Here we have a rather original and interesting manga. IO is a manga revolving around the sea, scuba diving, ancient ruins, and mystical happenings that set the tone for the story. We have our main character Taiyo Nakabiru, a happy go lucky guy, and somewhat of a womanizer, encountering an apparent old friend on his way to Okinawa. This friend, Shibuki Miyara claims he killed her mother. Taiyo, dumfounded by this claim by someone he doesn’t remember, continues his trip to Okinawa. Here he meets Shibuki once more, as well as her sisters Nagisa and Mio. This meeting is what sets the story in motion, and why Taiyo must unravel the mystery behind the sisters, the ruins near them, and his past…
IO is one of those stories that starts out really cliche and somewhat unappealing. As the story progresses however, you see how well crafted the story is. Being a fan of the paranormal and conspiracies, this manga hit my sweet spot. Ancient ruins, a mystic white whale, government conspiracies, psychic power manifestations, romance, comedy, drama, IO had it all. What starts out as a simple trip to Okinawa ends up as a global treasure hunt that could possibly lead to the main characters deaths. Our characters are well defined, and sometimes completely unpredictable. And that’s another thing I liked about IO, it was unpredictable till the very end. Taiyo seems like the typical male lead at times, but surprised the heck out of me several times with his actions. The Miyara sisters were also very surprising, hell, everyone was just surprising. I forgot to mention, the art is just amazing. Its hard to draw water, and its even hard to draw whats under the water. IO being a manga revolving around the sea, it had several underwater scenes that were very well drawn with just amazing detail.
If I had one bad thing to say about IO, is that some things revolving around Taiyo’s family was never fully clarified. I don’t like being left confused after the story is done. Aside from that, it was a great manga, and I highly recommend IO to anyone.
Score - 8.5/10
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