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Naraku no Futari starts as any other depressive manga about highschool bullying, mental illness and abuse.
But I assure you it is not.
It's a hard story to read, but if you do as the characters and choose the hard path, you'll be rewarded with a honest, surprisingly real and beautiful story

The main character, Komine Yuuya masterfully represents what the manga is about.
A hardworking student, that always goes with the flow, making the easy choices so he can avoid trouble for his future and the future of his family
It seems like a noble cause, not doing the "right" thing so he can protect those dear to ... him
"I already have too much on my plate"

Enters Sakura Rin. The first time Komine has to deal with the reality that he's not avoiding conflict out of a noble worry for his future or his family, but out of selfishness, so he doesn't need to go trough the suffering himself.
Sakura is well aware of these flaws, and by shattering his noble fantasies, it might seem like she hates him. But it's the opposite.
Sakura loves him, and she knows that taking the easy way out, at first, might seem like the best option, but one that will inevitably lead to misery in the future.
She's is teaching him the hard way, that in order to avoid suffering, Komine is often running away, complying and transferring responsibility, which is actually hurting himself and the people around him more than he could ever know.

This manga starts like any other depressing manga about abuse and mental illness that I've read before.
How easy has it been, to dive into those stories and forget about my own miserable choices in life?
The abyss is easier, is comforting. Diving into it is a vicious cycle, going deeper and deeper into its warm embrace until it seems like there's no way back

Those are the mangas making the big bucks, selling the most. Profiting out of peoples despair and sending them deeper into destructive mindsets
But this manga doesn't revel in this depression. It takes the hard path.
Maybe that's why it didn't do well in terms of sales, and had to be cut short at only 28 chapters.

But not all is hopeless, thanks to Sakura, Komine learns that going through the easy path only brings misery and pain
While taking responsibility for your actions can seem like an impossible, painful task, but one that will ultimately lead to much less suffering and maybe even happiness or love.

As friendly revolutionaries at Rage Against the Machine would say:
"There is no other pill to take
so swallow the one that made you ill"

I have mixed feelings about this manga

It is a very sweet and pure love comedy between a teacher and a student.
On the other hand, this kind of relationship where one holds a position of power and authority over the other is the recipe for disaster and abuse.
There's a reason teacher/students relationships are "frowned upon". Kind of like Boss/Worker, Brother/Sister, Parent/child. There's a clear structure of power on these kinds of relationships that can be used to dominate and abuse the partner.
I never personally experienced any of those abuses, and I am by no means an expert in abusive relationships and teaching ethics. But Just from ... reading what people went through in these scenarios, it makes it clear why its a bad idea.
But this manga is by no means a story of abuse.

Spoilers from now on:

The manga seems to be aware of this, Rinko-sensei herself is aware of it and won't "date" Arase until he's 20 and no longer her student. Then this structure of power will be removed and they can stand in equal ground. I think this is a nice idea but it doesn't change the fact they are in love while still student/teacher, and that's exactly why this manga is good.

The manga's charm is in the subversion of their power dynamic.
Rinko is a strict teacher that holds power over the "lazy" student Arase. This changes when they fall for each other and Arase takes the role of the pushy and flirty romantic that holds power over the shy and evasive teacher. It makes for good romantic comedy

But then again, this is "the best case scenario" for a teacher/student relationship that doesn't show any of the "bad sides" of what could happen (until now) and it might influence the minds of young readers.

Overall I really like this manga. It is definitely a cut above most slice of life manga out there

Jacarandá (the tree) is native from south America, including my country, Brasil. That's why this manga caught my attention. And boy I wasn't ready for this.

What would it take to completely destroy the society we take for granted? To render it all useless? to throw us deep into utter chaos.
how fragile is it? how hard would it be to do it?
Global natural disaster? War? An atomic bomb?

Or one BIG chunky T R E E ?

What would happen to the people when all our luxuries, like running water, electricity, transportation and city services were being destroyed right under our noses and we couldn't do anything about ... it?

This manga gives you front row seats to the spectacle while it answers those questions.
It shows how fragile our made up world is, and how powerful nature really is.
How we didn't tame or overpower nature to use it for our benefit, it shows us that the universe is just letting us live in it until it gets tired of us. And how it could end us on a whim with just one big chunky tree if it wanted to.
The last pages really hits this message home, and I'd be damned if I wouldn't do the same in that situation.

This manga is one hell of a ride and I cant recommend it enough.

A defense to some points thrown around.

Story:
Hating a character doesn't make a story bad. having an unlikable main character can be used in a way that makes a great narrative.
Some say the main character is not developed but has a 45 page list of reasons why they hate him. That being said, the characters are still shit.
A story can be about something "bad" like murder and still be good. Some people say the story is shit because they're disgusted by prostitution and sex work. Even if your morals say it's bad, a story can talk about those themes and be good. Still, that being ... said, The story is shit. The main character is a knight in shining armor that has come to save the poor girl from sex work. Its shit, and done in a shit way.

