It feels like I have only been doing Anime impressions posts for the past few months, so I’ll be talking about manga for a change.

Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan: Precious Lies is a short 5-chapter mystery/psychological series that I read yesterday. The protagonists are both victims of a past kidnapping who meet once again in a rural city where serial murders are occurring. The story has a dark and bleak premise which I rarely find in manga these days. It explores how a traumatic past event can continue to affect someone years later in terms of their personality, decisions they make, and the life they lead.

The illustrations in conjunction with the text effectively express the constantly changing emotions in the scenes. It could effortlessly transition from pure rage one moment to calm observation the next. One scene near the beginning, the girl mistakenly stabbed a fork into the boy’s hand out of anger and then stared at his wound in curiosity as she offered to bandage it for him. Ouch.

I found this manga to be a very interesting read with an unexpected twist at the end that somewhat resolves things. It still leaves many things open to the reader’s interpretation though. Stories are best when they leave you pondering and thinking even after you’re done reading them.

Rating: Very Good

Shiki has been adapted into an anime airing this July.

I made a post about the manga version quite some time ago. Since this is coming from the same author as Juuni Kokki and Ghost Hunt, the story should be something to look forward to.

I’m still following the manga adaptation, so it’ll be interesting to see how they present this in anime form.

Image Source: AniDB

BLOOD ALONE is a manga centering around Kuroe and Misaki, a human male and a girl vampire.

Usually when I see a series focusing on vampires, I assume it’s either going to be an overemotional drama (e.g. Vampire Knight) or fan service oriented. However, BLOOD ALONE falls in neither of those categories and is instead quite easy to read with a serious plot surrounded by lighthearted events. I just started reading it and before I knew it, I was already finished with a considerable number of chapters.

Don’t get me wrong though, there are plenty of excellent series out there involving vampires. For starters, Blood+ is an amazing anime and ranks near the top for me due to its extensive story.

Image Source: Manga Fox

It feels like I’ve been reading a bunch of manga in the mystery genre fairly consistently.

This one is about a guy with a special red eye that allows him to see ghosts. He assists a girl that keeps coming to him for help in solving mystery cases. It’s quite short with only 9 chapters; I would definitely love to see more.

Image Source: One Manga

Started reading this yesterday. It’s about aspiring detectives solving mysteries. An interesting read with intriguing cases that contain no supernatural aspects. It’s all facts and deductions; the way mysteries are meant to be solved.

The manga seems good so far, but I haven’t seen the anime version yet.

Image Source: One Manga

A mystery manga set in an isolated village. Shiki is based on a horror novel by Ono Fuyumi, who has also written other works such as Juuni Kokki (Twelve Kingdoms) and Ghost Hunt.

Juuni Kokki is one of my all time favorite anime series, which made it a certainty for me to read Shiki. I also thought Ghost Hunt (anime) was very well done to the point that I was freaked out at times by the suspense.

With this in mind, I added Shiki to my reading list to look for the same great mystery/horror plots.

Source: One Manga

Anime based on one of 07th Expansion’s games: Umineko no Naku Koro ni. The name might remind you of another one of their games that got adapted into an anime – Higurashi no Naku Koro ni.

Upon viewing the first episode, I was confronted with the murderous-intent-filled faces of certain characters, which prompted me to reminisce about similar insane faces that could be found in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. It certainly is a trademark of these series…

This child has some serious issues.

Sly/Evil rich lady look.

The murderous intent I was talking about.

Anyways, the mystery genre doesn’t seem to be something I commonly see in anime, so it’s always a pleasure to watch it. The general plot involves a rich family with all its extended members visiting an island mansion where murder strikes some of them down. Sounds similar to Higurashi? I hope there isn’t any of that time loop stuff, or at least keep it from being overly repetitious. >_>

The heirs to the fortune are having a meeting.

Who’s the person with the umbrella??

So my thoughts so far…crazy faces, murder, mystery, and rich people. Yup, definitely an anime to keep on watching.

The opening song, Katayoku no Tori by Akiko Shikata, is also amazing. ^^`

The main character reminds me of Phoenix Wright – OBJECTION!!