Kimi wa Houkago Insomnia
Insomniacs After School

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This is an updated version of my original review, I wrote the review below on March 20th 2023 and I've decided to update it since the manga has recently finished. The old review has since been deleted since mal won't let me have both up, although I have an archive for prosperity

I'm going to start off this review with a bit of a personal anecdote of how I came to discover this manga. I was lying in bed at about midnight, trying to force myself asleep as I needed to wake up early the next day. I was tired but I just could not sleep ... so after about 20 minutes of trying to go to sleep I grabbed my phone (I know it was a stupid decision but I wasn't thinking straight). I decided to read some manga and after looking through the manga list of my friend's accounts and stumbled upon this so I decided to give it a go. Watching the characters wholesome interactions how they transform the school's observatory in an earnest attempt to try and fall asleep was incredibly soothing and is what allowed me to go to sleep.

Most slice of life manga (and anime) often make the same mistake, they don't give you a reason to care. Slice of life is heavily character-driven and so we need to have time to become familiar with the characters and watch them grow and change. But since insomniacs after school uses the insomnia of the main characters I cared because I wanted to see them sleep because I saw how hard they had worked for it. This allows you to become endeared to the characters without them having to have some interesting character dynamic or unique quirk to help flesh them out.

If I had to describe the two leads of this manga in one word it would be endearing, even despite their personal setbacks they try their hardest to the point you just want to see them act out the mundanities of everyday life because at this point you care. And because you care this manga shows why it is much better compared to other slice of life manga.

After the earlier chapter more iyashikei/slice of life approach the manga transitions into a more romantic slice of life series and proves that it is better than most romance manga too. This is achieved in a few ways. 1. There is no unnecessary drama to try and keep the series engaging allowing the manga to keep it's more laid back and calm tone. 2. It doesn't spread itself too thinly either as it just focuses on one relationship, due to this the show only has to focus on developing one set of characters and can therefore make the relationship between are two leads feel genuine. 3. There is a constant sense of progression, Ganta and Magiri's relationship is constantly moving forward. There is none of this "waiting multiple volumes for a character to confess their feelings". The manga is constantly moving forward and never just standing in place.

A quick note on the visuals as I feel like if I say anymore I'll just be repeating myself. The character designs are simplistic but still aesthetically pleasing (even though they are constantly changing outfits). But the real beauty of the artwork shines through in these very calming night time scenes which help sell the soothing feeling of this entire series.

TLDR: The slice of life is good and the romance is good. A perfect read for when you are half asleep.

Well, here we are, 2 and a bit years later. The series has ended, so it is probably due an updating. This is going to start with a bit of a preamble before it loops back round but so did my initial review, so it seems fitting.

It's such a weird feeling when a series you have been following for a decent amount of time ends, even though it was only 2 years ago it feels almost nostalgic. That isn't a great way to describe it but rereading what I had written and having that as almost a time capsule serves as a point of comparison to how I have changed and how the series has changed. Is this review going to be structured probably? No, not really, I think the preliminary review is still perfectly functional even now, so I'm not going to be diving in to pick it apart to make a new review, this is just an addendum, nothing more, nothing less.

So what's new in the 70 new chapters that have been made since then? Not much, well, not much in terms of what can be written about. An anime adaptation finally happened which I haven't seen, but I'm happy for the recognition nonetheless.
In highlight chapter 55 was the perfect place to leave the series on, with the series releasing by volume and not by chapter there is always bound to be some change from every chunk of chapters to the next, but this is was where the biggest change probably happened in the manga, because that is where the romantic really changed from being about two people getting in a relationship to two people being in one. Yes, while this isn't the technical begging of it with Magiri almost running away and being so defiant to her parents really cements where this relationship was a what it meant. Then the series slightly changes gears, I praised the series in my initial review for actually making progress in the relationship between the two main characters and here is the next step, time moves one, everything eventually changes.

Everything changes, nothing is stationary forever as the series all two often likes to remind us with Magiri's illness being such a significant plot point in the later volumes. Lots of people had mentioned that there were many death flags throughout the series, I remember talking about it even before my initial review, so the seeds have always been there. Looking back on some of the previous events are now put into much more context now that we know that this is potentially life-threatening.
One of my favourite parts of this is how it effected Ganta, is insomnia stems from the fear that when he will wake up things will change, he'll lose what he has. His insomnia isn't a physical inability to sleep but the fear of sleep developing into to something that has such a grip over him.

I get that.

