Miko sees dead people - although not her therapist, which is unfortunate because they might have helped - and some other stuff that Freud would have had a field day with. Nobody else does, however, so she does her best to ignore them, which is kind of difficult when spirits keep showing up in the most unfortunate places.
Only that Sadako book keeps this from being the weirdest thing I read all week. I think this is meant to be a comedy, given most endings of the various chapters, and it’s amusing at points, but it’s also really bizarre. The stories follow a basic pattern of Miko hoping something doesn’t show up and then being discomfited when it inevitably does.
And it veers hard into some weird ecchi vibes at points, leaning into male gaze and posing and such. To my own surprise, I really liked Miko’s friend Hana, who overcomes her introduction as a giant pair of boobs to turn, if not into a fully realized character, then at least a clearly good friend. The two provide a cute contrast to one another.
It gets better as it goes. I didn’t love the initial chapters - I can go another lifetime without seeing spirits made entirely of hands copping a feel on somebody and them not noticing. As I alluded to, there’s a lot of odd sexual moments in the depiction of the spirits - there’s a story about a couple who clearly deserve one another that is... phew... yep. That’s sure a design.
Once Hana gets more invested in trying to get a little peace and quiet, it improves - there’s a story with a fortune teller that’s pretty predictable but I still liked a lot. The comedic timing in that one is pretty sharp.
Then there’s the last story, which takes what was done before this and uses it in a unique and genuinely surprising way. It continues the vein of discomfort but also injects some warmth and drama into it that I appreciated, while still being amusing. If the book maintains that vibe it’ll do okay.
3 stars - it has some rough patches but there’s a potential here that, if it can lay off fetishizing its characters as much, could lead to better things. And hey, a good surprise out of that last chapter counts for a lot. Definitely worth a second volume.