Totonou is a young college student who stands out both for his bushy hairdo and his finely-honed abilities of observation and deduction. When Totonou is accused of murder, he puts his skills to work and uses his exceptional insights to find the real killer. Later, all Totonou wants to do is return to his own little world, but he can’t avoid getting caught up in one mystery after another. In his own blunt yet gentle way, Totonou is a truth seeker who tries to make sense of a chaotic and often dangerous world. (Source: Seven Seas)
Official English: Seven Seas
Note: Won the 67th Shogakukan Manga Award in 2021. Was nominated for the 12th and 13th Manga Taisho Award in 2019 and 2020, 65th Shogakukan Manga Award in 2019 the 44th Kodansha Manga Award in 2020 and the 26th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2022.
14 Volumes (Ongoing)
(-6)(-104)(-151)(-250)(-140)
Even more so than other Tamura Yumi works, I think what makes or breaks this series is how you feel about our enigmatic and chatterbox main character Kunou Totonou. He's thoughtful, perceptive and offers advice like an impartial therapist but has a tragic air and obvious trauma about him. Some might find him pedantic, overly philosophical or just flat out annoying. I'm intrigued by what we are yet to find out about him but there's a strangely gentle mood with his police interactions and everyone else he's run into so far.
Like probably most readers of this work, I'm here because Tamura Yumi is a titan of shojo/josei manga and I cannot resist anything she writes. I've loved seeing how her interpersonal characterization has grown and how much you can accomplish by writing primarily character dialogue. While this series is about mysteries and crimes of course, it's surprisingly not as flashy as it could be with our main character's temperament. A charming surprise is also the queer subtext all over this series and even the mention of astrology and birth stones. Not everyone will be a fan but it is refreshing to see in some well written male leads in a series that is (assumedly) not a romance. It is still early on so this is more so a brain dump of emotions after 9 chapters, but I cannot help but want so much more and can imagine how beautifully Tamura Yumi will bring us deeper into all our characters psyche and peel back the past.
... Last updated 3 years ago
Of course this was going to be good; just look at who the author is!
Story follows the enigmatic and stoic Totonou as he gets caught up into one troubling situation after another. There's a lot of charm in our protagonist, whom the readers slowly get to learn more about as he calmly and fastidiously observes and handles the people and developments around him.
Like Tamura Yumi's other works, this story has a lot of fleshed out characters that get involved with the MC and does a lot of break down of concepts and understandings of society. Definitely recommended reading, but especially for readers of her works or for readers who like crime mysteries.
... Last updated 5 years ago
