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JESUS

I have read a LOT of horror manga. You name it, I've probably read it. I've read a lot of gory manga, too. I've read thrillers and mysteries. Basically, I've read every kind of manga that is designed to make you uncomfortable, tense, and scared.

But when it comes to pure dread, no other manga has come anywhere close. Blood on the Tracks is an examination of the relationship between a 13 year old boy and his overbearing mother. It does not use gore or the supernatural. It is entirely mundane - the sort of story that could happen to anybody. And it most definitely has. ...

It's a quick read. The individual chapters tend to be light on dialogue, with the layouts preferring to focus on the oversized portraits. This helps the story move along, allowing you to skim through some of the pages, giving you a feeling of taking in the action almost in real time. And you will - you'll turn the pages as fast as you can, because you have to know what happens next. At the same time, you'll dread what you might see.

The art is done is a gorgeous photo-realist style, with none of the stylized facial features usually seen in manga. This makes it so much harder to read. There is a unique discomfort that comes with looking at a full-page depiction of a life-like character's deranged face, staring directly at you. The art does sometimes branch into more abstract or stylized techniques (usually to depict a character's mind, or the intensity of a scene), and the minimal use makes it more impactful when it occurs.

I can't describe the story too much, without spoiling things. But the general feeling you get is like waiting for the other shoe to drop. You know some horrible thing is going to happen. You don't know when, you don't know who it's going to happen to. But you know it's coming. The dread is overwhelming. There was a scene where a woman, in the distance, got off her bike and started running. That's it. And the context of the story was so terrifying, that I actually started saying, out loud, "Oh god, no, no, no, no, no..."

10/10

Maybe the dumbest manga anybody has ever made, and I love it so much.

Here's the trick to this manga - it's dumb, and it knows it's dumb. That's the point. It's making fun of romcoms by taking everything to absolute extreme.

I've never been a huge fan of stereotypical "manga humor." A lot of it seems to be the same basic formulas - "a character says something that sounds suggestive, but isn't," "a female character gets mad and hurts a male character for being a pervert," "the female character trips and falls boobs-first on the male character." etc, etc.

And the mangaka of Kanojo Mo Kanojo ... isn't a big fan of those tropes either, which is why he subverts every one of them (and many more), by cranking them up to absurd levels.

Kanojo Mo Kanojo is one of the only manga that has made me laugh out loud in almost every issue. It's completely ridiculous. Every character is always screaming, every situation is stupid and absurd but taken completely seriously by the characters, the entire premise is ridiculous.

10/10.

This review may contain light spoilers, but I will try to keep those to only general things involving the general concept of the manga.

If I had to describe this manga in one word, it would be "Brave."

The main story is fairly simple, and probably one you've seen before. The male MC is a loner living a stagnant existence. The female MC shows up and integrates herself into his life, shaking his situation up and forcing him out of his routine. It's a classic blueprint that a million different stories have been built from, from My Dress-up Darling to Insomniacs After School.

The main story itself ... is also not that unusual. The two main characters are both dealing with a form of mental illness, which causes them to interact with the world atypically.

But, its in the presentation of this story where Asper Kanojo sets itself wholly apart. It shows absolutely no restraint, no sugarcoating. The female MC has Autism, OCD, PTSD, and Suicidal Ideation, and they are only presented to you in the harshest and realest light.

They are not cute problems. They are not romanticized, or shown as tragic. They are ugly, and they hurt her and everybody around her. She does things to other people that destroy her relationships, and which would drive almost any person away.

Which is what makes the romance angle of the story so deep. The male MC (who is also dealing with unspecified mental illness, possibly mild Autism or ADHD), is the first person to truly understand her. He immediately sees that her actions are not the result of her wants, but the result of her disabilities and traumas. He is patient with her, understanding, and introspective. He never stops trying.

But he also isn't a perfect saint. One of my favorite scenes in the entire manga (very light spoilers here) involves the male MC worrying about the morality of "keeping" her in his life. He realizes that she is depending entirely on him to survive. He knows that he's helping her in a way nobody else has, but he also wonders if he's truly the best person to do so. He wonders if he would feel jealous if somebody else could help her more than he could, and he feels self-loathing at the realization that, yes, he would be jealous of that.

And how does he deal with this? He channels this energy into helping her gain further independence, teaching her how to make money in a way that doesn't require her to leave the house or interact with people. He recognizes his own flaws and makes an effort to overcome them in productive ways.

It is the healthiest relationship I've ever seen, between two people who are struggling with deep mental illnesses.

The only reason I don't give this a 10/10 is the art. It's fine, but it's nothing amazing.

If you like romantic dramas that don't shy away from the darker parts of life, this is a must-read. It is dark, at times. Other times, it's pitch black. But that darkness makes the moments of affection and love truly shine.