If you didn't know, 36-year-old female mangaka Nami Sano passed away just recently in August battling cancer, and she didn't even get the chance to see her final work animated, which to me is a fate worse than death. And if you didn't know BETTER, she was the one behind one of anime's most pragmatic characters, who displays cool, perfect, flawless, knight-in-shining armour suave that's admired by all around him. That's right... Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto. a.k.a Sakomoto desu ga?. Her debut short 4-volume manga serialized between August 2011 and December 2015 (not counting the one-shots published earlier), filled with the bludgeoning of school comedy and gag humour that received Spring 2016's anime adaptation courtesy of Studio Deen, in a sea of high-profile works (Bungou Stray Dogs, Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu a.k.a. Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- and Boku no Hero Academia a.k.a My Hero Academia). Still, Sakamoto stands as one of the most popular anime of that season and year to this day.
But back to Migi & Dali, which would become Nami Sano's second (and unexpectedly) final manga series serialized between July 2017 and November 2021, the anime would sadly not see the light of day until this Fall season. I (and a few others) may not know the intricate details, but the mangaka's hidden mental issues were more bleak and forthcoming than the anime adaptation, which was still in its production process at the time, and the outcome is as reported: the sickness overpowered the brilliant mind of the mangaka, who was at that point undergoing treatment and planning her new manga series, to succumb much earlier on August 5th, just 2 months shy of the anime's debut. It's truly a shock to see an accomplished person leave the world faster than expected for an author and her wish to be a mangaka since elementary school, with Mahoujin Guru Guru a.k.a Magical Circle Guru Guru being the inspiration for who she is today.
NOTE: This review will be spoiler-free because it'd be better to explain the show by watching it for yourself.
The story of a fictional Origon Village in the 1980s, which, from the outset, seems like the typical uneventful village full of houses and families doing their own shtick. However, beneath one such household lies a family who looks like a normal happy family, but it's a full-on devilish mindset of a family that sets the stage for the suspenseful, mystery thriller that will rock the entire village's sanity down to its core. And that outcome led to one unassuming family who goes by the name of the Sonoyama family, in which the old couple of grandfather Osamu and grandmother Yoko going around the village looking to adopt a child to spend their last days together with said child. But in the midst, one child caught their attention because of his alluring beauty and gentle soul, which persuaded them to "adopt" him into the household and live and breathe life like it was their last. And this boy who goes by the name of Hitori, the Sonoyamas, took great care of him like he was their one and only son, but what they do not know is that their adopted son is both an exhibiting façade and a masquerade in more than one way. And this "prodigal" son, armed with an objective and goal to seek, becomes the Unsolved Mysteries case to be resolved and find the culprits responsible for the case.
In more ways than one, as the series' title goes, the 13-year-old Hitori is nothing more than twin brothers who look the same, but aesthetically, they're two different blood-related people as well. To differentiate both brothers, Migi is the younger brother whose hair bangs are swept to the left and is the more emotional, gentle, and easily distracted of the two, while Dali is the older brother whose hair bangs are swept to the right and is the more rational, serious, and manipulative of the two. That's where Nami Sano's classic surreal comedy, grounded in "Sakamoto desu ga?" comes into play, as the Sonoyamas indulge in their innocent adopted son, only to not realize that both Migi and Dali look one and the same and always constantly swap places with each other, with no one the wiser other than the twin brothers. It's basically intelligence in the face of the fact that both Migi & Dali exist in Origon Village to do the ONE thing that they need to do: investigate the small town and find out their perpetrators of the larger-than-life story — a classic case that invokes the burning desire of both brothers for vengeance.
If there is one thing that Migi & Dali excel at, it's in the characters and their level of absurdity that they will go to commit their acts while being unpredictable for the next action of courses that hooks you at every corner. As if the twin brothers are the typical case of double trouble, the other characters have prominent roles that make the twin brothers stand out much more. From the Ichijo family, which sees both Migi &Dali spend most of their time with, and their schoolmates Shunpei Akiyama and the distinctive "beaver" Maruta Tsutsumi, to even closer, Origon Vilage's well-known housemaid Mitsuyama (better known as Micchan), all the characters have a part to play in Migi & Dali's overarching and interweaving story timeline. And as they say, the bigger the character cast, the more insane and shocking the revelations will be that's contained in Origon Village, so that not any ounce of character development is wasted or used as just a trope in this over-the-top serious business.
This is truly Nami Sano going next level with her writing skills for a self-contained manga of 7 volumes and 44 chapters long for a story that is not stretched beyond belief and kept as precise and detailed of this magnitude. And the anime that's directed by the short-form Cinderella Girls Gekijou a.k.a Theater and other iDOLM@STER series, Mankyuu has been on a rather long hiatus before coming back to direct Winter's Koori Zokusei Danshi to Cool na Douryou Joshi a.k.a The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague (which is a relatively good show all around), and now with Migi & Dali as director, series composer, and sound director. And I have to say that this show is Mankyuu's biggest undertaking so far. To cover the entire manga within the span of 13 episodes is no small task. The pacing, which is supposed to be delicate, while refining the stage that will effectuate and propagate its story elements, building up until its final moments. For that, props to Director Mankyuu and his overall execution of the anime.
The one nitpick about the anime, however, is the production from the studio collaboration of Geek Toys and the small animation production house of CompTown. Sure, it doesn't look the prettiest as its main feature was supposed to be dark and gritty, but this is an aspect where the manga was the superior version, with the anime trying to look like a literate carbon copy of the source material with not much change whatsoever to retain the uncomfortable nature of its surreal comedy aspects. It's a decent effort; I'll give it that.
The music is really one of the best aspects of the anime. Utaite Soraru and Rib's OP song, while sounding like a definite bop, its visuals highlight the disturbing nature of the twin brothers, with their exquisite personalities that still make them one and the same while portraying the titular Hitori. Nulbarich's ED song is a consistent riot of sadness and hope because of its use of manga-like panels, which show the twin brothers growing up alone without their parental figure while awaiting a shining light of hope that'll get them out of their rut. Every bit of the song visuals is intentional as they come, and their lasting effects are part of why the anime is perfection.
Even though this will definitely be the last piece of visual literature that we'll see from Nami Sano, let this be the work that shines her name much more and gives her the recognition that she wholly deserves. Sakamoto desu ga? may be just as iconic, but Migi & Dali is the prized achievement of some of the most crazily intense and foolhardy failproof stories to come out in quite a long time.
A BIG thank you to Director Mankyuu and his staff team for bringing out the late Nami Sano's very last vision on the small screen. And may the late mangaka be known for her genius and unparalleled writing.
Rest in Peace, Nami Sano, and we thank you for your contributions to the AniManga industry.
