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rahanja's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
lausbiana's review against another edition
5.0
Probablemente una de las obras más profundas sobre la soledad y el amor, ¡y eso que es un manga de adolescentes! Otro libro que releo, pero es que es buenísimo (aunque crudo).
captain_readbeard's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
4.5
Once I could separate the characters in my head I enjoyed it a lot more. Until then the design was a little too similar.
Dark story which evoked teen dramas.
Dark story which evoked teen dramas.
chantplant's review
dark
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I think I’m obsessed with Kyoko Okazaki’s work. And even though it’s not the chronological way to read things, I’m glad I read Helter Skelter before River’s edge. It made me like Yoshikawa’s character a lot more. I like to imagine the two might’ve taken place at the same time.
I love Haruna a lot she is such a cool girl and I can see why everyone was just kinda magnetized to her. Ofc she has her flaws - like every single character here - but as a whole she’s just so great. Her design as well - Okazaki’s artwork is just so aspirational to me and again I just ADORE the way she draws women.
This manga truly was a 5/5 for me up untilKannonzaki raped Haruna in the end & neither Yamada or Yoshikawa seemed to care. Not even Haruna for that matter! that really soured the experience for me a bit and honestly think the book would’ve been better without it. I understand this is Okazaki’s preferred storytelling method to have as many taboo subject matters as possible, but I still didn’t like it :P
Overall I’m super glad i read this i had a great time and just devoured the whole story. If you like FLCL or Donnie Darko than this manga is definitely ur vibe.
I love Haruna a lot she is such a cool girl and I can see why everyone was just kinda magnetized to her. Ofc she has her flaws - like every single character here - but as a whole she’s just so great. Her design as well - Okazaki’s artwork is just so aspirational to me and again I just ADORE the way she draws women.
This manga truly was a 5/5 for me up until
Overall I’m super glad i read this i had a great time and just devoured the whole story. If you like FLCL or Donnie Darko than this manga is definitely ur vibe.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Rape, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, and Vomit
ribbonbeam's review
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
troll_for_initiative's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
minimicropup's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Okay, so technically I didn’t like this because so many awful things happened. But I think it was well done.
Energy: Visceral. Compulsive. Devastating.
Scene: 🇯🇵 Set in Tokyo, Japan.
Perspective: Observing the day-to-day struggles of a cast of high school students.
🐩 Tail Wags: The startling, sad, but believable storylines. Illustration style.
🤔 Random Thoughts:
Throws every bad thing that could happen to someone as a teen at the reader, but it didn’t feel gratuitous. It seemed plausible.
Check content heads-up as a lot of it is graphic especially when you can watch it play out on the page.
Check content heads-up as a lot of it is graphic especially when you can watch it play out on the page.
This was originally from the ‘90s and it feels that way. Some of it didn’t age well, but the topics and outcomes aren’t irrelevant for today. Footnotes provide context when popular media is referenced from that time.
----
🤓 Reader Role: Watching the scene unfold getting to understand the group dynamics and backstories.
🗺️ World-Building: Immersive, sensory, gritty.
🔥 Fuel: Character de-evolution, parallel plots, and atmospheric tension. Who will survive, who will succumb, and will there be justice?
📖 Cred: Hyper-realistic to plausible.
Mood Reading Match-Up:
Stagnant water. Canadian goldenrod. Factory smoke. Steam whistle. School bell. Tears. Faint ocean breeze. Sewage. Ozone.
- 1980s/’90s high school drama
- Coming of age tragedies
- Harsh life struggles
- Dark foreboding atmosphere
- Teen psychological horrors
Content Heads-Up: Homophobia, homophobic slurs. Outing (by friends). Bullying (physical assault, humiliation, name-calling, threats). Toxic relationship. Adult/minor relationship. Fatphobia. Sexual content (consenting; graphic, on page; rough off page). Corpse (discovery, disposal). Eating disorder (bingeing, purging; on page). Violence (attack, strangling). Murder. Cheating on romantic partner. Pregnancy. Abortion (discussion of). Obsession, unrequited love. Animal cruelty (cat torture, death; on page). Fire (fatality). Suicide. Blood. Miscarriage. Rape (on page). Vomit. Body fluids (semen). Drug use.
Rep: Japanese. Gay. Lesbian. Heterosexual. Cisgender.
📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from Kodansha Comics, Vertical Comics, and NetGalley.
My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Fatphobia, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Outing
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Miscarriage, Blood, Abortion, and Pregnancy
sandramarinis's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I enjoyed reading this book, but I don't think I would rate it higher as it felt like the storyline was a bit unclear from time to time.
Positives:
Even though it's a sad story about sad people I think the book brings forth good examples of toxic relationships and self sabotaging behaviour and mental illnesses in a way that gives people something to reflect on. The problems and issues of the characters in the book aren't solved, which makes you feel as hopeless as them, and I think that might be intentional. We get to see examples of a narcissistic romantic relationship and how the main character felt compelled to stay in a hopeless relationship due to fear or hope. We also saw how everyone were living lies and longing for more, yet finding comfort in old and bad habits that would prevent that change from happening. I think that part was well done.
