...and not in a good way.

This is a story that has really landed in a strange place. It's missing a couple of volumes to explain everything it wants to and convey everything it wants to, while at the same time being too long as is, dragging on events and repeating things way more than it should for its own good. It gets old, and it gets old quickly.

The dialogue following the story is something one can't really judge accurately (if one isn't reading the Japanese original version) since it depends on the translators and their skill. In the version I read, translators did admit they had small problems, mostly with names (kinda understandable, seeing how most of them are Czech and German for God knows what reason).

But even with that, there are instances where it's clear that the interaction that the dialogue conveys itself is awkward, eg. the instance when cop scoffs off Maria's notion about a "strange occurance and a weird man that came by the day before" (A+ job, mr. Cop). The interactions between the main characters are also awkward as hell and pretty monotonous. They are basically characters that act in one way and one way only throughout the story. You have your smug character, your psychotic character, your blank character and all of it just comes down to flat and uninteresting writing.

And while the art is somewhat decent enough to cover some minor aspects of the paper butterfly called characterization which was thrown out the window (those eyes are freakishly large, though), it isn't enough of a redeeming quality (especially since the artwork has its low points, and I'm talking Britney Spears 2007 low points).

All in all, a time waster that will leave you in regret and with sour taste in your mouth. But the time is wasted, and that was the point, right?

Recommended music to listen to while reading this manga: Seeing how piano is a recurring theme here, I would suggest some piano pieces by the likes of Chopin, Beethoven or your little cousins that just started playing it, spiced up with drilling, scratching, crashing pots and evil laughs for good measure.