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Kamisama ga Uso wo Tsuku.
The Gods Lie.
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Kamisama ga Uso wo Tsuku.

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Kami-sama ga Uso wo Tsuku., Gods Tell Lies, Our Summer Holiday

Japanese: 神様がうそをつく。

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 1

Chapters: 5

Status: Finished

Published: Mar 25, 2013 to Jul 25, 2013

Genres: Drama, Romance

Theme: School

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Afternoon

Authors: Ozaki, Kaori (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.86¹ (scored by 32,675 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #1131²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #282

Members: 60,879

Favorites: 1,318

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Filtered Results: 35 / 37

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Aug 27, 2013

supersleuther

Recommended

"God Lies" easily ranks amongst my favourite short series. Overall, the story was reminiscent of the movie "Stand by me". Life goes on even if the world is painted bright blue from afar and cynical and more than a little screwed up on on closer inspection, even for grader schoolers. The two main characters Natsuru and Rio seem to fill the adult role better than their own parents. The outcome of the story is deeply satisfying to see and because of it's length/timespan in the manga, it is perhaps more poignant than "Immortal Rain".

Nothing is farfetched in "God Lies" and it portrays a realistic albeit ...

Dec 5, 2013

post_human

Recommended

Sometimes the cover really doesn't convey the story in a book and sometimes short things can really have a long story to tell, this is really one of those occasions. When I first started this manga I thought it will be short and sweet (or was hoping) romantic story, but now I can gladly say it was so much more. I am really amazed at how much the writer really was able to convey in just 5 chapters. While there is a bit unrealistic nature in some aspects of the slice of life it is without a doubt a unique manga and definitely one of ... the best of 2013 with its completeness. Now a days in the age of shameless fan-service & seinen's only really being good when they have lots of action and really not new stuff to look forward to this was a breath of fresh air indeed.

"Kamisama ga Uso wo Tsuko" or "God lies" is a story of a boy and girl, story of their families, but also story of so much more. The writer really did try to pack a lot of punch in this short story, with every issue the plot seemingly got more complicated with more background and details of these two, and eventually one summer of their life ends and a vision of their future emerges. This manga tries hard to convey some of the harsh reality's of modern life, tries to sympathize with a lot of the problems children face and also cruelties of the society. It tries to convey the struggles to survive in a dysfunctional family, the burden when you are forced to grow up too fast, children facing the truth of mortality of humans and also the will to still carry on despite all the obstacles.

Nanao meats Rio at a sudden turn of events, then gets to spend a few days with her and her little brother (who is very loveable by the way). This story is about how Nanao gets to share the joys with them, how he tries to help them overcome their difficulties, how he falls in love and how all this brings to light some parts of his own life that he was running away from. Rio on the other hand really experiences compassion after a long time from Nanao; she tries desperately to raise her brother and deal with the difficult situation of leaving on their own, and as Nanao comes into her life with a helping hand she really sees some hope after a long while; the betrayal and abandonment that she has faced so much in her so short life gets out of focus for her for the first time, and she falls in love too. These is a story of their love, their past, their sadness and finally their struggle for a better future.
As a whole this manga might not be the best short Seinen out there or may pale in comparision to some of the classic slice of life seinens but this definitely is one of the must read mangas of 2013. It would have gotten 8 from me on any other time but due to it releasing this year I am gonna give it a 8.5. I really look forward to reading more mangas by this author.

Overall Score -
8.5 out of 10.

Nov 15, 2014

akemoto

Recommended

Before you get turned off by the title "God Tells Lies," there is no sacrilegious connotations or references within the work. You will fully understand, towards the end of your reading, why the mangaka chose to title his work as such. The title is a perfect fit.

Every detail of this story is perfect… the height of the heroine in elementary school, the white, crippled kitten named Tofu abandoned by the bridge, the flowers along the street and the flower on the girl’s hair, the death of a beetle, how the grandfather falls with the money for his endearing grandchildren in his hands, the trusting younger ...

Jul 5, 2015

Shioxus

Recommended

In a market full of shounen cliches and harems galore, it's nice to see a gem like this get unearthed. It may have a little dirt on it, but once you clean the dirt off it shines all the same.

There are plenty of things that seem rather farfetched in this manga, and it is best to keep your suspension of disbelief high. Even so, the story is fairly simple with a... different sort of twist. Nothing in the story department will blow your mind, though you may contract a case of the feels.

The characters are also pretty simple, yet at the same time seem ...

Jun 19, 2014

pmunny619

Recommended

Without a doubt the most touching and beautiful manga I have ever had the pleasure to read.

