Creative Staff
Story & Art: Yuuki Iinuma
Translation/Adaptation: John Werry
What They Say
Can a Liar lead a life of Good?
Utsuho’s truthfulness as a child resulted in an enormous catastrophe, and he decided to lie from that day forward. Raised in a village of orphans by a monk, Utsuho is an unrepentant troublemaker. The monk eventually inspires him to help people, but there’s no way Utsuho’s going to lead an honest life! Instead, he’s going to use his talents for mischief and deception for good!
Still seeking the Kokonotsu treasures, Utsuho arrives in Sasaka, a country with a peculiarly troubled history that turns out to have involved one of his companions. Meanwhile, Kuroha seizes a moment to share some personal history, revealing what’s really behind her rivalry with Utsuho to find the Kokonotsu!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Utsuho and Yakuma are going to have their hands full fighting off the rebels that want to kill Yakuma’s royal boss and change the political structure of the kingdom. Not only does Utsuho’s group need to protect the Emperor, but they also have to keep Kuroha from stealing the kokonotsu during all the chaos. Even worse, the rebels greatly outnumber the Emperor’s guards. Lying might be Utsuho’s best asset, but I don’t know how lies are going to win him this battle.
Maybe not outright lies, but perhaps subterfuge can turn things to Utsuho’s favor. In a massive shell game, Utsuho’s group divides into different units with each leaving the palace and heading in different directions. Each group has a division of guards and a covered palanquin. But which group has the Emperor, or did all the palanquins go out empty with the Emperor remaining in the palace? Azako is calling the shots for the rebels, and sees all the groups leave the palace. Azako has to admit that Utsuho might have outsmarted him. Now Azako is forced to divide up his rebels into smaller groups to trail each of the palanquins, while keeping a group to attack the palace.
Not only was Utsuho’s plan a smart one, but his team also planned out the perfect locations near the palace to trap the rebels and defeat them. Now, the greatest danger remains at the palace, where Utsuho must face Azako. However, Utsuho fails to find Azako before he can kill someone from Kuroha’s gang. Who did Azako kill, and was it just one person or more? Can Utsuho even hope to defeat Azako, or is it going to take a miracle?
In Summary
I continue to enjoy this story, both for the uniqueness of using lies for good and the author’s willingness to kill off characters. Killing characters isn’t a common occurrence in Itsuwaribito, but it has happened. That makes it easier for readers to connect with the characters as just in real life, you never know when your time might be up prematurely. Obviously, Utsuho isn’t going to die, but all of his comrades are expendable. None of them can carry the story on their own, so the author could eliminate one of them. However, because each has had some level of character development, their loss would still impact the reader. Even if the character is one the reader didn’t care about, how will their death impact Utsuho and the others? It is more than just a question of which character dies, but how they die. Any scenario could cause Utsuho’s group to become stronger, or cause it to break into factions. This all makes this treasure hunt story more interesting. Sure, the series will probably end with Utsuho finding all the treasures, but will it cost him his friends?
Itsuwaribito is a shonen comedy, however, the threat of losing a character makes this story just a little better than many of the shonen series out there. In many series in this genre, it seems like no one ever dies, so none of the battles ever seem to have any consequences.
Content Grade: A-
Art Grade: C
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: A-
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: April 8th, 2014
MSRP: $9.99
