Dã ngoại nơi Mặt sau của Thế giới (Otherside Picnic), Tập 1: Hồ sơ thám hiểm kỳ quái của chúng tôi

Otherside Picnic Light Novel #1

by Iori Miyazawa, Nguyễn Dương Quỳnh (Translator), shirakaba (Illustrator)

Dã ngoại nơi Mặt sau của Thế giới (tên gốc: Urasekai Picnic) là tác phẩm Light novel dài kỳ được sáng tác bởi tác giả Iori Miyazawa và minh họa bởi họa sĩ shirakaba.

Bên cạnh thế giới bình thường của con người tồn tại một “Thế giới Mặt sau”, nơi cư ngụ của những sinh vật kỳ dị và nguy hiểm trong truyện ma và truyền thuyết đô thị. Một ngày nọ, cô sinh viên Kamikoshi Sorawo vô tình mở ra cánh cửa đến với "Thế giới Mặt sau", và gặp được Nishina Toriko – một cô gái đang trên đường tìm kiếm người bạn mất tích của mình tại đây. Với những động cơ khác nhau, hai người đã lập thành một nhóm và cùng nhau chiến đấu để sinh tồn trong thế giới quái dị đó.

Dã ngoại nơi Mặt sau của Thế giới đã thu được rất nhiều những phản hồi tích cực tại thị trường Nhật Bản bởi cách tiếp cận câu chuyện hết sức độc đáo của tác giả, cũng như việc khéo léo lồng ghép những truyền thuyết đô thị nổi tiếng của xứ sở mặt trời mọc để tạo nên một “Thế giới Mặt sau” thú vị nhưng cũng không kém phần đáng sợ. Tác phẩm đã được chuyển thể thành truyện tranh vào năm 2017 và phim hoạt hình vào năm 2021.

Genres: Light Novel, Horror, Manga, Yuri, LGBT, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Paperback

First published February 23, 2017

Reviews

[bobbu · Rating 5 out of 5]

YEAHHHHH GO LESBIANS

[Mercedez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A solid first volume that mixes Japanese horror, internet creepypasta, 2chan horror stories, and the Uncanny Valley together in a terrificly terrify stew, all centered around finding a lost friend in a haunting, mezmerizing parallel world that often creeps into our own.

(Also features a very sapphic main character!)

I'm very excited for Volume 2.

[Baltiyak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly a really nice sci-fi horror light novel which refreshingly doesn’t have any of the typical light novel tropes. The Otherside is pretty unsettling almost in the style of Annihilation. If you ever uttered the phrase ‘show don’t tell’, you are likely to be satisfied with the author. She knows when to add detail and when to withhold it. When to explain and when not to explain.

Also does a great job with the character work. The two mains are fairly well defined. While it’s easy to see why they would attach to each other, there are plenty of instants of friction that promises for compelling conflict between the two.

[Ari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most light novels, Otherside Picnic relies on a kind of intertextuality. But instead of drawing inspiration from video games or high fantasy, it takes its cues from the internet horror stories and urban legends of Japan. This would be a welcome departure from the usual, well-worn tropes on its own, but the author goes the extra mile, weaving these disparate occult sightings together into an (other)world that is all his own.

This world--the titular Otherside--unfolds through the experiences of Sorawo Kamikoshi, a struggling, lonesome college student, who stumbles into it quite by accident. During a nearly fatal encounter with one of that world's inhabitants, she is saved by Toriko Nishina, a more experienced Otherside expeditioner. The book unfolds in a series of forays into the world, though which Sorawo and Toriko gradually learn more about it through increasingly dangerous encounters with its denizens.

The episodic structure is used to great effect, allowing the series to evolve at a rapid but well-controlled pace. Of equal appeal are the world that Miyazawa reveals, little by little, and the complex relationship between Sorawo and Toriko (though there's some immediate chemistry, it's a fairly gradual build-up). That said, the series seems intent on making the Otherside something quite explicable and the progress of the investigation often seems too clear cut, especially within the broad genre of weird fiction. I would personally have preferred a bit more mystification and a bit less faith in science--but given how captivating the book's sense of the fantastic is, this is quite the minor issue.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can tell this was serialized because of the way information keeps getting reiterated as if you didn’t just read it last chapter.

I like the premise, which involves a very creepy other world that has a basis in folklore and urban legends, a lot. And the world being created has a credible amount of danger - I liked the sense of menace throughout. The characters were somewhat interesting.

