檻ノ中のソリスト

ORI NO NAKA NO SOLOIST

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
3
RELEASE
June 14, 2021
CHAPTERS
20

DESCRIPTION

Chloe and her baby brother Locke were born in a prison the size of a city: a walled-off collection of ramshackle buildings full of dangerous criminals who live bleak and isolated lives. Their parents are gone, leaving Chloe to care for her brother. When a trio of soldiers manage to break out of the prison, Chloe goes with them but loses Locke during the escape. After years of training, Chloe returns to the prison city with one goal: to find her now 11-year-old brother and get him out of that hellhole, no matter what it takes.

(Source: Seven Seas Entertainment)

CAST

Chloe
Leo
Ross Sandberg
Kyoudou-sama
Hachi Bearman
Hugo Navarro
Miyako
Sylvia Askalonov
Kerry
Tricot
Tricot's Brother

CHAPTERS

REVIEWS

FateXBlood
80/100
The best 2 hour read you can give to a short series.
Soloist in a Cage follows the adventure of a girl named Chloe in a heavily guarded and dangerous dystopian world.

I would like to start by saying that the way this manga has been drawn, it feels more like reading a comic book than your average manga. Each and every single page is well drawn. I believe the work has been done digitally because I have a hard time believing such magnificent work can be drawn on paper, while the author of the series has health issues.

Soloist caught my eye when I was going through my Twitter feed and came across my mutual's tweet where he was praising the artwork and the story. Looking at the artwork was enough for me to start reading the series right away. I spent around 2 hours reading the entire story and I was in awe when I learned it was serialized in 2018 and here I was reading it in 2021. Almost 3 years late. Well, enough of how I came across the manga, let's talk about the story.

The initial chapters of the manga are amazing. The way it focuses on Chloe even amongst all the elements present is fascinating. It makes you wonder how upside down is the story going to be as you keep on reading it. I felt an intense interest when things got very interested from Chapter 3 onwards. Needless to say, I cannot comment on every detail but I must assure you, that this is when you realize things are going to be awesome.

Now, I do have slight issues with the antagonists of the story. The manga is only 20 chapters long, but I believe that would have been enough to depict a strong enemy. There is a certain someone that you can consider to be a mastermind, but in the end, even he didn't matter much.

This story is set in a dystopian world, or more likely I should say a huge prison. Imagine Attack on Titan's Shiganshina district and now turn the setting into the night, with modern weaponry, cold & snow, and is heavily guarded by Robotic cops. Now, these cops are A.I. but for some reason, they do not have much of a presence after the initial chapters. I personally think they should have been shown a little bit more, but if I go according to the story which ended in only 20 chapters, then it's better this way. Even though I say 20 chapters, some pages are 30-40 pages long.

This is all about the story. Now let me talk about the amazing thing which is the artwork. Man, it felt like reading a western comic. The artwork is so beautiful that every single double page can be turned into wallpaper. The way Chloe fights with her enemies and moves around has been beautifully drawn by the author. You can see the epicness in every single movement of Chloe when she wields a knife. Simply outstanding.

The character designs are pretty good as well. The design of the kids seem similar to how modern children are drawn. They are wearing a cap, boots, and are adventurous. I particularly believe the best characters are those that die in this story. Because what happens next, will impress you a lot.

As for the end of the series, I want to say, it was a rather short experience. What happens at the end is a major part of the story so I will not be commenting about it, but the thing that happens has left me with a bittersweet feeling. It feels as if there were so many things I could have asked for, but I cherish the ending given to me. Honestly, if the author had no health issues, I would probably have asked for more content.
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Hypsonius
85/100
The pursuit of a loved one as a process of self-discovery
Soloist in a Cage, a mesmerizing story in which a simultaneously cruel but empathically endearing pursuit of a lost loved one transforms (or becomes) a sad and erratic journey to find a sense of self that we can live with; a journey so personal, so heavily demanding, so uniquely transversal to all humanity.