No, I'm not saying he is just like me. Not word for word anyway, but I understand the fear of going away, not wanting to 'close your eyes' because one day things might be gone. I think most people can relate to this, I know there have been times when my behaviour has changed out of a fear that things change.

There is a few chapters while Magiri is in the hospital just focusing on Ganta and how, strangely, he is ignoring Magiri. He's running away from the idea that someone so important to him, some who has changed him, might be gone tomorrow. He tries to live to continue living normally, so he doesn't have to acknowledge the truth of what's happening, it's hurting people, and he knows this, but it isn't easy to be able to face something like this. Once he does get over this and confronts Magiri it is sort of the end of his arc, and with this the series has covered all basis and alls that left is to put a nice bow on things.

Which brings me to the ending and the ultimate will they or won't they to Magiri surviving. It's a happy end, they finish school and grow up. The focus of their relationship is left up to interpretation, as it should be because all bases that need to be covered have been covered. But there is something kind of unfulfilling about this happy end, obviously this was highly speculated from the amount of death flags but if you take the same interpretation of the series as I did this doesn't really challenge Ganta's change from where he was 125 chapters ago. Is this a bad thing? No but this just kind of feels like the safe way to end the series.

And that's it, my feelings on this review have changed as my tastes have changed throughout its run, but I am happy with my score and still recommend this, everything I said then still rings true.

The wholesome romance between the two main characters is easily my favorite in all the manga I've read. That's what anyone coming here would be reading for, so I recommend it to you because of that. It's really good. However, the manga is far from perfect. In typical romance fashion, there's a bunch of side characters that contribute virtually nothing and no one really gives a shit about and are just there for filler between chapters where romantic progression happens (wow here they are at the mall! wow here they are at the park! wow here the gang is at the fishing hole!). The ending ... is really safe, lackluster, and boring. Worst of all, it's tainted by the male MC becoming such an insufferable pussy in the last few volumes that it just makes the reader frustrated more than anything. I'm being very critical of the ending, because its riding the insanely powerful and perfect start that this manga had. Even though it started amazingly, I can't help but have a bad taste in my mouth at the end. I'm still giving it a 7, a good rating, because the romance, the main part anyone would read this for, is very very good for the majority of the manga.

Let me start this review by saying that I understand why people love this manga. Even though I personally did not enjoy it, "Insomniacs after school" has many elements that warrant it being one of the best romance stories in the eyes of so many people.

The biggest selling point of this manga is the characters. Romance as a genre likes to include eccentric and exaggerated characters, especially if it's targeted for younger audiences, but the cast of "Insomniacs after school" feels grounded and relatable. The problems that the characters face and the ways they react to them are interesting but not overly dramatic.

My first problem ... with this manga stems from the character chemistry, or rather from the lack of it. I read romance mainly for those sweet, tense, romantic or embarrassing moments between the characters and for the way the dynamic between them develops. I like when characters banter, when they have clashing character traits or personalities. I like to feel the tension when they talk to each other. I didn't find any of this in "Insomniacs after school". Sometimes I enjoy purely "wholesome" romance too, but I wouldn't call this manga particularly sweet either. Don't get me wrong, I understand why Isaki and Ganta ended up together and I don't think their relationship is unwarranted, but a working relationship doesn't automatically make romance interesting.

The art in "Insomniacs after school" is good, at times even great. The only complaint I have is that sometimes the level of detail randomly changes between pages and even panels, for no apparent artistic reason. Although this issue got better in later chapters.

The main problem I have with this manga is bad pacing/paneling. So many scenes in this manga either drag on for way too long or end too quickly. They destroy the structure of the story and leave me feeling either bored or confused. I think the underlying plot of this manga is good, but the way it is presented ruins the whole experience for me. And the paneling only exacerbates this problem. Weird angles, awkward poses and constant zooming in on characters' faces makes reading this manga an unpleasant experience.

Very subjective problem that I have with "Insomniacs after school" is bad attempts at "show, don't tell". I think manga is a prime medium for this "rule", so i commend author's efforts to create a more interesting way to present the narrative. But because of the art style and the paneling problems I talked about previously, most of these efforts fall short. In this regard "Skip to Loafer" handles the visual storytelling of romance much better.

Overall I found this manga to be disappointing. It has great ideas and interesting characters, but falls apart because of the execution. If you don't see the problems I've written about after reading this manga, then I can understand why you might have liked, or even loved it. But I have to leave it with a 6/10.