Adabana

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A story worthy of a series, or something that no one should ever see.

Earn easy money? It's never true, full of plot twists that make you think differently each chapter.

Mako's perspective is totally sad, everything around her corrupted her to do that and Mizuki grew it by her side.

Would you be willing to sacrifice your life and future for a friend? Mizuki did.

I highly recommend reading this story if you want to cry and get angry for a whole night, it is one of those sad but necessary endings to reflect on life. I am totally impressed with the mangaka Non and I will see ... more of her, a jewel that you should know.

really good. but leave you with pain after reading like tf. its hurt sm. I have a love hate relationship with this manga. In pain. but highly rcm tho.
it was really good with every specific details, I love her arts tho.
Hopefully It could be publish with 3 vol.
would buy it and cry after that.
The story begins with a shocking case: a schoolgirl is murdered and her body is sawed into many pieces. Even more shocking when the perpetrator was a close friend of the victim who surrendered shortly after. Through the perpetrator's testimony, each heartbreaking incident, the pressures and dangers that await the female ... students gradually appear!

Adabana is a short thriller story, and I recommend it easily, I'll try to explain briefly why down below :

This review won't contain any spoiler.

Story :

While not being particularly original, it does work, there is some suspense, you'll be asking yourselves many questions when reading it. However, keep in mind that some scenes depicted are rather violent, this story is not meant for the faint of heart.

Characters :

The characters, especially the two main girls, are unique enough to stand out, and the emotions they feel, the decisions they make all feel plausible throughout the story. Therefore, it helps building ... a coherent scenario, however, this closeness to reality will remind you how sad is the world we live in... ( Once again, don't read this if you are looking for a happy/feel good slice of life )

One could argue that some characters are cliché and I won't deny it, but let's keep in mind that Adabana only has 3 volumes, meaning that it's hard to write many nuanced characters and develop each one's background. The main ones are done well and that's what matters the most.

Art :

The art is just beautiful, many panels will strike you with awe, and it adds to the admiration/despair felt by the reader along the chapters.

TL;DR :

Adabana is worth the read, it's a short but intense story that builds a believable plot and involves characters that feel real. Mystery surrounds the events and you'll want to learn the truth, the thriller elements are done right. In addition, you'll feel a lot of empathy for the main character Mizuki and get even more involved in the story thanks to the beautiful drawings.

I didn't like how most of the twists were presented. It's great when you are given a perspective, and then you see another perspective which gives the situation another meaning. However, the earlier chapters in this manga straight-up lie to the reader. Both main characters do and say things that are completely opposite to what we are shown in the latter chapters, when the truth is discovered.

For instance, it's nice if you show a panel of blood splatter, then you show a character's face getting dirty with blood, and then you show them crying. What you CAN'T do is showing how a character kills ... someone, straight-up admits they killed them, and then you show the same scene but said character never does any of this. It feels really cheap and non-sensical, it kind of reminded me of Heavy Rain.

It does a good job depicting how miserable the lives of the main characters are, and how their lives were ruined by awful people who didn't give a shit about any of them, although I think it's over-the-top, a little too cartoonish. The manga tried too hard to be edgy and depressing, and in the end it came off as a little unrealistic. The resolution of the mystery was lacking, as it left plot holes everywhere. The ending was sad, though.

The characters are pretty plain and sometimes even straight-up stupid: there are times when you just want to punch them in the face so they use their brains a little. The main villain is particularly bad, they are just so cartoonishly evil you can't take them seriously. By the way, every men in this story are complete assholes, they're painted in an appaling light.

Even so, the manga has its strenghts; particularly the art, the atmosphere, and the tone. The writing could have been better.

This story deserves more readers.

This is a story about friendship, about betrayal, about the inaction of the police, about how family can become your main enemy.
This manga left me devastated. The realization that something like this can happen and has happened in the real world makes you think about how rotten our society is.

This manga is very emotional, it is better not to read it during the "I hate the whole world" period because you will have to look for a long time for a reason to believe in people again.

What do I want to say?
If something like this ever ... happens to you, try not to lock yourself in. Shout about it in the streets, go to the police, write to friends and relatives. Do not be afraid that several people will condemn you, because there will always be those who will support and help.

What a sad and depressing story. It is a murder mystery, but really it's about two schoolgirl friends who should be enjoying life and having fun but cruel life just doesn't let them. And the reader is supposed to feel sad because bad things happen to good people. To not spoil anything I'll try to only describe how the manga feels without mentioning anything concrete.

The cruelty of the world and hopelessness conveyed very well. Nothing goes right and despite characters' best efforts the life throws one punch after another.

The art is beautiful and further supports the point above.

The author tries to pull on your heart ... strings. But it's not a boring tear-jerker, it's a murder mystery. So you still get to wonder what actually happened and whether the villains can be brought to justice.

The manga uses a nice technique where the events are shown the second time but with the new context and it changes the way they appear. It's far from Rashomon but good enough.

I liked the ending especially, it gives the closure and leaves the feeling of completeness and fulfillment, throws back to some things. And it's very, very sad. Maybe with floppier ending it wouldn't have the same impact on me.

