My Idol Sits the Next Desk Over!, Vol. 1 by Tetsu Tsutsui and Koyubi Sugawara – 3.5 stars
Sakiko is a die-hard fan of the upcoming idol girl group Spring Shine, so of course when the new girl at school introduces herself to the class, she immediately recognizes her as her very favorite singer Chiro-chan.
This is a cute, breezy read about a young fangirl working very hard to balance her adoration of singer Chihiro with her wish to be friends on a personal level. There’s plenty of humor, and I enjoyed the developing friendship (and maybe more – well, it’s a yuri manga, so what do you expect?) between the two.
However, there is a third member in this equation, an obsessive fangirl called Maaya, who insists on having Chihiro all to herself. In contrast to Sakiko’s respectful fangirling, Maaya stalks Chihiro and cyberbullies anyone she thinks might come ‘between’ them. Had her existence been mentioned in the premise, I probably wouldn’t have been so taken aback, but as things stand, while I could see what the author is probably trying to do with her character, she just got on my nerves.
Hauntress by Minetarō Mochizuki – 3.25 stars
One night, college student Hiroshi opens his door to see a strange, tall woman pounding at his neighbor’s door. But his politeness has sinister consequences when she becomes fixated on him instead.
This is an older manga that’s credited with introducing the concept of stalking into the mainstream in Japan. It’s a quick and horrifying read about a young man whose life spirals out of control all because of a seemingly inconsequential interaction with a stranger. The art is bone-chilling – I’m glad I didn’t read this at night!
The ending is unsettling and ambiguous though – I would have liked a few more questions answered about the woman, who clearly has something supernatural going on. Also I wished the sound effects were also translated into English – it seems an odd choice that they were not, especially as there’s some pages with no other text.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.