muse ✨'s manga / #supernatural(93)

Told differently, this could have been a third the length and ten times as powerful. It suffers from poor pacing and storytelling, which is a shame because the concept for this story is fantastic: A man loses his memory following a suicide attempt and lives with two brothers at a temple while he tries to remember who he is. Sounds great, but this was slapstick meta comedy (complete with Nirvana references - like, the band) drawn in chibi art for 75% of the work, and 25% a heart-wrenching, moving story I wanted to love. Unfortunately, the author was - according to her notes - allowed to take her time and draw whatever she felt like whenever she felt like it, and it shows. There's a wasted chapter about animal bentos and a heavy use of internet/gaming humor throughout that kept me from ever getting into the world the author had created OR caring about the characters. (OH, and in case you forgot, Mic is an airhead without his memory, and here’s this manga to remind you of that yet again through yet another anecdote where he forgets how to do something.) There is one sequence, showing what happened to Mic and Miku following her mother’s death, shown through the accumulation of trash in the apartment. It’s haunting and lovely, and knowing the author is capable of that sort of storytelling makes me wonder why the editors let this story be…this. Even the story’s climax, when the main character finally realizes he's been dead since before the story began, is laughed off a few pages later. It stripped the meaning for me. I can’t recommend this. But I suppose if you like comedy injected into a story that deals with not-funny topics (losing the man you love, surviving the death of someone who had become family, believing you caused the death of a child, and trying to take your own life) this might be the one for you. This didn’t have to be harrowing, but it could’ve been so much better.

I followed this on Lezhin for a year until the current love triangle (for lack of a better term) storyline started up, and I finally dropped the story when Siwon was kidnapped, which made me sad, because at one point this was something I looked forward to. It doesn't feel like the author wants Siwon and Jinha together anymore. So much of the confusion could've been cleared up with direct, honest conversation, but the kidnapping and forced jealousy aren't for me. I wonder if the author got bored with their own work? If the story ever reclaims the hints of sweetness it once had (Jun and Siwon's childhood story made me cry), and if Siwon can overcome his fear of what society will think of him, there's a chance for a good ending. But right now, this has skewed too far for me to enjoy.

A beautiful collection of oneshots. I think my favorite was a man who had been out in the cold for so long, he survived by taking other people's warmth and their lives. But he meets a man who lost his wife a few years earlier and warms (literally) as they fall in love. Also a sculptor and his mentor.