Another big advantage is that the manga is short and to the point. It doesn't lose the punchiness with filler. It knows the story it wants to tell. Although some might say that it's rushed if they like slower build-up. You won't lose much time by reading it anyway so whatever.

However sometimes the story goes too far with bad things happening to characters, and it stops feeling realistic a little.

Biggest flaw: the logic of the story is kinda far-fetched. It wouldn't quite work out like that in real life and motivations are questionable. I don't think the reader is meant to think too hard about the logic here and just embrace the emotions.

I give a very subjective 10 because the work scratches all the right itches for me.

Quick review without spoilers


Adabana is an awful pseudopsychological manga with a bunch of clichés, a banal division into black and white, and a terrible detective. Everything around the main character is bad for no reason. The drama is very cheap, the antoganist causes nothing but laughter. The presentation of the story is too exaggerated and innocent author tried to squeeze a tear out of the reader that caused me nothing but laughter.The ending in general turned out to be some kind of openly castrated. Just a few clouds for a quick description of past events and to close the storylines of all sorts of ... scum, like a major, who was frankly leaked as an antagonist.
The characters are very poorly written they are usually without any development or charisma.
The only good thing about this manga is art

TL;DR: It's murder mystery with a nice take on the revenge theme, which is justified in this case due to how well the character's innocence and descent into despair is executed (although also because the villains are pretty one dimensional). It's still a nice, short read, both for the themes, but also the character's journey in itself.

Oh, the irony. I just finished (and reviewed) Ninja Kamui, an anime original about revenge, where the message is "revenge is bad" (because of course it is), and not soon after I find and finish this manga, where one of the messages happens to be: "revenge can be good". ... It would be pretty petty to constantly compare these 2 in terms of themes, especially since that wasn't the first time a revenge story is bland, so instead, I will highlight how the execution of the revenge theme is better in here compared to the usual "revenge is bad" in media. But before that, the artstyle.

Artstyle

I think's it's debatable what people think and see in it. On one hand, you have the typical pretty high school girls and a hot lawyer, so you could say the woman are sometimes sexualized, even the 2 protagonists, although you could argue that it helps the plot and characters, you could also argue if it could be shown in a different manner, but the way you look at it is based on your own interpretation (except the lawyer, which has at least one unnecessary scene where, to put it this way, you can admire her beauty). Also, some people may also think that the way the 2 girls are drawn can hurt their immersion, since the story puts the girls through some horrendous situations and it can give the impression that the tones of the character drawings and story don't match. On the other hand, I believe that, predominantly, the 2 girls were drawn cute in order to highlight their purity and innocence and how these two are slowly taken away as they become more sad apathetic and angry due to the painful experiences that they go through. Which brings me to the best part of the drawings: the emotions on the characters faces, especially the protags. The happiness, sadness, apathy and anger are beautifully drawn in detail, conveying the characters constant change of emotions, from the most "positive" ones, to the most "negative" ones (in quotes because they aren't inherently bad, but that's another topic).

Story

It's a murder mystery where the 2 main protags try to protect each other from the evils of their own respective lives, especially the ones surrounding Mako, which are involving sexuality.The mystery in itself is, indeed, interesting and catches your attention from the first chapter with it's shock value, but it's sometimes intentionally misleading with it's dialogue, making it seems like a character did something, while in reality it was someone else, when the story finally goes in detail into the scene. I wasn't really bothered by it, but it's still something worth pointing out since not everyone can accept this so easily.

The story can also be divisive in terms of it's content, since some people can tag the vile things that happen to the characters as misery porn and paint it in a negative light. I, for one, see the story from the perspective of two lonely innocent girls that are failed by their respective families, which make them go off the deep end in terms of their actions, especially since they have no adults in their lives that they can confide in or ask help from, so they try to do the best they can with the shitty lives that they have. The short term suffering that they go through may, perhaps, be over the top and unrealistic in some areas, but I do believe it drives the horror and desperation that they suffer because of their families across quite well, since we are shown plenty of good and happy moments of their lives, before and even when their lives take a turn for the worst, being a nice display of trust, friendship and innocence that makes the reader care more about the murder mystery and the characters, since we see how tight the protags bond is and how unfair their worlds are.

There is also a nice parallel between the family and societal situations of the 2 girls. While Mizuki's family is rich and has a high status, she always spends time alone at school and is burdened by the expectations that her family has for her future. Mako, instead, comes from a low income family that struggles with making money, while she does have friends at school. Regardless of which side of society they are on, they still go through a great deal of suffering, whether it's trying to become a slave to society's expectations or struggling to make ends meet, their lives and futures are still in the hands of the family that raises them. So because of that, they try to be in charge of their lives only with the guidance of each other, which ends pretty terrible for both of them, since they can't get help from outside of the bubble in which the two of them live.

The story can be summed up as "2 innocent friends try to deal with their life problems, but fail" (as we can see in the first chapter), which I really appreciated from a story, character and thematic perspective, as miserable as the experience was from an emotional standpoint, the only questionable parts are the lengths to which they suffer that may turn off some people because of that.

