Kyouichi Sukami pochodzi z rodziny egzorcystów, a jego starsza siostra jest już ekspertem w tej dziedzinie. Spisuje ona sposoby poradzenia się ze wszystkimi potworami z którymi miała do czynienia podczas pracy. Pewnego dnia Kyouichi i jego przyjaciele ze szkolnego klubu okultystycznego postanawiają zbadać przeklętą kapliczkę, ściągając na siebie poważne tarapaty. Siostra wybawia ich z opresji, ale niedługo po tym wydarzeniu znika, zostawiając po sobie jedynie notes. Kyouichi mimo upływu lat nadal wierzy, że odnajdzie swoją ukochaną starszą siostrę żywą. Nadzieja jest tym większa, że pojawia się przed nim kobieta twierdząca, że jest Ponurym Żniwiarzem, oraz przyjaciółką jego siostry…
This review is for the entire series and will be copied to the other two volumes reviews... except each will have it's own unique section about that particular volume... You can check out vol. 2 HERE and vol. 3 HERE...
Sukami is the heir to a family of exorcists, and he is very close to his sister, the strongest of them, whom is writing a book about how to defeat these different ghosts, monsters and spirits. The evening after his sister and he defeats the nameless god from an abandoned shrine she goes missing. 6 years later a reaper comes claiming to be his sister's friend! Who is she? And will completing the Ghost Diary really reveal his sister to him?
The art is very typical but suits the story. The backgrounds are well done and the characters stand out from one another. The monsters have creepy designs for the most part and add a ton of atmosphere to the story. My favorite part of the art are the tiny reaction frames and humor frames that the mangaka works into the frame layout. These aren't typical and add a lot to the relationships between the characters. I ABSOLUTELY adore the covers! Color adds a lot of character to the art, they are why I wanted to read the series and I can say I'm happy I did!
The story is quite simple... Sukami wants to find his missing sister. He meets a reaper who says if they finish his sister's ghost diary then he'll be able to find her. He has a friend who loves the occult. He has a girl who likes him a lot and wants him to get over his sister. And they have two other odd friends who make the whole experience fun! Even though the story was simple I DID want to find Hanaichi (his sister) and I wanted to see Mayumi (the girl who likes him) rewarded for her great loyalty. The problem is even though I was motivated the world didn't support the intrigue. Even though there was a monster a chapter it didn't take much to solve them and move on.
There is this strange combination that makes up this world. Supposedly it is supernatural in nature and is made up of ghosts. In the beginning we are introduced to a nameless god. In the story this is called the occult. The monsters though are really urban legends. They don't really make sense but can be creepy even though there is no real chance we'll believe them. I think the art goes a long way in making the monsters less ridiculous but they really are a crapshoot whether you'll enjoy these chapter arcs or not. There is some fan service especially with Hanaichi and Chloe and some references to incest which is icky but a major motivation. It's treated almost like a joke with the reader. It's the occult club and how these characters INTERACTED with the world that was so great!
The plot of volume 1 is mainly about meeting the occult club, learning how Hanaichi disappears (we always knew about that its not a mystery) and establishing the monster a chapter format while we learn about the friendships and relationships of everyone. While the monsters weren't the best I was totally intrigued by how I was able to LEARN about the characters through these interactions. It's really one of the best "monster a chapter" uses I've ever read!
An occult world where exorcists can help monsters that started life as humans back to the afterlife. Overstep your bounds though and you can easily become a monster yourself! Yes, the world is odd and doesn't quite make sense but the characters are great and make it worth the effort to read. The secondary characters even have their own compelling arcs that are fun and fit in the occult. Plus you won't see that end coming at all...!
BOTTOM LINE: An occult world where exorcists can help monsters that started life as humans back to the afterlife.
Thanks to Diamond Bookshelf and the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review. This has not influenced my opinion.
______________________ You can find this review and many others on my book blog @ Perspective of a Writer. See my manga and graphic novel reviews in a special feature called Saturday Morning Cartoons...
This manga was hard to rate. One one hand, it is excellent storytelling. It's a uniquely-flavored take on the "occult club solves paranormal mysteries" frame, with some unique (if urban legend-inspired) monsters. The Phantom Macaron chapter was especially creative and emotionally impactful, and played a large role in my final verdict on its own. On the other hand, it's filled with a lot of the creepiest manga cliches. We've got hints of incest with a weird age gap for extra eww factor, a female character beating up her love interest for stupid reasons (portrayed as comedic, of course), the main male character being mildly sexually assaulted (again, played for laughs, whereas a similar situation with a female character is played for drama), some strangely-censored nudity... every bad stereotype of anime and manga is here, and it's off-putting.
But as you can see, I rated it four stars and shelved it as a favorite anyway. These off-putting factors were certainly present, but they're not crucial to the story, and they're scattered enough that they don't seriously detract from the writing. And the writing is seriously good. I felt invested in the characters and stories, and I want to see what happens to them next. With that in mind, I think I'll continue reading this series, unless the uncomfortable aspects become more prominent in later volumes.
