Oct 22, 2018
Ever since I first read this manga, it has been one of my absolute favorite manga. Certainly, most elements have been seen before, but the presentation and the story is what makes this series one of my favorite manga. That said, I will attempt to keep this review as neutral and objective as possible.
The story is centered around a fairly simple premise: One day, the high-school student Sahara Makaji is hit by a truck, after seeing the ghost of his childhood friend, Asuka Michi. Following this, everyone assumes that Sahara is dead, including Sahara himself, who believes that his other childhood friend, Aikawa Chiaki, pushed
...
him. At the end of the first chapter, Sahara confronts Chiaki about this, asking "Why did you kill me?" The rest of the story is basically about Sahara trying to understand why he died, Mei trying to get Chiaki to admit to killing Sahara, and the rest of the characters trying to cope with losing their friend. Practically every chapter, except Chapter 1 and the Final Chapter, has a flashback to events that took place 10 years earlier, which mainly helps with character development.
The art shifts a lot, usually shifting multiple times on the same page to set the mood for each frame. Most of the time, the art is typical manga-style, but occasionally it shifts to more simplistic and sometimes even "chibi"-style. And then, there are the horror-style close-ups of Chiaki. The characters' designs are mostly consistent, but slight changes occur when time passes (they obviously grow bigger over the 10 years between the past and present, Mei's hair changes from black to white for some unexplained reason (she probably dyed it, or suffers from the Marie Antoinette Syndrome... Both explanations are probable)), yet it's still easy to recognize the characters in the past. The biggest weak spot would be the fight in chapter 5 and 6. It just doesn't really look like they're actually fighting, but rather like Mei is really bored posing for an artist...
The characters are just great. While most of the characters fit typical archetypes, their behavior is really realistic, and the main cast is easy to relate to. About a third of the first chapter goes with showing what happens at the site of the accident about half an hour later, with the characters being introduced one after one. The rest of the chapters are largely spent on developing these characters into well-rounded, interesting individuals with their own interesting quirks.
I personally enjoyed "Okuru Kotoba" a lot. It's one of the only manga I've ever read that had me hooked from the first chapter, and never let me down as the story progressed. I can read it over and over again and still notice new details I missed the first time or that had simply slipped from my mind. Additionally, some things that make no sense early on (like how Mei dropped her phone into the middle of the street in chapter 2) are explained later on and in the end, even the ending isn't all that big an ass-pull as it first seems, if one just recalls earlier events. Don't expect any serious amounts of fanservice, though. Aside from very few panty-shots in Volume 1 (Chapter 1-5), and a few glimpses of Mei's cleavage in Volume 2 (Chapter 6-10), the fanservice is literally non-existent.
I can strongly recommend this story to anyone who loves a good manga with lots of drama, mystery, suspense and tragedy(?). Keep in mind that at the time of writing this review, the manga hasn't been translated yet, so it is only available in Japanese, but it is fairly easy to read. Personally, I think this is one of the best manga I've ever read.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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