Forget-me-not

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Colour is used sparsely in manga, and whenever we do get it, it's pretty garish and lacking all the subtlety and complexity most usually seen in western graphic novels. Chapter one of this manga rivals the best of the west; and with the combination of a Venetian landscape and young female detective pulling a fast one on a random thief, the potential for a classic is laid immediately.

Then you get to the black and white chapter two and deflate with a forlorn exhalation. The colour returns now and then throughout the manga, but always disappears leaving you disappointed with what could have been. ... Forget Me Not has a genuinely intriguing and original setup, a real kooky deal that is let down by art that although has quirky character, is still overall a bit dull to get through. If it maintained the colour displayed in the first chapter it would be a real hidden gem of a manga.

Mariel Imari, the plucky young detective who has inherited her father's business and skill-set, is a laidback girl which is charming to read, and her fondness for disguises is cute. The humour is dry and witty, the hijinks and situations she finds herself in are all navigable via her independent attitude and reckless pace. There is a real atmosphere to the backdrop of Venice, the manga drips with mystery and discovery at every corner.

The story has ambition but is too self-contained; the author just doesn't have the effort or ambition to widen his horizon, choosing instead to pack it all into just seven chapters. It's a shame. There are some great ideas here, pulling in a variety of interesting characters, a rivalry with a thief who Mariel may or may not already know, the truth behind her father and inheritance, it's all imaginative mature stuff that feels too short-lived.

Forget Me Not doesn't deserve to be forgotten. We can only hope Kenji Tsuruta doesn't forget it either and realises its true potential one day.

(TLDR at the bottom, as always, thanks for reading)

Forget-me-not is quite an easy-going manga about the detective Mariel Imari and her cases she takes on in Italy. I have to say "easy going" is probably one of the most accurate terms to associate with the manga. It doesn't try to do anything concerning your immediate attention and doesn't try to expand itself into having a captivating world. It is unambiguously everything it tells you it is.

The narrative is not the most absorbing. It starts out quite "episodic" then proceeds to tell a story. Episodic by it giving a few individual mystery cases to be ... focused on each chapter up to about halfway where the real story side of things begins. It isn't absorbing because, well, it is episodic, until it isn't. Which is a strange way of writing especially with 7 chapters because then the interesting things come too late. The story is left with something that cannot be developed in a serious manner unless it goes for 100 chapter pages, something it didn't do. You are then left with some plot that doesn't really give anyone any interest because it wasn't much, to begin with in the first place. It is where I found myself with the story. Part of why I didn't find it all that interesting. Also, with the "easy-going" part I mentioned earlier on, it comes a little contradicting because there was real effort to actually give relevance to the little detail in the story. But they were little details that didn't have a lasting effect on any plot, the kind of detail people who rewatch/read will find themselves stumbling across. Whether Tsuruta wanted to embellish what was there as opposed to what will be, is something I know nothing of. Which leads me to say, do you find that good or bad? You decide. The characters are in the same category really, they lack a lot of interesting points simply because they were treated as the story was. Of course, this is everyone who isn't Imari. Imari was that one character who I was fond of, and she is presented quite well and feels very much like she has a personality to call her own. The same cannot be said for anyone else and in writing this review way later than I should have, I pretty much know of no other character that has left a mark in my memory. Maybe this is just a classic case of "detective carries the story", no, I didn't intend for that pun.

Tsuruta art style is always a pleasure to see. The design is that of real people, the detail is that of visible elongated time lengths, the backgrounds are almost that of painting. It is something that has no real fault, the only thing that I would say is that I suppose with an art style like this, everything is set in stone so there is no real moment to show off even better art from what was given. To be fair, this is no battle shounen, but I have seen before where even the calmest of manga can have the greatest of art. It is only a matter of imagination. But this is still really good no question.

Enjoying Forget-me-not isn't easy, at least for me, I will explain why that may actually be a universal case. As said, the story doesn't have a lot of weight to it, with it also concerning itself to little detail that eventually amounts to little, I can't say you will get a kick out of this one with enjoyment. It is nothing unreadable, but it is as if it passes with time. Something you probably won't take too much notice out of. But that is just me on the matter. Otherwise, this isn't too bad to read, though the detective cases again aren't the most interesting. They too go on the "easy-going" wave that is maybe just a little too "easy-going". I came out of it not really finding myself not having any pleasant memories, but neither did I leave with any horrific ones.

I can't say I recommend this, considering how dialogue-heavy it is, it isn't friendly to people who want something quick to read that has an equally flowing story. It has 7 chapters though. Consider it. It might just be something that gets onto your completed section of the list and that's the end of it. With Tsuruta being behind this, the same dude behind Omoide Emanon manga adaptation, I will just say that I was here for the art, but I was interested in what the story had to offer. It doesn't offer much now does it. I don't dislike the dude, I think his works are pretty good, but this one didn't hit as it should have.

Overall - 5.79 (6, lowered art significance)