Kasane is a drama manga by Daruma Matsuura. Right out of the gate I need to state that after a certain point, I remember I started crying, and found myself unable to stop until I finished the rest of the manga. It is of course because of how deeply of a chord this manga struck within me that I am going to attempt to go through this entire review with little to no spoilers whatsoever beyond the very beginning of the manga.

Just in case though, I recommend you to just go ahead and read this manga right now.

To... back up a little bit, this series is centered around a girl named Kasane Fuchi who was born with an ugly face despite her mother being the famed actress Sukeyo Fuchi. Bullied and tormented by her classmates every single day merely for her face and daring to claim to be the daughter of a famous actress, Kasane suddenly finds herself cruelly thrust into the leading role of her class' play.

Obviously, with the intention of humiliating her by forcing her to expose her ugly face to a crowd while simultaneously preventing her from being able to take part in any of the rehearsals. Yet despite knowing this was merely an extension of their bullying, Kasane took the idea of starring in the play seriously, clinging to the hope that others could look past her appearance as she acted upon the stage.

Even while being so deeply afraid of the worst possibility.

And to Kasane's surprise, her deepest fear doesn't come true. The crowd truly does take notice of how much work Kasane has put into it and are able to actually look beyond her appearance. Yet, just as things are going great...

The leading role is ripped from her unfairly. Yet not entirely surprised by this and with the words of her mother ringing in her mind and the lipstick she passed down to Kasane applied to her face...

Kasane takes her first step down her fated path. Out from the abyss and into the light.

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#A Tragic Saga#

I was wholly unprepared for this series.

I learned the gist of this manga before I even started reading it and a whole trashy horror series about an ugly girl who would steal other girls' faces with a magical lipstick materialized immediately within my mind. That's what I was supposed to be what I ended up reading.

Or so, that's what I thought.

Instead, I received a play in manga form. A whole cast of characters that serve their roles tremendously, several of which who are interlocked in the repeat of a tragic tale already once played out. There are several characters who are just so utterly lost to their personal obsession and no matter what sins they commit to obtain them, I find myself unable to root for or sympathize with just one of them.

As much as I like all the other characters, there’s no denying that the one standing in the center spotlight is

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#Kasane#

We're with Kasane all the way from the start of her tragic tale to the very end. And the core of this manga no doubt is that progression of her life. For that first moment she used the lipstick irrevocably altered the course of her life forever.

She would never be the same after that day. For the temptation to use the lipstick is too great to be ignored.

Kasane bears genuine talent for acting, but constantly bullied and isolated because of her appearance, she becomes hateful of her own true face. Armed with a lipstick that allows her to change faces with anyone, she enters a never ending cycle of discarding her true appearance for someone else’s.

As she cannot act with the face of Kasane Fuchi. For that face is too ugly. Too foul. She’ll be booed. She’ll be mocked. She’ll have things thrown at her.

Ugly, ugly, ugly.

She can have all the acting talent in the world and it’ll do her no good with a face like that. Beauty is a necessity.

Ugly, ugly, ugly.

Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly.
Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly.
Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly.

Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly.

These sort of thoughts unfortunately plague Kasane almost through the entire manga. These thoughts and the power of the lipstick rapidly cause Kasane to truly become the ugliest character of the manga. As her sins grow more and more as she desperately keeps trying to keep a pretty face she can use in her reach.

Throughout the entire course of this manga, I had both rooted for Kasane's very destruction (the absolute worst thing that could have happened to her at the time) as well as wished for her to turn back from her path before it was too late.

But the problem was that of course it already was too late. Far too late.

Because as Kasane grows older and further hones her acting, the heavier her actions weigh on her, and the more seemingly hollow her fame becomes. She had always wished to be someone else. To have a different face. Yet, while the applause may be deafening... it is never for her. It is never for Kasane Fuchi.

It's always for Neena. It's always for Saki. Never for Kasane.

Never. Never for her.

