Confession

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The recommendation baseline for Confession/Kokuhaku is simple: if you're a fan of intense psychological thriller, you'd probably love this.

Award-winning creators Nobuyuki Fukumoto and Kawaguchi Kaiji provided the story and art respectively for this single-volume manga about two long-time friends stranded in the middle of a mountain blizzard. An unsettling sentence on a pitch-black background set the opening tone, and we are whisked straight away into the thick of it. The rest of the story you should really discover by yourself, but suffice to say that fan of Fukumoto's works (most notably popular long-running series Kaiji and Akagi) would be familiar with what's in store: mounting ... psychological tension, dramatic physical stakes, and a pretty bleak view on humanity and morality. I occasionally found Fukumoto 's narrative in Kaiji to be overblown and consequently drag the pace down, even as I deeply enjoy the series as a whole, but there's no such complaint with Confession, which introduced, built up, and wrapped up its conflict at just the length it needs. The manga could be adapted faithfully into 90 minute-ish live action film (something I would really love to see) and not losing anything significant in the process.

There are really only two characters here, the good-looking main character Asai and his crippled friend Ishikura (technically, there is also a third vital character, but she only existed in flashbacks). By the end of the story, we would have known almost everything about these two. The tension, doubt, and constantly changing dynamics between Asai and Ishikura are communicated deftly, interspersed by internal monologues (mostly from Asai's side) that helped building up the atmosphere. If there is a downside to Kawaguchi's art, it is that sometimes the characters' reaction shots are too exaggerated that they ended up looking unintentionally silly, but it succeed at the most important element: nailing the sense of claustrophobia and singular setting in the middle of deathly white storm (and later, a secluded mountain cabin).

Confession doesn’t have a grand concept or ambition, but it’s pretty great at being what it is: a brisk survival story dripping with suspense and paranoia thick enough I feel like I can touch it, and a gripping read all the way to its perfectly executed finale.

Backwards Reading Idiot Reviews: Confession

Confession is a short one shot by Nobuyuki Fukumoto, who has a surprisingly long list of notable works, which mostly include gambling series such as Kaiji (three seperate series) and Akagi. Unfortunately I yet to read these series, so this is my first impression of the 52 year old mangaka.

Story: Two friends who frequently climb a mountain get caught in a blizzard. In the confusion, one of them, Ishikura gets injured on a rock, and it's up to Asai to save him. After a while and ... not being able to find any sort of safety, Ishikura, in the heat of the moment of his belief he is about to die confesses to a murder. A murder of Asai's ex-girlfriend at that. Naturally, he tears up and says what a relief it is to take off such a burden in the moment of death. but then Asai discovers safety of a cabin and Ishikuras eyes quickly dry up.
Quickly Asai notices Ishikuras conflicted feeling about having revealed his sin now that he's going to live. He wants to get away from Ishikura, but it's going to be a few days before a rescue team can get up through the blizzard, so the two men are stuck together.
A combination of lack of talking and emotion quickly make Asai suspicious.
This is as far as I will go for now, and let me say the story had me hooked. Almost like Misery in a sense one of them is trapped and suspicious of the other. The concept alone was enough to entice me for several reasons. Wanting to see psychological development in both of the characters would be enough to make any person want to read this. But you have to consider also, both of these men are stuck with each other with little medical supplies and little food. They're on a mountain, in a blizzard. Should either of these men choose too act rashly, they could easily cover up the act. It's very enticing, just seeing them move about the cabin, seeing them look at each other. Each picture and action makes the other man react in a subtle way. It's this subtlety and only being able to hear Asais thoughts that makes every page edgy, and you filled with wondering of what will happen next in the train of actions and thoughts.

Characters: Since we only have two characters and this is a one shot, I'll be a little brief here. Asai comes across as a slightly unstable, but clear thinking person. In a way he reminded me of the Narrator of Fight Club, he was certainly alright, but possibly messed up in the head. And no the ending is not that he and Ishikura are the same person!... In a way, his psychology even without the tension of the matter was interesting enough. But seeing him trying to process what his friend is thinking, now that's incredibly interesting. Though the author had little time to portray exactly how his psychology works, he certainly did it well in the short time he had it. Asai was probably my favorite of the two.
Ishikura on the other, and I swear I couldn't put it in a simpler way, comes across like Anne Wilkes. No, I'm serious, right down to the almost carefree attitude (though his lacks the peppiness in between any sort of 'outburst'). Now I'm not saying anything by the fact that he's Anne Wilkes (no spoilers to be seen in this review folks) but he literally comes across as quite blunt and very intelligent. Perhaps even more so than Asai. There is the matter that we never here his thoughts, only his spoken dialogue so he does have the unfair advantage when it comes to character.

Art: As I stated in my previous reviews, I am not one to criticize art in a manga as I accept what I am presented with. However, in this manga, art is a little crucial as emotional expressions can be a very important part of this manga, as we focus on the mens psychological development. The main problem I think is that with the features the artist gave the men, is that their emotions can't vary between neutral and fearful. This isn't a typical MCR song, I need a little more emotion. It's the same thing for all 200+ pages. Fearful, then neutral, then confident, happy for about five seconds then fearful again. It seems like the dialogue has more emotion than the characters themselves really at times. However, considering the scenario they are in, I suppose it's forgivable for the lack of expression. Backgrounds and other details like appliances in the cabin are done well, and can be detailed when needed, but for the most time the author can get away with little or no items since it is just a rescue cabin.

The bad: My one and only complaint about Confession is this: it's a little repetitive. Now, it is a one shot, but seriously, sometimes several pages will be devoted to a single statement repeated over and over again. I felt like I was reading an incomplete Abbot and Costello routine. I understand their trying to make it seem like time passes as he thinks over this, but you don't need to waste perfectly good space in a one shot to time passing.

Confession overall (last word): Confession is a great one shot but is not without it's flaws. The story and the characters are great, but the art can be wasted as well as the dialogue. The ending, though unexpected, did not through me for as much as a loop as I had wished it did, and sort of left me like me going 'well that was strange'. But if you have a spare half hour or so, you can't go wrong with confession.

Allow me to confess that this is not a bad read, but execution and short duration won't exactly put it on top with some of the finer examples.

The necessary pace for conveyance of such a story is avoided for the sake of quick culmination. The thrill is there, albeit it is questionable how well you'll be able to immerse yourself next to such predictability.

Characters quickly jump into their situational and predetermined roles. There are minor traces of deeper characterization, but are only seen under scrutiny and even as such remains mediocre.

Art doesn't really supplement the positive points of this work. Verily, it ... is detailed and does its job as far as minor aspects are concerned, but in no way does it add to the story. Facial expressions tend to be stoic and unintentionally comical; sort of creates a humorous vibe that has no place in it.

It is cruise-control work in a sense that heavily relies on its end to dumbfound the reader. Problem is that it basically screams atypically-typical finale from the very start, and as such could make one remain unfazed.