Ubume no Natsu

thor123 Aug 4, 2019

6.1

Once upon a time, I didn't really know what to read, and had some random person on the forums decide for me. What I got was a short manga that I have some very mixed feelings about. The Summer of the Ubume is a mystery/horror/supernatural manga... or at least in theory, as there isn't much horror to it, it's never very clear if you can call it "supernatural" or not, and the mystery also isn't really the focus. What the manga does focus on, is a ton of philosophical and metaphysical pseudo-science mumbo-jumbo - which makes it glaringly obvious that this was based on a novel. This sadly always brings the story involving the mystery to a standstill, making it quite boring read for about 50% of the manga. I was kept waiting for things to happen for so long, that in the end I couldn't care less about who died or lived, as there was zero suspense left by the end. Someone should've told the author to cut the crap a little. It should be noted however, that it's (probably) not entirely the author's fault that I found those talks boring. A part of the problem is that there's a lot of talk about Japanese youkai and other legends - for people more familiar with the stories about ubume and other parts of Japanese folklore, the talks might be a bit more interesting. As for the characters: they were mostly fine without being very impressive. The two main characters were kind of annoying however. Especially Sekiguchi, the freelance tabloid reporter, was far too flimsy a character. His friend Kyogokudou on the other hand was annoying because he always felt so smug towards Sekiguchi, and then he was surprised if things went wrong because he didn't explain anything... I already abhor the idea that there are multiple other books with these two. The art, while mostly nothing too special, was nice enough most of the time and had some moments where it was actually great imo. Overall: Ubume no Natsu is an okay mystery wrapped in a bunch of unnecessary stuff that only serves to drag it down. It could've been a good manga, but now it's only "okay". This was a review for the Manga Raffle League

Mayank Apr 16, 2022

8

What's a dream? Are you dreaming? Or is it real? What is "it"? These are some of the most common questions you'll find presented to the reader in many psychological mystery novels. And indeed, the first chapter of this manga adaptation of Ubume no Natsu does exactly that. It's nothing new. It's tried and tested. It's almost boring, but most readers will keep going anyway. In a sense this trope is like fast food. Lazy, formulaic and predictable. Yet it satisfies your taste buds. On the other hand, it also breaks away from storytelling conventions of typical mysteries. Sekiguchi, the protagonist and narrator of this story hears some rumours about a woman who has been pregnant for over 20 months and the mythological mysteries surrounding the woman's family. He finds out he was involved in the events leading to emergence of these rumours. What part did he play in all this? What exactly took place all those years ago and was he responsible for something unthinkable? Why can't he recall anything? All is revealed by the end of the story.  But was the wait and suspense worth it? The manga is only 4 volumes long but it feels way longer than that. One moment you could be engrossed in the whole thing and the next moment you could find yourself skipping a lot of panels or pages which feel too much like fillers. Fans of Monogatari series will feel familiar to this "tell, don't show" style of storytelling. But unlike the Monogatari stories, it's hard to say concretely whether it works in favour of this manga. The plot densely revolves around the metaphysical connection between religious practices, superstitious beliefs, mythologies and psychology. At times, this gets in the way of progression way too much. The characters discuss these very complex topics for what feels like hours only to arrive, in the most roundabout ways, at a point which is finally relevant to the plot. If you want a complete murder mystery, this manga certainly isn't one for you. However, you should still give it a try. The world in which this story is set is realistic but only just. There are instances where the border between the real and the supernatural is stretched too thin, which might put off some hardcore detective story fans while others might take a liking to it. The personalities and characters do the heavy lifting for this story rather than the plot. I found myself not worrying about potholes and logic too much thanks to the interesting characters. In the end the disappointment of not knowing more about them overshadowed the disappointment of not getting a neat climax to the story.  Despite all these shortcomings, this was a satisfying experience for me. It has encouraged me to explore more of what the psychological horror genre has to offer.