キミはキメラ 隠遁者の夜明け / Ur Chimeric - Hermit's Dawn

 

The story is about a hiki that one day gets an offer to work at a biolab doing pretty much everything, from cleaning to bringing coffee. His main task though is taking care of a chimera. Right there I have a problem with this book. The very first pages are illustrations of all characters and their names, including the monsters. I know most LN do this but in this case, with a plot that's supposed to be a mystery, this is really ill-advised. They literally give away one of the key mysteries of the plot on the first page of the book. I kept thinking maybe there was going to be a twist and the thing that's supposed to be inside the box we saw earlier and that the main character spends half the book wondering about is not going to actually be the creature the first page shows but nope, it was exactly that. I don't get this but what do I know.

The story itself is nice for the most part, there's a couple of twists there I didn't see it coming. The story is mostly divided between the internal monologues of the main character, Haruhara, and his daily work of taking care of a supposedly highly intelligent chimera creature. His monologues are pretty much him being extremely thankful to have a job now and how the person who hired him saved his life from being a hiki forever. This excessive gratitude plays on later into the plot but it's still not that interesting. His work with the chimera was more entertaining and somehow it didn't get repetitive while I was reading it but in retrospect I guess it is.

Still, an overall enjoyable read for those looking for a quick modern fantasy fix.

寺ガール / Tera Girl

 

Tera Girl or Temple Girl if you want a literal translation, is about three sisters whose father is a Buddhist priest. The family lives in the temple and each one has their own view of that sort of life and responsability. The only one really invested in the whole thing is the middle sister, Hikari, so everyone in the family has a lot of hope on her inheriting the grounds and continue the family tradition.

Hikari is actually OK with it until she falls in love with a boy in her school. This new situation brings all sorts of conflicting emotions in her life and what we get to follow in this short work by famous author Mizusawa Megumi is how she deals with it and how it affects those around her.

There's a solid premise here and the characters are filled with life. They all possess that emotional sensitivity that makes them a joy to know more about. Really the only problem is how short this is, only three volumes long, which I think was not enough time to develop the full potential of this plot and characters. 

The art is really, really good and if you're into the shoujo style of the later 80s and 90s, you'll love it. This is one of the best examples of that way to draw manga. The characters look endearing and adorable, all of them. Mizusawa Megumi is really good at drawing portraits and making them alive and emotional.

This is a good introduction to her works. It's nice, it's short and a very enjoyable read. If you don't feel like going through Hime-chan's Ribbon just yet, this little title here is the perfect start for this author's oeuvre.

日常 / Everyday

 

Nichijou is a sol with a lot of over-the-top humor. There's a lot of insane stuff going on here, all of it combined with a soothing atmosphere. I feel like the best material however is used in the first half of the episodes and the other half feels a little bit repetitive, though the Nano's story having some closure about her wish to go to school and be more human was really nice to watch and wrapped things up great.

The show is mostly a set of sketches divided between Hakase, Sakamato and Nano in one side and  Mio, Yuuko and Mai on the other. There's also lots of other supporting characters that have their own little stories here and there which is always amusing.

There's a lot of Buddhism references here and lots and lots of wordplay, so if you're watching this with English subs on you'll be missing a good number of jokes but you don't actually need to get all the jokes to really enjoy this. The characters are adorable and fun to follow around. All in all a very entertaining show.

地獄少女 / Hell Girl

 

There's a website you can access at midnight. It's a connection to the underworld. In there, one will find but a single prompt where you can write down someone's name to be quickly dragged to hell. The entity in charge of actually taking the person there is Enma Ai, a high school girl in beautiful kimono sets. That's the premise. Each story we follow a different revenge plot where a person is bullied or have something terrible done to her and that drives him or her to ask for hell girl's assistance.

Hell Girl has a very odd thing about it. The supposedly main character is actually just a minor character that receives no development whatsoever until the very end. On the entire run of this manga, Enma is featured as the main character in maybe 2 or 3 stories. All the other ones she just appears briefly to do the same thing over and over again; drag people into hell. This is rather frustrating given she's the only character connecting all this stories together and someone reading Hell Girl will probably want to know more about Hell Girl. We get some development and resolution for her but it's just not enough in my opinion.

Then there's the problem with many of the stories themselves. They can get very, very formulaic. Student is bullied, contacts Hell Girl, bully is sent to hell. Perhaps that's half the stories here. A few here and there really stands out as being interesting but you really have to be the patient type to reach them all. Hell Girl's friends also get pretty much no exposition even though they should be really important as well. 

I'm glad I read it but I feel I won't be revisiting this title anytime soon nor did it inspire me to pick up the other ones that came after it. The art has its own thing going and might not be to everyone but it certainly has a particular charm to it. I just wish Hell Girl was more about Hell Girl.

千と万 / Sen to Man

 

This is sol at its finest. It's hard to believe this is the only title by the author that is not hentai. He has a lot of insight to offer through his characters. I wonder why he doesn't want to do more in this genre. 

So, Sen to Men is about a single dad, Chihiro, taking care of his teenage daughter, called Shima. Each story is more or less self-contained where we get to see the daily life of this family.

The heart and soul of a sol title is its hability to turn daily life into an interesting story and this is exactly what we get here. Going shopping, going to school, hanging out with friends. This is a very soothing collection of every day life activities and thoughts told in a very entertaining manner. 

The art is amazing and fits perfectly. It's a very elegant, charming style that makes you stop several times to admire a panel or a page or a character's facial reaction. It's a pity it's only 3 volumes long. This could easily go on, there is a lot in this characters that would render a lot more interesting stuff to read. Here's is hoping this author tries something similar again some day.