Manga Review: The Color of the End: Mission in the Apocalypse Volume 1
While post apocalyptic manga are not my usual go-to, The Color of the End: Mission in the Apocalypse Volume 01 caught my eye with its beautiful cover. This is a deeply human, emotional, and moving story in a quiet, mundane way.
Official Summary
A girl walks alone in a world without humans. Her mission—to search for survivors and cleanse the land. But is anyone still out there in the lonely, beautiful ruins, waiting to be found?
Quick Information
Mangaka: Haruo Iwamune
Publisher: Yen Press
Published: January 28, 2025
Genre: Science Fiction, Mystery, Post Apocalyptic
Tropes: Sole Survivor, Dead World, Action Girl
Rating: OT (Older Teen)
Series Status: Ongoing
Review
After the world is ravaged by strange beings, Saya, a provisional inspector with the Ushimitsu Technical Research Institute, is on a mission to find survivors and cleanse the land of the poisonous crystallosis pathogen that kills any human who breathes it in.
The reader is dropped into the middle of the story where the cataclysm has already taken place. We follow Saya as she searches for survivors, almost as if she's just going about a normal, routine job. This isn’t your typical fast-paced end of the world scenario, but rather an exploration of a war torn world and all the atrocities that come with it. This universe reminds me of the video game series Fallout, but if Saya was the only remaining person navigating the aftermath of calamity.
One of my favorite aspects of this manga is how we’re shown the horror of this post apocalyptic world not with epic, drawn out battle sequences or high-octane spectacles. Instead, we see quiet moments of a ravaged city as Saya drives through or a couple frozen in time who sat peacefully in their home as the crystallosis overtook them. In one moment, this world appears normal before transforming to show the aftermath of a terrible conflict long since passed. There is an underlying unsettling nature with every scene. It’s these small details that really elevate the story.
The artwork is beautiful and compliments the narrative, everything from Saya’s simplistic character design to the darker brush strokes of the highly detailed backgrounds and the alien beings known as Executioners. Saya looks out of place in this world compared to her environment. The cover is also an excellent example of the ruined world and how just a little bit of color is enough to catch your eye.
I went into this first volume of The Color of the End: Mission in the Apocalypse with hardly any expectations, but I came away feeling emotional over its world and characters. There is an especially moving part in the last few pages of this volume that I was wholly unprepared for. While this story isn’t for the faint of heart, if you are looking for a different kind of post apocalyptic story that will tug on your heartstrings but still fill you with a sense of dread, then this manga is for you.
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