Abara (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tsutomu Nihei. It was serialized in Shueisha's seinen manga magazine Ultra Jump from May 19, 2005, to March 18, 2006, with its chapters collected in two tankōbon volumes.
The series takes place in a dystopian universe characterized by towering edifices. It centers around a particular class of beings, termed Gaunas, who possess the unique ability to mold armaments and protective gear out of bone-like material. The plot centers around one specific Gauna, Kudou Denji.
It is licensed for French release by Glénat, for Polish by JPF, and for English by Viz Media.
Plot
Sometime in the future, humans have destroyed Earth's environment and are forced to live in cities connected only by a single highway and many tubes. However, some humans have mutated and become White Gaunas, a species which poses a threat to mankind. A group of scientists foresaw this dystopian situation years before. In an attempt to preserve humanity's future, they produced a number of time machines powered by nuclear plants called mausoleums. Each time machine can send humans to a distant future, thus ensuring the survival of the human race. They also use the collective energy from these plants to shift all White Gaunas on Earth at the time to a separate dimension. The scientists eventually entrust their knowledge to the fourth Eon Group (fourth Chronicle Group), tasked to ensure that at least a pair of humans can escape into the future.
However, White Gauna mutation is still prominent, and White Gaunas consume the remaining humans. People begin to fight over the time machines and the mausoleums in desperation. Due to all the chaos, all the mausoleums are destroyed except for one. The fourth Eon Group is wiped out, but not before they upload remnants of their memories and personalities onto the computers embedded in the Raven, the Skull Man, and the Stick.
Moreover, the Observation Bureau (Kagen House) is created to safeguard the true purpose of the Mausoleums so as to prevent further conflict.
Hundreds of years later, the Observation Bureau study the White Gaunas to counter them and engineer a human-Gauna hybrid known as Black Gaunas, which have the abilities of the White Gaunas yet retain their human minds. Two children, Denji and Nayuta, are used as test subjects. Nayuta is the first to be experimented upon and a control device is implanted in her. However, before they could implant the other control device, Denji escapes, killing people in the process.
A few years later, Tadohomi engages Denji's help in eliminating the first White Gauna before more casualties occur. Denji complies but is wounded in the process. Sakijima tracks down Tadohomi and arrests her after Denji's body is found at the scene in the aftermath of the battle with the White Gauna. At this point, Sakijima is oblivious about the Observation Bureau's existence. Meanwhile, the Observation Bureau sends Nayuta to bring Denji back to HQ by taking advantage of Denji's wounded state. The boss of the Observation Bureau feels that Black Gaunas are untrustworthy; to him, Black Gaunas are monsters akin to their White cousins. Sakijima is ordered by his bosses in the Ministry to release Tadohomi. At this point, he starts becoming suspicious of the Observation Bureau and decides to dig up the truth.
Another White Gauna spawns, but this time it is able to consume humans before the Bureau takes action. At first, they send a squad of humans, but when this failed, they send Nayuta to destroy the big White Gauna. However, a humanoid White Gauna appears and duels with Nayuta. After a battle between the two, Nayuta wins - a few seconds after fatally stabbing the White Gauna, Nayuta falls dead. Because she is telepathically linked with her twin Ayuta, any damage sustained by Nayuta is also manifested in Ayuta.