It's such a gloriously simple premise - A poor young girl lives day to day looking after her little brother on next to nothing, due to absent parents. She's befriended by a young boy, her classmate, and a big fan of football/soccer.

The sheer realism is what makes it for me. It's extremely believable and grabbed me from the go. It's the most I've ever felt for a character, the little girl's struggles... god damn. Despite being so very tragic and making a genuinely say "fuck no..." at some ...

May 8, 2018

isahbellah

Mixed Feelings

I was watching a youtube video about this guy's "underground" (?) manga recommendations, a.k.a manga that he liked and that not many people know about or at least not many people talk about. When he introduced The Gods Lie and told us about the basic plot, I thought: meh, this is not for me.

But then he said there was a "plot twist" and I, like the plot twist addict that I am, immediately decided to read it. He didn't give any spoilers for the said plot twist, but based on the title I had kind of an idea of what it would be like.

Aaannnnddd... nope. ...

Oct 11, 2020

victorsam

Recommended

For a first try, I really enjoyed reading manga. (I've tried others many years ago, but I've never finished them.) Ok, this is a short one, but it's a beginning.
It's a love story with some social background. Although the story is not long, I think the characters are well-developed. It is not pretentious. The whole story takes place in a couple of months - a little more than the summer vacation. Where I live, there isn't anything like Summer vacation, so I don't know if it's, in fact, a whole summer.
The relationship between Nanao and Rio feels so real. It's so pure ...

Dec 8, 2015

4b3

Recommended

I'm dissapointed that much that I think I'm going to cry.
This manga... was absolutly amazing...truly amazing, the story, the character, everything... But It was to short, if it was more detailed and longer with more development in the story and character it would be easily an 11/10.

I can't say really nothing more about the story, just read the synopsis or I will spoiler too much since the manga is so short.

I promise you will not regreat reading this 5 chapters, you will regret the fact that is so short, that's for sure.

The story is so sad, but also so heartwarming, the mentality of characters suit ...

Sep 7, 2020

NextUniverse

Recommended

For this short story, I will keep my review short.

Story - 7
Art - 8
Character - 8
Enjoyment - 8
Overall - 7.75 (8)

The Gods Lie is probably one of the most pleasant stories I've come across. It is the essence of short and sweet. I literally read this in a few hours on one night and my reading speed is god awful. I went in blind without reading the synopsis and forgetting the first few pages that I read some time ago. But after completing the story, I have thought wow. For something so small, it does really well as a standalone.
...
The story starts out as something rather normal, new transfer student Natsuru Nanao makes a bad impression with the girls but smoothly fits into the school atmosphere, honestly, nothing new to bring to the table there but it is a start that does fine by itself. The story does take its time getting into the real plot that awaits. But after the encounter with mysteriously unfitting girl Rio Suzumura. A wholesome and somewhat strange story plays out.

After a few wholesome events, the story takes a really weird plot twist for the sake of storytelling, I found myself asking: "how would this make sense", "why would you do that", "isn't the correct action obvious?" But then after finishing the story, and doing some thought through the story, it all came together. All the characters match up to the story's storytelling, the characters are actually true to what life they have been given. It wasn't just characters here, do this at this moment in time, then do that over here, it was all a weirded-out way of presenting characters and their attributes. The characters had qualities in the past that weren't obvious at the beginning of the story, then when it was necessary, the characters reverted back to how their old life was like, kinda like having amnesia then going back to how you once were. All in all, the characters are true to their word and whilst the story is kinda awkward with shifts in atmosphere, it was still a good story nonetheless.

The art reminded me of Studio Ghibli's characters, it is pretty much the same style only the actual physical surroundings didn't have as much detail as the characters themselves. There wasn't really any attempt to try to make astounding scenery which kinda made the art fall flat, only reaching a certain limit and going no higher than that.

I like wholesome stuff, whilst the part before the ending wasn't too wholesome, the story is very heartwarming. Even the awkward part of the story felt interesting, it even made me want to read more since I kinda missed the building relationships that took place. All in all, very enjoyable.

If you do have a night or 1-2 hours to spare then I would recommend you check out The Gods Lie, for someone like myself who kinda just reads something and move on, this made want to re-read the story. It's time-convenient and it's good, how much manga like this exist? I wouldn't know. So don't waste your chance on this story.

Aug 18, 2021

sh3kh4wat

Recommended

the gods lie. (神様がうそをつく。) is a single-volume, seinen, drama, romance manga that takes place during summer vacation and follows an eleven-year-old boy named Natsuru Nanao. Then he encounters a girl named Rio Suzumura who is the tallest girl in his class. Through chance encounters, they begin spending their summer together until one day Natsuru learns about Rio’s dark secret, altering the shape of their bond forever.

