I dove into this blind, avoiding looking at the genres, rating, author or anything. Thus, when I saw the absurd premise revealed, I assumed it would be a funny gag manga with eccentric and goofy characters - not to mention the round and cartoonish character designs to go along with it. But over time, I started to realise what the manga really was. I noticed that the characters weren't that eccentric and there was no barrage of jokes. On top of this, the artist begun to look familiar... On the surface it all looks nice and pretty but we are fed slight hints to an underlying truth. The bedrooms, the nuanced body language and just a feeling of uneasiness. It creeps up on you until it rears its ugly head and reveals what it's really about. The Ichinose Family's deadly sins is about a filthy, despicable and selfish set of characters slapped together under the guise of a family. And it might be one of the best stories I've ever read.
What initially caught my attention was the art. It succeeds in doing so much from evoking intense poignant emotions, depicting inconspicuous yet meticulous and nuanced expressions and lulling you into a false sense of security with its fluffy and whimsical nature at times. In the beginning, the characters have the biggest smiles on their faces, with eyes sparkling and everything seeming good and jolly. Perspective is used to add a comedic touch, making certain reactions to silly situations very exaggerated and almost slapstick. But the contrast is stunning. This vibrant and lively style is ripped down to the ground with intensely disturbing scenes, like Tsubasa having trash dumped on his face and shamed in front of his entire class, or seeing his room flooded with the word "die" written on his walls. The characters we initially saw smile from ear to ear are seen at rock bottom, bawling and ugly crying. The characters wear these stressed and exhausted expressions that make the tension of the room stiflingly palpable.
It's rather counter-intuitive but I think the simpler the character design, the easier and more effective it is to depict emotions on a character's face. And this manga absolutely makes the most of that. The intensity of every feeling felt by the characters is so powerfully conveyed in every scene. But perhaps even more impressive is the accuracy of the emotion. Every frame carefully choosing a particular emotion to convey and, even if only slightly noticeable, will show it through the tiniest facial hints. This is extremely effective in humanising the characters and emphasising the drama.
On top of this, the incredible art extends outside of the characters. There are plenty of scenes - like in the characters' bedrooms or in the main living room - where there are small items of food, clothing and cutlery scattered everywhere. The mangaka manages to pack so much detail into these small areas to accentuate the feeling of claustrophobia and make the family feel as suffocating as possible, even through their environment. Perspective is no longer used to emphasise goofy reactions, but to bolster the dramatic tension of scenes, zooming in on the key elements of the shot.
Moreover, the paneling is masterful. How each part of a page is used is often overlooked but hard for me to ignore in this manga. It's creative with its presentation in the way it builds up tension with nuanced expressions, gets you to read faster, and then on the next page have it all burst out in a single climactic shot. There are pages solely dedicated to a character's expression and with the next page will immediately showing the stark opposite emotion for effect.
The only issue I have with the art is that it is perhaps overly intense. The characters are seen crying in 90% of the scenes so it's not saved up for any emotional climaxes. It's great to maximise the intensity of scenes and their emotions but is rather overused here. Still, the art is some of the best I've ever seen.
Oh man, this is gonna be the hardest thing to write about: the story. Where do I even begin?
For starters, let me say that the manga is EXTREMELY story heavy and is 95% of the reason you'll want to keep reading. But how do I unpack this...? Its like if you were to ride a roller coaster but there is no slow section and the track is invisible. The speed and force of the coaster is crazy, you'll have no idea which direction you're going in so you can't prepare yourself and it never lays off the gas until the very end. Weird analogy, I know. But I think it works.
It's an expert dance of creating expectations and then flipping them on its head. In the first chapter, everyone is super cheery. We then get tricked into thinking what the drama of the manga is, with Shiori being upset but then quickly comforted. Our expectations are low. Then we slowly get suggested something creepy and menacing with the ominous rooms. But it only gets brushed over. After, we're thrown into the deep end with Tsubasa's extremely severe bullying and then, we realise what we're in for. Tsubasa has an arc about the bullying and his relationship with his friend. Subsequently, we move onto his sister. His sister seems to be getting groomed by an older guy but says she doesn't want Tsubasa getting involved. Through realising his genuine concern and love for his sister, Tsubasa musters up the confidence to stand his ground and help her. Turns out she was really uncomfortable after all, so the strength of their bond and the power of family prevailed. Okay, so I guess at this point we can guess the structure for the rest of the manga, right? We slowly find out about the rest of the family and through their love and because of how beautiful family is, Tsubasa will help them out one by one and that will be the end. Simple. So then his dad drives the entire family off a cliff, they all wake up with amnesia again and his dad has been replaced by a man we've never seen before... WHAT?!
