I first thought that this manga would be a trashy, edgy, romantic tragedy. Well, I was right about it being edgy. Let's begin the review.

Kasane is a very strange and twisted manga. There are a lot of disturbing themes in this, mostly involving women. It's no Goblin Slayer, but since apparently no work of art is allowed to make anyone feel even mildly disturbed these days, I still must warn you in advance.

The story was a lot better than I expected. It's a bit slow in the first volume, leading you to believe that it's going to be a repetitive 'steal this girl's face for a while, steal a different girl's face for a while, rinse and repeat' for all fourteen volumes of the manga. However, once you get into the second volume and onward, things start becoming a real rollercoaster ride.

There's also plenty of twists and turns. I'd be surprised if I found out that story was improvised, because it holds up pretty well. Well, not to say there aren't flaws at all. Of course, there's the tiny flaw that a lot of bystanders wouldn't realize something when Kasane would switch faces with a blonde woman, and from their perspectives, that person would show up with black hair. That alone would probably be enough for a hypercritical person to tear this manga apart (since it's unheard of for an actor to possibly dye their hair), but to me, it's a small bump on a very well-paved road.

The characters are all as deranged as one would expect. With this being a psychological thriller, we naturally get to see deep into the way that the various people in this manga think. The various plays that are performed also complement one character or another at any given point in the story. Warning, though, this is one of those types of stories where everyone is morally incorrect in some way. If you don't like that kind of stuff, a la Rising of the Shield Hero, then I recommend you shy away from this manga now.

However, I think the art is where the manga is sufficiently brought to life. It doesn't look too impressive at first glance. But when actually reading the manga itself, I was glued to it. Somehow, the mangaka is able to skillfully portray humankind's stereotypical form of beauty, and at the same time twist that beauty into some demonic expressions (not to say that the ugly people don't have some of those moments as well). The panel work is also really well done to invoke as much emotion as possible.

Overall, Kasane ended up being a very, very good read. Although it's no Urasawa Naoki manga, it's still a solid thriller. I kind of hope it might get a TV anime someday; it would be an EASY two-cour adaptation. But at the same time, maybe letting the anime community see this with how GS and Shield Hero have been doing might not be a good idea... Well, regardless as to if that ever happens, this manga will still be a moving performance!

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STORY (7)

The plot itself was interesting and original, well, I never read anything like that before. At first, I thought the whole thing would be just the same thing over and over again (Her looking for a beauty to kiss with her magical lipstick to faceswap with that person). But it finally got interesting after 6 chapters.

ART (7)

Kasane is really gloomy and ugly. She is SO ugly that her face is almost caricatural and always shadowed. She even wears medic mask to hide her face. I really wished to see her 'normal' face, maybe by curiosity. The art in general was okay. The pretty people were really well designed and the face swaps weren't too confusing.

CHARACTERS (6)

Being ugly really is difficult for Kasane and she is so tired of it that she turns a bit insane sometimes. It's a part of her that really made me feel uncomfortable while reading. You never know when she is going to back off or if she will just go full insane. Her personality is really complexed and I think I like her.

I really wish the other characters would appear more than just few chapters. They don't have much development and I feel like they are just there to be there and make Kasane feel rejected even more. But I guess it's just the beginning.

ENJOYMENT (6)

At first I was really curious about this manga, the cover is stunning. The first chapters really surprised me. I really have compassion for Kasane but I'm also very troubled by her, it's really hard to explain...The first chapters are really unstable. I feel like the author didn't exactly know where to go with the plot. But later, it finally gets interesting, going in a way I didn't expect it to go. So, I will read the next chapters.

OVERALL (7)

If you are looking for a manga psychological and you feel like you want to pity someone, well, just read this manga. The whole story wants to make you believe that beauty is the only thing that can make people like you, or make you achieve something. Which i strongly disagree. But somehow, I like to see this point of view about the beauty. In a world where beauty is a pre-required, what can you do to reach the stars? (*puts magical lipstick and kisses Angelina Jolie to face swap*)

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