Yukarism

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The past comes back to haunt you. In the cases of the folks in this story, it does literally. Speaking of the past, Yukarism was one of the earliest manga I read, so it was sensible I returned to finish it after all these years.

Our protagonist is an aloof and reclusive young novelist who writes about the Japanese Edo Period whenever the urge strikes him, but he doesn’t know why or even care much about the stories. He lives life without worrying too much about school or ambitions. That is, until, he’s forced to confront his past. Things start changing around him and he ... starts having strange visions about a previous life. It’s not too long before the threads of fate start pulling in others who were previously connected.

The premise of this reincarnation manga is pretty cool, and I think it mostly delivers on that end. The writing here is very mushy, sentimental and maybe a bit cliche. But that’s as you would expect from a period piece and its target shoujo demographic. In its favor, the historical setting is fun to read along with and you can get what the author is presenting without any prior historical knowledge of this period or knowledge about reincarnation. You even learn some stuff as you read. And, the highlight is the historical side of the drama in this manga. Our characters past selves are intriguing and tragic, but sadly you can’t say the same about how they are currently. I didn’t like very much about their reincarnations, but it’s OK since they’re tolerable.

There are unfortunate points where the plot plods or becomes a bit hard to comprehend, but the ending volume does tie it all together nicely. The reincarnation and various other elements are used in a plot devicey fantasy context, but they contribute to the themes of moving on from the past rather than obfuscating the storytelling of this brief manga’s 17 chapters.