Rastros de sangre, vol. 15

血の轍 [Chi no Wadachi] #15

by Shuzo Oshimi

Justo cuando Seiichi ha decidido poner fin a su vida, recibe una llamada de la policía en la que le comunican que tienen a su madre en acogida. Seiko, que lleva 20 años sin ver a su hijo, no lo reconoce, del mismo modo que no se reconoce a sí misma, y se limita a repetir preguntas y respuestas sin ton ni son. Sin embargo, en un punto de la conversación con Seiichi, de repente, recupera la memoria. Seiichi, incapaz de controlar la rabia durante tanto tiempo contenida, está a un paso de pegarle un puñetazo... pero no llega a ejecutar la amenaza y lo que hace es alejarse. No obstante, los sentimientos que han despertado en lo más profundo de su ser crecen a cada día que pasa, hasta que decide volver a visitar a su madre a su casa. Allí le espera un abismo espantoso... Para los dos es el inicio de una larga, larguísima noche.

Genres: Manga, Horror, Comics, Seinen, Thriller, Graphic Novels, Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 30, 2023

About the author

Shuzo Oshimi (押見修造, Oshimi Shūzō) is a Japanese manga creator.
Drawn in a realistic art style, his comics tend to be psychological dramas exploring the difficulties in human relationships and often touching on disturbing situations and perversions.
Oshimi debuted in 2001 with the manga series Avant-Garde Yumeko, appeared in Kodansha's 'Monthly Shōnen Magazine.' Most of his works since then have been published by Kodansha and Futabasha.
Among his first successes the single volume manga Sweet Poolside (2004), later adapted into a live-action film, and the series Drifting Net Café (2008–2011), also adapted for TV.
Oshimi reached international acclaims with The Flowers of Evil (2009–2014) and Inside Mari (2012–2016), both adapted into successful anime. Other notable works are Blood on the Tracks (2017–2023) and Welcome Back, Alice (2020-2023) .

Reviews

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't pay attention to these people who say that the series is getting longer or meaningless. They are totally incapable of making a proper explanation anyway, all they do is whine meaninglessly. This is one of those stories that can be understood very easily if you read it carefully. Maybe the story is not meaningless, maybe it's you who don't understand... And keep in mind that this is a bit of a biographical work.

Those who say that the story should have ended a long time ago don't realize that it would have been a contrived and meaningless ending. Seiichi is an extremely addicted child and such an addict cannot recover in a short period of time, and he did not recover and got worse.

In this volume too, the author continues to perfectly describe the lives of two people like Seiichi and Seiko whose lives have sunk to the bottom.

In this volume, we got a glimpse into the mother's past, and we were able to better understand the mother's life of giving up, being looked down upon, her troubled childhood, and the ever-growing nothingness inside her. This volume made the mother's behavior in the earlier chapters more meaningful.

From this point on, I hope that we will start to see how two people like Seiko and Seiichi, who have sunk to the bottom of the void, can find a common path and move on with their lives, and maybe find a little bit of peace.

The artwork is excellent as always.

[daph pink ♡ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Someone make this stop please, this manga is not making any sense now.

[Katie Colson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading Vlog

Honestly, the only suitable ending I can imagine is double-murder/suicide. Nothing else would be able to garner the validation and vengeance and closure that we've been desperately seeking for 15 volumes and 30-odd years of Seichi's life.

I'm readying myself for disappointment with the finale but what a wonderful, disturbing, beautiful and tragic journey it's been.

[Bookishrealm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m sorry y’all but the love that I once had for this series just isn’t there anymore. I’m going to finish it out because I’m so close to the end, but it’s lost its steam and parts of it just don’t work. We get this back story on Seicho which is supposed to make us consider the idea of “hurt people hurt.” Unfortunately, it’s not enough for me to reconsider all the wild shit she did in the first story arc.

[HorrorBabe911 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one dragged a lot- really boring -like I’m so confused.

