NOTE: This review contains spoilers for a large portion of the manga and mentions of violence, unpleasant imagery and gore. Reader discretion is advised, and I would recommend reading the manga beforehand.
More or less because these reviews of mine serve not as a way to excite you into reading this, but mostly to compare your opinions. That's...kind of what a review is, anyway.
Yakedo Shoujo was a complicated read for me. As almost always, I started reading this on a whim as the manga itself was quite short. And oh boy did I trip upon a goldmine.
I've been an edgy kid. I think many of us can say they've had some edgy phase in their childhood. For some it was acting wack in high school, for some of us it was weird online roleplay and for some of us it was constantly wearing black everywhere. Edgy and black seem to just come together. The entirety of Yakedo Shoujo, is in fact, black. Would I say it's edgy? Probably not, however. It can absolutely give someone this impression. Doesn't start the best way. Speaking of not starting out the best way, I'll be foregoing my usual structure for the review of this manga. I don't think shorter mangas really need that much stratification and structuralization; not everyone is Saussure and not always do you need a complete system for something that can only take up a single afternoon.
First off, for a shorter series, this looks rather nicely drawn. Environments are cool. Characters are even cooler. Shiina's eyepatch is rad. The reason behind it isn't. Many of the reasons in Yakedo Shoujo are not cool. Most of them are depressing. I had to take a day-long break from reading cause it simply just messed with my head too much and I needed a time-out before I broke down in front of the laptop. It may sound exaggerated to some, but I'm simply built wrong. What I mean to say is that while it appears sorta light-hearted at first, despite the beginning chapters being quite heavy, it keeps up the weight, the pressure, the impact it leaves on one's overall experience of reading it. I would say that this is not an easy read for most people, especially those who have had some mental grief in the past like I've had. Yakedo Shoujo under the mask of edge and murky explores the depths of existentialism and life crises.It's not all sunshine and pools of blood, however. The main cast of characters have a quite rich development in character, but actually recognizing the movement in their identity, their sort of personality and behavior can prove to be difficult. Most of the manga is drowned out in constant polemics about death, dying and the feeling of it. Entire pages, even. You would think the author had a fixation at times (turns out the author does have a tendency for this). If you can actually read past that, however, you get what's a pretty curious read into each of the characters' psyches, though. What seems to be, at least for me, the prime point of the manga is Shiina's presence just seems to corrupt others, or somewhat twist them. It could be her innocent appearance and then the total 180 in dialogue. Kaname's secret depravity that he kept a hold on throughout all of the story before this was easily brought to the surface by Shiina just..being Shiina. That's what makes it great. An innocent-looking angel is actually a shadow being cast on one's sanity, a doubt being set in their minds. If there were more elements similar to Shiina, I'd say this is absolutely a must-read. Alas, it is not so. The middle sections seem to repeat themselves and the manga again takes off near the end, where Shiina's presence proves to have pretty powerful consequences. Give me more! Oh, wait, it's over. Damn it.
It may seem like my notes and overall review here sounds totally deranged. You may have a point about that, though I would say that many of the aforementioned elements do indeed appear during one's reading of Yakedo Shoujo. I'd say it's worth a read, but while the standout elements are truly standout, the rest is sort of wishy-washy that slightly drags the whole experience down. 6.5/10 // 65/100