Ranked #2033

Omae ga Sekai wo Kowashitai Nara (Manga)

Highschooler Wana has a crush on one of the customers that comes to her fast-food restaurant. It's not until after she's involved in a deadly car accident that she finds out that he's actually a vampire. And does he have a connection with the grisly murders that have been happening around town? And it turns out that she looks like someone he used to know hundreds of years ago. Follow them as the real depths of their relationship unfolds in unexpected ways...and the twists keep coming until the very end.

Right off the bat, I should caution that this is a josei, NOT a shojo manga. It has a good deal of mature content. There is some minor grisly violence, and murder exhibitions. Rape and pedophilia are crucial story elements. Although they are not portrayed in a positive light, I still found it disturbing.

Aside from that, it was still worth reading through. The setting of the story is modern, and how vampires survive in a modern world, but it felt realistic rather than cheesy (unlike "Karin"). The art work was beautiful, slightly brushy, and had a quiet peaceful look, giving it a mix of gritty and beautiful. Which is just what the story was like. The vampires were normal-looking, beautiful without being cookie-cutter bishies.

The story is drama-intensive, so there is practically no action. It had a gentle moodiness. Although there were a few moments when I asked myself "oh REALLY? This drama is going WAY overboard...", I still found this manga very enjoyable, and a good read for its 17 chapters. read more

Wana is a normal girl, with a normal job, who has a fairly normal (but bland) love life. In fact, her love life consists of a mere crush who comes to her work every so often to order a hamburger with no onions. It isn’t until she’s hit by a truck that she’s able to talk with him. Suddenly, the blank tarot card she drew the week before makes sense; there is “no future”. She’s almost dead on impact.

Then Wana wakes up.

Vampire Girl (aka. Omae Ga Sekai O Kowashitai Nara, aka. If You Wanna Break This World, but henceforth known as Vampire Girl) is often a hit-or-miss with people. Either you’d hate the seemingly pointless and immensely flawed story and narration because they are, well, flawed, or you’d understand why the meaning of Vampire Girl needed to be presented in that sort of way. The latter, you’d be pleased to find, was my perspective on this story. This is probably one of the most brilliant works of thought-provoking manga that I’ve read to date, ranking among popular others such as Omoide Emanon or Music Of Marie.

The initial view of this manga may appear sloppy and unrefined, but if you read slowly enough, and take all the symbolism into account, you’d see that every little thing was tied into the story to add to the overall message. Vampire Girl is a manga which deals with God, morality, and humanity, but all while doing it in a particular view, which is not reminiscent of Christianity (or any other form of religion). I suppose that the main theme of it would address the nature of humanity, and why such flawed (yet beautiful) creatures exist. (And no, I’m not talking about the child-deity the manga presents to us). If humans are flawed, then wouldn’t that mean that whatever created us (be is evolution or creation) is flawed too? And since we weren’t the only creation made by who-knows-what, wouldn’t that mean that everything else created in this world flawed? The story of Vampire Girl deals with a heavy idea that everything in this universe is flawed in some way; if you’re looking for a light, vampire manga like Karin, then look elsewhere. This can get brutal.

The narration and story of this manga is something many people have problems stomaching. Many people find it utterly confusing and immensely flawed. Oh, did I just say flawed? Yes I did. The ideas of this manga are fascinating, but Fujiwara Kaoru really excels at using the plot, story, characters, and narration as a medium for the ‘flawed’ nature to shine. Looking at the plot and characters subjectively, it appears much like a never-ending paradox, and pointless. Flimsy, poor execution, complex and fragmented: the list of problems go on, and on. And suddenly, you may realize that it, too, is flawed (and far from perfect). It seems that the only thing humanity has going for it is the beauty of complexity...and then you see the art.

I would love to go on about the necessary symbolism and the meaning that I derived, but I’ll lead that to the potential reader. Vampire Girl was an outstanding series that every thoughtful reader should really check out. It’s definitely a 9.0/10.0. All I have to say is read really slow, drink up the symbolism presented with the reincarnation and the boy with the ball, and try to piece together the message and theme. Use the story, plot, and characters as a tool! Don’t try to find their good points, because there are none; just feel through it.

(Also a warning to some readers: things such as rape or paedophilia are portrayed in a realistic light, so caution yourselves.)

★★★★★★★★★☆
RECOMMENDED. read more