Negatives:
In the beginning I struggled differentiating between the characters as I didn't see the difference between several of them. Eventually I did though. Some parts weren't as good as others. I also didn't like that it was unrealistic when it came to the wholedead bodies-storyline . I think the quality of the drawings varied a lot. Sometimes it was very good, and other times it looked unfinished.
Positives:
Even though it's a sad story about sad people I think the book brings forth good examples of toxic relationships and self sabotaging behaviour and mental illnesses in a way that gives people something to reflect on. The problems and issues of the characters in the book aren't solved, which makes you feel as hopeless as them, and I think that might be intentional. We get to see examples of a narcissistic romantic relationship and how the main character felt compelled to stay in a hopeless relationship due to fear or hope. We also saw how everyone were living lies and longing for more, yet finding comfort in old and bad habits that would prevent that change from happening. I think that part was well done.
Negatives:
In the beginning I struggled differentiating between the characters as I didn't see the difference between several of them. Eventually I did though. Some parts weren't as good as others. I also didn't like that it was unrealistic when it came to the whole
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
jenniferforjoy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Recommended sure
for a look at a darker piece of life for the time, for a "slice of life" story where the slice is pretty grim and dirty
Thoughts:
Look, this is not for kids just because it's a graphic novel. It's got full naked bodies and corpses and violence and eating disorders and animal abuse and lots of other dark and heavy stuff. Please, be ready for it if you read this. I had to take some breaks after certain moments that pierced me through.
My best description of this is that it's like slice of life, but the life is shit. Everyone is unhappy in some way in this story, and it's all very dark and sad. There's no resolution; things don't get better; people don't change. You just stay with them for a while and see how they live, and you end it knowing that's still how they live. Don't come here looking for an arc of "learn and grow" because it's not here. This is not an indictment at all, it's just not the kind of story being told in this. If I understood correctly this is a story based on a poem, which is included at the end and was a bit harrowing (which made sense after reading the story that was meant to reflect it, I believe).
If you asked me what's the point or the takeaway of this story, I have no idea. The randomness of life is what I felt from this, and particularly the randomness of the pain that some people just get dumped with over and over. It's just kind of like "this is how it was and how it continued to be" even when it was shitty. And hey, maybe that *is* the point, you know? Things don't always get better. Things don't always work out. You just have to keep going. And in that, it was darkly compelling.
While the story is ugly, the art is not. There's a tinge of wildness to it that matches the desperate wildness of the characters, each showing it in their own way at some point in the story. Sometimes I had to really pause and see the whole panel, which made the story that much more poignant and piercing because I would have to really focus on a scene of something inevitably terrible. I couldn't just glance at it and turn away because I had to pay attention in order to really *see* it, and I feel like that mirrors what life needs to be in order to accomplish anything: really look at the ugliness and pain, or else you'll never be able to understand those things in order to move past them. Maybe I'm reading too much into it all, but that's kind of how this book made me feel. Somber, reflective, a touch morose.
Overall I do recommend this but only if you know that it's a darker vibe and filled with pain (and triggers).
Thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for a free advanced copy. This is my honest review.
for a look at a darker piece of life for the time, for a "slice of life" story where the slice is pretty grim and dirty
Thoughts:
Look, this is not for kids just because it's a graphic novel. It's got full naked bodies and corpses and violence and eating disorders and animal abuse and lots of other dark and heavy stuff. Please, be ready for it if you read this. I had to take some breaks after certain moments that pierced me through.
My best description of this is that it's like slice of life, but the life is shit. Everyone is unhappy in some way in this story, and it's all very dark and sad. There's no resolution; things don't get better; people don't change. You just stay with them for a while and see how they live, and you end it knowing that's still how they live. Don't come here looking for an arc of "learn and grow" because it's not here. This is not an indictment at all, it's just not the kind of story being told in this. If I understood correctly this is a story based on a poem, which is included at the end and was a bit harrowing (which made sense after reading the story that was meant to reflect it, I believe).
If you asked me what's the point or the takeaway of this story, I have no idea. The randomness of life is what I felt from this, and particularly the randomness of the pain that some people just get dumped with over and over. It's just kind of like "this is how it was and how it continued to be" even when it was shitty. And hey, maybe that *is* the point, you know? Things don't always get better. Things don't always work out. You just have to keep going. And in that, it was darkly compelling.
While the story is ugly, the art is not. There's a tinge of wildness to it that matches the desperate wildness of the characters, each showing it in their own way at some point in the story. Sometimes I had to really pause and see the whole panel, which made the story that much more poignant and piercing because I would have to really focus on a scene of something inevitably terrible. I couldn't just glance at it and turn away because I had to pay attention in order to really *see* it, and I feel like that mirrors what life needs to be in order to accomplish anything: really look at the ugliness and pain, or else you'll never be able to understand those things in order to move past them. Maybe I'm reading too much into it all, but that's kind of how this book made me feel. Somber, reflective, a touch morose.
Overall I do recommend this but only if you know that it's a darker vibe and filled with pain (and triggers).
Thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for a free advanced copy. This is my honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Eating disorder, Gore, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Toxic relationship, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, and Pregnancy