a chance, and I’m now very much… hooked O_O (doesn’t happen often!)
voxie May 22, 2006 @ 7:11 pm
That final chapter of volume 1 was fucking awesome.
anonymous May 26, 2006 @ 12:41 am
Nice end to the first volume. Around the middle chapters it was getting a little dry, but those last few were pretty damn exciting (great action scenes). We’re also starting to see the depth NS spoke of in his Criterion Collection-worthy description.
Huff May 26, 2006 @ 3:29 am
Well, the description does sound a bit exaggerated since I wrote it with the entire series in mind and not just the first volume. After all, volume 1 only serves to introduce the characters and their relationships. The main story doesn’t kick off until the second volume. Once it does, we’ll see both Kilico and Akira in a different light. The twist at the beginning of the 2nd volume also goes to show that “Kilico” is not a simple detective story. ^^
Nomad Soul May 26, 2006 @ 3:52 am
Great work, all of you. I do have one request though, and that’s to SLOW THE FUCK DOWN because you’re making the rest of us editors look bad right now. Okay?
Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Vorbis June 7, 2006 @ 9:43 pm
Wow, what a big compliment, especially coming from you, Vorbis. ^^
Regarding your request, we’ll see what we can do, but we’re not very optimistic. ^^;
Nomad Soul June 8, 2006 @ 5:05 pm
I love Kilico, thanks for doing such an amazing job with this series.
Telney June 11, 2006 @ 7:43 pm
thanks
sasouki August 19, 2006 @ 2:39 pm
it verry good
sasouki August 19, 2006 @ 2:41 pm