黒 1

Simple, short little intertwined stories set in a world besieged by monsters

This is the story of a small little girl called Coco living alone in a mansion and her strange monster-cat Kuro. Throughout the manga, we discover, bit by bit, the strange fantasy world besieged by monsters that they inhabit. We also get a glimpse into the backstory of the side characters, so this volume feels a little like a collection of short, interlinked, stories that serve to give us a better understanding of the inner workings of this world and its people.

The further you progress through the chapters, the earlier in time you go. This is a bit of an unusual story-telling method but I didn't find it confusing. Sometimes, it almost felt like I was reading different versions of the same story. That impression is reinforced by the fact that the "sub-stories" involving Coco pretty much all start with 「私はココ。クロの飼い主。」

Despite the lack of furigana, this is a very accessible manga, even for beginners. The grammar is very simple. All the sentences are short and straightforward and mostly follow very simple structures like "I am X", "I do Y", "It seems like Z". Even though, the book is written is by the same author as Shadow House, the language difficulty is way way easier here. I don't have the stats to back it up but I feel like if you know the top 1k words, N5 and a bit of N4 grammar, you'll have a good coverage.

This first volume is focused on exposition and world-building so it's not packed-full of action. If you like slower-paced fantasy, I think you'll enjoy this nice little story.