This is a manga series called Kaijin Fugeki(灰仭巫覡) by Oh!Great.
Here is a Synopsis of the manga series.
A phenomena that has been the cause of the natural disasters are creatures known as Nights. In order to clash against such a threat, children would band together to perform reverence in the form of worshipping gods in the form of dancing to have their gods lend these children their powers in order to put an end to the Night’s wrath and save the world from being destroyed.
I think that is it for the Synopsis. I will give a breakdown as to what I see. What I see is that this worldbuilding is similar to the Bionicle storyline, as well as Mata Nui Online Game (MNOG) series and the reboot of Bionicle; I could break down some reasons as to how this manga feels similar to the Bionicle content.
- The main characters Jin and Gao have a rivalry going on and they both have a leadership roles as well as a rivalry in the beginning; similarly in the original Bionicle story and the Bionicle reboot series Tahu and Kopaka have a rivalry and they often express comraderie.
- In the original Bionicle storyline as well as MNOG, there creatures that would terrorize the local matoran known as Rahi, whereas Kaijin Fugeki has creatures that would be the cause of Natural disasters known as Nights.
- In MNOG, the main character is a standout and his team are a group of misfits and the people that fight against the Rahi are akin to how children would have to fight, similarly to how Kaijin Fugeki had children fight against the Nights.
- MNOG was considered to be a game that is ‘art’ according to the narrator of Subpixel from “The Making of The Mata Nui Online Game”, and the manga has ambient art that makes Kaijin Fugeki feel so alive.
- In the movie Bionicle: Legends of Metru Nui, Nokama was teaching some matoran that were students for a school, whereas Kaijin Fugeki had the main characters go to school.
- The heroes according to the narrator on Subpixel said that the “real heroes” of the MNOG story were “the matoran” as the matoran were represented as “literally and metaphorically powerless” and ‘small’ in the beginning with just a single matoran as the matoran represents the audience which were the children that were “small and powerless” and a group of “misfits, the weirdos”. but together they worked together to fight Makuta’s forces to be heroes, whereas in Kaijin Fugeki you have a group of children who are misfits such as Jin, Gao, Natsu & Fuyu Misasagi, Yukari, Juri, Micaiah, etc.
- In Bionicle there was a lore where the Av-Matoran would become monsters known as Bohroks, and in Kaijin Fugeki Jin believes he might turn into a night and requests Gao to kill him if that day comes.
- In Bionicle there is elemental powers as well as Protodermis which plays a role in the story and the worldbuilding, whereas Kaijin Fugeki has Psychomagnetic energy and dancing as well as Kotodama(言霊) or Word spirit power
- In Metru Nui there were technology such as flying vehicles, chutes, and other machinery, in Kaijin Fugeki there were fictionally advanced technology there as the technology juxtaposes with natural and supernatural.
- The beginning of the original Bionicle story starts at a post-apocalyptic on an island where some matoran do not remember themselves until they went to Metru Nui and the Turaga told the stories, whereas Kaijin Fugeki takes place at Japan Post-apocalyptic.
Basically that is all what I can come up with for the comparisons, so yeah this manga may not be about Bionicle but it is sure entertaining, fun, action packed an interesting. Even though the first volume of Kaijin Fugeki is rated with 4.8 out of 5 stars I would give it 5 stars for the wonderful creativity on the lore, the worldbuilding as well as the fight scenes and situations where the main characters would have to solve. Honestly at one point, this post will age up and when it does there might be a chance either the creator or someone who is a fan of the series might find out and eventually this would be found by the author itself at some point in time, but that is another story for another time. What do you guys think of Kaijin Fugeki? If you have never read the story before, I would recommend reading this on KManga or buying one of the books from the stores. If you have anything such as a valid argument for the comparison please leave a comment down below.