Art:
This guy is very good at drawing, and I believe his assistants are very skilled individuals. Still, art is not just being skilled at drawing. The drawings don't convey any feelings and the dialogue could be just plain text in a novel. The drawings are just the background where these words are floating. It doesn't add anything to the story.

Enjoyment:
One day I finished a great manga and thought to myself "Happiness needs sadness, so maybe I need to read bad manga so I can really appreciate good manga."
In a fit of rage combined with self hatred and destructive impulses, Ive binged 100 chapters of rental girlfriend.
those were painful hours to bear, but I think I have a new appreciation for good manga

Overall:
It feels like the author has nothing to say.
He touches on some themes like sex work, aspirations, ambitions, romantic love. But doesn't have anything to say or comment. It makes sense if we think the person who wrote this is a regular otaku guy that doesn't know anything about sex work, romance, relationships and everything else in the manga.

Nice concept. If you go into it thinking this is a romance focused story, this is not it. BUT.

The manga is a nice sex ed class in a easy to digest format.
I like how respectful and dummie friendly it is. And until this point the manga didn't encourage any toxic behavior, in fact, it condemns harmful ideas and tries to educate in a empathic way.
Which I think is something that needs to be done in a medium like manga, a medium with so many stories that fails to approach and exploits teenage sexual development, especially with so many young consumers.

I really like what ... this manga is trying to do, and how well it's doing it. The art and pace makes it easy to read, and the explanations only comes after we were interested in the topic by the interactions of the characters.

Hopefully this gets the attention it deserves

Suicide Island is a "philosophical and spiritual auto biography"... Please bear with me

The "I don't belong" or "I don't fit anywhere" theme is a cliche by this point, but suicide island executes on it in a way Ive never seen before.

The main character, after realizing he doesn't belong in his social circle and society as a whole, tries to kill himself, and fails (nothing new at this point) but then he is sent to an isolated island with fellow "suiciders"

Every other story would use this as a new chance to find a place to belong, and this is precisely what the main characters tries to ... do. There's your usual 2 factions, good and evil, and the mc tries to belong to the good faction.
But things start to go south. The good faction is not so good as they think they are, and the bad faction is not simply bad. Dare I say it, the world isn't black and white. And our character finds himself in the same spot where we began, I don't belong anywhere. But then...
Our main character realizes he has some skills for hunting and connecting with his partner dog and this is where he finds his place.
In many of his travels to hunt for food, he finds himself belonging to the "Circle of Life™". He discovers what does it mean to hunt, to consume energy, to respect prey, to be a part of something bigger, Nature. And finds himself on a spiritual level.
I've never seen this done before, and done so well at that. It touched me deeply, and this is what I consider art, very good art. 10/10

A cute, well executed, lighthearted misunderstood-delinquent love story in a sea of bland stories with the same premise.

The young adventure of trying to figure out each others feelings and all the anxiety that comes with it. I like that the characters arent amebas when it comes to relationships. The misunderstandings aren't there just to keep us in the limbo of not being sure about each others feelings and are being worked on, so that's always welcome

I wish that Furi would be a real delinquent, but that's not what the manga is about so Im not deducting anything because of it, but it would be more ... interesting that way

Wow, where to begin...
This is definitely written by a very sensitive person (and I mean that as a compliment) who's been through a lot in terms of relationships.

The art is stunning, the use of color as magic warms my heart.
And about characters. Both are very well developed and grow up as time goes by. They are on a journey to find self love and acceptance, discovering that there are relationships that help you find self-love and some that guide you away from it, and learning which are whitch (pun intended)
I very much respect this message and I think it's essential to young people growing up, ... a contrast from all the harem hell around us

The world where the characters live in is developed in a very subtle way, all the good and toxic behaviors of not only people but of society. I like that there's racism against magic users in all social spheres, from work to public places and it feels real.

Overall, this manga is a breath of fresh air, a very good message relayed in a nice and enjoyable pace 10/10

Colorless is by no means the first to employ the use of color in a black and white manga (one other example I can think of is "majo-senpai nippou", if you like this concept). But it is the first one that I know where color is such a major part of the world mechanics and story. It's used in a very creative way and it looks absolutely stunning. And while still talking about the art, the manga is very gritty and dirty, it matches the world it tries do depict, like a dorohedoro kind of vibe.

I dont want to talk much about the story while ... only on 10 chapters, I think it would be unfair. But I like the foundation it is laying and where it's heading.
The police and cult aren't the simple evil bad guys, there's a whole complex structure of power being constructed and that's never bad.
The main character being the kind of noir Privite Investigator and the "heroine" having amnesia are pretty good at exposure without feeling forced.

This is the first review in this site, and I hope this manga gets the recognition it deserves. I especially want to see it get an anime adaptation, it would be sick to watch modern black and white anime with the occasional color.

(The author thought the world used to be back and white due to tv when he was young, and I find that very cute)