Specs
Reviews
(3.33/5)Has some dark moments but I enjoyed the social commentary intertwined with the mystery
Plot
Yakumo and company investigate the case of a woman’s suicide whose ghost appears before several people, leading to character disappearances. Yakumo’s acquaintances meet a medium who also has red eyes like Yakumo and claims that the woman’s ghost seeks revenge.
Review
Another fast-paced, supernatural, and dark mystery! This volume introduces the mystery and related cast much earlier compared to the previous volume. The third-person point-of-view primarily alternates between Godou, Ishii, and Haruka as they carry out their investigations of the mystery or witness Yakumo do his own sleuthing. When Yakumo meets Kamiyama for the first time, he is made to question his thoughts about spirits, what they are capable of, and what primarily resides inside them after death: sorrow or hatred. With Haruka and other characters’ support, Yakumo is able to wrap up the mystery and confront the criminals and victims of the mystery. While the climax and final scenes feel over the top (I can see it working better in an anime), they add development to Godou and Yakumo’s characters. A few other touching scenes show a protective and warm side of the usually blunt and sassy Yakumo. This volume also shows the dark side of how victims of sexual assault are treated and the corruption in people and organizations of power.
Critique
I wasn’t fond of how the truth of the mystery was revealed. Godou becomes the mouthpiece for readers and he is written as the “dumb” character who can’t figure out anything with Yakumo insulting his intelligence. After the first explanation or two, his manner of revealing the mystery while insulting Godou becomes repetitive and unnecessary. I would have preferred more banter between Yakumo and the person he confronts, or even a point of view from Yakumo himself as he reveals the truth.
Social issues with Yakumo
This volume has the largest cast of characters so far, and I felt that the mystery was fairly well paced. The POVs were a bit too concentrated on Gotou and Ishii for me, so I wished Haruka had more to do, but I thought it was fun that Makoto got to become a new recurring character. Ishii is my least favorite character so far but maybe he'll get a redeeming quality later.
The case and mystery in this book does revolve heavily around sexual assault, so please be warned if that's not a topic you want to read about. The author did appear to make a genuine effort to address issues in what happens when women come forward after being assaulted, so I appreciated that he was trying, but he didn't really have enough writing skill to land the kind of nuance he was going for.
It came across kind of like he just learned about these issues the other day, thought 'gosh, that's so wrong,' then wrote about them in his book. The narration often grinds to a halt while the characters assure you that this treatment is wrong, and you should not treat women like this. Big 'what are we doing to our queens' energy here.
So, props for trying! But at the end of the day, I'd rather just read about Haruka and Yakumo running around after ghosts, and I got tired of the heavy storyline about sexual assault interspersed with PSA's about supporting women.