Dai Dark
Synopsis. Setting. The plot takes place in outer space, split between a regular realm and a dark realm. The regular world is inhabited by two types of race: aliens (also translated as "spacelings"), who are any type of organic humanoid, and robos, a mix of mechanical humanoids made from machinery (i.e. robots) or puppeteered corpses and matter (i.e. remote control animals). Regular space is occupied by both neutral and hostile ships, with neutral ships often sustaining themselves by carrying and selling cargo under threat of attack from hostile bandit ships; the remnants of bandit attacks, plundered and destroyed  ships drifting through space, commonly litter certain routes. Neutral ships include Great Trees, children's school ships run by Solar Mass' automated light-powered robots, and the Maltekya, merchant ships staffed by lobotomized remote-controlled aliens that avoid attacks by self-destructing with little provocation. The closest sense of order or lawfulness is the theocratic dictatorship The Solar Mass (also translated as "photosfere"), a series of ancient religious sects based around light magic and rumored to stem from a mysterious location named Zora. While all followers of the religion are dedicated to researching light magic and combating darkness, the faith  has splintered into multiple competing sub-sects like The Light Head, who all ultimately serve their own interests. The church's higher ranking members have ages extending into centuries, living in a state of undeath through light magic and cybernetics powered by it. The church is also responsible for running multiple educational colonies for children, protected and maintained entirely by automated light-powered robots. The dark realm, "World of Darkness", is only accessible to dark beings, and must be reached by passing through a black hole or equally lightless area. Dark races include dark aliens, hollow but sentient entities dubbed  packages, and dark creatures of varying intelligence. Dark entities tend to be incredibly durable and have personally unique powers. The World of Darkness is completely non-visible to regular beings as even light cannot exist within it, resulting in the followers of Light fear and hunt dark beings as daemons. Regular entities are unable to tolerate the dark realms, which physically and mentally warps them into shadow creatures. The dark realm contains unusual technologies, including Skin of Darkness robes which use shadows to protect the wearer, and Dark Cores that can provide power and life to ship entities. A  common currency with merchants of Darkness is alien bones, which can be traded for dark magic and dark supplies. Premise. Zaha Sanko, a dark alien teen with a mysterious past, lives as a vagrant and fugitive to avoid capture; a legend of him claims that possessing his bones will grant the owner any wish they desire, resulting in most aliens being hostile towards him. Travelling with his guardian and "Package of Darkness" Avakian, the duo are seeking the person offering wishes for his bones. The pair regularly crosses paths with Shimada Death, another dark alien feared as the God of  Death, who commonly feeds off the corpses they create. Evading a series of attacks and using the skeletons to purchase equipment, Sanko uses a Black Core to create a sentient ship named Moja, which also leads Shimada to join their crew. This then later expands to include Hajime Damemaru, another fugitive pursued by The Solar Mass. Publication. "Dai Dark", written and illustrated by Q Hayashida, began in Shogakukan's "Monthly Shōnen Sunday" on March 12, 2019. Shogakukan has collected its chapters into individual "tankōbon" volumes. The first volume was published on November 12, 2019. In July 2020, Seven Seas Entertainment  announced that they have licensed the manga for an English language release in North America. The first volume was published on April 27, 2021. Reception. "Dai Dark" ranked 7th on Takarajimasha's "Kono Manga ga Sugoi!" list of best manga of 2021 for male readers.