Utsubora

Since Utsubora is published in english and I just want to encourage people to buy it and support Asumiko Nakamura's work, I've decided to write this review in english for the very first time in my blog. So, I apologize in advance both to my usual spanish followers and to new incomers that may have some difficulties with my non-native english. Once this language issue has been clarified I can start with the review itself.

Utsubora is the only manga by Asumiko Nakamura that has been published in english to date. It came out the past June 20th by Vertical collected in one single volume of 460 pages.

Shun Mizorogi is a bestseller author that suddenly has to face with the suicide of a young woman called Aki Fujino. Aki was the real author behind the curtain and the latest and popular novel of Mr. Mizorogi, Utsubora, is actually hers. When called by the police to identify the corpse, Mr. Mizorogi meets with the unkown Aki's twin sister, Sakura Miki. Mr. Mizorogi will find himself inevitably attracted to her... while the police investigates the strange circumstances in which Aki Fujino's death took place.

Utsubora is a perfect choice for people who has become bored of typical manga comics. I think is a story about obsessions. Every single character of the book is actually obsessed with Mr. Mizorogi while he is obsessed with his books and nothing else. This kind of unilateral feelings lead to a slight despair. Obsession and despair. This is the exact cocktail that characterizes Utsubora.

In its 460 pages Utsubora covers a number of topics from suicide to love going into the reasons for living in a certain way. However, the main plot of the story remains in who is Sakura Miki and who were Aki Fujino. A parallel investigation between the police and Mr. Mizorogi himself accompanied by several flashbacks of the supposed twins make the reader immerse into the disturbed world of Aki Fujino, whoever she is.

What I was saying about despair

But, at the very end, the mystery of the real identity of Sakura is not what Nakamura wants to reveal. In my opinion, it is not even clear and all you can do is guess what happened exactly between Aki and Sakura (or maybe I am to dumb to understand the plot) because the author is never telling you the truth in a simple way. But what Nakamura really lefts behind in the pages of Utsubora is a lot of unrequited love, a considerable amount of sadness and desperation and tons of madness.

Utsubora has been rated for 18+, death is so omnipresent throughout the story to be surprised about it but I think that this warning is more about the sex and luxury scenes that adorn several chapters, contributing in the crazy inner world of the characters.

To end this review I just want to emphasize the beautiful and distinctive style of Asumiko Nakamura: the cleanest white and black sketches with huge otherworldly eyes that make female characters stand out.

It had been so long since the last time I enjoyed a reading so much. Asumiko Nakamura totally catches you in the middle of her story and you can not drop Utsubora until you have turned the last page. And then you can go and crush your head against the wall trying to realize something that makes sense.