Volumes: 6/6 (Complete), In Print
Shoujo
Genre: Supernatural, Friendship, Romance, Family, Sports (Soccer)
Summary: Tetsu just started working at the so-called Haunted House up the hill. It’s said that the rich lady who lives there has a sick daughter who lives in a cottage behind the mansion, but no one has ever seen her. One day Tetsu falls asleep on a bench outside the cottage and he meets the daughter, Shizu. But strangely, she doesn’t seem sick at all. He falls in love at first sight but then he discovers he confessed to one of her multiple personalities, or so he thought. After a shock, he discovers the truth, she actually doesn’t have multiple personalities at all, but rather she is easily possessed by ghosts! Unfortunately Tetsu is terrified of ghosts...
Shizu’s mother hires him to look after her daughter, since Shizu seems to be interested in him, for the first time in her life. And he desperately needs the money for some reason, so he accepts. Can he get Shizu interested in living life? Will Shizu ever return his feelings? And what’s up with Tetsu’s desperate need for money, and what does that have to do with him quitting the soccer team?
Review: This is an unusual series. From the cover art I expected a straight up romance, instead it’s a supernatural ghost story. The first few volumes are driven by the mystery behind her Ghost possession problem, as well as the few spirits who try to protect her. She is protected by the spirits of her great-grandfather Shinobu, a 30 year old fatherly ghost Haru, and the spirit of a young woman Mirei, who likes to have fun. But all of them look out for Shizu’s best interests, because she herself is very helpless and innocent.
Especially in the beginning there actually isn’t much interaction between Shizu and Tetsu at all, because Shizu is shy and not used to people, so he ends up finding out a lot about her from the spirits who take turns possessing her, with her permission. That being said, the interactions the two of them do have are notable and sweet. After that, the story shifts to focusing on Shizu’s relationship with her parents, and also reveals the story behind Tetsu’s situation as well. Then finally, in the last volume it finally gets back to the romance.
All in all, it’s a bittersweet story that is inspired by the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty. At heart it’s a story about a prince rescuing the princess, or at least a sort of modern take on it. But it was kind of hard to enjoy it. Shizu is very innocent and thoughtful, but it’s soon revealed that her childlike personality is a result of being abandoned by her parents, who gave up on her when she was still very young. As for Tetsu, he’s a good kid who never had much chance to have a childhood either, and feels responsible for those around him. On the plus side, both of them grow a lot and learn to deal with their issues better. Overall, I did enjoy this series but wished it could at least have been a couple volumes longer.
Recommended: TLDR; If you want to read a bittersweet supernatural story about a young woman’s ghost possession problems and the people who care about her, then it’s a good read. And while there is some romance in the story, a lot of it is actually about the main two character’s families, including Shizu’s ghost family.
Age Rating: PG: nothing particularly objectionable but it does have ghost possession
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