Iris Zero is a fantasy seinen manga written by Piroshiki and illustrated by Hotaru Takana. Created in 2009, the series has been ongoing for well over a decade. The series is known to take frequent breaks due to the author’s unspecified health issues.
Iris Zero tells the story of Toru Mizushima, a sixteen-year-old boy who lives in a world where most people his age possess a power called an “iris” in their eyes. The iris gives them the power to see things that other people cannot. Despite the many hiatuses the series has gone on, Iris Zero is still worth reading -- here’s how to get started with the manga.
The Plot of Iris Zero
The story starts when Toru receives a love confession from Koyuki Sasamori, one of the most popular girls in school. Koyuki asks Toru to help her find the most qualified person to become this year’s student body president. Toru refuses and tries to go back to return to his daily life. To his surprise, Koyuki continues to be friendly toward him. Eventually, Toru helps Koyuki figure out she’s the best fit for student body president and the two become friends. Despite his motto of “minimal exposure”, Toru builds a small group of friends who stay beside him, even though he lacks an iris. Toru uses his intellect and deductive reasoning to solve problems afflicting his friends and classmates.
Meet The Main Characters of Iris Zero
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Toru Mizushima is one of the few born without an iris, making him an outcast from his classmates -- people like him are derogatorily called “iris zeros”. For fear of ridicule, Toru has pretended to have an iris since childhood. His lie is exposed his classmate Asahi Yuki, and subsequently shunned by his peers.
The heroine of the series is Koyuki Sasamori, a bubbly and meddlesome young girl. Koyuki’s iris grants her the power to tell whether someone is qualified to complete a task. If someone is qualified she sees an O above their head and an X if they aren’t.
Asahi Yuki is Koyuki’s best friend and was Toru's friend from childhood until he was exposed for faking his iris. Her iris allows her to see when people are lying; a devil tail sprouting from the liar. According to Piroshiki, Asahi detects the honesty of the person-- so a sincere person could be wrong about something and not have a tail, while someone who’s deceitful would have a tail, even if they're telling the truth.
Hijiri Shinozuka is Toru’s best friend with the ability to see when certain things are on the brink of death. He sees this in the form of a black butterfly. The closer something gets to death, the more butterflies appear.
Nanase Kuga is a shy girl who can see people’s emotions in the form of wings. The wings vary in color based on the person’s emotions -- for example, red indicating anger. Harumi Tokita is the childhood best friend of Nanase Kuga. Tokita’s iris allows him to see who someone is attracted to, showing a halo above someone’s head with an arrow pointing to the person they like.
Where to Read Iris Zero
Iris Zero began serialization in 2009 in Media Factory's Monthly Comic Alive magazine which has since rebranded to Kadokawa Future. The series is notorious for going on hiatus frequently; the most recent hiatus started in 2019. The manga currently has forty-four chapters released. Following the manga, two drama CDs have also been released to accompany the manga.
Despite being a more niche seinen manga, there are plenty of retailers that carry physical and digital copies of Iris Zero. The manga can currently be found on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Walmart.