Totsukuni no Shoujo
The Girl From the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún

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Super stinkin' cute tear jerker...

Made me want a daughter.

I really loved it. I was gushing over the art the entire time.

Shiva is a such a sweet and beautiful girl. Her little emotive behaviors had me grinning ear to ear, and suspenseful page turners had me gasping or in tears constantly.

Generally, I liked the lore and didn't find it too obtuse.

... I think the author tapped into some synchromysticism regarding the true nature of things, but failed to tie it all together in a satisfying way at the very end.

The vessel stuff and heartless villagers gave impressions of NPCs and the nature of being one of the few "real beings" piloting an avatar in a particular realm.

One minor complaint is that Teacher never stopped being rude to the Outsiders.

I'm very much looking forward to watching the OVA next. and hunting down volume 12 and other bonus material.

I'm a sucker for child-like tales being adapted into a full-blown series with a pinch of adult element inserted into it and Totsukuni no Shoujo is exactly one of those. It tells the simple story of a little girl (Insider) who doesn't remember anything about her past, living in the dark side with "Sensei" which the Insider thought as "evil" (Outsider) who also doesn't remember anything about his past. The story tells us about their struggle living in the Outside, finding the truth about their past, and their effort to just live simply in peace; which is certainly not possible for them.

The slice-of-life aspect in ... the very first few volumes were absolutely sweet and heartwarming. The main characters tell each other stories, they bake together, they fight and reconcile, and so many others. How the author presented the story with the least text possible was an incredible storytelling method, I love it with all my heart. In many point of the story, you'll be astonished by the one-page art and how it can tell a thousand of words without any text at all. The theme of the story perfectly conveys the innocence of the little girl and the desperation of "Sensei", who always feels like that he isn't enough caring for the little girl. I would also like to commend the simple world building and politics in the series. It was by all means not complex or complete, but it felt enough with what was going on and it complements the story well. It was also a necessary touch for the story, which I have to rant about without spoiling anything.

As the story goes, things suddenly become a completely different feel in almost every aspect, and this is where I'm utterly disappointed at where everything is going. I knew something have to change, but the way the author did it was odd and quite possibly even contentious. Maybe it's just me wanting those sweet moments to stay forever and surely it's not just the reading getting too much information at once while getting presented with unreasonable twists, right? No. Something feels flawed at what was happening in the last few volumes, it doesn't feel like I was reading the same manga with the weird tone going on; I myself don't get what the author is trying to tell during those chapters. There was a lot of chance to deepen the world outside the main character, but the author failed to do so, for unknown reasons I don't know myself. When you finish, the entire work felt incomplete. There should be something... Something missing. What is it?

Story aside, the art and the interactions between the two main characters are still something to be praised about. Emotions are conveyed in a smart way with the unique art and it still exists despite the story going downwards. Let me repeat myself, the first few volumes are soul-stirring, but as the story is concerned, it's an absolute hit or miss. You will either love everything, or you will question what the actual fuck is going on. Either way, I admit it's a unique read and you should give it a chance.

**there are spoilers, but they are tagged and very avoidable**
Before I explain my issues with the manga, I want to say that I appreciated the unique artstyle and somewhat unique setting. The aesthetic of the manga is certainly novel. However, this is where my praises end. I did not enjoy reading this manga.


For one, this manga suffers from incredibly poor pacing. Not only does it take forever for plot beats to happen, but the manga is extremely repetitive. Parts of the story are shown, narrated, and then reflected on by the characters. This causes the point of some scenes to be explained three times, which ... makes everything an absolute slog to read.


Secondly, I did not find this manga particularly interesting. Its sentiments of family aren’t particularly new, and they’ve been done to death before. And even then, the themes, despite being so common, aren’t particularly well written in this manga. Also, I found its heavy themes of spiritualism rather annoying. The manga tries to tackle many “complex” and “interesting” themes, but it has so little to say that I already forgot. Did you know murder is hard, and bad people usually have been shaped by outside factors? Woahw! Never could’ve guesse!d!!! Honestly, this manga could be a fine kids show if they cut back on all the spiritualism…


Additionally, the story is profoundly dull. This paragraph will briefly mention specific events, so avoid this paragraph if you care about spoilers. I have two main moments I want to complain about. The first is when the King's close advisor tries to murder the King. The King doesn’t die, and I have to wonder how this even happened. If you’re trying to kill a monarch, you don’t stop at a shallow knife wound. You make sure he is buried and dead in the ground. Due to this, I could not suspend my disbelief for this part of the story. It felt too stupid. Secondly, the main tension in the end of the story involves the two protagonists bouncing around one “soul” in an attempt to save each other. I believe it’s meant to be tear-jerking, however, I found the entire routine dry and tedious.The plot twists are tired and obvious, the biggest twist being how long they took to come to fruition. All in all, there were no plot points that made me feel anything more than this itching apathy.


With all that said, the spoiler section is now over. I can’t find anything much in this manga to like. I did not enjoy this manga. I understand that it’s somewhat novel and has some interesting concepts, but this manga is incredibly mediocre. There’s so much better out there.