A review by timefliesaway
The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil A Rún, Vol. 6 by Nagabe

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Shiva and Sensei have left their home because of the soldiers. They find and settle in a new cottage, but things don't stay quite for long...

Some chapters were really fun, with Shiva just enjoying youth. One time it snowed and they were having a snow day.

But Shiva's also really mature for her age – that might be because she's so watchful and perceptive. And has many patient people around her. Some conversations are truly amazing and I love reading these. The fact that Shiva also sometimes appears more mature than characters from other mature stories I've read, is truly mesmerizing, but makes this Manga even more beautiful.

The story is progressing and more mysteries have been revealed, which, again, also only brings more questions to the table. But it's so fun thinking about all the possibilities and theories on how things may or may not unfold!

It also has melancholic bits, suddenly, right in the middle of a funny chapter. As a sucker for melancholy, I'm all here for it, though.

Some of my theories include: (spoilers, read on your own risk!)
Spoiler - The woman in the locker could be his wife, but I feel like the locker is just something he either found at the cottage or woke up next to it, after getting cursed. Idk, maybe they are related, might even be his mother or something, but... I don't think so. Who knows.
- We haven't seen any young cursed children so far. Maybe children simply aren't affected of the curse? Could be due to them being more connected to nature and having the "purity" of being young.
- So, Albert either is Sensei or Albert cursed Sensei. Or that's what Sensei thinks. But maybe Sensei was Albert in his previous life, got cursed, became a tree, returned to Mother, and was reborn again, resembling his old cursed form. And for some reason has the memories as well. But are these memories? Maybe it was written in one of the journals, that Albert, the cursed human, kept, and Sensei read them then. So many times until he thought they are his own.


Sensei being so obsessed on insisting he was a human before, reminded me a lot of racism. I don't know if the author had the black and white race struggle of our world in mind, but they do have – suspiciously – a lot of similarities.
Now, this isn't a political story, so I hope I won't discourage anyone reading this. Just what I think.
I mean, all humans are white, and when you get cursed, you become "a black child", which are "children of darkness". While I haven't heard the argument that dark-skinned people in our world are children of the devil, it still kinda is or feels like a reference to our political problems... Idk.

Honestly, though, the black children are really beautiful and the more the characters say it's a curse, the more it feels like a huge brainwashing that was done years ago. Centuries maybe even. I don't see a curse at all when looking at them. Looking at the white people and how they treat others of their own kind in their society, however, that reminds me of evil beings.
I really hope that there won't be a plottwist of the "god of white" being the good guy after all. He has to be the bad guy, since there's no way he isn't. 

Gorgeous artwork as always.

-07.11.23