Chrono Code Volume 1

Time is like a river current that is absolute. The river flows downward, without changing course. This is an escape from the river's flow....This is a story of three people who cross time and space to find each other, in an attempt to change destiny. But with a powerful satellite, a secret code and the future police on the hunt, an amnesiac who may be the key to everything must first uncover the true nature of her past...in order to discover who her friends are in the future.

When the promotional material for the second volume of a manga series begins, "Wondering just what the heck is going on?" you know you're in trouble. It's a shame that the first volume of Chrono Code plunges readers into such confusion, because it has real potential. Ji-Soo Chung is an orphaned schoolgirl in search of her missing younger brother in Seoul, Korea, in 1994. But in the 23rd century she may be Yun-hee, a "chronoid" with time-traveling capabilities and a colleague of the swash-buckling Blade (who, in 1994, is Ji-Soo's Russian teacher, Professor Nicolai). Blade's search for Yun-hee, who is apparently a powerful time traveler, overlaps with his pursuit of Doctor Joseph, another chronoid who has changed the confidential code for a satellite called Riverside that has the power to stop an apocalyptic 23rd-century war. It's fair to say that Chrono Code is suffering from an overabundance of plot and a dearth of background. But its art is lovely, combining fight scenes with dreamy splash pages, and the story is intriguing, despite a sometimes clunky translation. Manga fans who have the patience to follow the meandering plot should enjoy what they find. (Aug.)
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