![[MANGA REVIEWS]](images/section_manga.gif)
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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 twistwell, 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.
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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
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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.
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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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