[Thanks to Netgalley and Kodansha for an ARC of this manga in exchange for an unbiased review]
As death looms amidst a ferocious blizzard, things get awkward between hikers Ishikura and Asai, when the former admits to an old murder, just before they manage to find the shelter they were looking for. And suddenly the darkness is closing in, both literal and figurative.
This is a real mixed bag of a one-shot, but overall I quite enjoyed it. It starts with a classic scenario - I saw this exact same thing play out in a volume of In/Spectre a while back - and effectively amps up the tension.
For a story that only involves two guys and the death of a woman they both knew, it zips along at a brisk clip and doesn’t feel terribly boring. This is one of those suspense stories that knows when to pile on and it usually ratchets things up just when it might otherwise flag.
The set-up is probably the biggest hurdle, as establishing the scenario and waiting for Asai’s paranoia to really start kicking in takes a bit long, but once the snowball’s rolling and all that.
It helps that the story doesn’t play its cards close to its chest for very long either. Yes, yes, there is a certain joy in a story that is gaslighting the whole way with how innocent things are, but sometimes getting to the point is good too.
And this one barrels towards a confrontation and a conclusion that are very tense and very dark, respectively. There are no heroes in this one, putting it mildly, and while a plot twist didn’t quite land for me, the ending is savagely brutal.
The extended battle of wits and not-so-much between the two is what makes this as good as it is. The brinkmanship of two people in a life-and-death struggle to survive makes this one a real page-turner and worth the reader’s effort.
Now, story wobbles aside, some of the art here is really goofy. I love that it’s going for an older style, that part is great, but there’s one particular shot of Asai reacting that is hilariously badly drawn (I snickered, which is bad) and conveys nothing it’s supposed to. There are some other clunkers amidst the panels, but that one is egregiously bad.
3.5 stars - rounded up for being overall enjoyable for the majority of its page count and taking an old premise and making it a fun time. A good little one-shot.