But how the flip is this classified as yuri!? I mean what’s here is so incredibly insubstantial it might as well be vapor. I don’t mind the book, but it defies belief that it deserves to be classified as yuri.

Have we coined the phrase yuri bait and switch? I mean, it’s pretty apt here...

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m really bummed Saotoshi Kon is dead

This would have been right up his alley. Things that grasp on the concepts of rumors. Distorted reality. Peeling away our own perceptions of the world. All his roadhouse.

Only real issue was the occasional repetition of plot points we already know.

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, I want to give this five stars in creep factor and concept, because this was sooo creepy and cool. I like how unique the ideas were, how things could change on a dime and nothing was really what you thought it was. Conceptually it was pretty meta too, like it had the potential to be kind of philosophical. I didn't really mind that it was episodic. This is my first light novel so I'm guessing that's just how they are, but either way it felt like a sequential set of short stories, which I'm okay with (though I would definitely have preferred a more cohesive single narrative).

Unfortunately where this totally flopped for me was in the writing and the translation. Again, this was my first light novel, but it felt very fanfiction. Is this normal? I don't know. But it drove me crazy the way the flow was formatted in a way that had no localization whatsoever. As someone who speaks Japanese I could literally visualize what the original Japanese was. This isn't always bad but in literature I think a few more liberties could've been taken. I wish I had read it in Japanese, then the writing might not have bothered me as much. Then again I didn't get the sense that there was any really sophistication to the writing, but I don't think that's the point of a light novel.

I have mixed feelings. I wish it was a regular novel written with interesting language, because it could've been sooo atmospheric and emotional and cool. So...solid 3.5 rounded down.

I did enjoy the (intentional or not) sapphic undertone though!!

edited to add: Oh I guess this was marketed as yuri, so in that case boo! Make it gayer!!

[Aleksandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was definitely a light novel as in an easy to follow story. I do remember the plot quite well, even though I’ve watched the anime years ago.

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

there's literally a works cited page for a study on the physiological effects of horror this was made for me

[Terrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice introduction to the cast of this action-adventure, paranormal, Yuri work. We get to learn about the two girls, Toriko and Sorawo, and see their strong points and their vulnerabilities. In particular, Sorawo visited the Otherworld for herself, she's very possessive of the few places and people she knows, and would rather not share the experience. The girl who seems to be trying to squeak into her social sphere is Toriko, a blonde haired beauty that is much more fashionable, but who desperately needs her newfound friend's help to discover an old acquaintance of hers.

This novel is extremely different than virtually everything we have in the light novel space. A small bit of research was put into the paranormal existences you'll meet in this story. From the gory, to the grotesque, to the more bizarre and tough to grasp, these creatures of the occult and our heroes' struggles to fight them will enthrall young adult readers and even adults. Highly recommended.

[Nova Syzygy]

rtc

[CatSidhe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Light novels can be an odd genre. You come across a lot of badly written, generic, and low effort isekai, and then you suddenly find a book like this, well-written, entertaining and amazingly original. Otherside Picnic combines Lovecraftian horror, weird science fiction in the style of Stanislaw Lem and the Strugatsky Brothers, Japanese folklore and internet ghost stories, well-written, funny, interesting and complex female characters similar to the ones in Terry Pratchett's novels, and a slow, realistic lesbian romance in the style of Adachi and Shimamura, and managed to weld this disparate elements into a coherent whole. It has rapidly become one of my favorite fantasy series since I read it last year, and I liked it even better since I started rereading it last week.

So what is it about ? We come across our very unlucky heroine Sorawo Kamikoshi has she lay "drowning in a grassy field" on the Otherside, a strange dimension full of alien monsters taking the appearance of internet ghost stories. She is then saved by a beautiful blonde called Toriko Nishina, and decides to partner with her in order to explore the Otherside and to look for Toriko's friend Satsuki who disappeared here. Rereading it, I realized I really enjoyed the interactions between the asocial and cynical Sorawo and the reckless and optimistic Toriko. They are both slightly crazy and silly while still being tough and competent, in a way that came across as believable. The Lovecraftian horror was also well-written and disturbing, and managed to genuinely scare me (particularly the Time-Space Man story). Another interesting overall plot line throughout the series was the slow unravelling the mystery of the Otherside : What is this place ? What actually lives here ? And what happened to Toriko's friend Satsuki ?

I truly enjoyed rereading that book and give it five stars out of five, as I did the first time I read it. On to the next one !

