First impressions manga review: Otherside Picnic, story by Iori Miyazawa, illustrations by Mizuno Eita

 


            I had been looking for a manga that was “‘Seraph of the End’ or ‘Heaven Official’s Blessing’, but with girls’” – meaning fantasy action/adventure, but with female protagonists and Sapphic vibes (preferably without fetishizing) – and it seemed a futile search…until now! Premise: Sorawo is an introverted, nerdy college student who is excited to have found a hidden world - at least until she encounters a bizarre-looking creature that seems to mess with her mind. She is rescued by a distractingly pretty girl who seems to know this world even better. The two start exploring together, since Toriko wants to find a vanished “friend” and Sorawo is curious about both the “otherside” and her new companion. So this is both a story with a lot of genuinely creepy/horrifying stuff, and a lot of cuteness as the (very) slow-burn romance between Toriko and Sorawo builds. 


            The monsters remind me a lot of the ones in Junji Ito’s short stories, but I actually found them scarier here because A) a higher proportion of them seem to reflect universal fears (eg. one lures in victims by triggering the nostalgic feeling you get when you are missing a loved one) and B) we have a chance to get to care about the main characters. Even if you don’t quite understand what the monster’s deal is, you definitely don’t want Sorawo, Toriko, or their associate Kozakura to die! There’s a mix of body horror – at one point weird fungal-hyphae-type-things start growing out of people’s faces and aaaugggh! – psychological horror, and just general weird shit. I love the way that Sorawo and Toriko alternate rescuing each other. (They also get to rescue a whole group of lost US soldiers, which is pretty badass!)

 


            I’m not sure if the author the story or the mangaka is a woman (they seem to be quite private), but my guess is “yes” just based on the total lack of male-gaze fan service! Toriko and Sorawo are attractive, in their respective ways, but there are no gratuitous up-skirts or weird boob physics or whatever. There’s one episode where they end up in Okinawa and there starts to be a little more suggestiveness, but nothing off-putting happens: The “only one bed” trope does get used but they do NOT have sex while drunk (or at all, in fact), Sorawo has some anxiety about what kind of swimsuit she might have bought while on this bender but it actually perfectly fits her modest, boyish style…etc. After encountering several fantasy “yuri” manga where the story seems to only exist so the reader can see hot girls kiss, I appreciate this approach! 

 


However, be warned that it is very slow-burn; as of volume 7 of the manga, while it is obvious that Sorawo is in love with Toriko (and probably vice-versa), they haven’t actually admitted it to each other. At the point I got to, Toriko is still rather hung up on the mysterious Satsuki. I suspect the light novels have gotten much further into the story, based on comments I’ve seen from readers. That means I may have to pick them up, because I definitely want more of this story!

 


 Note: Only volumes 1-3 have an official English translation (I think), but you can find a fan translation of later volumes here.

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