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Description
From Dark Horse:
Shizuka is an introverted girl, dealing with schoolwork, boys, and a medical condition that begins to turn her invisible! She finds support with Mamoru, a boy who is falling for Shizuka despite her condition, and with Keiko, a woman who suffers from this illness and has finally turned completely invisible. The mysterious disease that the teens struggle with becomes a metaphor in the ordinary lives of the students in their classes, as they try to work their way through their friendships and romances.
Type
Manga
Related Series
N/A
Associated Names
トランスルーセント トランスルーセント彼女は半透明 半透明女友 Translucent - Kanojo wa Hantoumei
As mentioned it has the air of tragedy, as though the sickness will kill her (when it won't), and she's constantly crying and saying emo things like "Am I really here?" or "will people bear to be with me when they can't see my smile?" There are unrealistic scenes where people fight in the rain, and lots of screaming and fake breakups, and overblown drama relative to the cause.
I really don't see the problem with her going invisible, and it never occurs to her to have fun with her ability which is a shame. As said, each chapter is a repeat of the previous one. That's why given the lack of imagination of the author, it would've been better written as one chapter.
The first chapter does seem a little oneshot or short-story-like. This may be because it was serialized. The first chapter never mentions straightout she has little hope of recovery, though it is implied. At the end of the 1st she is brought back from being completely invisible. But after getting past that, as KiTA mentions, it's a cycle throughout the following chapters, but sooner or later, as mentioned in volume one, she won't be able to come back at all, which explains near the ending. But that is because her condition is worsening, not exactly because the author didn't know the nature of the disease itself.
In the story, it's not an unknown disease and is heard of in this world. I felt a little relieved they didn't try to pull that rare superpower thing and that she's not the only one inflicted by the translucent syndrome. One of the friends she makes has the T-syndrome and has become completely invisible. However no one knows what causes it and how to cure it. From what I read in volume one, it is mostly told in third-person, sometimes from the boy's POV. So far the main character doesn't have much a personality, but as for the other characters, they're pretty good. I decided to read this because I liked the idea behind it and I wasn't let down at all. The way it is written isn't completely tragic which I was hoping against and it even has its funny moments. But I wouldn't call it a comedy.
This isn't a bad series, although the manga-ka doesn't seem to know exactly how the Translucent Syndrome works. Since it's an important part of the story, this is a bad thing. It goes from 100% invisible on patches of her body (first chapter) with little hope of recovery, to a cycle of partial translucency on a monthly cycle (middle of the series), to 100% of her body going partially translucent, possibly forever (end of the series).
Still, it's a very touching series, with decent enough characters. It's a fairly decent deconstruction of Invisibility as a superpower -- What happens if you can't control it? What happens if the affected person's dream is to become an actress?
There are consistent rumors in the Japanese manga communities that this might be optioned someday for an anime, which would be interesting.
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