Manga Match 32 Shindere Shoujo to Kodoku na Shinigami

I picked this manga up thinking it'd be a light read, and a parody on some more morbid themes. I was definitely wrong. I'm coming at you the day before I have two finals because to be honest I've lost a bit of the motivation to go onward. I do realize that education is an undeniable blessing and privilege to have, but I just really like reading manga. I haven't been watching any anime series because somehow I've convinced myself that manga doesn't take up as much time as anime...but with the volumes of them that I read that's an unlikely statement.

Also, this manga is tragically only 20 chapters. It's really sad, but the author died after fighting cancer. She made such a unique story and I'm just sad that the world lost such a creative spirit like her. Something about hearing about other people's deaths puts into perspective the amount of time we all have on this earth and how with its finality how we should all strive to be productive with it, for the sake of those whose time was cut too short.

{Spoilers, but you could easily read it all in one sitting and come back to read this}

I would say that this manga is like a very morbid and more horror-like with a more tangible fantasy aspect to it version of Hyouka. You've got the main guy Nishigami who's good at solving mysteries. There's also the whole backstory of him being a death god, a shinigami, in which all of the people he ever loved in the past have died, and while that's never fully explained, nevertheless you get a feeling of sympathy for this guy that wants to care for people, but chooses to distance himself to reduce the risk of someone dying because of him. And then we've got Akira who's a bit too much of a reckless girl. She keeps getting in these mysterious situations in which she keeps dying.

What's most interesting though, is the premise of the god of the island Hahane and the criteria for endless reincarnation. Touka eludes to the implications of the curse, with the mother having to die for their child to receive this immortality, but beyond that it's really not explained. And that's to be expected for a series that was cut off far too quickly.

It was unexpectedly filled with a lot of horror. From the get-go was the death of one of Nishigami's friends right before his eyes which was disturbing in and of itself. I don't know why I was foolish enough to think that it would somehow get better from there. If you're not here for some kind of occult feels more supernatural happenings or insane people, I don't think this is the series for you. Of course, as the name implies, there are some doki-doki times with Nishigami being very tsundere, but that can't mask the creepy aspect of this series. However, I don't feel like it was overdone. Everything was well planned out, something that I've noticed with all mystery genre storylines, which makes sense because you can't have a good mystery without having planned all of the different elements carefully.

I would say that this is a good read if you're looking to step into a more creepy, fantasy, mystery genre mashup if shoujo or whatever you're currently reading is starting to feel a bit monotonous. It's definitely a shame that the story won't ever continue and we will never get the answers to all of the questions we've been asking, but as a standalone piece I think it's possible to find satisfaction reading it.

See don't you kind of get Oreki from Hyouka vibes?