DNF @ 30%. I just can't finish this. It's horrendous. It's not even a dislike of the siblingcest killing it for me, but the way the reaper talks, using "moi" in lieu of I/ me/my/mine and "toi" for you/your gets on my everliving last nerve. This is a painful read and I'm not wasting time forcing myself to finish it.
This is just too weird for me. Chloe’s vocal tick is also kind of annoying because she’s using the French all wrong and it’s messing up the grammar and it really bothers me. I am gonna finish the series because I have the rest but I’ll probably get rid of it after that. The best part of this manga is the art and I find it really pleasing to look at.
This manga has everything. And by everything I mean every shitty manga cliché you can think of.
Sexual violence played for reader’s titillation, gross incest shit including introducing the character’s older sister by having her kiss him on the mouth, a tsundere osanajimi who does nothing but be a bitch and then cry because she’s jealous of the other people in protag-kun’s life, not to mention that there’s a shape-shifting demon who turns into his sister and sleeps topless with protag-kun, there’s also additional cross-dressing for humiliation and fat jokes for good measure.
It feels less like a story and more how many audience pandering tropes can be fit into one volume .
Too much unnecessary fanservice and a male gaze focus for my tastes. Weirdly has a lot of incest jokes within the first 10 pages and uses a lot of the stereotypical anime tropes for female and male characters (the hot tsundere, the quiet and meek hot girl, the hot and confident older high school girl, the hot mysterious girl who gets naked and speaks in third person, and of course the focused male chatacters full of determination!). The art brought me in, but the writing made me put it back on the shelf. Hard pass for me.
Started out good with the little past backstory with the sister going missing. Then we got to the present and I don't know where the hell the story went. I almost DNFed it. Definitely not a series for me.
Mystery, ghosts, a missing sister, a sexy reaper, and more.
I picked this one for my Copycat Challenge in one of my groups. I do love supernatural manga, especially ones with a different ghost each chapter while also having a continuous story running through the whole volume. Plus the art looked fabulous.
It all starts in the past, we learn of Sukami's sister who is an excellent exorcist, but then one day she disappears. In that first chapter we learn what happened, why she disappeared (and how). We see Sukami and his friends, and boy, I did think he was dumb. Yes, I get that you want to be as big as you sister, but to defy a god? To go against it? Eh. Not the brightest of ideas. We meet up with Sukami's friends, and the occult club they have. I loved that these kids had (and later on still have) a club about the occult. Figuring out mysteries and going after them. Having Sukami of course save the day 99% of the times (the other 1% will be belonging to a character we meet later on, Chloe).
Throughout this manga we see that Sukami, after 6 years, is still not over his sister. He is still searching for her, and still hoping to see her again. Now with Chloe it seems he may see her someday in the future. I did think his infatuation with his sister was a bit too much. He didn't even notice that there is another girl in his life who is in love with him, he only talks, and seemingly cares, for his sister. :| Come on dude. I get you love her, but you should also look around you some more.
Each chapter is a new mystery, a new horror. From a phantom macaron (yes, really) who murders girls and grinds them up for ingredients (ewww) to a sexy reaper girl who becomes their ally. I loved seeing all the mysteries, but I also loved that each chapter told us a bit more about the sister, Sukami's friendship with his friend and how they met. It is mystery of the week but now with something extra.
I did think it was hilarious that everyone looked pretty much the same as they did 6 years ago. For most (with the exception of Kukuri) they just got taller. :P
Chloe was a nice addition, very sexy too. Sure, at first I didn't like her that much, how she tried to kill Sukami's friends as they were in the way, and yes, I got annoyed with her Moi and Toi crap, but eventually I liked her more and more. She was a good addition to the team, and I loved that she did help Sukami out (like with the Phantom Macaron, Sukami has tons more to learn).
The last chapter? With the theme park? Oh man, that made me feel uncomfortable, or at least from the moment Mayumi got drugged. I am glad that Sukami came to the rescue, because heaven's I don't want to know how much further this would have gone *shivers*.
The art is pretty nicely done. I do love the character designs, especially the eyes (though at some points they are a bit creepy).
But while I did have tons of fun, I was also a bit bored at times, and again the whole sister infatuation was also getting a bit too much for me at times. I felt sorry for Mayumi. I will continue reading though. It is a short manga with only 3 volumes. I am curious if he will complete the book and if he will meet up with his sister again.
Wow, this is NOT a good start to this series. This is a reread for me and I read this volume when it came out in 2017, and while I wasn't super impressed with it back then it was still slightly enjoyable. Now? Not so much.
Maybe it's because I've read so many new series since then, but the only saving grace of this volume was the supernatural aspects (because I am absolute TRASH for that shit, we've been over this a billion times). Everything else was either uninteresting or super FUCKING annoying. The characters are one-dimensional and annoying, the story CANNOT figure out what tone it wants to go for, and the volume ends (as in the last chapter, not the side story) with the one female character being molested by an adult who looks like a child. Yeah, NO FUCKING THANK YOU. It doesn't help that the other characters do so little to help and are really just there to conveniently help Sukami in whatever he's doing. Oh, and the story is fine, but not terribly engaging, kind of a monster of the week formula with boring/annoying characters. Yaaaay me.