[Brandon Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I recommend this so far, but I’m with other reviewers in that the series has lost its intensity after the first ten volumes. I will finish it when the remaining copies become available, and I still overall recommend for a bleak and uncomfortable reading experience!!

[Keiko, the manga enthusiast ♒︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

We finally got Seiko's full back story—but heck, what does that mean? This volume broke my heart for Seiko, though. At least, I know now where she's coming from. But she's still a psychopath! Everything is slowly unfolding, the clouds of mists evaporating bit by bit. Still my heart won't settle. Enlightenment me, sensei!

[Kesa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible volume of an incredible manga. I now understand why Oshimi said that the first twelve volumes were just the splendid prologue.

[Haylee · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s like every volume hurts my brain more but I can’t stop reading because I have to know what happens and if EITHER of these poor people will GO TO THERAPY

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mother and son come face to face after decades apart, and we finally get the origin story of the woman whose bizarre actions have driven everything in this series, and it's just so . . . blah. She's an introverted person with an aloof father and emotionally abusive mother finds herself unable to attain any of her own dreams or the ones societal norms pushes on her.

More confrontations and revelations are coming in the final two volumes, but I'm finding it so hard to care at this point.

[Anabel Samani · Rating 3 out of 5]

En este tomo conocemos el duro pasado de Seiko, el dolor que la ha moldeado; una historia dura que, sin embargo, llegados a este punto, resulta un tanto insatisfactoria.

[Steph ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

Looks like we're finally going to get some answers on what's going on with all this insanity. I was starting to lose my mind with this series and even considered DNFing but I'll finish it for the sake of 2 more volumes.

[liz♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of Seiko’s backstory I would’ve rather remained a mystery but I did enjoy the cliffhanger ending. I understand why a lot of people seem to be disappointed in where the story has been going since the time jump. Although I thought the first part (pre time jump) was better, I’m invested enough to keep going and finish this series out.

[LX · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's interesting to get a backstory on her, but it still doesn't excuse the actions and things she's done. The start of the series was soooo good it was truly messed up, psychologically twisting, terrible to witness and see this mother do the things she did, but now for me it feels like it's dragging.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the reviews begging for this to end is making me LOL. I do think the series needs to wrap up sooner rather than later though

[DANI :-) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loving the backstory but it's still impossible for me to empathise with her. I know she's had a difficult life but that doesn't justify her mania for throwing children off cliffs!!

[Ostrava · Rating 5 out of 5]

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this awhile ago but never reviewed it. A fucked up view into mama dearest that helps make sense of her ways but not forgive it if that makes sense.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahhh things are starting to make sense now. Still doesn’t give her the right to treat her son the way she did though

[Janae (The Modish Geek) · Rating 4 out of 5]

And we're back! We are getting back to central, toxic relationship that hooked me in the beginning.

[Dazaiesque · Rating 5 out of 5]

I dropped this series a year ago and, now that I come back, it hits me different. The skill Shuzo has to destroy the world and bring the pieces back together! It's deeply moving to see characters you've targetted as the "villian" all along prove that nothing in life is black or white. One year away from finishing college, I feel I can understand loneliness, apprehension, and the fear of making important decisions in life better than ever.

[Baylor Heath · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I wished they’d all burn.”

For 14 volumes we’ve wondered, how does someone (“mommy”) become like that? And now, here in volume 15, we finally figure out…or do we?

In an epic, sweeping sequence, Oshimi shows us Seiko’s whole life up until the part of the story we know. Her life has its fair share of tragedies, maybe slightly more than the average person, but still, not so much that it makes sense to go throwing children off cliffs. We see early on, before most of the trauma, that something is off with Seiko. Her own bad mother sure played a role in her troubled psyche, but you still get the sense that it’s odd that she’d wish everyone would “burn.” It’s clear that she is a psychopath. That’s not an insult, just a diagnosis: she is someone with a lack of empathy, withdrawn, and devoid of feeling. And when she does finally feel something? It’s tragic.

