Outer Zone Edit What would you like to edit? SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links   j2q5b

Outer Zone excels in what it set out to do: it is Twilight Zone in manga form. Submitted for your approval are an anthology of short, suspense stories linked not necessarily by theme but by a common formula and the narrator: You start each story off with a mystery that keeps you guessing till the end, when you get presented with a twist ending and a moral lesson. The narrator herself can be seen narrating at the beginning and end of each story, closing off with the message. There is typically a kind of supernatural element to the story, or in a few cases, sci-fi.

To ... give a little idea of what the stories are like, my favourite story from the series is in volume 1, where a couple struggling with money problems find a shrunken head that can predict the result of any binary luck-based outcome. Armed with this item, will the couple be able to overcome their problems? What could go wrong?

This manga offers what most other Twilight Zone derivative media (TZ comics and fan films) have failed to do: weave an engaging story. It is hard to overstate how good a lot of these stories are, and how the entire package of the twist ending and moral message are present. However, the series does have its low points. With volumes 3 and 4, I found that most of the stories were extremely forgettable, but I believe that the rest of the stories make the whole series worthwhile.

A minor complaint is that the author seems to shy away from the anthology format and throw in some stories with multiple parts or continuations. That has never been this manga's strong point, in my opinion.

I wholeheartedly recommend this manga for fans of suspense, mystery, horror, and supernatural genres. If you are like me and have an hour of commute to occupy yourself with, but serial manga are less ideal because you struggle to what happened last chapter after a long day of work, Outer Zone would be perfect for you. Although I recommend it as a sort of "light" read, the stories themselves are anything but, and offer an engaging read that will keep you guessing till the end.

No reviews, huh.

Surprisingly, this is actually nice.

Long story short this is equivalent of Twilight Zone (either manga or translation explains that such stories are a result of old tradition that predates the twilight zone). It looks quite old school, as the art style resembles that of 1980s. The host telling the stories for some reason has elf ears and this is never explained.

Individual stories usually end within a chapter or two, but there are few arcs. The narrative is simplistic, meaning most of the time you have characters with clear motivation, obvious personality, and so on. A villain will be bad, a good guy will ... be good, a victim will be mostly nice, a bully will be usually evil, and so on. It is nearly black and white, but occasionally there's a twist. Basically it feels like it was aimed at younger teens - simple stories with straightforward characters, without deep philosophical pondering and the like.

The art is fairly simplistic, and frequently looks a bit flat, as in characters do not really show much depth. There are occasional background that clearly used stock photo here and there, and overall it is fairly simple but looks okay.

The point is, after bunch of stories, the manga sorta grows on you and starts looking quite charming and entertaining. As a result, I'd recommend to check it out.

It is fairly simple in both art and storytelling, but entertaining nevertheless.

I rated it 6/10 overall.