Shounen Shoujo

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Ill Boy, Ill Girl

Japanese: 症年症女

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 3

Chapters: 16

Status: Finished

Published: Jan 4, 2016 to Apr 4, 2017

Genres: Drama, Mystery

Theme: Psychological

Demographic: Shounen

Serialization: Jump SQ.

Authors: NISIO, ISIN (Story), Akatsuki, Akira (Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.01¹ (scored by 3,525 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #8653²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1889

Members: 10,474

Favorites: 93

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7.01

Ranked #8653Popularity #1889Members 10,474

MangaJump SQ.NISIO, ISIN (Story), Akatsuki, Akira (Art)

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Volumes: /3

Chapters: /16

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Synopsis

Enrolled in a certain elementary school is an unpleasant 11-year-old boy with a highly cynical outlook on society. Believing that the world lacks individuality, he wants nothing more than to be unique and remembered. The boy seemingly gets the chance to leave his name in history when he becomes the first to be diagnosed with a new incurable disease that is estimated to kill him by the age of 12.

Just as he is rejoicing about his newfound individuality, he meets a cheerful, prodigious girl who has the same disease—and is nearing her 12th birthday. As the boy realizes that he won't be the first to die from the disease and therefore won't be remembered, he forms a twisted plan: kill the girl before her illness does.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Shounen

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Shoujo

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Doku

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Reviews

Nov 28, 2023

hexashadow13

Recommended

tl;dr: A very unique manga centered around a boy obsessed with having individuality.

From the duo that brought you Medaka Box comes yet another very unique work. This one is centered around individuality and the lack thereof. As such, one of the core aspects of this manga is that it does not have proper nouns. The hero is simple referred to as ‘boy’ and the heroine is simple referred to as ‘girl’. Though there is a bit of a twist as you would expect with NISIOISIN in that the boy is written as 症年 instead of 少年 and the girl is written as 症女 instead of ... 少女, in both cases replacing the 少 which means small, with 症 which means illness.

The plot involves the boy having a disease that involves him being unable to see the individuality in others and that will also result in him dying when he reaches the age of twelve. Rather than lament over his fate he’s actually super happy because being a tragic child dying of a mysterious new disease gives him a tremendous amount of individuality. And if he’s the first to die from the disease he would leave his mark on history as the disease would be named after him. However, his hopes are shattered when a girl turns out to have the disease, and she’s older than him and thus scheduled to die before him. Thus, to ensure that he obtains true individuality, he decided he’s going to kill the girl before the disease gets to her.

With that said, while him killing her is a core part of the plot from the beginning to end, it focuses much more on the character of the boy and the girl and their backgrounds. There’s a relationship arc between the two that makes little sense, but it actually resonates more emotionally due to how little sense it makes. There’s also a character arc in the boy centered around his views on individuality, and with that as its core the manga overall explores individuality quite a bit. Everyone wants to be special but what does that really mean? What does it mean to be unique in a world where everyone is trying to be unique? And who decides any of that? This manga gets pretty heavy handed about it, but ultimately it does convey what I felt was a pretty clear message about how pursuing individuality as a goal in and of itself is foolhardy. And though it does largely does seem to focus on the negatives, it does shine a light on the positives as well though within a pretty narrow context.

Overall, I found it really interesting and though it’s definitely a very strangely told story that jumps around a lot, due to how short and fast paced it is, I felt that worked well. I was also satisfied with the ending for the most part, though with one major exception. In the epilogue it shows and explains things it’s unable to beforehand. Certain parts I think definitely made the ending much more satisfying. But there were also certain parts that I feel were wholly unnecessary and overexplained things that there was no reason to explain at all, with the end result being taking things that were mysterious and cool and just making them kind of stupid and full of inconsistencies.

The art is interesting in that what it’s able to show is ultimately incredibly narrow as it’s from the perspective of the boy who can’t see the individuality in anyone or anything other than the girl, and thus the reader isn’t shown any as well. It’s ultimately just a gimmick but I thought it contributed pretty well to the themes and atmosphere the story was going for. There are also some bizarre dream sequences that have pretty cool art and some cool panels that involve crazy violence or crazy nonsense such as vomiting cloth and buttons. Still, character designs and how well they come across are a key element to me when it comes to how much I like art and this manga simply isn’t able to do much in terms of that at all so I can’t say I particularly enjoyed the art in this manga.

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Mar 4, 2022

WaifuOverLaifu

Recommended

Spoilers below.

The premise was very unique; a disease in which you can't see individuality. A boy who is thought to be the only person in the world with this disease rejoices, as he finally gets the chance to be seen as special- until another girl shows up with the same disease. And so the boy decides the most reasonable thing to do is not console her, but to kill her off before she dies of said disease. The bloodbath commences. I really enjoyed this manga, it provides surprisingly great commentary on what it means to be an individual; that you should embrace your characteristics regardless ...

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Aug 18, 2021

bunim0ri

Recommended

god what do i have to say about this manga. my ex best friend got me into it and, ironically enough, its about a narcissistic child whos jealous of another child who happens to be just like him (which also seems to be the reason he stopped being my friend!)
anyways its a great story, if not a bit pretentious with its explanation of morals and individuality sometimes. the art, especially the gore scenes, are incredibly striking and the author has an amazing grasp on how to portray emotion via expression. through all of the characters and plot it brings up some really interesting points on ...

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'Medaka Box' Creators to Start New Manga

The January issue of Shueisha's Jump SQ has announced that Isin Nisio (Monogatari Series) will draw a new series with Akira Akatsuki. To be titled Shounen Shoujo, it...read more

Dec 3, 2015 1:36 PM by Sakana-san | Discuss (59 comments)

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Poll: Shounen Shoujo Chapter 16 Discussion Potimas - Sep 29, 2019	8 replies	by psyche-K »» Dec 17, 2023 11:29 PM
Poll: Shounen Shoujo Chapter 1 Discussion Stark700 - Jan 4, 2016	18 replies	by blank »» May 3, 2019 2:58 PM
When are new chapters going to come out? Pikatostes - Jun 10, 2017	8 replies	by Rosy_Petal »» Mar 11, 2019 10:38 PM
Poll: Shounen Shoujo Chapter 6 Discussion WitchJacqueline - Jun 17, 2016	9 replies	by WitchJacqueline »» Oct 1, 2016 8:44 AM
Poll: Shounen Shoujo Chapter 5 Discussion Stark700 - May 16, 2016	4 replies	by Xenocrisi »» May 31, 2016 7:52 AM

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