As I sat down to read this manga, I was somewhat aware of the fact that it was going to be sad and emotional. What I did not expect, was to be utterly floored by the depth of the narrative ... and its subtle exploration of various themes. This isn’t your typical novel where all the major themes are going to be laid out before you in an easy to consume format. This is distinctly a graphic novel; something that brilliantly utilises the artistic aspect of a manga to tell a story that is wholly character-driven. It’s not so much about the events or the tragedies that are explored here as much as it is about the solitary individuals that are affected and moulded by the experiences they are forced to undergo.

When the gods lie. begins, it feels like a soft, slice-of-life tale. We have a kid who is lonely and through a simple action alienates himself from his classmates, which then leads him to find companionship in an unlikely person. Yet, the more that we get to know about Natsuru and Rio, the more prevalent it becomes that the slice-of-life take is increasingly abnormal.

Natsuru resides in a single-parent household with his mum who is light novel author. Rio lives with her younger brother in an environment where her single-parent is mostly absent due to their occupation. They bond over the losses and the loneliness that they both share. I found their dialogue about one another’s personal history to be haunting. It created a small vortex in my gut that kept sucking away any semblance of happiness I felt by them discovering comfort in one another. There is just some facet about the gods lie. that triggers instincts in your brain to be on guard for the despair that is to come. Because of all these responses that I was undergoing, Natsuru and Rio started to feel precious to me; I wanted to protect them and to keep them safe.

The loneliness that Natsuru feels comes from being abandoned by one of his parents at a young age thanks to cancer. For Rio, it’s having both parents walk-out on her of their own volition. Parent A does it on a whim and Parent B does it for work. Abandonment in any form can create emotional feelings of inadequacy. It prevents us from building relationships out of fear of the people with whom we formulate those bonds with of walking out on us, or it makes us constantly question if there is something about us that pushes others away.

The same thing can be said when you’re dealing with loss and grief. Death is another form of abandonment. As a kid, it’s far more difficult to grasp it as this out-of-control or inevitable force of living; it’s not about them dying, but the fact that they’re gone. Most kids don’t recognise that these things just happen. Sometimes far sooner than not. At least with death there is no residual hope of the people returning that lingers behind to constantly taunt you or tease you.

The breath-taking artwork is what tells these kids’ stories. You can see the depth of their feelings eclipsed in a tear-soaked stare, or amid the fine lines around a half-forced smile. The mangaka uses expert placement and varying levels of shading to showcase the realm of grief, anxiety, fear, or plain and simple frustration, and occasionally even joy and warmth. The narrative is in the details. It’s actually a fundamental part of Japanese literature—the part that I’m such a humongous aficionado for—and being able to see it incorporated in a graphic novel was astounding to me. the gods lie. isn’t a manga that you can merely read to get the full-picture or the full bulk of the thematic power from. It’s one you have to take in visually and experience via its artistry.

The story in its entirety is not a happy one. It’s an exquisitely gut-punching, bittersweet telling of what happens when kids are forced to grow up too damn quickly. It’s a force of a nature that really puts into perspective the impact of tragedy and abandonment, and how those two things can influence the way those individuals will grow up. the gods lie. places before us the tremendous strength that a sole person’s kindness can make on those of us that are so terribly lost, broken, and defeated. Contrary to many reviews I’ve read, I don’t see it as “tragedy porn” or anything of the like. For me personally, it was graphic novel encapsulation of Japanese literature at its finest; one that uses the tools of penetratingly stunning drawings, simple dialogue, and sublimely subtle use of details to depict that not all moments of youth are light-hearted. Sometimes the essence of youth means learning the harsh reality of responsibility and the gratification of truth that resides within the most basic of lies.

If you enjoy Japanese works that are akin to Yōko Ogawa (The Housekeeper and the Professor), Julie Otsuka (When the Emperor was Divine), or Shuichi Yoshida (Parade), then I recommend that you read the gods lie. If you enjoy manga that are understated yet strongly evocative, then I believe you may enjoy this as well.

Dec 7, 2016

Bugiboo

Recommended

Firstly, I found this manga at the corner of the shelf, the place where nobody looks because the series they came to buy (popular shounen) usually lie in the middle of my local comic books store, lying in insignificance like a treasure chest. I've never heard this manga before but the name and the introduction on the back cover intrigued me. I decided to give it a shot and the rest is a story of love at the first sight. Now, The Gods Lie is one of my favourite manga.

The story is really heartwarming and characters fit in the context. You can find something from ...

Sep 22, 2015

Beobachter

Recommended

In many ways, this is a story about the end of childhood.

