Scan barcode
A review by emmaisnotavampire
BIBLIOMANIA by おおばる (Obaru), マッチロ (Macchiro)
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Let’s all thank my boyfriend for forcing me to read mangas every once in a while, and for always giving me the most accurate recommendations for them, because holy crap how I loved this little gem right here. At this point I think he unironically knows me better than I know myself.
I don’t believe there can be anyone out there in the world who can be more of the intended target audience than me. The thirst for knowledge, the perpetual risk of literary escapism, the danger of words, the horror elements, the satanic references, the Alice in Wonderland parallels… a dark, twisted fable built on one of my favourite hobbies, what can ever be better than that? It seems like it was made for me.
It wasn’t just the themes that captivated me, though they definitely were what made me feel called out: the drawings as well were absolutely beautiful, secretly uneasy children’s books illustrations meeting disturbing supernatural gore, with lovely style variations to match the different rooms… the plant lady pages reminded me so much of an obscure version of Art Nouveau, of a modern Beardsley, I was in love! So in love that I even challenged my usual belief that all stories can be best narrated in literary prose: this was perfectly right just like this.
Although this work never really tried to hide what it was saying, I found it incredible how it managed to constantly change the focus, initially making the reader believe that the bigger themes were only marginal, the marginal ones central, then slowly unraveling its topic hierarchy. Most of all, I was amazed by how at first the enemy of humanity seemed to be the snake, alias Satan/temptation, alias escapism, when really it was humanity itself: it was the Odysseus archetype, stubborn intellect, ambition, curiosity, that little part of us that can devour us from within and consume everything around us, just for the sake of knowing all that there is to be known. Maybe it isn’t all that destabilising, all that true, all that universal, not to all; but to me, always praised for this tendency of mine, it definitely felt like it. It was the sudden realisation that the best part of me has the power to be the worst too.
I am genuinely so sad that my boyfriend and I are probably the only two people on Earth to have read this, because what one gets out of this story is honestly the truest presentation of myself that I could ever give.
I don’t believe there can be anyone out there in the world who can be more of the intended target audience than me. The thirst for knowledge, the perpetual risk of literary escapism, the danger of words, the horror elements, the satanic references, the Alice in Wonderland parallels… a dark, twisted fable built on one of my favourite hobbies, what can ever be better than that? It seems like it was made for me.
It wasn’t just the themes that captivated me, though they definitely were what made me feel called out: the drawings as well were absolutely beautiful, secretly uneasy children’s books illustrations meeting disturbing supernatural gore, with lovely style variations to match the different rooms… the plant lady pages reminded me so much of an obscure version of Art Nouveau, of a modern Beardsley, I was in love! So in love that I even challenged my usual belief that all stories can be best narrated in literary prose: this was perfectly right just like this.
Although this work never really tried to hide what it was saying, I found it incredible how it managed to constantly change the focus, initially making the reader believe that the bigger themes were only marginal, the marginal ones central, then slowly unraveling its topic hierarchy. Most of all, I was amazed by how at first the enemy of humanity seemed to be the snake, alias Satan/temptation, alias escapism, when really it was humanity itself: it was the Odysseus archetype, stubborn intellect, ambition, curiosity, that little part of us that can devour us from within and consume everything around us, just for the sake of knowing all that there is to be known. Maybe it isn’t all that destabilising, all that true, all that universal, not to all; but to me, always praised for this tendency of mine, it definitely felt like it. It was the sudden realisation that the best part of me has the power to be the worst too.
I am genuinely so sad that my boyfriend and I are probably the only two people on Earth to have read this, because what one gets out of this story is honestly the truest presentation of myself that I could ever give.