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Vol 2 Issue 8
[MANGA REVIEWS]

Yume Kamo Shinnai
— by Eric "Scanner" Luce

In a previous issue of EX, we reviewed another of the stories by Mochiru Hoshisato: WAZUKA ICCHOMAE. Here we are going to go over his most recent story, which just finished this summer in Japan. Volume 5 of this manga was released at the end of October. This is a love story with a twist—well, several twists.
  The basic story revolves around the computer serviceman Kasei Seiten, the ghost of Muya Sumire-chan, his co-worker Sato-san, his wife and their daughter, Mana-chan. It starts out with Kasei-san waking up suddenly in his bed with the feeling that someone was watching him. As he gets ready for the day, he is greeted by his wife, who expresses surprise that he actually came home last night. He gives Mana-chan her birthday present, albeit a day late. Before she thanks her father, she asks him if he remembers how old she is now. Kasei-san replies "9"; she corrects him, saying she is "10, and thank you for the present." Kasei-san resolves to be home early tonight, since he has not spent any time with his family in quite a while.
  At work, his bothersome boss immediately has him running out of the office. On the way out he meets Sato-san. She is a relatively new employee of the company. She commiserates with Kasei-san about the way their boss treats him. After a little joking around she asks if they can talk a little after work.
  Kasei-san goes from place to place around Tokyo trying to sell more computers, and servicing computers that his company installed here and there. At one point he calls back to the office on his PHS phone to find out where he should head next; however, the phone breaks up in the middle of the conversation. We see a ghostly girl with her hand raised over his phone. Kasei-san is a bit relieved to get a break but wishes that he at least got some sort of recognition for his effort. He suddenly hears someone telling him he did well. He looks around, but there is no one near him and his phone is still dead.
  Back at the office, everyone appears to be gone except for Sato-san. He asks if she wants to go out to dinner with him and another co-worker. Sato-san says that she had wanted to talk just with him. He
agrees, but as they are about to leave the phone rings; a coworker needs his help at a client site. So, Kasei-san says that he will have to talk with Sato-san another time. Much later, he shows up at home that night, his wife and daughter already asleep. He wishes that someone was at least there to welcome him home after such a long and tiring day. He hears a voice say "okaeri." Putting on his glasses, he sees a young girl. She says again "okaerinasai." He asks who she is. She replies that she is a ghost. Thinking that this is some sort of joke he tries to get her to leave. In doing so, he tries to grab her and finds that she really is a ghost. After having a little fun with Kasei-san, she says that he is tired and she will leave. Before she goes, though, she says that she is here to make him happy.
  The story is somewhat confusing as a love-story. The relationship building up between Sato-san and Kasei-san is obvious. What is not obvious is how Kasei-san's wife and daughter fit in. On top of this, we have a ghost vowing to make him happy and trying to hook him up with his coworker Sato-san?
  Just what is Sumire-chan's angle? Why is she doing this? As the story progresses, more and more layers are revealed. We learn who Sumire-chan is and where she came from in Kasei-san's past, but we still do not know why she returned now.
  Hoshisato's drawing style has matured considerably since his earlier works. The lines are very consistent and you get a good feel for the characters in the stories. The backgrounds are fairly simple yet well executed. They do not distract from the foreground. The expressions of his characters are still priceless, especially Mana-chan, Kasei-san's daughter. She can be downright impish, or innocent, and far too intelligent at times.
  The language is a bit harder for those who are not quite fluent in kanji. You may find yourself going to the dictionary a bit too often to fully enjoy the story. All in all, though, this story is extremely enjoyable, if very frustrating; definitely follows in the line of Hoshisato's last two manga, but it still has that drama and comedy that keeps drawing us back to his works.

  YUME KAMO SHINNAI (I MAY BE DREAMING)
- subtitled "Dream with Ghost"
Copyright © Mochiru Hoshisato
Published by: Big Comics
ISBN: 4-09-184231-3


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