Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna
Spiral: Bonds of Reasoning

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Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna can be almost what you would call reading 15 volumes of bliss. The mix of excellent artwork, a mind-boggling storyline, fascinating characters and plot twists that you would not have expected all work towards creating the dictionary definition of an 'enjoyable read'.
Story
Spiral's storyline is one of the decisive elements that keep it apart from your usual run-of-the-mill manga. While it begins on a rather lackluster note, seemingly appearing to be a murder mystery, the plot quickly develops into one that leaves you with many questions asked, and begging for the answers to come quick. The mystery behind the existence of the ... 'Blade Children' is the most pivotal plot element, one that you'll only find out from reading this title.

Art
Obviously, if you ever notice the various pieces of Spiral artwork, you'll realise that this series has excellent artwork throughout the entire manga. While the art itself does develop as the series progresses (it appears to be cleaner if not even more super-deformed or 'shoujo-like' during later volumes) you'll most likely love it from the beginning to end. The existence of bishies and bishoujos are also rampant in Spiral, so you won't miss anything out in that department. Obviously if you're looking for a more realistic art style, Spiral may not deliver.

Character
Most likely Spiral's strongest point is it's wide variety of characters, many that you'll probably love rather then hate. Unlike many titles, who is good and evil is even more ambiguous in Spiral, there is no clearcut 'good' or 'bad'. Because of this, the protagonists and so-called antagonists are all individuals you may grow to love. Character development, especially for the protagonist, Ayumu, is something you will most likely look forward too. Besides that, most of the characters are both humorous yet attracting, you'll probably end up hoping they will all sincerely receive a happy ending.

Enjoyment
What can I say? Spiral was seemingly one of the most enjoying reads that I've ever laid eyes across on. The mysteries can be rather irritating at times, but you feel satisfied when you finally know the truth. The art is plain eye candy (which is a benefit I hope), and the characters are ones I think anyone can grow to love. After reading numerous titles, I can safely say that Spiral is able to tower above many of them. The mix of mystery, logical and physical (and violent) battles puts this series into being one that can be read by any type of person almost.

Overall

Summarising Spiral's strongest areas:

Excellent artwork for those who seek this type of eyecandy (that is, cute girls and boys that may not be on the realistic side).
A gripping story that keeps you on the edge of the seat for the entire time. Next to the mysteries, Spiral also brings in much comedy, action and even slight bits of romance.
Likeable characters you can grow to love.

It can be safely be said that Spiral is a series that deserves its 10 in this review. Spiral's mix of story, art, character and enjoyment is not something that can be easily overlooked. While they are various minor irritations one may find with this title, it can most likely go unnoticed as you stare in awe as the mysteries and events unfold in front of you.

Kiyotaka Narumi is a brilliant pianist and detective who disappeared two years before the events of Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna. "I went to find the Blade Children," is the only message he left behind for his wife, Madoka, and his younger brother Ayumu. Though Ayumu is gifted in both logic and piano, he has grown apathetic due to constantly being in Kiyotaka's shadow. A murder at Ayumu's school and a new message from Kiyotaka drag Ayumu into the deadly mystery of the Blade Children.

Character: 8 (Very Good)

The characters were my favorite part of this series and were why I continued reading until the end. ... I really loved hearing about their experiences and what made them act the way they did in the series. They all have very concrete motivation. Ayumu has a nuanced personality. It is clear why he detests Kiyotaka so much and how Kiyotaka has shaped him. Madoka and the five recurring Blade Children we are introduced to all have good character development and are very likable.

Art: 7 (Good)

Spiral is full of murder mysteries, death, and near-death experiences, and I would have liked to see that reflected in the art. The characters, who are supposed to be in high school, were drawn to look too young and innocent for the amount of death in the story to be taken seriously (with the exception of Rio, who is deliberately drawn innocently to subvert the moe stereotype). Two of the major antagonists who appear later on in the series are drawn cutely, which made them hard for me to see as threatening.

Thankfully, as the chapters progressed, certain main characters are gradually drawn to look older. This especially effects Ayumu and Eyes, who really benefit from looking older.

Story: 6.5 rounded up to 7 (Good)

The series begins with some good standalone mysteries involving the Blade Children. I wanted to know why everyone seemed to hate them and what they were capable of. I was very happy to see that the story fully answered this question, and that was what excited me the most about the plot. I wanted so badly to see the present implications of the Blade Children's curse, and how Ayumu would try to break the curse.

Unfortunately, the plot deviates significantly from the Blade Children to the point where most of them actually stop appearing, and focuses on Ayumu and an antagonist who is connected to the Blade Children. The story became very muddled, moving from the concreteness of the Blade Children storyline to vague ideas like "hope" versus "despair." Spiral also gets extremely repetitive-- the characters tend to sit, talk, and over-plan for chapters on end before taking action, and certain ideas and character abilities that are repeated to the point of becoming annoying.

Enjoyment: 4 (Decent)

This is a series I really wanted to like. I stuck with it to the very end hoping that it would get better, but the story became weaker after the new antagonist was introduced. Past a certain point, I found myself only reading because I wanted to finish.

Overall: 6 (Fair)

The series is worth reading for the characters and to find out exactly what the Blade Children's curse is, because that is a cool plot point which was very well done. After that, it failed to develop on the present implications of the Blade Children's curse, and had a lackluster ending.

If you're going in looking for a pure, logic-based mystery series? Skip this.

I was going through my manga collection and came across this and realized I'd never finished it. After hunting around, now I have. And I WISH I hadn't because all the enjoyment I had for this series is gone now. The first 2/3 of the series has SO much promise as a good mystery with really interesting characters, but the last third destroys that by veering away from logic and into the occult. Both for answers to mysteries up until that point and for the background and motivations going forward. It's stops ... becoming about solving mysteries and instead becomes about fighting a crafted fate.

To be somewhat fair: the occult is kept fairly low-key. You don't get characters casting spells, etc. But it is there and pretty out of left field and not until you're over 50 chapters in. Had I known it'd go in this direction, I'd probably have dropped the story.

I decided to finish, but honestly I regret that because for me, it just got worse. Many characters dropped by the wayside for the final arc which felt like it cheapened the journey there. There were a couple big twists but one was SO drawn out I honestly found it to be insulting to the reader's intelligence. And I really just didn't not like the ending.