Posting about some of the manga I read. I read manga in Japanese.


Title: she is beautiful
Creators: 江坂純 Esaka Jun (story), 凸ノ高秀 Totsuno Takahide (art)
Books: 3 volumes so far, Oct '22 - ongoing, Young Jump Comics, Shueisha
Serialization: https://tonarinoyj.jp/episode/3270296674393788392

This is an SF thriller, with heavy use of amnesia.

The protagonist is Kurumi, part of a group of 30 girls being raised in an obviously unethical science facility. They're child prodigies, trained in a variety of disciplines, isolated from the rest of the world. When Kurumi wakes up expecting it to be her 10th birthday, instead 14 years have passed, she's sharing a bed with another woman, and apparently no longer living at the facility. Every time Kurumi sleeps, she loses her memories and wakes thinking she is 10.

Kurumi had a massive crush on Hikari, one of the girls she was raised with. But the woman she's now living with is Sayaka, a different girl from their group. The way Kurumi remembers Sayaka, they hadn't got on. Although Sayaka has an explanation for why she and Kurumi are living together, Kurumi soon has cause for doubts. Combined with her desire to see Hikari again, this sets in motion a dangerous chase across Eurasia.


Thanks to the premise, this is a story where characters who are mentally 10 years old are able to operate like Ethan Hunt. I don't think it feels as silly as that sounds, but I would put that down mostly to the quality of how it's drawn, rather than the writing.

There's a bunch of plot elements that could potentially have been fertile ground for some interesting writing thinking about the implications, that could have given it more substance, but it wasn't trying to be that kind of science fiction. The handling of the characterization is similar: it largely serves the plot, rather than the other way round.

It's a story that's principally about its mysteries, misdirection, and reveals. The web serialization has got to the point where mostly the truth has been laid out, and I'm satisfied that it didn't fall apart, although I don't think it is as fun now as earlier on.


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