is a manga series by Tsutomu Nihei

Tsutomu Nihei

is a Japanese manga artist. His cyberpunk-influenced artwork has gained a strong cult following. He has a relatively large community of fans in Germany where his manga Blame!, NOiSE and Biomega were published by Ehapa. Blame! was also published in France and Spain by Glénat, in the US by Tokyopop...

. It was serialized in Shueisha

Shueisha

is a major publisher in Japan. The company was founded in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The following year, Shueisha became a separate, independent company. Magazines published by Shueisha include Weekly Shōnen Jump, Weekly Young Jump,...

's Ultra Jump

Ultra Jump

is a Japanese monthly seinen manga magazine published by Shueisha under the Jump line of magazines. Originally, the magazine was a special issue of Weekly Young Jump which first issued in 1995. On October 19 of 1999, the special issue became the new monthly publication Ultra Jump...

seinen

Seinen

is a subset of manga that is generally targeted at a 20–30 year old male audience, but the audience can be older with some manga aimed at businessmen well into their 40s. In Japanese, the word Seinen means "young man" or "young men" and is not suggestive of sexual matters...

 manga magazine. Abara means "ribs" in Japanese. It is licensed for French release by Glénat

Glénat (publisher)

Glénat Editions SA is a French publisher with its head office in Grenoble. The company publishes many things, including comic books and manga in France, Benelux, and Spain; it was founded by Jacques Glénat. The Spanish subsidiary has its head office in Barcelona. The Benelux subsidiary, Glénat...

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Premise

Abara is set in a dystopian world, filled with large structures. The story revolves around creatures known as Gaunas, those who can shape bone

Bone

Bones are rigid organs that constitute part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They support, and protect the various organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells and store minerals. Bone tissue is a type of dense connective tissue...

 like armor and weaponry around themselves by transforming. The transformation begins around the spine and then shapes layered armor. The story focuses on one such Gauna known as Kudou Denji, though he uses Itou Denji as a fake name earlier. The battle sequences are street-fighting; based with a mix of the macabre

Macabre

In works of art, macabre is the quality of having a grim or ghastly atmosphere. Macabre works emphasize the details and symbols of death....

 weapons, and superhuman

Superhuman

Superhuman can mean an improved human, for example, by genetic modification, cybernetic implants, or as what humans might evolve into, in the near or distant future...

strength/speed.