The stories left untold.
Creative Staff
Story: HaccaWorks*
Art: nanao
Translation/Adaptation: Jocelyn Allen
What They Say
The ayakashi may have vanished from Utsuwa, but the stories of the lives they touched still linger like a faint melody…
This collection of vignettes set in the Of the Red world reveals much, including the details of Akashi’s past, the truth of Mikoto’s flowers, and what became of Yue, Tougo, and Akiyoshi!
Content: (please note that content portions of this review will contain spoilers):
Of the Red’s main story finished in the previous volume, leaving this one a collection of character bits that probably would have best served the story inserted in their proper places or left untold.
The volume starts off on a weak note focusing on the ayakashi who kept the peace in the town as they take out akujiki who are targeting a human festival in town. These were the characters we saw inhabiting the shrine, but the ones who had the least development. Sadly this doesn’t add much to their reason to be in the story to begin with, they always felt like shonen filler characters trapped in the wrong manga.
The next story is a flashback to Akiyoshi’s father’s childhood. At first I thought it was Akiyoshi himself until his name was said then I had to assume it was actually his father. It tells of his encounter with Satoh at the boundary of the village and sets up a rivalry which spans generations.
The meat of this volume comes from the two stories about Akashi’s past and the closure to his story which occurs at the end of this volume. His existence as a protagonist throughout the main story and his desire for revenge was a driving force but his motivation felt disjointed by the way the story was told. We’re shown his first encounter with Mikoto and about how he was lured in by her. I can’t help but feel that these two chapters would have made more sense to include in the story originally as part of his backstory, as it gives a bit more context to why he went after Shin the first time.
The story closes out with an epilog that focuses on Aikiyoshi, Tsubaki, and Akashi looking for Yue around town. Little do they know that he skipped down shortly after the destruction of the shadowed veil. It’s more of a coda to Akashi’s two chapters than a true resolution to the drama with Yue. I’m still surprised by Yue’s decision to just flee.
There’s a several pages long afterword commenting on each of the short stories accompanied by sketches as extras for this volume.
In Conclusion
This collection of side stories closes out Of the Red, the Light, and the Ayakashi. It does fill in some holes in the narrative that better explains the relationship Akashi had with Mikoto and better fleshes him out as a character. The few other side-stories don’t add much to the experience overall, and the final chapter is unsatisfying for a number of reasons. There’s no grand epilog or reunion, and nothing about this volume changes the end of the story itself.
The ending left me eerily dissatisfied as it skirts the direst consequences while returning things to the natural order. It feels like Yue dodged most of the responsibility laid on his shoulders and is left wandering even now. Open-ended stories aren’t terrible, but after what he went through to be with his friends I don’t understand his decision.
Ayakashi is an imperfect mystery. The tale of the unseen and unknowable trying to coexist with the mundane, with one boy trapped between the world of humans and the world of ayakashi. There’s a quiet sense of dread throughout most of the early volumes as readers are kept in the dark about the ominous workings of monsters. The mystery is marred by the unclear divisions between certain characters and by the simple fact that multiple characters are drawn so similarly to each other and have multiple names and incarnations. Elements that shouldn’t have been confusing were because of the desire to keep the mystery going for as long as possible and overcomplicated matters. Plus the ending is strung out far longer than necessary and several side characters exist for reasons which are perfunctory to the plot and only serve as distractions. Ayakashi was at it’s best when it dwelled on the unease and danger of dealing with the unknown.
Content Grade: B –
Art Grade: B
Packaging Grade: B +
Text/Translation Grade: A –
Age Rating: Older Teen
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: March 24, 2018
MSRP: $13.00 US/$17.00 CN