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#Habuta#

While it's debatable whether or not he would fall under the category of main characters, Habuta very surprisingly proved to be a very deep and interesting character.

I remember wondering the very first panel he shows up almost immediately what role he was going to end up playing. Perhaps I judged him too much solely off of his appearance, because I certainly didn't expect him to be... the character he is.

He is... genuinely intimidating and frightening at numerous points throughout the manga. At other times, he purposely throws fuel onto the fire of Kasane's obsession no matter what he must do to push her forward.

In a series filled to the brim with characters becoming consumed by obsession, whether it be obsession with beauty, obsession with revenge, or obsession with a woman, Habuta is without a doubt one of the most consumed.

For even if Kasane cries off her path and doesn't want to use the lipstick anymore, Habuta will drag her back into the spotlight himself if need be. For after all, he had promised Kasane's mother, hadn't he? He can't afford to lose her again...

Habuta, even with all he does in the manga, I felt so goddamned bad for. Because no matter how terrible his actions became, he had understandable motivations.

However, they gradually became more and more twisted due to how entangled he is within the tragedy surrounding Kasane and her mother, Izana or who would end up being known to most as Sukeyo Fuchi.

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#Nogiku#

Nogiku, is essentially our secondary main character after Kasane. I cannot go into much detail about her as that'll spoil a lot of the manga, but I'll say that my enjoyment and interest of this series reached its very peak following her introduction. As she turned out to be the walking antithesis of Kasane.

A woman who genuinely possessed true beauty, but had absolutely every right to fucking despise it because it made her upbringing and her life an actual living hell.

And of course, like most of the other characters... she has a goal to obsess over.

Namely, bringing about the absolute ruin of the fraudulent face stealing Kasane Fuchi.

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#Emotion#

Considering this whole manga is centered around acting and stealing faces you could take this for a given, but good lord there is so much emotion on these characters’ faces. I feel no matter how brief I am in doing so, that it’s important for me to praise this because it really adds that extra oomph when you can just feel the emotion seething from the page itself.

Whether it’s anger, sorrow, distrust, hatred, or disgust.

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#The Horror of Being Yourself or Losing Yourself#

You may or may not have noticed that of the genres Kasane is set as, horror is included. Yet I described it primarily as a drama manga at the start of this review.

But that is not to say there is no horror in this. Far from it.

All of Kasane's actions derive from the fear and hatred of her ugly self that consumes her on a daily basis. But yet the harder she tries to discard her true identity, the more hollow everything becomes. Her options are to keep running away or to turn and face her true self. But the more she does that, the more sins she accumulates...

But that's just Kasane... as for Kasane's victims...

Using the lipstick allows her to trade faces with anyone. That means she gets a pretty face and the person she trades with ends up with Kasane's face. Kasane needs a pretty face to borrow.

But what if... what if the owner of that face no longer wishes to uphold their arrangement with Kasane? And even if they do, what if Kasane can no longer trust that person?

It wouldn't do to have someone not only possessing Kasane's true face but the knowledge of Kasane's secret to be let free, would it? No, it wouldn't. They would have to be locked away yet kept in arm's reach, for the lipstick's power lasts a mere twelve hours before the face switch reverts...

...And that's to say nothing of if Kasane is forced to interact with relatives of the original face's owner. How is one to react if a loved one suddenly and out of nowhere begins to act differently... as if they were someone else?

While I wouldn't describe Kasane primarily as a horror manga, there certainly is quite a lot of horror in it indeed...

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#Fin#

Kasane is a lot of things. A tragedy, there's a whole section of the manga that I would probably describe as that of a psychological thriller, and a riveting drama manga with deep blood red streaks of horror.

A manga about acting, a manga about obsession, a manga about revenge, a manga about two characters so set on their goals that they're willing to sacrifice anything to achieve them.

If I ever happen to read another manga and find myself as deeply drawn into it as I was with Kasane, I will consider myself eternally lucky. I give Kasane a complete 10 out of 10, and it will probably remain as one of my favorites forevermore.