cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/56892944

A Human Made of Words.

This has been one of the best manga I have ever read.

Oftentimes, you hear about how an author “paints with their words” or something to that effect – Hagimoto does something different. It’s not painting, it’s not even sculpting… They do something more akin to Prometheus shaping a Human out of clay. Every page pulls you in and forces you to face the characters in such a realistic way, that you simply can’t help but wholeheartedly believe that they’re real people; Breathing humans of flesh and blood, that just happen to be made of lines and words.

Something that bothers me to no end, when it comes to a lot of manga that deal with bullying and topics of self-harm and suicide, is that they are gratuitously violent. I understand that that sort of representation matters, but it falls flat more often than not, I find. Not in That’s My Atypical Girl – here, everything feels real. It’s a little hard to explain, actually, because I feel like I can’t possibly hope to do justice to the pages, but it simply feels like it happened.

It’s reality; It’s raw and hard to read at times; It’s painful and violent; But it’s true. It speaks to you in such an undeniable way, that it transcends its medium.

This isn’t the sort of manga that transports you into its world; This isn’t an immersive experience that makes you forget reality. No. This is the sort of manga that changes your reality. After reading this, the world of the manga becomes your reality. This has changed the way I think, the way I see other people, and I’m sure it has changed the way I act. It’s the sort of manga that will stay with me, even if I forget it.

Truly, a life-changing experience, and a heartfelt depiction of depression, anxiety, and ASD.

It is a little odd how self-referential it is, though. It’s not bad in any regard, mind you, it’s not even off-putting, but it is just noticeable enough that you begin wondering how much the author wants you to pay attention to it. It is a manga about a mangaka, after all, so I guess it makes sense, in a way. Still.

Morita’s art is good (and actually gets significantly better as the manga goes on, I think, but I would argue that it is by far the weakest point of this work. Occasionally, the characters do look a little off. I suppose this opinion is a consequence of my being spoiled with lots of very high-quality art in other manga, but I can’t let it go unsaid.

I know I didn’t really speak too much about the plot or the characters in this review, but I feel that I shouldn’t. The characters are complex and deep, all of them; However, I can’t bring them to life in a short Lemmy review, so I simply won’t attempt to describe them at all. It would be a disservice to the work. The plot is moving and compelling; However, I can’t make you believe it happened, so I simply won’t attempt to summarize it.

Please, read this.

…and let me know what you think!

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Rating: 5/5

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