Yagiza no Yuujin

nultayy May 26, 2020

10

This is one of those mangas which I couldn't tear myself away from, even though it was so short. No bathroom breaks, no food, barely even breathing. It's like the story grabs you by your hands, feet, and hair and forces you to watch and what is happening is like a car crash: it's horrible and you know the ending will kill not only the passengers, but you as well, on the inside, but you can't look away. It's so different from anything else I have ever read. It's intriguing and mysterious and oh, so sad. 1000% blew me out of the park.

Curiousmadra Sep 15, 2020

6

Even tho it was way too short for 7 chapters to expand a story like this, it really does make you hold tight to your seat cause there is quite a sprinkle of intensity and chilliness involved here! I mean it's about two teens running away together because one of them killed their bullies. I wouldn't call this the best psychological slice of life thriller out there but I still would recommend this to peeps if they wanna waste time!

nathandouglasdavis Sep 3, 2021

8

I teared up at the end of this. It's a tragedy, poetically fatalistic, and without an almost nihilistic aura of "that's just how things are." The story consists of some slice of life elements, some decent conversations and characterizations, as well as suspense and a bit of mystery. There is also a magical veranda, which is actually quite relevant since the scrap of newspaper from the future is what spurs Matsuda in action (trying to fight fate) and what creates a lot of the intrigue throughout the story. Thematically, it also deals with scapegoating and bullying. The bully of this series, Kaneshiro, is a cruel asshole who feels almost sociopathic in the types of things fe does. The story largely follows Wakatsuki, the one bullied, and Matsuda, who had long gotten used to just looking the other way, though I do appreciate the small bit of sorta-romance included between Matsuda and a girl named Honjou. I appreciated that Matsuda's thought process and deductions were layed out in an easy-to-understand way, but I'm not entirely sure how I feel about all of the ways that they were revealed (like, I found the rooftop scene to be disappointing). The artwork is very pleasant as well. It does a nice job of using light grays and different outline thicknesses to differentiate the foregrounds and backgrounds. And the angles chosen for the panels feel dynamic and engaging. On the negative side of things, I do think the faces can feel a bit off and the hair has way too much highlighting effects on it. There is also an overemphasis on outlining the characters, which can be distracting and make them feel like cutouts pasted onto the backgrounds.