My Broken Mariko

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My Broken Mariko – Spoiler Free – Recommended

TLDR
Story – 7/10 – 7 x 0.275 = 1,925
Art – 7/10 – 7 x 0.2 = 1,4
Characters – 7,5/10 – 7,5 x 0.225 = 1,6875
Enjoyment – 7/10 – 7 x 0.3 = 2,1
Total: 7,1125 -> 7

Story – 7/10
... Broken Mariko is a one-volume manga written by Waka Hirako. The story is ultimately about death, grief and suicide, and how it impacts those who have lost loved ones by it. It also mentions sexual abuse and self-harm.
The story is written from the perspective of the protagonist – Tomoyo Shiino –, who has just lost her best friend – Mariko Ikagawa – to suicide. Feelings of incomprehension, sorrow, and anguish fill her days as she seeks to recover the ashes of her best friend and spread them in a place Mariko would have liked. Their relationship is central to the story, as it is, in a way, the culmination of their relationship.
This manga is very raw and bleak, being a real, emotional, and cruel representation of suicide from the perspective of the survivors. We also seek to understand what drove her friend to kill herself, as we slowly unravel her life history through Tomoyo’s memories. But more than that, we understand the whole grieving process of Tomoyo, her mental instability and pure agony.
In the end, it becomes a very emotional and touching story.
The ending is heartbreaking, as her wishes have been answered, and her feeling of incomprehension has been eased.

Art – 7/10
The art style is perfectly adapted to the core of this story: it is emotional, bleak, and very simple. It isn't bad – not at all – and is technically very well conceived: however there aren't many characters, the character design is good enough to tell characters apart, and the cadence of the panels is very well done, making this story very easy to follow along. Moreover, the art style has personality, which translates into a beautiful unique art style; the backgrounds, scenarios, and landscapes are also lovely.

Characters – 7,5/10
Even though there are many supporting characters who only serve to interact with and develop Tomoyo, the protagonist is the only one who counts. Although this is a one-volume manga, we have access to Tomoyo’s complex grieving process. Nevertheless, we do not follow the entirety of the process, but only the initial stage of it: when she tries to come to terms with the fact that her friend died. It is a very real and emotional account, and one easily empathises with the main character.

Enjoyment – 7/10
My Broken Mariko is a manga about grief. It is a heavy, although quick, read. It details the psyche of a grieving friend and is very emotional on its basis. Because it puts suicide in the spotlight in a very humane way, and because it enters in the psychology of grief, it deserves a recommendation.

My Broken Mariko is about a woman who reminisces about the times she spent with her best friend after she learns that her best friend committed suicide. But it's too short for a work that deals with topics such as suicide, abuse, longing, and sometimes regret and anger. There is no story in particular, and for the reason I just mentioned about it being way too short, there isn't enough time to connect with or empathize with the characters. While the feelings of a woman who lost her best friend and her anger towards life in general are beautifully presented at times, I think the ... manga fails to deliver any message. In addition, the most unacceptable part for me is that the manga does not reach any conclusion.

I won't comment on whether to recommend it or not because despite the problems I mentioned above, it is a very short manga that does not require much time.

English:
Manga highly appreciated by critics. I found the narrative very boring, I didn't like the development of the plot, nor the ending.
In my opinion, the author failed to work well with the text that the story was following. The idea when I saw it was phenomenal, but saying that the work is good just because it was is a serious matter, it's something I don't talk about.
I recommend reading it if you are a woman and interested, because just because it is a JOSEI does not necessarily make the work good for women. I was so disappointed.
Not to mention the imbecility of putting ... a one-shot by the author into the final chapter and the extra chapter, this really breaks the mood from one to the other, and this one-shot is still bad, I'm not even going to comment.
The manga itself isn't bad, it's getting a 6 because it managed to make an impact, but it wasn't done well.

Português:
Mangá bem super estimado pela critica. Eu achei a narrativa bem chata, não curti o desenvolvimento da trama, e nem o final.
Na minha opinião, a autora não conseguiu trabalhar bem o texto que a história estava seguindo. A ideia quando eu vi era fenomenal, mas dizer que a obra é boa só por causa que era é um assunto sério, é algo que não falo.
Recomendo ler se você for uma mulher e esteja interessada, pois só porquê é um JOSEI não faz a obra ser necessariamente boa para as mulheres. Fiquei tão decepcionado.
Isso sem falar da imbecialidade de por uma one-shot da autora entra o capitulo final e o capitulo extra, isso faz quebrar muito o clima de um para o outro, e essa one-shot ainda é ruim, vou nem comentar.
O mangá em sí não é ruim, está ganhando um 6 pois ela conseguiu passar um impacto, só que não foi bem feito.