This happens countless times throughout the manga; the author will make you think the story is going one way and then the roller coaster will jolt in the opposite direction, making your heart drop. So then we get an arc with the mum. She finds out her actual husband was having an "affair" so she takes the kid of the other woman. But upon realising that she still actually loves him, she accepts it, confronts her memories and moves on. So then she gets completely erased from everyone's memories, her room vanishes from the house and she's gone... WHAT?!?!? This manga gave me that reaction more times than I can count.
Okay, but maybe that's just a crazy one off plot twist. The story continues and we get to the grandpa who has been a background character so far. He explains that he's experienced a time loop of them waking up with amnesia 2000 times. Rereads sentence. He...experienced...Time loop... 2000... WHAT?!?!?!?!
But... okay...I guess its a time loop then... so they try breaking out of it however they can. Then the replacement dad says it's all actually Tsubasa's dream and he's been in a coma for 4 years... HUHHHH?!?!?! (okay ill stop now).
You know, the more I write, the more I realise how good my invisible roller coaster analogy actually is. But I hope you see what I'm getting at. I could throw about 20 more examples of moments that gave me that reaction and the ones I did give you were back to back to back to back. The story is ever dynamic and constantly subverting expectations. To think that the author expanded such a simple premise into this grand and complicated of a plot is impressive to say the least.
Propelling all of this forward is the mystery. With each plot point and twist, they build upon the questions created and create even more of them at the same time. The "accident" and the family's "past" is constantly referenced as we're drip-fed information to keep us on edge. The mystery is also dynamic with how it affects the characters too. Initially, they are all friendly and affable but as the mystery is slowly uncovered, our perceptions of them change - the characters develop alongside the mystery as they are the core of the mystery.
The use of foreshadowing is also very effective. There are subtle hints dropped in the form of seemingly meaningless objects or vague flashbacks or even cryptic messages and this starts from the very beginning of the story. Although, I do think that some of the foreshadowing was a little on the nose, making me think 'oh, so that's going to come up later'.
I've realised recently that one of my favourite concepts for a plot is a reality made from a character's imagination. From this you can be as creative you want, bending what is possible in the real world, making it fun and interesting. But it maintains it's thematic relevance and prowess as it's interconnected with the character's psyche. So overcoming obstacles in that 'world' overcomes the character's psychological struggles in tandem. This manga uses this concept to its fullest by creating this dynamic and mind-blowing plot to do with dreams, time-loops and whatnot but still keeping it closely tied with the character's for it to remain dramatic and emotional.
However, I still had some issues with the story. To begin with, this roller coaster has no cool down period - it is full throttle all the way through. Sometimes they'd throw a plot twist right after another plot twist, almost giving me motion sickness. I understand that the plot is very intense and it's intended to be that way, but I'd have liked there have been more low tension conversations where we really get to learn more about the characters. And I also know that would go against the nature of the show since it relies on not knowing much about them, but silly things like Shiori and Tsubasa bickering or small things like them driving in the car as a family, I just kind of wish we got more of that. Moreover, I think it ended rather abruptly. For how fleshed out and meaty the story was, we never got one big climax or one final reveal with a slow and satisfying ending. I still had quite a few questions by the end of it and, although I think it ended well thematically, I think there's more to be desired in regards to emotional satisfaction. But despite all this, it has one of the most exciting plots I've ever read in a manga and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire way through.
Moving onto the characters and themes, these stand out almost as much as the story. The prevailing theme that every one of the characters pertains to is escapism. The whole idea of them all having amnesia comes from them not wanting to face their problems - so they repress their memories. They wrap themselves in self-delusion, ignoring the truth right in front of them.
