Souboutei Kowasubeshi

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The plot of Souboutei Kowasubeshi is just as the English translation states, Souboutei Must Be Destroyed. The plot of this manga? There is a mansion known as Souboutei, and it must be destroyed.






Ideally, I feel going into this manga only accompanied with that info alone will grant you the most enjoyment out of this series, as it has one of the craziest and convoluted yet consistent plotlines I have ever read. So I heavily implore you to stop reading this review here and just go read the first chapter. Taking the blind plunge into the insanity of what lies behind Souboutei's walls is half the ... fun of this manga.

But for those not convinced, here is some background of what the story entails:

What does an intergalactic war between two liquid species and paintings that drag you into them and show you your deepest and darkest insecurities have to do with each other?
Who is this mysterious man painting within Souboutei and why does he seem unphased by possessed Imperial Japanese Military Police who patrol the mansion, or the hordes of zombies, or the mysterious little girl who bounces a ball and sings a nursery rhyme?
Where did a plane that disappeared 60 years ago come from, and why onboard is a monster child whose hands become drills?

All these question are not only answered, but are all just fragments of the bigger picture in Souboutei Must Be Destroyed, a series that had some crazy twist seemingly every chapter for what felt like 100 chapters straight.

And the cast is just as colorful as plotline: A struggling children's book author, an ordinary boy with a shaman older sister, the said monster whose hands turn to drills, a mad scientist and his daughter who can teleport objects with her mind, an elderly couple who deals in exorcisms and uses a burnt baby doll to shoot fire balls, three sisters with psychic abilities, a bandaged Imperial Japanese Military Lieutenant accompanied by a woman covered head to toe in black whose face is hidden and hair can heal all wounds, and a modern day JSDF Lieutenant trying to reign them all in.

It has been extremely difficult to write this review without making myself feel like I spoiled something. But if you are still wondering if this manga is worth a chance, then all I ask is that you read the first chapter. Souboutei Kowasubeshi is the first series in over 8 years that had gotten me fully invested in the plot from the first chapter, and I believe it may do the same for you.

Story 10 - What a kickass, crazy manga Fujita Kazuhiro has made yet again. From the author of Karakuri Circus, Ushio no Tora, and Bakegyamon we see another amazingly inspired work. Souboutei is the quintessential action, horrer manga that more people need to read, the story is fantastical, mysterious and extremely interesting. Everything is revealed at a good pace where the reader can take it everything that is going on and enjoy the crazy ride.
Art 8 - Fujita Kazuhiro's art is very hit or miss as it is reminiscent of the old manga artstyle, full of imperfect lines, luckily in this horror manga, who gives ... a sh** about neatness. Kazuhiro makes sure to go all out with the creative powers, monsters and environments the story needs and they are a true joy to look at. The action is fantastic and easy to follow and like his other works the facial expressions the characters make allow you to really experience their emotion and get yourself involved into the story.
Character - 9 Kazuhiro always makes his characters great, from adults to kids, everybody gets their fantastic badass moments and with the great facial expressions the artwork provides, it becomes very easy for the narrator to relate to the characters.
Enjoyment Overall - 9 I feel this is one of those hidden gem mangas more people need to know about, it has a crazy story that still is easy to follow and has no plot holes, it has great action and mental horrer elements, overall its a fantastic manga and as long as you can get down with Kazuhiro's old artstyle, you will love the hell out of this manga.

I really tried reading it through. I really did. I was really hoping, that somehow, the manga would get better. But no. Souboutei Kowasubeshi is pretty bad through and through, with little upside.

The story is pretty nonsensical and are just a few seemingly random supernatural events connecting everything together to form a "comprehensible" plot where a group of people try to take down an evil, mysterious, house. While at a moment's glance, the story seems pretty logical. Indeed, the events that happen in this narrative seem to make sense. However, when analyzing the likelihood of these things happening on tandem with each other makes the ... story completely unfeasible. What's the probability that this guy "coincidentally' meets with another person three times in a row? What's the probability that an unrelated supernatural event happens right after a decision is being made to destroy the house? In the end, the story is just a string of lucky coincidences that lead to a sort of cohesive simple plot, where the main objective is to kill the house.

For such a simple concept, you think that the plot events would be that simple, but no. They're complicated, kind of stupid, and overly complex for no apparent reason. This theme continues, and I just can't wrap my head around why this is the case. Alright, let's talk about characters. Honestly, all are pretty generic and not super memorable. You don't know which characters will end up being killed in two chapters, or the ones that will actually stay, so don't really feel like you need to be invested in any particular one except the male and female lead, who are also both equally boring, archetypal leads. The "cool, pretty, powerful, but sometimes clueless" maiden tag teaming with the "powerless, but actually has a unique power, dullwitted, but smart when he needs to be main character that empowers whoever he works with." Other than those, you have random characters that don't get a lot of development, and you basically have no characters you care about.

The art is decent at some points, and terrible at others. For a horror manga, I'd say that the horror elements, ie the house, monsters, creepy architecture and other ambience is actually pretty decent. however, the character art feels like it's straight from the 80s to 90s. Extremely lacking in particular detail in any characters, and of course, the mandatory panty shot once in a while, however, I do have to admit, these ecchi scenes are rarely emphasized or shown. My problem is that: why are they there in the first place, if they're not emphasized, and they're not even good? Especially for a horror genre type of series, it strikes me odd to have these rare ecchi shots.

Random supernatural events paired along with a string of coincidental events lead to an extremely convoluted plot that no one cares about. Pair this with lack of character creativity and bad character art, I really don't have any motivation to move on past chapter 50. There's basically only bad things to say, with one positive being: the art when it comes to the horror genre.