Reviews

Mujirushi: The Sign of Dreams by Naoki Urasawa

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novi's review

adventurous lighthearted tense medium-paced

4.0

I enjoyed this one-shot (or graphic novella?). I've never read from this mangaka before but i really like their art style. The beginning of this is pretty infuriating to read because the parenting is not it. Like, this smart girl has parents that didn't give even the illusion of protection to her and I just hate when that happens. Although it's a very real occurence in real life.

The pacing was a bit off. It was slow around the zansu guy part. He just kept on and on telling his story that we know were sus. Everything about him was sus. But in that part, there were some tense moments and I really like how the mangaka create that atmosphere. And then when the setting moved to France, it felt like not enough stuff happened. The plot moved too fast when I think I need more stuff to happen in France, more development between the characters, before they have to do the deed, the climax part.

But I really like how mysterious and ambiguous the book is. There were scenes that were unclear whether they're from the present or a flashback (but then they tell us which one is it). And I also like the mysterious ending (or was it not mysterious for some people and is it just me that is clueless of what's actually happening? lol). The Trump reference was interesting lol. That and the French obsession is very...Japan, I think.

I have a crush on the firefighter guy lol he's problematic but also charismatic which is my exact type 😭

Overall I enjoyed this more than I thought I would, but I think this could be longer, to give richer plot and characterization.