Ranked #4545

Die (One Shot)

The forbidden desire of loving oneself beyond all others...

A curious, dark one-shot that I'm still puzzling my head over. On the outside it begins with a brother reading the suicide letter of his sister. Throughout its course, our belief about what this story really is about changes dramatically. Whatever your original impression may be, several plot twists reveal the reality of the matter. We are slowly drawn into the cruel world of this brother and sister. Their names are never revealed.

The dark, gothic nature of the art befits the themes of this one-shot. The silhouette of trees is beautifully drawn as is the sister's long, spidery hair, cascading across her shoulders. There is an old crime, film-noir aspect to the art. And the focus on shadows creates a feeling of being enclosed, trapped in.

The characters are something that I had a problem with. Despite the depth and the darkness of the plot line they remain relatively two-dimensional and are used only as caricatures to progress the story along. There is very little depth to their characters and their motivations and ambitions are left quite undeveloped.

The story portrays a very bleak view on humanity and exploits the faults of man. Overall, I thought that it was a very interesting, albeit confusing read and if you are you looking for something very dark and melancholy then this is definitely for you. The last line of this one-shot was, I thought, very poetic. read more

Very very very short manga that keeps you captivated during the full...16 pages ^^
The art is something that's worth looking at and the story is one full of pain and regrets but that's the reality of things.

The characters are not described or shown but you know their whole lives by reading 16 pages. I think that that is something that's near impossible.
A must-read.