I picked up this manga from the bookstore randomly and in yet another sweet twist of fate, it was a freaking awesome idea. Another is a creepy, beautiful read.
The story is set in 1998, when Koichi Sakakibara transfers to a new school and as all we manga fans know, is cause for shenanigans. The legend of this class is there was once a student named Misaki who died in an accident. The class was so devastated, they pretended she was still there. A nice coping mechanism if you can keep it up but at the end of the year, the dead student appeared in the class photo. From then on, there always seemed to be an "extra" in the class a student who didn't exist before and cease to exist after. Horrible tragedies would befall the class til this "extra was found." If they don't know who the extra is, the students and the teacher create one, selecting one student in the class to completely ignore as if he or she was not there. This year's selection is Mei Misaki.
Not properly warned, Koichi is determined to make friends with Mei despite the vague mentions from his classmates. When accidents start happening, Koichi is determined to find whoever may be the "extra" causing the deaths around him before he falls victim himself.
At first I was a little annoyed the kids around Koichi didn't just flat out tell him what the deal was but when you think about it, you really just can out and out tell the new kid "Hey there! Nice to meet you! By the way, our class is cursed." so we can let that slide. The manga has a slow, creepy build I can appreciate rather than the in-your-face sort of scares from more gory horror. It is genuinely sad and scary to watch the kids and adults crack and break under the stress of finding the "extra" person and ending the disasters.
The art may seem initially like standard manga fair but Kiyohara does a masterful job of integrating both cuteness, drama, and fear into what you're seeing on the page. The story is just complex enough to keep you interested with very few side tracks to distract you. By the end, you are left with a very satisfying ending and a wonderful example of how complete Japanese horror manga can be. Now, I picked up the omnibus edition from Yen Press for $29.99, which was a bit of an ouchie for my wallet but I can see myself reading this more than once. I enjoyed this manga and I recommend it to any fan of a good slice of creepy/cute goodness from Japan. If you give this one a chance, friends, you won't be disappointed.
