Mokke

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Mokke is one of the best slice of life manga that I've ever read.

The manga is about a pair of sisters in the countryside learning how to deal with their ability to see and attract supernatural beings like yokai, ghosts, spirits with the help of their grandpa. Their encounters with these beings are used to present a side of humanity that arises in a person or a group like anxiety or fear of failure, as they are attracted by our actions and thoughts. They are then exorcised by way of understanding them and performing the correct ritual, which are usually quite mundane like repeating a ... phrase or doing a move. This type of story has been done before in other manga, but Mokke's approach is much more subtle, grounded, and natural.

This is due to the manga's perspective. Instead of a knowledgeable wandering sage in Mushishi or (sort of) a chosen one in Natsume Yuujinchou, our protagonists are ordinary children who are reluctant and scared of their powers. Their supernatural abilities are treated as a difficult condition, something they must learn to live with. This feels much more natural to me because it's just like real life; you don't get to choose the cards you're dealt (read chapter 5). It also makes the sisters' struggles to help other people getting possessed feel much more genuine. The setting also plays a huge part in this atmosphere. The spirits are just there, out and about, ready to possess the nearest person. It's as if they're a part of nature's reaction to humanity and us humans have certain, detailed responses to these phenomena because we are also part of nature.

The spirits themselves are also chosen very tastefully from real myths and legends. I feel like the author really understands these myths and that's why they're incorporated so well into the characters' lives. There’s a sense of authenticity behind the references. It's especially impressive when the myths are combined with a parable. In other stories, it feels like the spirits were chosen just because they fit the author's story. In Mokke it feels like they just arise naturally (idk how else to describe this).

Finally, the characters are easily the best part. For something tagged only as an iyashikei, this manga has some of the best character drama I've ever seen. The main duo is perfect. The meek, feminine older sister who can see the spirits and the stubborn, tomboy younger sister who attracts spirits without being able to see them. They balance each other out very nicely like real sisters.

Their grandpa is also an integral part of the cast. He acts as a more realistic ‘wise old man’ character who’s willing to make hard decisions, providing tough guidance to the girls, sometimes forcing them to figure things out by themselves. This tough upbringing feels especially vivid when he refuses to help the girls with the spirits and we don’t know what kind of spirit it is. This is because some of them can kill you or put you in a lifelong coma, which creates a sense of risk that’s actually kinda scary even though I know the girls are going to be fine. Maybe I’m just too emotionally attached, but it feels like watching an actual kid treading through the dangers of life without any help.

My attachment can be attributed to the strong character development of the main duo. The sisters’ arcs are told slowly across a number of years and their growth stayed consistent despite the episodic chapters. The common formula of having an encounter with a spirit, relating it to the situation of the characters (or vice versa), then ending it with a moral lesson, is enhanced by the strong continuity and development of the characters. It never felt like the encounter was just 'another lesson learned' because there are subtle callbacks as the story goes. Their growth is not forgotten or prolonged without good reason. The lessons themselves aren’t always cut and dry, involving a degree of gray-ness which is where the parables come in. It’s not about good and evil, but about man and nature, which I guess is good and evil if you want to go deep into it.

Overall an amazing read for me. 9/10