Okay, so technically I didn’t like this because so many awful things happened. But I think it was well done. 

 

Energy: Visceral. Compulsive. Devastating. 

Scene: 🇯🇵 Set in Tokyo, Japan.

Perspective: Observing the day-to-day struggles of a cast of high school students.

 

🐩 Tail Wags: The startling, sad, but believable storylines. Illustration style. 

 

🤔 Random Thoughts:

Throws every bad thing that could happen to someone as a teen at the reader, but it didn’t feel gratuitous. It seemed plausible. 

Check content heads-up as a lot of it is graphic especially when you can watch it play out on the page. 

 

This was originally from the ‘90s and it feels that way. Some of it didn’t age well, but the topics and outcomes aren’t irrelevant for today. Footnotes provide context when popular media is referenced from that time. 

 

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🤓 Reader Role: Watching the scene unfold getting to understand the group dynamics and backstories.

🗺️ World-Building: Immersive, sensory, gritty. 

🔥 Fuel: Character de-evolution, parallel plots, and atmospheric tension. Who will survive, who will succumb, and will there be justice? 

📖 Cred: Hyper-realistic to plausible. 

 

Stagnant water. Canadian goldenrod. Factory smoke. Steam whistle. School bell. Tears. Faint ocean breeze. Sewage. Ozone. 

 

Content Heads-Up: Homophobia, homophobic slurs. Outing (by friends). Bullying (physical assault, humiliation, name-calling, threats). Toxic relationship. Adult/minor relationship. Fatphobia. Sexual content (consenting; graphic, on page; rough off page). Corpse (discovery, disposal). Eating disorder (bingeing, purging; on page). Violence (attack, strangling). Murder. Cheating on romantic partner. Pregnancy. Abortion (discussion of). Obsession, unrequited love. Animal cruelty (cat torture, death; on page). Fire (fatality). Suicide. Blood. Miscarriage. Rape (on page). Vomit. Body fluids (semen). Drug use.

 

Rep: Japanese. Gay. Lesbian. Heterosexual. Cisgender.

 

📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from Kodansha Comics, Vertical Comics, and NetGalley.