A mysterious and fantastically unique first volume
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Riichi Ueshiba
Translation: Rebecca Cottrill
What They Say
Akira Tsubaki happens to fall hard for Mikoto Urabe, who just transferred into his class. This obsession eventually leads to Akira building up an extremely high fever. Urabe claims the cause is love sickness which only she can cure.
Technical:
This cover is a nice one, placing Mikoto in an action pose while Akira cowers, with some striking silhouettes behind them. The back cover aims for a similar setup, this time with the usual synopsis alongside it. In terms of extras you get some color pages, bonus short comics, and notes from the author. Paper quality feels solid, text reads smoothly, sound effects appear in their original form alongside subtitles, and honorifics are not used. It’s also worth noting that the book is a nice plus sized one, containing twice the content of your usual volume of manga.
The art style for the most part is decent, though nothing too crazy. It’s a slightly simple style that works well with the comedic stylings of the book, but it likely won’t blow you away most of the time. But yeah, characters are plenty expressive and easy to differentiate. The really odd thing, though, is that there are some absolutely stunning dream sequences earlier on that are visual masterpieces that are sure to blow you away, but they disappear completely not too far into the volume. It’s a real shame, but perhaps they’ll manage to come back in the future, as they really were a neat addition to the early chapters. Still, the backgrounds are quite nice in general and appear frequently throughout, so they’re still definitely a big draw for the book, artistically.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With the opening of the series, we get the all too familiar trope of a transfer student being introduced to a high school class. But this girl, Mikoto Urabe, is no ordinary transfer student. Soon after she takes her seat next to our hero, a boy named Akira Tsubaki, she slumps right into sleep and seems wholly uninterested in interacting with others. Her reputation of being odd is only strengthened when she breaks out in an abrupt and unexplained laughing spell. Things get really weird, though, when Akira wakes up Mikoto at her desk, and ends up creepily taking a taste of the drool left behind on her desk.
Soon after, Akira falls ill with a serious and surprisingly persistent cold, which leaves him bedridden. But when Mikoto visits him in his home, she sticks some more of her spit in his mouth (via her finger), which cures him. And according to her, this was a case of withdrawal rather than an illness! This leads to a daily routine where they walk home together, and Mikoto gives Akira a dose of spit each time. Oh, and she also reveals that her “hobby” is wielding scissors that she keeps tucked in her panties with incredible skill. And after this goes on for a while, Akira and Mikoto become a couple, though not before our hero is forced to aim for an abnormal proposal.
As the volume rolls on, we get a ton of short stories centered around the spit swapping couple. It’s a neat mix of romance, comedy, and a good bit of weirdness, as it turns out that sharing Mikoto’s spit can also exchange things such as emotions, memories, and even physical injuries! And yet the book doesn’t go out of its way to explain the matter, instead just rolling with it, which works perfectly fine. But yeah, we largely get to see their romance build piece by piece, along with some minor shifts, like the introduction of Akira’s friend’s girlfriend Ayuko, who also becomes close with Mikoto.
In Summary
With its own odd little pace and feel, this volume makes for a charming opening to the series. The spit swapping and its effects manages to make for a unique mechanic for keeping things interesting, and on top of that the book is very careful to not fall into a repeated pattern. Each chapter feels like a unique little vignette, which manage to develop the main relationship bit by bit. Heck, it’s actually rare in the first place to see a romance manga where dating is the starting point rather than the end goal, so that makes it feel fresh from the very start. Above all else, this is a book that oozes charm, so it’s easy to recommend. If you’re looking for something a little different with a lot to love, be sure to give this a look, as it certainly fits the bill.
Content Grade: A-
Art Grade: A-
Package Rating: A-
Text/Translation Rating: B+
Released by: Vertical
Release Date: March 15th, 2016
MSRP: $15.95