Despite my gripes, I intend to finish the series since I own it and it's only three volumes long, but suffice it to say this series is not nearly as good as I once thought.
I have a love-hate relationship with graphic novels, comics, and manga. I want to love such stories, yet I always find myself wishing I had been given more. There are a very limited number of such stories where I find myself recommending them to other people, yet this limited selection of previously enjoyed stories does not stop me from continuing to search out more. Through all the disappointment, I expect to find more I’ll enjoy.
The first volume of Ghost Diary, sadly, was not something I overly enjoyed. It was simply okay. There was an interesting story within, yet there was nothing that really grabbed me. I powered through it in no time because I was curious about how it would come together, yet there was nothing that had me eager for more. It had potential for so much more, yet it never offered something to make it stand out. I am sure it will work for many, but this one did not work for me.
All in all, this first volume of the series was not one that left me eager to dive into the next. As I borrowed volume one and two from the library, however, those small moments of curiosity were enough for me to pick up the second volume.
1.5⭐ ❗TW: zaginięcie, przemoc seksualna i kilka innych, których nie pamiętam
Ktoś dobrze napisał, że ta manga miała wszystko - wszystko co niepotrzebne. Liczyłam na coś fajnego, w stylu ,,Hanako" i faktycznie niektóre potwory/tajemnice się powtarzały, ale to tyle. Wizualnie była ładna, ale treść...
Było chaotycznie, nie wiedziałam, co się dzieje i chyba nadal nie wiem. Zostało tu wrzucone chyba wszystko co tylko się działo: przebieranie się za dziewczynki w krótkich spódniczkach; brat zakochany w siostrze; grupa przyjaciół; polowanie na potwory, ale żeby nie było tak strasznie to mają one smutną historię i łowcy duchów im wybaczają bo tak; typ wyglądający jak małe dziecko usiłuje zgwałcić dziewczynę, którą nazywa siostrą i tak dalej.
Skończę całą serię, skoro ją kupiłam, ale nie polecam tych tortur.
There's a lot of promise for this series with a younger brother seeking to find his missing older sister whilst solving supernatural/occult mysteries along the way. Although the pacing is somewhat a bit too fast - each mystery gets introduced and then solved within a chapter - many interesting things are going on, be it for the chapter or the overall plot. The main group of characters are fun and quirky, if a little bit stereotypical of manga tropes. But it is a fun, easy read and definitely not that scary to give me nightmares.
Overall I generally liked it but maybe it has been a while since I read manga because some of the storyline was genuinely weird for me. Also Chloe's awkward sounding use of French pronouns continually bothered me. The friendship plot was genuinely solid and I really liked it. The 3rd volume in general threw me for a loop. Kind of an offbeat ending but an ending nonetheless.
This one was between 3 and 4 stars for me. It had some good bits, it has potential. But it felt a little rusty. It started slow, a Lot of dialogue, and a lot of rementioning of who is who. But I think this was only because it was the first volume. I think I will give the second volume a go some time. 3.5 stars, rounding down to 3 on here.
This is clearly the work of a first-time author who hasn't quite gotten the rhythm down yet, but it has the potential for improvement as the series goes on.
Occult club? Missing sister? Exorcists? Ghosts and more? TAKE MY MONEY! I was an easy sell after I read the bio of this series. The art is beautiful and the storyline is interesting enough to keep me curious after the first volume. It is a bit dark, which I like, but wasn't necessarily expecting. There is a bit of WARNING .
0.5 Stars *content warning: Review contains descriptions of sexual violence/sexual harassment against characters in the manga.
I hated this. Here are some of the reasons why: -Fan service: I understand that this is popular in media and manga. Still, it is just not for me and I'm not a fan of it. I hate when there is a unnecessary sexualization of characters. -The incest jokes/vibes: Throughout the story there is a lot of talk about how Sukami Kyouichi feels attracted to his sister. He apparently gets turned on by her. It's played like a joke and Kyouichi is constantly blushing whenever he thinks of his sister and his feelings for her play as a major motivation to him finding her. There is also a kiss on the lips shared between them. -Characters constantly talking about women's body: This story feels very humorous at times and there is a lot of unneeded talk about a person's chest, butt, body, curves, etc. -Kyouichi being sexually harassed yet it was played like a joke: Being groped and touched without his consent is a serious matter, it shouldn't be something that feels as if its only meant to push the plot forward. -Sexual violence against another character: She gets molested by a man who looks like a boy. Who pins her to a tree, threatens/plans to kill her but first hopes to take her virginity. He proceeds to undress her and gropes her breasts while kissing them. He also takes photos of her body and plans to film videos of her. Then the protagonist swoops in to save her and that scene ends. A scene that feels as if its supposed to push forward their possible romance ensues straight after, which is terribly inappropriate after something terrible happened. -The plot: It felt all over the place with an odd mixture of darker themes and ill-timed humor. The plot felt choppy and odd.
Final verdict: Will not continue with this manga trilogy.