The author has the ingenious ability of portraying in a small size work, a story so simply profound, where the level of detail assigned to each character or circunstancial scenary has a world of its own. He makes you lightly travel into the psyque of the most central characters to a point where you feel it as needed for a better conveying of the story without passing the limit of disproportion.
On the other hand, you have characters that are tremendously relevant to the congruence of the story, but fulfill their purpose in a difuse manner; few or even single appearances are enough to completelly shine through their pathos and ethos. A certain atitude in a certain moment becomes the embodiment of what they perceive their own life to be about.

The imense and superb artistry of the panels and the emotions portrayed on the monologues and dialogues, fuse in one so seemlessly that almost becomes impossible to grasp it happening a different way, making you find yourself inevitably lost and imersed in a fluid medium that you do not know or want to escape of. The way the subjective space in which the characters show themselves to be known is given as one of their inner characteristics; there is no space objectivity without character objectivity and that is done marvelously.

Sadly, (not sure if concerning the health of the author), the work does lose some impact on the later second half, with an open ending that albeit satisfactory and congruent, lacks the desired density and intensity that the story as a whole so highly deserved.

The score i gave does NOT make justice to this fabulous piece, but as we know, an ending is not just an ending, it is a confluence of narratives and places and moments, where the full essence of a work has to introduce itself as everything it was for everything it represents. And for that sole reason, i can not give it a higher grade.
Bear in mind tho, the ratings i am giving are not reduced to the universe of mangá, and therefore that might reduce its values. If we were strictly confining ourselves to that universe, a solid 9 would not be farfetched.

To let you and myself go, i will conclude saying:
If you're searching for a condensed piece that does not abuse on superfluous complexity to make itself profound and emotional, where the story is not stretched without reason, and with brilliantly harmonious art, this is for you!!
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Shellshock
60/100
A girls desire to do anything to protect her baby brother.
Soloist in the Prison Review. A girls desire to do anything to protect her baby brother.

The series is set in a prison that continuously grows to the point it has become a city. With a population of 500,000. Our FMC takes care of her little brother in a lawless area. He is the only reason she feels contempt with her life right now. However one night with the help of her benefactor she tries to escape but her baby brother falls and ends up staying behind. 10 years later, she has been trained (somewhat) and will go back to the hell of a prison in hopes to find her little brother.

Apparently this series went on hiatus and there is a quality shift. But I wasn't really able to tell tbh. Like the manga was ending and it was wrapping up but like that type of decline is pretty common and I wouldn't like place it due to the hiatus, though full transparency I don't know when the hiatus happened exactly, so the ending part might not have anything to do with it.

The art of this series is phenomenal. I don't think anyone will disagree that the art is spectacular. Its detailed, exceptionally well drawn and really drags the reader in. Sadly though the Art really is the best part about the series. Not to say that's necessarily a bad thing but It is quite disappointing how much the quality lacks in other regards.

The characters aren't really dramatic or have the charisma to make me feel personally invested. Yeah I want to see the FMC save her little brother but I don't care about it personally. I want her to save her little brother so I can see the next part about the story not because not because I want to see the annoying little shit be rescued. There is a constant emotional distance that the author wasn't able to shorten in 18 chapters. I honestly had the same feeling when the faceless guy did cool ass shit at the end.

The action of this series is also dramatic. Like Fire punch we don't actually see majority of the fight (Except for one) we just a panel that basically deals with the entire thing and then the after effect. Considering they were just faceless mobs I do sorta get the point. But at the same time it kinda gets repetitive.

The series also has a snot problem. Its very distracting when someone is crying and there is just a gallon of snot running down there nose. I get that its meant to be more realistic but for one thing the series in itself is not realistic, 2ndly the characters themselves don't have a strong emotional connection with the reader, 3rdly its kinda gross.

Despite my complaints I did enjoy this series. I don't think its anything special. But not every series can be some profound masterpiece. Being short as it is, there is no filler. Though the quality in itself could be better. I don't think there is a lot to complain about here.

TLDR: Enjoyable enough. 6/10
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