Volumes: 1/1 Omnibus (Complete), OOP but still available in eBook
Shounen/Seinen (reads like)
Genre: Experimental Work, Surreal, Supernatural
Summary: 3rd grader Yuki Tachibana is known as a weirdo, and the other kids leave him alone. One day a new transfer student, Makoto Suzuki, is placed at the desk next to his, and curious, talks to him. Yuki tells him about the strange creatures, the others, who he claims have no bodies but he can sense them. They live on the unused fourth floor of the school. He says their leader, the powerful Super Star, has been missing and new others are the ones causing the mysterious problems the school has been having. But do these spirits really exist, or are they all the product of an overactive imagination?
Review: This is a hard manga to review, because there’s actually not a lot of dialogue or narration. Most of the story is conveyed in an unusual art style that shows the school and the events happening there in an almost dreamlike sequence, like how Yuki Tachibana sees the world. It’s hazy, distanced from reality and almost kind of floating through the school days as a sort of disconnected observer.
Strange things happen, and seem ordinary at first, but then the strange happenings accumulate until the story reaches a surreal, bizarre, Alice in Wonderland like peak that’s easily one of the most unique manga I’ve read.
Ending Mild Spoilers:
In the end even though nothing is definitively explained, there are many tantalizing clues to support both sides, hallucination, or real.
Recommended: This is not at all a conventional manga, it’s an experimental work that has a sort of mix of the haze from a dream but also a vague sense of danger that lurks around the corner. It’s super unique but admittedly not for everyone.
Age Rating: PG: more on the slightly disturbing side than anything graphic
Other Works by this mangaka in English (from most to least popular): Ping Pong, Tekkon Kinkreet, Blue Spring, Sunny, Number 5, Japan as Viewed by 17 Creators (1 Story in an Anthology), Cats of the Louvre, The Tipping Point (1 Story in an Anthology)
No comments:
Post a Comment