The manga primarily took place over the course of a summer holiday, when a pair of sixth-graders connected. The boy, a soccer kid raised by single mother, had become disillusioned after his favorite coach is hospitalized with cancer. The girl, an unusual kid conspicuously taller than her classmates, carried with her an unimaginable burden. Yes, there’s eventually the development of that first love, but don’t be mistaken: this is heavy stuff, more nuanced and wistful than what seems to be your standard puppy love scenario. There’s melancholia frequently etched on the pages of ...

Nov 6, 2020

geovannyboss

Recommended

When Kamisama ga Uso wo Tsuku begins, it feels like a soft, slice-of-life tale. We have a kid who is lonely and through a simple action alienates himself from his classmates, which then leads him to find companionship in an unlikely person. Yet, the more that we get to know about Natsuru and Rio, the more prevalent it becomes that the slice-of-life take is increasingly abnormal.

The manga Kamisama ga Uso wo Tsuku is a very quick read and an emotional rollercoaster, and it's well worth the ride. The way this story of summertime innocence so quickly and unapologetically shifts to a much darker tone prickles ...

Sep 5, 2018

Klabautermann

Recommended

The Gods Lie is a short little story that knows how to do both children characters and romance pretty well, the beauty of which lies in the fact it doesn't try to drag out the quite simple and realistically short plot. The entirety of the story some titles take semesters and years to to cover, takes only three days and then some time skip to actually cover the necessary points in it, without bringing unnecessary side characters or dwelling on some stupid, forced shitty drama that isn't the part of what the mange is trying to tell.

It's definitely worth a read, and despite a ...

Sep 10, 2019

minmanga

Recommended

This manga is a beautiful story about friendship and even a bit of happiness during difficult circumstances. Yes, there are gloomy situations and feelings in this one too, like being abandoned, a dear person dying etc, but the main characters handle it surprisingly well, maybe because they are just children.

The art work is great in the way it delivers the feelings and the atmosphere. The only thing I could complain about is that Rio and her brother Yuuta is a bit too similar, so you have to watch the hair cut really carefully in some circumstances to know who is who.

Overall, I do place this ...

Jan 4, 2020

Horrorreader91

Mixed Feelings

This is another one of those short, sweet, romantic stories with a sombering tone throughout its tale. Reminiscent of other manga such as "Watashi-tachi" or "Three Days of Happiness." However, instead of following a story where two characters are in incredibly unique positions, we follow a more realistic/grounded story dealing with the hardships of a dysfunctional family.

I enjoyed the fact that it was extremely short and did not drag like other works I've read, which is always a plus. If you're looking for a short, sweet read because, hey, there's nothing else to do - you should give it a try. Don't expect ...

May 7, 2017

JuGuL4ToR

Recommended

Once in a while, there is that anime or manga that reminds me why I fell in love with both mediums in the first place. And after nearly 15 years and hundreds upon hundreds of titles, it's happening increasingly less frequently.

"God Lies" is more than the sum of it's parts. The art is pretty simple. The characters are endearing, but nothing special. And the story - minus a macabre twist - is quite straight forward. But when it ends, you can't help feeling you wish there was more; and not because the story is lacking, or the ending botched.

It just strikes a chord you'd ...

Jul 30, 2017

tulipen

Recommended

I was looking for something similar to Koe no Katachi, and was recommended this. At first I was hesitant because of the title, "The Gods Lie". I thought it was gonna be one of "those" stories, but after reading it, it makes a lot of sense, and in fact pretty depressing (or heartwarming).

The story is good, however I believe it went by a little too quickly. The opening scene implies that the two characters aren't familiar with each other, but a few pages later, they're already somewhat comfortable, but then again they are kids, so they might not care as much as an older ...

Aug 16, 2020

keitaichi

Recommended

Story: 9
The story is very touching. For anyone who wants to feel again, try reading this story. It will probably warm your cold, cold heart.

Art: 8
The drawing and atmosphere created by the mangaka is nice. This looks like a typical, nice shojo manga drawing, if you catch my drift. I wouldn't call it the best drawing like in Fire Force or I am a Hero, but nothing to complain about the drawing.

Characters: 9
All the characters, I would say I can relate to and understand where they are coming from, except for the shitty adults. But they are shitty adults, soooo.

Enjoyment: 9
All in all, I ...

Aug 17, 2019

Renee96

Recommended

WOW!

This is an underappreciated one shot.

I really like the artwork, it's a nicely drawn manga, and I think it would look very good if turned into a movie. I want to see this animated so bad!

I really enjoyed the story.
As you see the kids on the cover are holding hands, but this isn't a romance story. There is romance, but it's not the main focus of the story. It just gets glossed over.

The most interesting aspect of this story is the main girl Rio and her private life.
...