Conductor

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'Conductor' does surprisingly well with fairly weak-seeming material.

The protagonist and supporting characters are nothing you haven't seen before: plucky and well-meaning female lead, cool genius with a heart of gold, severe (and severely wealthy) musical prodigy... Nonetheless, I was led to genuinely care about their travails at least to some degree, and the repressed-memory twist is well-executed if very pulpy.

I'd have liked Naomi to be more proactive, but her emotional life was well-drawn and I cared about her wellbeing more than her objectively-more-interesting supporting cast.

If you like campus novels/manga, Gothic melodrama (especially of the modern kind) and conspiracy mysteries, this isn't a bad ... diversion at all; particularly since it's only twelve chapters long.

[SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT]
I found the climactic twist extremely obvious, all the way up to calling the death of a major character leading into Act 3 - but it didn't help that an important character is displayed on the cover such that it's not hard to guess.

Might also have been nice to have a few more chapters to develop the relationships between the core five, *especially* Takumi and Naomi; but all the protagonists suffer. A deeper, 'Secret History'-style look into their psyche would have benefited all of them.

I believe with any book, manga or piece of literature we all interpret them differently. This manga had many elements of what I was personally going for after wanting a mix of "The name of the flower" and "Keishichou Tokuhanka 007".
-Mystery/Detective
-Drama
-Romance, I'd say more josei
-Psychological; horror?
Although it focused on one character as the lead in no way was she the typical super feminist heroin or super weak crybaby, I'd say she was a mixture which made her mind, her actions and her personality more real than some other manga's I've read like this.
I read it all in one sitting and not once wanted ... to put it down.

Selective memory loss can lead to several types of problems such as not knowing what people are talking about, or if it was an unpleasant memory, it can lead to nightmares. What if this memory is linked to a terrible occurrence, possibly a murder? The Conductor is a mystery/psychological manga that also incorporates elements of the drama, romance and horror genre.

The story of The Conductor revolves around Naomi Kuchiki, a flutist, who has very unpleasant nightmares; consequently she decides to consult a psychologist who concludes that she has selective memory loss. At the same time the police inspector finds a headless mummy in an apartment, ... right across the room of Naomi, with a worn out photo in its hands.

The story proceeds by introducing the friends of her concert group, Yasafumi Yuuki, a concert director, Akiho Maya, violinist, and Kazuo Tamaki the pianist. All seem to have a dark past that is connected with each other.

While the plot and the relationship of the protagonist becomes clearer with each chapter, the different plot twists that happen were sometimes predictable, though overall it wasn't of much importance as the narrative itself was done well.

The cast of characters is limited, but certainly enough to present the story narrated. The relationships between the different characters are displayed well, though some are presented a bit too dramatic. Their behaviour and actions are at times exaggerated, giving an unrealistic feeling of the characters.

No big character development takes place; nevertheless, these developments are gradual and according to how the story develops, which is a plus to the manga. One thing that may bother some readers is the fact that some characters presented remain unexplained, with little background information to fully understand their motives/goals.

The art of The Conductor is what were are used of a shoujo manga: handsome male characters with beautiful female characters. This has an issue though: the characters design is generic and works a bit detrimental to the story. The background is simplistic. There is also a lack of shading in the different scenarios, making it difficult to transmit the horror aspect of the story.

The Conductor was overall an enjoyable read with an interesting story and character development. The mystery revolving around the lead characters was also interesting, making it easier to follow the story. Personally I am no fan of the shoujo type of character design, making the reading less enjoyable for me as it felt generic. However, if this doesn't bother you, than this manga is worth a try.

Thank you for reading.