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(4.13/5)An... interesting piece... in an awkward way. I'm a bit lost for words, yet not impressed. One I have to give to this manga is that it goes deep and is not generic. In my opinion the best of Shūzō Oshimi works.
Before I start, there is anime version of this manga, which received mixed attention — something that was supposed to be a live-action ended up to be rotoscoped (in 2013). I haven't really watched the anime myself, but maybe I should for the sole freshness and peculiarity of it. However the first season does not cover the whole manga which makes the whole hassle almost pointless. The first paragraph of this review/analysis sums it up quite well, even if it is biased towards the piece rather than being objective. Actually, if anyone wants a longer read this is a review (and an analysis) much better than mine, although it contains major spoilers. For anyone completely lost after reading, that is also a place to go.
I cannot say I have understood everything — for me it is far cry from the pinnacle of the meaningful and lifechanging. However I am very confident, that this is a very subjective experience.
The philosophy parts of the book are difficult language wise. And any language problems make the already difficult plotline even more tricky to understand. But that aside it is a very quick read. There are additional short comics (I hope I am not mixing up authors books) that are difficult to decipher, but only connect to the story theme/meaning wise.
I think, if I understood it better, I would put it confidently four or even five star. However I have no motivation to go back and ponder upon the contents. Which speaks for itself.
Yet I want to end this review on a good note. Currently I think it is one of a kind manga, that just happen to not impact me as much. Being a mediocre experience for me it still holds a special place somewhere deep.
This was the first manga I read in Japanese after reaching about 1.6k in the core 2k/6k Anki deck. The dialogue between the characters is quite easy to understand as most of them middle school students and don't use especially complicated language. There were some difficult parts where the main character discusses his favourite books yet they didn't hinder my understanding of the story overall. Discussion of literature takes up maybe a few panels at most. The font is also large and clear so everything is quite easy to read.
As for the story this is an excellent psychological horror manga with interesting characters. Shuzo Oshimi manages to create some truly unsettling moments through his expressive characters and vivid imagery.
Lots of weird and uncomfortable things happen in this story which may be off-putting for some people. If you read the synopsis or the first chapter and don't really like it I'd recommend giving this series a miss. But if you're interested or a fan of Oshimi's work I highly recommend this series as it's been a great learning experience for me.
Surprisingly easy read for its themes
Reading experience at an N4-ish level with translation tools at hand:
A surprisingly easy experience language-wise considering the themes it deals with. Shuzo Oshimi is clearly an artist before he is an author: You will often have panels with visual storytelling or with more focus on the art than convoluted sentences. Because of this, you rarely open a page and think "Wow that is a lot of text". Instead, there's a lot of breathing room so that it never feels overwhelming. While there is a lot more text compared to Happiness, which is the typical beginner recommendation from his catalog, they both manage to keep the reader engaged with relatively few words and vocabulary.
The manga has Furigana and digital editions have superb quality making it easy to recognize characters.
The first half mostly keeps readers engaged through Nakamura: The clear driver are her psychological games and how she influences the protagonist, while simultaneously making the reader curious what drives this behavior. However, it shifts more and more into an exploration of teenage angst and people trying to find their own path in life, especially if they don't seem to fit in. If you enjoy these kind of themes, you will surely absorb this manga.
While there aren't many big emotional highs in the story from my point of view, it always managed to keep me engaged. Not only because of being curious of what happens next, but also because it captures the vague uncertainty of teenagers incredibly well. There is a certain magic of longing within this story that completely captivated me, to the point that my typically 30 minute Manga sessions turned into hours instead.
Highly recommended read.
Not as good as other Oshimi
ハピネス was my first manga and I’ve quite liked other mangas from Oshimi, so I thought that I might give this one a shot since everyone seemed to praise it. I must say that I’ve been a bit disappointed, but I could have expected it since this is his first manga.
Entertainment wise, the art is not as clean as in his other works, but it’s not a major turnoff. However, I found the story a bit repetitive, despite being in the same themes as the rest of his work.
On the language side, I would say it’s slightly more complex than his other mangas, so the current rating of 19 is pretty accurate in my opinion. Some characters, especially Nakumura, use a lot of slang, but the vocabulary is pretty much the same from volume to volume so you get used to it.