[Emmaline Loving · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite how long it took me to actually get through this, every time I picked it up I enjoyed what I was reading. It's not a style I'm used to (this is my first light novel) but it does have the elements of sci fi and horror that I really enjoy (plus it's very clearly inspired by Roadside Picnic/Stalker which is a plus) and it was honestly a lot easier to digest than a lot of what I usually read. The characters feel fairly well realized and contrary to what some people say, there's definitely a unique slant to the relationship between Sorawo and Toriko (though it's not overtly romantic, true).
Overall, it's not hard to recommend if you enjoy sci-fi and horror as long as you go into it knowing what to expect: the horror is a bit understated, the sci-fi is restrained, and the yuri is clearly aiming for a slow burn.

[Cate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great start to a manga series. This reminds of strangers things a bit but make it have sapphic love added in. Some of the panels were a bit confusing because there was so much going on at once, but it got better as the story went on. Excited to continue this series.

[nisa esen · Rating 5 out of 5]

sapphic reimagining of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Song on loop: Chaos A.D. by Nasser

[Ari · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read the manga version of this series, and had to put it down after a few chapters because of the terrifying illustrations (I can't handle horror!). Despite that, I was still compelled to continue reading the story, and was so ecstatic to realize the original work was a Japanese light novel, which had been translated to English! I ended up buying all four books in the series and read it in a span of one week.

A bit about the series
First published in Japan, The Otherside Picnic is a Japanese light novel series of five books translated into English for the North American audience. Socially awkward university student Sorawo Kamikoshi stumbles into an eerie, deceptively peaceful world, immediately drawn by its secrets and mysteries. Adventuring into the unknown, she quickly discovers that the world is abound with infamous monsters from Japanese urban legends and ghost stories.

Equipped with knives and guns, Sorawo and her companion Toriko use newfound abilities to defeat the horrors they encounter, all while exploring the unknown realm day after day. Despite their successful defenses, they soon find that elements from the Otherside are leaking into the real world, threatening their normal lives.

Other thoughts
This series is a delightful introduction to “Isekai”, the popular Japanese multimedia genre where human beings are transported or reborn in an alternate world. A unique element of the series is its intertextuality. While Japanese readers may delight in familiar monsters breathed to life, North American readers can enjoy an intriguing introduction to Japanese folklore and Internet tales. The departure from conventional myths and stories commonly retold in English novels also adds a layer of suspense to the series.

Each book is well-paced, with action and tension driving the plot, balanced against moments of meaningful interaction between the characters. Japanese light novels are known for their emphasis on dialogue, and Miyazawa has expertly depicted the characters’ personalities, motivations, quirks, and vulnerabilities primarily through their relationships with one another.

The two strong female leads subvert traditional Japanese gender role expectations for females with their thrill-seeking behaviour and use of guns. Although the story is based in Japan, the author offers a touch of diversity by introducing the second female lead as Canadian-born. The light novel is classified as “Yuri”, Japanese for “girls’ love”, and I'm looking forward to how their relationship grows as they bond through their adventures.

[Storm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this first book of Iori Miyazawa's Otherside Picnic Light Novel Series for Reddit Fantasy's 2024 Bingo Square Eldritch Creatures. This qualifies for hard mode as it is not related to the Cthulhu mythos. Actually enjoyed it so much I ended up watching the anime.


Sorawo Kamikoshi somehow ended up in another realm, where the beautiful blonde Toriko Nishina saves her from drowning. They soon face a creature neither can see or comprehend, and it's only by the skin of their teeth and Toriko's gun, that they survive, returning to the "real" world with a strange cube, both forever physically changed by that encounter.


Once safe, they meet up with a researcher lady where they compare notes. Sorawo, a student of mythology, surmises the eldritch creature is a Wiggle Waggle, that drives those who can see it mad. After the researcher pays Toriko for the strange relic, the money is so tempting Sorawo decides to hunt more creatures for profit. Hate to admit it but if you throw enough money at someone at some stage temptation sets in, but more than money there is the appeal of spending more time with the extremely fascinating Toriko, win-win?


Sorawo is also intrigued by the Otherside, surmising most Folk Myths and Urban Legends might actually just be people's descriptions of creatures and things they have encountered in the Otherside. This theory is soon proved true when they meet a man searching for his lost wife, and he tells them to be wary of invisible "Glitches" which, let's just say, they don't want to accidentally walk into because things would end up really really badly for them.


This is an interesting premise, very amateur X-Files, as two ladies try to unravel the mysteries of the Otherside, populated by all kinds of eldritch creatures that people know little about, or understand. They have no training, surviving on Sorawo's geek-like knowledge of the Otherside and Toriko's access and skills with firearms (she's Canadian). Certainly this novel doesn't lack action, there's even an entire US Army Battalion that accidentally ended up in the Otherside.


