Inside Mari, Volume 5

ぼくは麻理のなか [Boku wa Mari no Naka] #5

by Shuzo Oshimi, Sheldon Drzka (Translator)

With an unexpected clue, Yori and Isao to wait for further contact from Mari. Unfortunately, neither one of them is strong enough currently to handle this sudden turn of events. Their next step will be to settle their differences with the hope that they’ll better understand Mari’s troubles.

Genres: Manga, Comics, Mystery, Seinen, Drama, Graphic Novels, Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 27, 2015

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

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

Okay, what the hell is going on? This is seriously creepy and I can't steady myself wishing to hurry everything and reach the revelation!! 4 more volumes! But lol, okay the real Komori finally had the guts to march up at midnight in front of a high schooler kid's window to confess his love! I mean, yea he's evolving. But I'm mostly curious about Yori and her sister's story—and their theory about Mari's consciousness is still inside her rather turned off at the moment. I don’t know what to think of it, but I kind of have an idea after reading sensei's Drifting Net Cafe. Got to be somewhat similar to that idea.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uhhh this volume was for sure uncomfortable, but like all of Oshimi's work I can't stop reading.

So this time Mari comes clean to her friend but of course she doesn't react very happy after hearing what they did in Mari's body. Then we have Mari go to her old body's home where she speaks to her/himself and helps him...well...I don't wanna spoil it but very weird situation.

This volume is odd, and I'm weirded out where we're going yet still intrigued.

[Urbon Adamsson · Rating 5 out of 5]

We're slowly understanding that Mari, one of the most popular girls in school, in fact, hated her life and admired Isao for his simple, unpopular but happy life.

The two are getting closer and the result is, interesting.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shuzo Oshimi is one of my favorite artists when he uses proper restraint but as Inside Mari goes on, it just gets more and more needlessly depraved and horny. Like, it’s only 9 volumes long so I’m gonna see it through to the end but man, you gotta cool it with the JO scenes. It’s beginning to feel like Asano’s Girl on the Shore.

I do want to stress that depravity and in general transgressive fiction can be done well when nuance is exercised. I just think in this instance the author is careening into some wild, self indulgent, wish fulfillment nastiness.

Anyway, Happiness and Blood on the Tracks are still top notch to me, I’d recommend either of them over Inside Mari.

[Brianna Jo♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The opening scene kind of confirmed for me, what I was already thinking and what I disclosed in my last review of volume 4. Isao really believes or wants to be Mari (in some very bizarre way). It doesn't make what he did in the last volume with Mari's body any less gross or less creepy, but it sort of makes sense in a way, at least to his character. Because at the end of the day, it is still very much Mari's body. HER body, not HIS...so everything he does with it will be without consent and therefore very uncomfortable to watch.

I kind of, don't even want to talk about the handjob scene...and Isao (in Mari's) body doesn't even make sense when it's revealed why he did it (to himself, that is). The story takes a dark turn to the narcissist psychosexual, a realm of psychoanalysis where not even Sigmund Freud would want to get his hands dirty with. I only have 4 volumes left, so I'm curious to see how this all ends, but all the super sexually explicit scenes can be kind of grossly exploitative, especially when they don't make a lick of much sense to the reader.

[Nicholas Driscoll · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I’m a way this manga feels like a fantasy for lonely nerdy boys, especially given the sexual confessions the author provides in the back of each volume. This time we learn that Yoro has an inferiority complex, we discover evidence that Mari remains inside of Komori’s consciousness, and Komori in Mari’s body gives a graphic handjob to other Komori in his own body, leading to him falling in love with her.

I think probably I’ll just read the summary on Wikipedia. While the story remains compelling and I love the art, I don’t want or need the sexual content. At this point it feels like exploitation, though to be quite fair it fits the characters. Even still I think I’ll move on.

[Sai Fighter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review for the whole series:



I read this series because of a video essay by ceicocat called "The Incel to Trans Pipeline and Inside Mari" which I highly recommend.

I read "Welcome Back, Alice" first, which I am glad I did because it really helped me understand the author's ideas about gender before diving into "Inside Mari." Inside Mari definitely feels like a gender exploration manga, but it isn't as straight forward about it as Oshimi's other manga.

This isn't your typical situational comedy gender swap manga (Ex. Ranma 1/2). This really feels like a more nuanced exploration of what it would really means to swap bodies with a teenage girl and all the stuff that would naturally come with it: complex female relationship dynamics, unwanted advances of men, social pressures of filling the role of a woman, school pressures, menstruation, etc. Not to mention at one point, it starts to feel somewhat like a trans narrative. The main character Isao Komori is struggling to decide if he wants to save Mari, be Mari, or just wants her sexually. It really reminds me of another manga, Until I Become Me by Satou Hatsuki which is another gender swap manga that slowly starts to take on a more trans story line. But Inside Mari feels a lot more abstract. The ending is honestly, ambiguous, and has more of a DID vibe which I didn't really enjoy. I would have rather it stayed more on the trans narrative track, but I also get that Welcome Back, Alice fills that narrative a little better so at least there is that. The "mystery" of where Mari is gets solved but its still pretty confusing.

This is definitely interesting. Not totally sure I would recommend but still pretty good.

