Having demented nearly everyone in immediate reach with the possibility of an Itsuki app ho ho ho

[series]: GOTH [writer]: Otsu-Ichi [artist]: Kenji Ooiwa [rating]: PG-13 / soft R, if you're squeamish. 'Nasty' things are mentioned, but never outright graphic. Please keep basic ruxi rating disclaimers in mind. [genre]: detective / thriller [material]: HERE [sendspace] [re-upload odds]: only one volume - very high. [verdict]: ✭✭✭✭✭

[commentary]: When you're bored, kill people. Kamiyama Itsuki would agree with this principle, but he has both too much pedigree to ruin his precious hands, and modesty to compete with the masters. The narrator in this manga is no Yagami Light, wanting to prove himself - if anything, Itsuki has no internal conflict whatsoever, possibly because he admits that he has reached that level of tedium wherefrom only two fascinations can raise him: the study of homicides, and the beautiful Morino Yoru.

Itsuki's purpose in life, however apathetically declared, is to find the most creative and worthwhile way to kill Yoru. Make no mistake, there's no animosity or passion involved: our man is merely enthralled with the perfect corpse, and I'll be first to admit that Morino looks effing purty with her eyes closed and altogether unmoving.

The manga covers three separate cases, in which the two participate as either informal detectives, spectators, or victims. Interestingly, there's never an element of self-righteousness - the main actor is Itsuki, and it's not to his interest to alert the authorities and altogether interfere. He's only there to observe. Oh - and play with Yoru's head a bit.

The cat-and-mouse with Morino is quite fascinating, though I have to wonder how much of it is preplanned, and how much incidental. In many ways, the Yoru from the first chapters appears to be more than informed and in control of Itsuki's real intentions - by the end, she's either magically forgotten that, hullo, this boy is no ally, or she's making the horrendous error of underestimating him. To be fair, her last scenes in the manga find Yoru in lack of much finesse or composure altogether. I shall not discuss the anticlimax that is the series' finale. Just don't hold your breaths.

The murders aren't necessarily the best thing ever - more of a guilty pleasure than a stomach-turning assignment worth task force inquiry. They actually get more and more enjoyable as the focus deviates from Itsuki and Yoru, and lands on the social context of every crime. The one about the young man who buried them alive, then maintainted them among the living for a few days with straws, so he could play the more with them? Chilling in both its premise and symmetry [that arc's ending, dear God]. In part, I think it's Itsuki's insight into procedural details and utter fangirling that is more hair-raising. Yes, the mean man used a sharp knife in a really shiny way - now stop drooling, Itsuki. ._.

Yoru's not a bad heroine on her own - shocking, given most mangas' blatant sexism - but while it's the additional baggage that gives her enough leverage to stand her ground against Itsuki, there's a huge and sensible difference in terms of character construction. At the end of the day, all the concrete elements we know - all we need to know about Itsuki is that he is an adolescent, in the same class as Yoru, taken by many for charming and lighthearted. We know nothing about his background, but Itsuki's presence is a thousand and one times more apparent through details: a fascination for paper, walking in a short step, a preference for white weaponry. Everything about GOTH is light and faint, so often Yoru's characterizations seems too forced, almost conventional. Unlike Itsuki, unlike her oppressors, she doesn't get the space to breathe.

I honestly appreciated the absence of a romance. A cleanly cut "oh-em-gee, my victim is my otp <333 " would have truly ruined the atmosphere for me - deep sentiments have no place in a series that trivializes the act of murder to the extent of little more than a human curiosity. It would also have been clicheed like woah.


[art]: excruciatingly clean. In spite of its title, it'll be sad and lonely times for anyone expecting anything of the Alichino or Godchild variety - like its dialogue, GOTHIC art isn't there to overwhelm the senses. Very round shapes, excellent precision, sharp cuts and outlines [I find the stark black-and-white, as opposed to transient shading, to be very elegant].

I think what the creators realized and what the artist must have grudgingly come to accept was that the art wasn't there to serve as anything more than a sustenance, rather than core environment. There are some very memorable panels [the scene with Itsuki and the rail fence comes to mind], but at no point does GOTHIC propose to dazzle-schmazzle you with penwork.

Symbolism is scarce, blood minimal - this is actually more of an advantage than you would think, given the nature of this series. There are two ways to go about blood, none of which preferable in excess: either a very detailed representation, or a very caricatural one. The former can get too tiring and distracting for the eye; and I invite everyone to check and headdesk at some of Hirano's panels for the latter.

Ultimately, with GOTH, what you see is what you get.

g o t h

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i t s u k i | | y o r u

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[opinion]: SPOILERS. HIGHLIGHT TO SEE. WTF was up with that ending? ! I agree with Bonnie - had the writer been braver, Itsuki would have killed her when he finally resolved to, then he'd have killed himself in the absence of his life's ambition. I suppose, however, that this is somehow less charming.

...I've recently noticed quite a bit of traffic concerning this entry. Um, thank you for reading? There are more manga reviews laying around, some of which tagged, if that's your interest.