Themes

One of them I just touched upon, the failures of the adults and how irrelevant the societal status is to the suffering of the youth, since, while people may come from different backgrounds, they can still share the same feelings and suffering. While it's not specifically talked about, it is subtly present in each chapter and on their journey to make the best of their lives and it is appreciated, although some more focus on it would help it even more.

Then there is the usual friendship theme, written from the perspective of "how far would you be willing to go for your friend? (in terms of actions)". This part is more focused on the main protagonist that the story is seen from, seeing Mizuki go through hell and risk her life time and time again for Mako was very endearing to see, hardly anything can top what she does for her friend and it's executed pretty well, although, again, it could have been a bit better if we would have seen the same thing from Mako and for a longer time.

There is also the failure of the judiciar system that is present in the story and how it can't protect it's victims and the real culprits. If you played the Judgment series (Judgment/Lost Judgment) or if you are aware of the judiciar system in Japan, this is also a great example of the type of negative stories that you hear about it's failures to catch the real culprits, often opting for easy solutions, as in sentencing the most suspect guy, without concrete evidence. While it wasn't really talked about, it was a nice addition to show the incompetence of adults (and it's justice system).

And now the revenge:
Non spoilery information: The manga showcases how not everyone has the capacity to go on with their lives as victims while the culprits don't get their punishment, so it shows how revenge is the only way they can see a future. The usual revenge stories have strong characters that get over it, but here we have lonely, abandoned high school girls that have no guidance or people that can help them and revenge is the only way they have to get rid of their tormentors. It's executed pretty well and believable, so yea, revenge is good in this case, for the peace of the 2 girls.

STORY SPOILER, full version:
So what happens in the story is that the protagonist, awaiting her trial, uses the two lawyers in order to avenge her friend by giving them information that would point towards Mako's stalker as being a criminal and also tries to harm Mako's father for his involvement in the story. While plenty of other stories would have went with the route that the lawyers notice that something is wrong with Mizuki, this doesn't happen here. And because of that Mizuki manages to avenge her friend by putting her stalker in jail for stalking and owning illegal substances (where he becomes insane, ruining his whole life). Not to be misunderstood though, he is responsible for Mako's suicide and also for some vile things, such as selling tapes of the 2 of them banging to others, including her family (for money). By doing this, Mizuki gets her revenge, but also willingly spends from 9 to 14 years in jail for the murder of Mako and for hiding the body of her uncle, which she chose to accept in order to avenge her friend and bring one of the villains to justice. In the end, revenge was seen as the right choice and a good thing from the perspective of the 2 girls who greatly suffered from the actions of people that would hardly, if ever, get found as guilty for their actions. In comparison, many stories, including some that are supposed to be for "mature" audiences, go with the whole "it's not right to take the life of someone", "he must be punished by law to serve his sentence", "eye for an eye makes the world go blind" etc., which is a pretty tired plot at this point, with nothing new to show for it and doesn't do the theme justice, especially as this manga does (well, there is also Vinland Saga, at least). But what if he can't be proven guilty? What if this is the only way for the characters/people (as far as they can see) to find a little peace in their miserable lives where they were constantly the victims of others? Well, this story lets the characters murder (only one character) and ruin other people's lives and it's completely justified. The two girls were betrayed by the adults in their lives and both lost their innocence, happiness and futures because of them. And that's why it works so well in the story, we saw their gradual descent into apathy, sadness and anger and they are more than justified to feel and wish upon their eternal suffering. Sure, some people may have it in them to go forward with their lives even after someone did horrendous things to them, and these are the type of people that we usually see in other stories. In this case, we are talking about broken high school girls who have no guidance in their lives, that see no future while the people that made them suffer are still in liberty (either alive or dead) and I do believe that the story executed this theme very well and convincingly, although it was a bit exaggerated.

Characters

I already touched upon everything that had to be said about the 2 protagonists, so I don't think there is anything new I can add here. They are good, innocent girls that are ruined by the people around them, going from cheerful and full of life to mainly sadness and apathy, as much as they try to hold on to the good side of them Their dynamic and moments are a pleasure to watch, since both we and they get a break from all the misery that surrounds them, which helps humanize them by having a look into their normal lives while there is only the two of them, but it also helps us empathize and care about them more, since we see in the first chapter how bad their lives ended up.

Then you have 2 one dimensional villains that enjoy the suffering of specifically one of the girls just because, or rather, to get the point of revenge being something good across more easily. Then there is another one, who I can at least understand, since he kind of doesn't have a choice (still ain't excusable though).

There is also a pair of lawyers that are decent human beings, but they aren't too relevant and we don't see much of their character, but having at least 2 adults in the story that try to do their best and help Mizuki was a good addition to the cast and story.
Regardless the story focuses on the 2 girls relationships and how the adults ruin their lives (well, one of them is still in his twenties, but you get the point).

Conclusion
This was a satisfying read, can't really call it enjoyable since it's pretty miserable, it can be compared to Punpun, in this regard. There is a bit lack of depth and time which the story could only benefit from, but overall, I think it got the themes across, at least at a decent level, and the characters journey was a nice look into the loss of innocence and happiness of 2 high school girls that are victims of their circumstances.