[47Time · Rating 3 out of 5]

Things degenerate in this volume. Some events are likely used for the wow factor, but they seem a bit much even for me. Maybe they will make sense in the future, but right now I dare even say that the author manages to get into grotesque territory for no real reason.

Yori and Isao decide to have a sleepover to be together when Mari calls again. Yori drops by her house to pick up some clothes. Isao follows her and finds that Yori has a big sister named Mari. For some reason Yori calls off the sleepover in embaressment.

Isao visits his old self's apartment to pass the time. He manages to excite the poor guy into visiting the bathroom for some 'self-service'. Interestingly, Isao lends a helping hand. This part doesn't make any sense.

Back to Yori who figures out that Isao has some of Mari's old memories, like the intimate moment Yori and Mari shared in the infirmary. Yori feels closer than ever to Mari, even with Isao's mind inside her. Old Isao also seems to fall in love with Isao/Mari. The story is just weird at this point.

[Kastie Pavlik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I binge read volumes 2 - 9 so this is a generalized review until finale. The story was weird, and uncomfortable and funny at times. The eros commentary at the end of earlier volumes was probably creepier than any single moment in the books. The first volume described this series as having a "scifi" twist, but every volume after that stays a "dark" twist. There is no sci-fi. That mischaracterization made me form a theory that was way off the mark, but I caught the change early and let my imagination take over. I tried more to enjoy the story rather get than figure it out. Without spoiling anything, I did enjoy the entire series, am glad I opted to collect the effort series, and and satisfied with the conclusion.

[The Wrath of Eleny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the story but this is getting way too creepy for my liking and like not the scary type of creepy, the type of creepy where your stomach turns and you feel sick. Not to mention I wasn't expecting to have to read so much sexual things, like I understand why I needed to see what I saw and it was completely necessary for the plot. But c'mon this guy is a grown man, she's a teenage girl. That was disgusting idc if it's Japan but this summer I took it upon myself to read a wide range of different genres of books, I guess this isn't my cup of tea personally, not to say it isn't a good story, I definitely recommend it to people who like messed up stories.

[Sol · Rating 2 out of 5]

Welp... this is as far as the volumes go on Hoopla, so I guess this is all I'm gonna read... too bad...!


It's not that I hate these weird, psychosexual sorts of books -- in fact, the introspection aspect and looking at the ugly parts of ourselves that normally only WE get to see is my favorite part about this --but there's something very disgustingly fetishistic and damn near unironically pedophilic about this series. It makes me grit my teeth when I'm reading and I'm just not really having a good time, honestly.

[Bryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read it and I found it troubling, uncomfortable, but still interesting -- but it was two months ago, now, so the details have unfortunately mostly fled. But I am very curious to see where the author takes the series as a whole; if the ending lands well I will want to read it all from the beginning as a piece.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Woah...just when I was ready to give up on this for moving so slow...it picks up big time! I'm so annoyed the 6th volume isn't available digitally on Scribd or Kindle! Ugh...I hate to order just one volume in the middle...but I will. I want to know what happens next!

[Phou · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/2.5
No me gustó tampoco jajaj
El komori en su cuerpo original se me hace un vato bien asqueroso, en el cuerpo de Mari solamente se salva porque también existe Mari (y ni se salva tantísimo)
Super Freudian, me caga. Me cagan los afterwords del autor.

[Thomas Hale]

In which everyone comes together to admit they're pathetic, miserable creeps. One of the very worst sex scenes ever put on paper (and I mean that as a compliment). I haven't thought much about the artwork here but the level of frank disgust with which Oshimi depicts Komori's body is palpable.

[Ivy~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I hadn't been spoiled about the big plot twist in this series, I honestly might have DNF-ed after this volume, because while the plot twist puts everything in context and makes it more interesting, some of the stuff in this volume was still...a choice.

[Madeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

The psychosexual drama in this series verges on TWIN PEAKS-esque surrealism at times, and it's compelling if the themes are a bit muddled right now. Nice to have some genuine emotional bonding between female friends against this weird underlying premise.

[Sofía Barrantes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oshimi, Oshimi, con gran razón mi mangaka preferido...

[Alex Fyffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mari/Isao hybrid objectively observes the humiliating impotent male desire of their former self and can only laugh in disgust. Going through changes, indeed.

[Sanne Blomme · Rating 4 out of 5]

An out-of-body experience...

[Anna Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, first: WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST READ
Second: this is the last book on scribd and I'm sad about it.

[Jillian -always aspiring- · Rating 3 out of 5]

2020 Read #552

I have to admit the relationship that develops between Komori and Yori is one of the better things about this series.

[Joss · Rating 4 out of 5]

¡Cada volumen se vuelve mejor!

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Def not for kids

[AB · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 to 3.5

[isa · Rating 3 out of 5]

bro.

[Valerie S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review is gonna be on the volume 9 log lol

[KarleeXx0 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series just gets weirder and weirder and more and more uncomfortable. As someone who enjoys making myself uncomfortable, I'm hooked and really want to know how this ends.

[Markl Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t like some of the story choices in this volume. But, oh well.

[Derv · Rating 4 out of 5]

das liest sich aber weg wie sonst was