Nijigahara Holograph

casandra29 May 7, 2016

6.5

If you like reading depressing psycho stories this manga is right up your ally. Complete with attempted suicides, rape, joking about family suicide, gory killings and a plethora of mental issues to severe degrees. Personally, I HATE suicide themes so it was very difficult to give this manga a fair shake... that being said... I did complete it and for the sake of a more impartial review I will stop speaking about things that upset me personally and get into the good and bad others may see in this manga. Story The Story of this manga is not too great. It's not horrible either though. It's unique for sure and the depth of the insanity in the story is actually displayed quite well. This is the type of story that if you enjoy it you could re-read it multiple times and catch different things you may not have noticed or paid attention to the first time around. It's not lacking in depth at all. Honestly the story can be a bit dizzying through out the chapters though. There is a lot of jumping back and forth between past and present as well as jumping between different characters and their present lives. I have read many manga which do the jumping between past and present... and I don't dislike manga that do that, but this manga doesn't do the jumps well when compared to other manga that have this trait. This story Jumps between the past and present too often and it doesn't give you a good build up to these jumps which makes them very rough in my opinion. One thing this manga does fairly well is that it doesn't show you right away how crazy everything and everyone really is... it slowly opens up that can of worms at the beginning and it's because of the way they do this that the story's score is almost average. The way they intoduce the insanity theme almost seems similar to the way a flower blooms and withers. It's just too bad they didn't show as much care in the pacing of the story in general.  I also feel it's important to note that the story feels too drawn out. This is more prevelent in some areas of the story more than others. There Are irrelevant parts that are put into the story that don't really contribute to the stories advancement nor to your understanding of the plot or the stories characters. In addition there are parts that seem redundant. I think I could like this story a bit more if it was shortened in the right places. I must say dispite all the bad stuff about this manga I did enjoy the very last chapter quite a bit more than the rest of it. It really helped give the story more perspective and help to lift it out of the gutter somewhat. Art The art is this manga's worst trait. However, it feels in place with the tone of this manga so although it's quite horrible to look at it fits the story well. Additionally I feel it's important to point out that the art is quite detailed which gives off the appearance that this horrible style of art is actually intentional. Making it difficult to give it too bad of a score. Characters The characters of this manga are quite deep (and unlikable but that's my opinion). Each has their own mental illness over different types of trauma which are for the most part self inflicted (brought about by their own horrible choices). The characters are however as unique as they come and well thought out. I'd say that for good or bad it is really the characters that make the story what it is. The vast majority of these characters have not only severe mental illness of some sort but also severe depression of different kinds. It's difficult for me to watch these characters ruin their own lives through their selfishness and desire to only think about the bad stuff and the past... they are what I lothe the most about this manga but I'm yet again going into personal feelings instead of being impartial (sorry about that).  Anyways, don't look for any hope in these characters some of them only feel like the light in the darkness when in reality they are more dark than the others. The more emerced you become in this story the more you feel like your drowning and need space away from it. (ugh... I can't leave my personal thoughts out). Overall To me the worst manga out there is one in which I feel nothing at all about it and as you can see thoughout my review this manga makes me feel quite a bit. It's not one I'll soon forget. Not for good reasons mind you but that's still better than feeling nothing at all. I'd suggest this manga to anyone who likes to wallow in depression or for those looking for something unique to read and don't have issues with depressing and crazy stories and characters.  - Daily Manga Marathon Club

nathandouglasdavis Aug 4, 2021

8

This is the type of manga that basically requires you to reread sections to be able to make sense of it. It jumps around from the past and the present, telling two sequences in parallel and including some aspects that feel like they might be intended more as metaphors than literal happenings (like the butterflies and disappearing people). It fleshes out, or at least shows meaty glimpses of, the stories of multiple characters, though it is primarily following Amahiko (the glasses guy) and Kohta (the guy who's had memory loss). There are multiple sexual scenes, including some rape and implied molestation. Broad strokes, it's a story about people coming to terms with their actions during the whole Arie-falling-into-a-well incident. It's one of those narratives where everything is made to feel connected and significant. It's entertaining and a bit trippy. I'm definitely not confident enough to be able to say that I 100% know what is going on, but I think I've got the basic idea.

OkamiX Apr 25, 2021

6

bloody hell ive never say any bad words on my reviews but mate what the fuck is that , like seriously the fuck mangaka on about , like i tried to get it many times but i just  i cant  , tbh who write  this shit ?  a psycho ? , the story full with twist fucking make no sens plots and pedo and psycho everywhere , dont get me wrong its really deep shit but if u get 50% like i did or i hope i get it xD basicaly its punpun in a nutshell