It's really interesting how this is presented in the manga: for example, the story is told from Tsubasa's perspective, and throughout the story he is deceiving himself to make him think that he has amnesia when really he is just ignoring his memories. There are subtle hints to this such as him never asking about himself and his quick acceptance of losing his memories, without any stress or worry. Other characters pick up on this and confront him about it. But what I find interesting is how, because it is told in first person, we don't know about his self-delusion, just like he doesn't know; he deludes us just like he does to himself.
But it's not just him. The entire family is self-delusional. No-one wants to face the truth and so they do anything to avoid it. The dad even goes as far as drugging his entire family so they can stay in the dream. The whole family is a mess - fragile and broken. The glue that stuck them all together, Souta, was taken for granted and left them guilty, shattered and ashamed. But rather than taking responsibility, they evade it. They don't speak to each other, aren't around each other or even pretend to be a happy family with fake and awkward smiles instead. The grandma then falls into a coma and the family falls apart further. This weak and frail family doesn't know how to handle adversity and work things through, so they lash out and rip apart. When Tsubasa wakes up from his coma and asks about Souta, his mom grabs him and slams him on the table, snapping it in two saying "Don't talk about Souta infront of me!". Despite Souta leaving being entirely their fault, they completely ignore it, afraid of the pain and responsibility. This escapism is embodied by the dreams and is strongly linked to the heavy plot.
The family is made up of self-centered, inconsiderate and unloving people. All of them did something to be frowned upon. And when they come together, they can't help but recognise this and harm each other for it. They get angry, then get angry about getting angry and never get along. Eventually, they give up, thinking that they simply can't get along and that it's a lost cause.
In the arc when Tsubasa goes to Souta's "family" made up completely of strangers, we see a loving and wholesome household. Souta says this is because they are not family, claiming it is because the Ichinose's are family that they don't get along. But then, Souta's made up family fights - just as badly as the Ichinose family. This eventually gives Tsubasa the realisation that that is just how people are. They will fight no matter what. It's not a consequence of being family, and it's not that their family in particular just can't get along. It's because they're human.
So they return back to the house. But return to the dream immediately. Souta gets the recognition and approval that he always wanted from his family, his family has the glue that they wanted back in Souta and everyone seems happy. But Tsubasa knows it won't last. Because that's how humans are. The mum will get moody, Shiori will talk back, the grandma only cares about the grandpa, the grandpa will lose his memory because of Alzheimer's and everyone will get bored of Souta. It will fall apart. So, instead of living in that temporary contentment within the dream, Tsubasa looks forward and leaves it. The reason for him being such a dynamic and powerful main character is because whilst everyone is stuck in their eternal escapism and cowardice, he changed and he looks forward.
They leave the dream, confront the dad who forced them into it and are finally at peace.
The whole time they were trying to be an ideal family so whenever they fought it was inevitable that it would make them all upset, knowing that they never could be the perfect family. That doesn't exist. What matters is that they are family.
It's revealed that the grandad put them through the dreams on purpose so they could finally have one big 'family trip'. The issue with the family is that they never sat through the fighting and arguing to the end. They would run away, avoid, forget, and explode. The dreams were an experience they all suffered and enjoyed through, and made it out of together.
The final chapter is maybe my favourite chapter because it really drives home the message. The significant part is that we still see them fighting. They fight and argue no different to before. They blame, criticise, talk back and are rude as hell to each other. But there's a beautiful panel where one half of it is them arguing in the hospital and the other half is them leaving, exhausted but together. No-one ran, no-one gave up, but together they worked through it and came out as a family. Even in the very last panel of the entire manga, they are still fighting. But that's okay. There is no perfect family. But there is beauty and strength simply in the fact that they are family.
Its a passionate exploration of the unbreakable bonds of family and the need to work through your problems together. Escapism is temporary. Instead of rejecting and avoiding the truth, you must accept it and work through it. Through developing these vulnerable and sometimes evil characters, not dissimilar to people in real life, I empathized and really took the message to heart.
This manga really was one hell of a roller coaster ride. With one of the most exciting plots and most heartfelt thematic exploration I've read in a manga, it shoots up as one of my new favourites. Without going into it, the themes really resonate with me and I definitely have a preference for this type of storytelling. I had a few qualms here and there but overall it was an immensely impactful experience that hopefully I won't forget even if I fall into a coma (hehe).
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