It's an action manga with ZERO ACTION!
It had so much potential too - a future world that has been overrun by a disease that turns people into huge flesh-eating bugs (which we only get to see like twice) and our main characters are an "exterminator" and the girl he rescues when her father is killed by one of the bugs. And then NOTHING HAPPENS. There is a bit of a side story developing with a weird hooded figure who is killing a bunch of exterminators, but we don't even get enough about that to spark much interest.

The story is set in a dystopian post apocalyptic premises where the world is affected by a dangerous disease. A disease that turns humans into insects and is difficult to get rid of. Exterminators are front line warriors against these insects. Our protagonist Kidow is an exterminator. During one of his intervention with the insects he finds a father daughter duo. As a promise to Ilie's dying father, he accompanies her to find her mother.

The characters were interesting but the story was monotonous. The smudgy illustrations made the strips unappealing. Well it is just the first volume. Hope the next volumes turn up to better than this.

Set in the year 2125, the world is plagued by Cagaster which is a monstrous infection that changes whoever is infected into a giant cannibalistic bug. Kidow who is a strong bug exterminator and his friend go on a journey as they usually do try to find ways to survive in a world that they have always known. They hope that they can return to the times before the plagues even with them not knowing anything about that time.
This manga (yes, you need to read from right to left) starts with Kidow acting as a bodyguard or an exterminator protecting a merchant who is collecting riches left by those who have been killed by the bugs.
This is when he meets Ilie and her father who were attacked by a bug and he saves her and takes her back home with him. Back home to slowly gets to know her and she is not all she seems. He decides to help her find her mother and that takes them on an adventure.
I am quite excited about the second volume because the final chapter left me on my head.
I have to say that I really did not enjoy the art style, it was black and white and I really could not enjoy the graphic details that the story itself held. It was washed out by the lack of color.

I really enjoy these dystopian all hell breaks loose types of stories. In Cagaster the year is 2125 and this mysterious illness called cagaster turns people into human eating bugs just in 20 minutes. Killing these beasts isn't murder but extermination and Kidou is one of the exterminators. Kidou ends up saving a young girl named Ilie, because her father entrusts her with him just before he dies. They are trying to find Ilie's mother and the reason to this mystery all the while trying to survive this now barren land of death. In a sense there's Gunnm and Terra Formars in this and all in all the setting is surely interesting. The rhythm isn't the best though. Hashmoto uses a lot of time to set the money stealing part and the kid gang, which feels out of place and not enough with showing the bugs and setting the world with art. Just using text boxes feels lazy.

The art is quite angular though and somewhat stiff, but not too much to bother enormously. Hashimoto may get better with this along the way, I hope. Ilie's role seems slightly too big in this first part as her story parts are light and uneventful and the whole point should be Kidou and the state of the world at first. Ilie's role is to be the kid who needs saving, which isn't my kind of thing as it's cliched. Still, I did enjoy this, since seinen does scifi the best. Interesting!

This is a manga set in 2125 that has a plague where people turn into giant man-eating insects. The story itself begins thirty years later and follows an insect hunter, Kidou, who is also trying to find his long lost friend.

For me, this felt like Attack on Titan, just with insects. It's not that the story was bad as I actually thought it was pretty cool at parts, but I felt like it lacked depth. I wasn't really sure what was happening some of the time and got lost in the story a bit. Though I think, all in all, having insects be the main antagonist threw me off. It somewhat was more comical than anything as I just imagined my friends turning into big bugs. But it wasn't a bad thing, just gave me a few good laughs since it didn't feel as threatening (though the insects in the story were very creepy and intense). I think it was just the concept itself that left me unsure of how to feel.

I will say though that the art was great and I enjoyed the action scenes. The concept may be a bit comical to me but I think if I read more chapters and really got really familiar with the characters that it would definitely grow on me

*This book was given to me for free from NetGalley in turn of an honest review.

Set in the far future where a mysterious disease turns humans into giant cannibalistic insects, Cagaster tells the story of an exterminator (as in, someone who kills said insects) called Kidow and the girl, Ilie, he rescues on one of his jobs. Having promised her father that he would deliver her to her mother, he brings her back to his home in E05, an inn where she gets a job as a waitress. This first volume doesn't have much going for it, story-wise, and it mostly informs us of the setting and the circumstances of the characters. Kidow, being an exterminator (some people consider them murderers as the insects used to be people), and a (presumably) East Asian fellow in South-West Asia, is looked upon with suspicion. There are also some murders of exterminators going on, and he seems to be the next likely target of the serial killer. Meanwhile, Ilie's PoV is her deciding to stay in the sector E (not that she can get out, considering her home sector A is quite a way from here) and her meeting some kids around. I found the artwork nice enough, but the abundant action scenes feel filler when we don't have the plot established. Currently, I'm on the fence as to whether to continue with the series.

