Tamashii no Futago
The Twin Souls

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I really think this manga is a masterpiece. I am adding it to my favorite manga list, no doubt.

It goes about two kids who die at the exact same time in two completely different places in the world. But their spirits remain and contact several people they are drawn to, due to some sort of compatibility that allows these humans to see them (they can be seen by humans who have a twin-sole somewhere). As they interact with the humans, we slowly get to know their story and the reason for their deaths, and the kids, who are, as a matter of fact, twin soles ... themselves, start getting closer to each other.

Story
The plot is just PERFECT. Not just because the story is original and breathtaking, but because it is masterfully structured.

When I first started reading the manga, I was a little confused. The girl and the boy interacted shortly with several characters, one character per chapter. It looked as if the manga was going to be structured in individual and closed chapters, with a subplot in each. Each subplot was aimed to trigger something in the memory of the children, thus driving the main story forward. But some of the chapters had an open ending that didn´t leave me satisfied. Some of the chapters left me thinking: And? That´s it?

But I was so wrong. Every unclosed issue is resumed latter, and everything comes together perfectly as you keep on reading. Every single encounter with every human the kids interact with is there for a reason.

I think I´ve never come through a manga plot that has been so well thought through.

Art
I wouldn´t say the art is "beautiful". It´s strange, kind of unsettling. But it goes perfectly with the story, which is as unsettling, and crude.
I loved the prologues for each volume, where a special tone (one color) is added to the grey tones.

Characters
The two main characters have some kind of a creepy aura, not only in looks but in their behavior. It is not that they are scary, they are not... they are "strange". Their looks and behavior reflect in a way their tortured souls.
A wide range of human adults accompany them in their journey. We don´t get to know all of them in depth... but they all carry some kind of burden, pain or sin.

In short, I highly recommend reading this manga. If you feel confused in the beginning, hang on in there. Everything will make sense as you keep on reading.

The story is really heavy, you will probably cry at some point, or at least feel your chest squeezing... but there is also a feeling of hope and redemption in the manga. Definitely, worth reading.

it was a moving manga about two dead kids who have twin souls alex and rise, getting closer to each other and finding out how they respectively died. i wont ruin the ending but its genius how everything comes together if you stick with it so you feel like you havent wasted your time when youve finished and the characters have amzing depth with an all around ending. but be warned it will squeeze a tear out of the toughest mans eye so i was weeping like a friggin baby. its a masterpeice that knows how to introduce characters, get you to like them then ... tug at your emotions.its a must read in my opinion as long as tissues are in the imidiate vacinity.

Don't you hate it when you read a manga that intrigues you and looks like it'll be interesting, only for it to turn out that it's not as good as you hoped it'd be? Because this is pretty much my reaction to Twin Souls, or Tamashii no Futago, an obscure horror/supernatural manga that came out between 2006-2008. Basically, the story centers on two children on different sides of the world who died on the same day under mysterious circumstances. Although the two have only met once in their lives, their souls have become intertwined, destined to meet at a certain point, but the reason why, ... neither knows. On their respective journeys, Alex and Rite interact with other people who can see them, with two people in particular being drawn together because of them: Haruhi Kurahashi, a woman whose twin sister Akihi sees her as a rival, and a German jeweler named Theo Kloden, a former doctor who is overcome with guilt over being unable to save a child he knew was being abused. Over time, Alex and Rite's memories become clearer as they're drawn ever closer.

In all honesty, the second half of the manga is pretty easy to review: It's balls to the wall dark, exploring sensitive subjects like divorce, sexual abuse, child prostitution, gender dysphoria, children getting murdered, and so on, but the main trio evolve and change as the story goes on, keeping your attention until the surprisingly optimistic ending closes it all off. So why the abysmally low score? Well...you can blame that on a lot of things. One of which is the first half of the manga, which is basically a series of vignettes involving the titular twin souls, Alex and Rite (Yes, there's an in-story reason for why they have those names), interacting and watching over various characters who don't have anything to do with their situation. Most of said one-off characters are pretty badly written, with one of them being a super creepy otaku stereotype that the manga wants us to sympathize with, but I can't bring myself to because of his actions. It almost felt like an episodic manga that was tangentially connected by the two main characters, and honestly, a lot of those episodic chapters are pretty bad. One chapter in particular is about two friends who seem closer than normal, and it seems like it's going to go into a story about murder and cannibalism...only for it to pull a sudden bait-and-switch and suddenly, poof! Everything's a-okay! Ugh...I was not a fan of how poorly the manga executed that chapter in particular.

The second half fares slightly better in terms of focusing on the characters that actually matter, but the backstories for the two main kids really aren't depicted with the most nuance, grace, and sensitivity. Now, I'm not exactly an expert on how the subjects of child sexual abuse and child prostitution should be portrayed in media, so I know commenting on their accuracy and their overall portrayal is probably outside my wheelhouse. Plus, the manga isn't graphic in terms of bordering on hentai when it comes to showing the sexual abuse that children go through in here, but there's just enough revealed for the reader to put the pieces together, leaving very little to the imagination. That being said, a lot of it just felt like it was shoehorned in for the sake of either shock value or showing the kids as pitiable woobies and little else. There's hardly much in the way of sensitivity and nuance in regards to the way Twin Souls depicts this subject matter, and not helping matters is that the artwork gives it a weirdly voyeuristic look about it. I mean, there's literally a scene where an eleven-year-old child is shown giving a footjob to a naked adult man, and while it's not super graphic, the panel showing the child in question shows a black blob between their feet where the man's penis would be. So yeah, Twin Souls has a LOT of triggering shit in it, and if you can't handle it, you're better off not reading this, nuance depiction or no. But yeah, in regards to Twin Souls' depictions of said sensitive subject matter, I don't think it does a very good job. I've seen other media that do it better without resorting to the cliche, voyeuristic ways depicted here. Also, was it really necessary to have Rite be subject to constant panty shots?

Alright, that's all for the bad stuff. Let's get into the good stuff, though there isn't a whole lot. The artwork is competent at best, and it does do a great job at conveying a creepy atmosphere, especially in regards to the two main kids, which is fitting since this is considered a horror manga. Secondly, I liked Haruhi's growing relationship with Theo, and while I wish more time had been shown fleshing them out, they're really the only two characters I cared about even a little bit. Also...the manga has a surprisingly good, optimistic ending that actually caps it off pretty perfectly. I won't spoil it, but the fact that it's the one bit of levity in an otherwise very bleak, dark, morose manga actually almost redeems it for me. Granted, your mileage may vary. But other than those things, I really didn't like Twin Souls. Parts of it really could have been done better, and the first half was plagued by badly written, inconsistent characters who thankfully never appear again. The question remains whether or not you want to sit through the pain for the second half, and the second half of Twin Souls isn't even THAT good to begin with, only being better because of the ending.

Overall, Twin Souls has some interesting stuff in it, but I really don't think the manga is worth it, whether it be the awful episodic first half or the offensive depictions of sensitive subject matter being portrayed with all the subtlety and nuance of a burning trainwreck. But hey, if you like this manga, more power to you.