Snowball Earth Manga Review

I started reading this manga on the Viz app after seeing a preview of the anime series. I was also looking for something new to spotlight in our magazine, and I figured I should actually read more than just a couple volumes before giving my thoughts. Well… that plan worked a little too well—I ended up flying through the first seven chapters before I even realized it. I’m currently on Volume 5.

This series is seriously addicting right from the beginning. Now I’m really excited to see the anime, and like most manga readers, I’m hoping it lives up to what I’ve been imagining while reading. We all do that—but it’s because we want to see those moments come to life the same way they did in our heads.

The story follows a shy pilot who controls a robot built to fight kaiju. He’s sent into space for a final mission to stop a wave of monsters heading toward Earth, but things go wrong and he ends up being forced back home. When he returns, ten years have passed—and Earth is now a frozen wasteland.

At first, it’s hard for him to connect with the people he finds because of how shy he is, but where I’m at in the story now, they’ve basically become his new family—even though he’s only been back for less than a year.

This is where things really start to get interesting. There are a lot of mysteries layered into the story, and I won’t spoil anything major, but some of the big questions start getting answered—like why the kaiju attacked Earth in the first place, what caused the planet to freeze, and what happened to the ones that were on their way.

There’s a lot of humor in this series, but it also has some pretty mature moments and a good amount of gore. I’ll be honest—I almost didn’t stick with it at first because the early artwork didn’t grab me. But it improves as you go, and eventually I was so invested in the story that I didn’t even care anymore.

Overall, I’m really glad I gave this one a chance. If you’re looking for something that pulls you in fast and keeps you guessing, this is definitely worth checking out.