It's like the setting of James Dashner's 'The Scorch Trials' but instead of the cranks, there's giant bugs. Like lots of them.

Despite the events that we are currently living in, I surprised myself by picking up this manga that also features a deadly disease. You guessed it. The disease is called Cagaster, and it turns humans into bugs.

I like how Hasimoto dived straight into the narrative and it set the tone well for the rest of the volume. A small info dump at the beginning was given, which I didn't mind. It helped me to familiarise myself with the dystopian society that Cagaster is set in.

Overall, it was a good read but something I'm not sure I would continue.

Recommended for ages 16+, this story contains violent scenes not suited for kids. There's good adventure and friendship, love angst and action in this book about Kidow, a "bug" exterminator, and the neighbors and others he works with. Story continues with part 2.

In Cagaster Vol. 01, we're introduced to a kind of post-apocalyptic world where a deadly disease has turned any who become infected are turned into giant insects (the so-called cagasters) who have decimated the majority of the global population. Cities as we know them are gone, replaced by bug nests, and humans are forced to live out in deserted areas. The exterminator profession was created and sanctioned to deal with the creatures, but it is viewed with mixed feelings as some consider them murderers, but on the other hand there is no cure for the afflicted humans who became man-eating insects.

Kidou, the main character, is an exterminator who deals with these bugs. He's a bit of a stoic brute with a dark past who seems to care only about himself at a first glance but is a good guy on the inside. So, he isn't a terribly original character but likable enough.

It's a bittersweet story of struggling people trying to see the good in the world. Overall, it's not a bad first volume. It introduces the main characters and we get a good sense of the worldbuilding as well but there's really not that much action. I mostly enjoyed it but I will not be continuing this series.

I was a bit excited to read the english version of this after seeing the anime on Netflix, however just like the anime the manga was also a bit of a letdown. Basically another story about a zombie apocalypse but instead of zombie people its insects. It was another one of those cliche post apocalyptic settings. The only difference between this and the Netflix series is that it has a better animation style and a better feel of the characters, but in terms of the story, I wouldn't really keep reading or watching it because its pretty dry.

Cagaster vol. 1, by Hashimoto Kachou is a shonen manga that ran between 2005 and 2013, and has recently been adapted into an anime series for Netflix by beloved studio Gonzo. Ablaze manga is publishing it in a six volumes collection

The year is 2125, 30 years after a war, and the start of a pandemic turning one in a thousand citizens into a bug monster. Two thirds of the world population fell victim to the mutated humans, with no cure being found. The bugs are then declared not human, and their killing as soon as the transformation begins is allowed without it being categorized as murder. A new craft then appears: the exterminators. Some are in it for sadism and/or easy money, others, especially from the Far East, have other motivations.

This is a setup for yet another post apocalyptic series about monsters, those who hunt them, and the big mystery at the center of it all. The setting is in the frontier Western post apocalypse genre. Don’t expect anything original there.

Our main character is Kidow, mercenary exterminator, and basically your standard shonen protagonist: A dark stoic, brooding misunderstood character, whose past and motivations are kept secret from the reader at first. At the beginning of the story, he stumbles onto the aftermath of a bug massacre, and accepts the request from a dying man to bring his daughter Ilie back to a mother she thought dead.

The art is rather crude and dated, even for 2005. There isn’t much detailing, and the artist saves time on backgrounds, up to the point of keeping them totally blank during some back and forth dialogue. Actions sequences are difficult to follow, due to weird choices in paneling and huge original Japanese sound effects pasted all over the pages, with no flow logic whatsoever to guide the reader in his reading of the scenes.

This first volume mostly serves to introduce the settings and the characters. Ilie decides to make a life for herself, and adjust to her new town surroundings while fighting her feelings of loneliness, and trying to understand Kidow.

Along the way, Kidow gets involved in a murder investigation, killings made by humans and not bugs, and we discover similar cases have already been happening, all victims being exterminators. Could the shadowy figure appearing here and there be responsible ? Are they alone or part of a group ? Is this about revenge or something else entirely.

While being a good quick read, Cagaster doesn’t add much to the genre. I haven’t watched the anime adaptation, but it being a 2020 Netflix production and being 12 episodes, it probably improves on the art and tightens the story. However, it only gets a 6.1 on IMDb, which makes me think it remains a forgettable addition to the shonen genre whatever the media.

Thanks to Ablaze Manga, Diamond Books and Netgalley for the arc provided in exchange for this unbiased review.