The world building and lore are perhaps the best thing because some of the creatures identified are reminiscent of certain urban legends even I have heard of. Things are so dangerous I am not sure I'd ever want to return voluntarily to the Otherside, but ... whenever the ladies are in Japan, it inevitably leads to good times enjoying mouthwatering meals and drinking beer.


It's almost as if the safety of the normal world lulls them into a false sense of security, scrambling the logic circuits in their brains and they keep returning to The Otherside, chiefly because Toriko is still searching for her friend, Satsuki. So there's action, uncertainty, mysteries to be unraveled, simmering attraction and jealousy as Toriko is hell bent on finding her missing mentor (or more?)

The premise and world building are great. The characters are compelling enough to suck a reader in. But frankly the prose reads very average to prosaic. I am not sure if this is because the matter of fact tone is original to the novel, or whether it is just some stuff is lost in translation? I do know I've read translated Japanese works by other authors that were more lyrical in their prose, but since I'm not an expert able to read the original language I can't tell either way.

[Elle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this on a recommendation and fully expected to love it because it appeals to two of my interests: urban legend horror and yuri. I was left feeling a little underwhelmed. The horror elements were executed well for the most part. Moments where our protagonists shifted to the Otherside were punctuated by the type of scare that I love—a deep, dreadful feeling that something just isn't right. I also liked the little "aha!" moments I experienced when I recognized some of the lore pulled from popular mythos and internet legends. However—and this might well and truly be because I just lack the needed reading comprehension skills—I found myself rather lost at times. I get that the Otherside is barely something the characters themselves understand, but sometimes it's almost...too nonsensical? Like I'm left wondering why I should care about the things they conjecture on because it's not really clearing anything up for me anyway lol. Some of the descriptions of the creatures and phenomena felt weighted as well. Maybe the logic of the world just went over my head, but it did make for a less pleasurable read.

The relationship between the two main girls is only there if you squint, but I can see how this story is leaning more towards sci-fi horror with yuri rather than yuri sci-fi horror, which I don't mind. For whatever reason I'm not super endeared to our protagonists yet (Though I do like Kozakura....it's quite cute how skittish she can get) but I'm itching to read the next volume so I expect my opinion on them and the story will improve.

[A · Rating 1 out of 5]

Here the openng paragraph:
Beneath the clear May sky, I lay in a grassy field, drowning.
Plankton-like shapes were jumping around across the backdrop of the blue sky. It was what it looked like when you could see the white blood cells in your eyes—or so I had read somewhere.
The wind caressing my upturned face carried the stench of raw fish. I had no idea if it really was fish or not. Since coming to the Otherside, I hadn’t seen a single fish, after all.
I had fallen flat on my back in the middle of grass taller than me. The roots of the grass were submerged in water, so my back was soaked, too. It was what you might call a half-bath.

***

This is what I call bad prose. I am not sure I can call it bad writing of the original, or even a bad translation, but definitely bad writing (prose) of the translation.

My edit, to highlight the issues:
Tall grass with its roots sumberged in water. I fell flat on my back right in the middle of it, giving myself an unintended half-bath.
Beneath the clear May sky, I lay there, drowning.
Plankton-like shapes jumped around across the backdrop of the sky, looking like white blood cells that float in the eye--or so I had heard.
The wind caressing my upturned face carried the stench of raw fish.
But since I came to the Otherside, I had not seen a single fish.

***

If you accept, even celebrate, bad writing, you foster the production of more bad writing. No one wins.

[Tara V · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not quite sure if this is on the translation or the original text but there were some typos and at least one inconsistency that stood out to me. (I read J-novel's ebook of the first volume.)

Other than that I really loved reading the first volume and I'm looking forward to reading more! While I felt Sorawo's inner voice was a bit corny at times it felt like that was perhaps just the writer still getting settled into her character.

What I loved the most though, is the encounters with urban legends/ghosts/???, which are described in ways that are hard to wrap your head around and help you feel more connected to the way the characters feel in their encounters because the otherside just is incomprehensible to humans. I also like how Sorawo is invested in ghost stories and urban legends as a student in anthropology (if I remember right), making her explaining famous ghost stories and her inquisitiveness make sense.

And, sapphic main characters are more relatable to read to me, so that's a real cherry on top! I'm really looking forward to reading the other volumes!

