Name: A spoiler-free review of Utsubora. A mystery too complex for its size.
Item: Utsubora - The Story of a Novelist
Rating: 65
Author: Benkei

Waifra

A spoiler-free review of Utsubora. A mystery too complex for its size. · Waifora

════ ⋆★⋆ ════ Considerations ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ ● This is a spoiler-free review. ● 60+ in my rating means below average. ● I've got to read this work on a friend's recommendation. I didn't look too much into the synopsis and just started reading.

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The Story ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ A woman fell from the top of a building. As she collides head first, her body is unidentifiable. She carries no ID or wallet. The only clue is the phone next to her. Was it a suicide? Was it a murderer? Who is this woman?

At first, they made a good mystery, and I was engaged, but I find the best mystery is the one that doesn't give you information, so you have to play the role of detective, creating your own theories with the little information that you have, trying to understand people's motivations and so on.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case with this work. The story makes use of different timelines and keeps adding different pieces of information that don't trace a straight line to the conclusion, but rather make a curvy path that you can't really focus on. When I was reading, I found myself creating theories about the mystery and finding those theories false because of a new addition. Then I created another theory, and another piece of new information crushed it. That keeps happening until the end, and in my personal opinion, that's not the best way to write a mystery. Although I can see people feeling euphoric about the number of theories and such.

Another point that I feel is important to point out is how they approach the erotic. There are a lot of erotic scenes, and while some are justified and make sense, There are also a lot of sexual scenes without any real need, almost forced into the story. It doesn't even seem like fan service; it's just odd.
(Chp. 7, page 14 ??)

The good point about the story is the philosophy. There are a lot of quotes and visuals that you can look at and reflect upon. That was definitely one part of this work that I enjoyed a lot.

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The Art Style ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ The art at first was really amusing to me. At first, the style of slender, long body, strong expression, amazing eyes, and eyelashes really got me captivated. With time, I started to notice a lot of backgrounds lacking information, and a lot of weird proportions, especially when there's a sexual scene. The author starts to distort the character in weird ways.

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The Characters ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ The story focuses mainly on two characters. I think that their story is done pretty well, even though it can be confusing. Background characters have no development or depth whatsoever.

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Conclusion ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ If you're like me, you skip everything and read only the conclusion because you don't want to get spoiled with other themes. So I will try to be brief on this point:

Maybe read it. If you're a real die-hard fan of mystery, you may actually enjoy this work. The philosophy of the manga is also a good point, but if you're looking for a "normal" mystery that you can read at ease, I'm afraid that's not the best choice.