Outside of this large flashback sequence, the art continues to shift into bizarre surrealism. Even the (second) author’s note at the end is sort of surrealist and hard to follow.

It’s hard to believe there is only two volumes left. How can a series with such a long prologue wrap up so fast in its “body”? What about Fuikishi??? It seems there’s a path to a happy ending…but knowing Oshimi and the tone of this series, it’ll only end in tragedy. Well, this has always been a slow motion train wreak and I’m here till the final bloody end.

[Estibaliz · Rating 4 out of 5]

It did pick up the pace a little bit, and it was somehow interesting to finally get a glimpse into Seiko's life and past... though, to be honest, I was expecting something more impactful that would explain her behavior to a greater extent.

Over all, I'm feeling a bit disappointed with the general direction that the series is taking, even if I do understand better now what the author is trying to do here. Still, it felt like the first part, even though it might have been conceived as a mere prologue, was slightly deceiving when it comes to the actual and current tone and mood of the story.

Once again, we get a bit of a disturbing epilogue from the author... Nay.

[Vex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume finally confirmed my suspicions about Seiko’s past. I’m relieved to finally have more answers, though they’re incredibly dark and depressing ones.

[Urbon Adamsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never expected to rate a volume from this series with less than 5 stars.

THAT is how much I think this series is amazing. However, it happened.

This volume was not particularly exciting.

Basically, this entire volume is Seiko telling Seiichi about her past. I guess it is a way for the author to try to explain to us why she is the way she is, and why she did the things she did.

I was not convinced. I don't think her past justifies her personality. A person can't perpetuate a cycle of evil just because something bad happened to her, at some point that cycle needs to stop and that requires character and strength, something she doesn't have, obviously.

Only 2 more volumes left in this series.

I'm curious to see how their relation will end up.

[Klinton Saha · Rating 3 out of 5]

সেইচি মায়ের কাছে আসে দেখা করতে। মা তাকে তার অতীত জীবনের ঘটনা বলতে থাকে। ছোটবেলা থেকেই মা নিজ পরিবারে নিঃসঙ্গ জীবনযাপন করেছেন। তার কোনো বন্ধু ছিল না। স্বপ্ন ছিল অভিনেত্রী হওয়ার। পরে তা হওয়া হয়ে উঠেনি। বিয়ের পর সেইচির বাবাও তাকে সময় দিতেন না। তিনি তার নিঃসঙ্গতা দূর করতে সেইচিকে জন্ম দিলেন। সেইচি ছিল তার একমাত্র বন্ধু।সেইচিকে অতিরিক্ত স্নেহ দিতে গিয়ে obsessed হয়ে পড়েন।


সেইচি মাকে দেখতে গেলে কখনো তরুণ অবস্থা আবার কখনো বৃদ্ধাবস্থা দেখেন। তার মনোজগতে মায়ের সেই তরুণী প্রতিকৃতি থেকে গেছে। কিন্তু আমাদের পাঠকদের জন্য আবার বৃদ্ধাবস্থাও দেখানো হয়। দারুণ ভাবনা।

[Bruna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm so close to the finish line so I'll keep going but damn her explanation feels so frail and empty when you know all the shit she did. It was a weak volume overall for me because so much of it was dedicated to try and explain (hopefully not try to excuse) why she is like this and behaves the way she does. Sorry but at some point personal responsibility must take the front seat, especially because of the impact her behaviour had in so many lives. Good cliffhanger though

[Ana Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

We could finally know intimately the mothers side.. what made her act and be like that.

Finally I feel some empathy for her
And, a sad story to know about

This manga is so powerful

[لِيو.]

امممم نوثينغ... افتكرت صملتي ان بقرأه للنهاية

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story gives the flashback I've been waiting for and it handles it really well.