[Jenn Odd · Rating 5 out of 5]

**Weird and Wonderful**

I was expecting yuri, fantasy isekai, but what I got was a horror, sci-fi adventure. Completely thrown through a loop in a good way!

The writing is REALLY good! Most traditional modern Japanese isekai/fantasy are not well written and tend to get bogged down with tell, don't show. This novel was completely the opposite with the overall mystery of the world and characters revealed very slowly. We glean enough to be satisfied but are left with more questions that keep us reading.

The Japanese itself was difficult because of the incredibly abstract situations and ideas expressed, but it was so entertaining I didn't mind at all. Probably best for N1 level learners who are familiar with fantasy/sci-fi.

[Beaufale · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction with interesting characters, an intriguing plot and inventive world-building.

What if urban legends were true but they came from another world? What if you could enter that world? That is the Otherside.
Sowaro, the POV character, is a grumpy introvert who is swayed by pretty blondes and I can't blame her.
Toriko seems much more like a classic extrovert, only she struggles to make friends and is searching for the only one she's ever made in the Otherside.
It seems they have a lot in common and I hope future books have them bonding and exploring more.
I am excited to read further volumes.

[Scarlet Lockwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

What makes this story stand out and one of the reasons I love it so much is because it is so unique from others in the genre. It is difficult to explain without spoiling it but I greatly enjoy it and haven't read anything in the genre I can compare it to, making it a refreshing read.
The writing + translation is great. The world building and descriptions are very well done. The best thing by far though is the characters. The two main characters and their relationship are so well done. It is incredibly rare for me to be so invested in a relationship between characters and I love the characters separately as well.
I highly recommend this series.

[Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really well done subtle horror with an almost slice-of-life feel. It's been a while since I've read a good horror, and I picked this up for free on a whim and was pleasantly surprised. It's the exact sort of otherworldly, weird, lovecraftian, creepy horror that I love; things that eat at your mind and sanity, defying the physics of the world and making nothing you know about reality trustworthy. And it's written in a relaxed and almost casual style that makes it easy to read and enjoy while lending some extra creepiness and suspense when things go south.

The author has also put in a lot of research into folklore, ghost stories, and fear, and it shows. They use a good bit of the afterward discussing the origins of some of the stories and their references, which was nice.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it to those who'd like a foray into weird horror, casual or otherwise. I read this one for free, but I fully intend to grab the rest of the series as well.

[ShingetsuMoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel had an excellent start and does a nice job of setting up and introducing readers to the kind of horror and monsters that are to come. The book is broken up into Cases and then chapters in each Case. There's a bit of a time skip from one Case to another, usually just a few days, and a brief summary of what just happened. If you're reading the book straight through it can take some getting used to but I appreciated the short, sentence or two reminders at the start of each following Case.

Sorawo and Toriko both have different reasons for ending up in the Otherside. Sorawo stumbled in by accident and got curious to see more, while Toriko came in search of her tutor and friend. This leads both of them back into the Otherside more then once but also leads to a rift between them as encounters become more and more dangerous.

For me it the book started off more fascinating then scary. As the novel went on and each Case went by however that started to change and it became more and more unsettling. I've still read scarier horror but this is still some great stuff and well worth reading.

[Estefany CI Glar · Rating 4 out of 5]

No me esperaba que Otherside Picnic me causara tanto miedo e incertidumbre... Cuando comencé a leerlo la historia me causó tanta intriga sin embargo cada que avanza a más con la historia los personajes me transmitían el miedo al que se enfrentaban en cada situación, dicho todo esto no podía parar de leer.

[Mollie Glynn-Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Urban legends and lesbianism, need I say more.

Actually though, I loved reading this, finished it in a day and soon started the second. The writing is good and the whole concept feels fresh. I also liked to see how the animation had adapted certain scenes compared to the light novel.

Overall, really enjoyed and am happy reading the second one.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

solid light novel and a good start for a series. It's got some scary bits and action, and so far all of the characters are interesting. I'm not super into horror stories or creepypastas so this would probably be of more interest for people into that kind of thing but the action is good enough that I am willing to stick around for it.

[Chad Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read. The characters are cute and the plot is fun. As someone who is a massive fan of internet folklore and Creepypastas, this struck a cord with me. Also the overly detailed descriptions of the guns are cool. There is clearly something bigger going on with the narrative and I will definitely read more.

[tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

i've never thought of how much i needed "wlw characters fighting against folklore/creepypasta supernatural creatures" plot in my life. i'm so glad to know that there's more 3 books (until now) to read. LET'S FUCKING GO LESBIANS!!!!!