Manga Review: Imperfect Girl by Nisioisin & Mitsuru Hattori

You know the phrase: “Light finds a way through the valley of darkness” (If you have not, I’m claiming it to be mine!). it’s a rather simple phrase to understand and doesn’t need literature archeologists to break it down. We can use them on Pyramids’ hieroglyphics, you feel me. But this quote is actually very self explanatory like the manga series we will be discussing today.

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Imperfect Girl is a story written by NisiOisiN, retold by Mitsuru Hattori. It revolves around an inspiring author, whose name isn’t made public until the very end, and a fourth grader girl, simply referred to as U U. it is a beautiful and exceptionally expressive piece of literature which will tug at your brain fibres more than your heart strings. Just like Monogatari, this 3-book series only has two characters at focus, the loser author, and mysterious girl.
For starters, I will be spoiling a little portion of the story, except this brief description.
Once upon a time, there was a college student who wanted to be an author. He had tried many times and had failed equal amount of numbers. He is 20 years old, which is interesting (I’ll bring it back later). One day he is on his bicycle riding towards his college when he stops in front of a zebra crossing. As he is lost in thought, he sees a truck passing in front of him and striking a schoolgirl who was walking in front of him with her friend. The truck comes to a halt after lifting the girl couple of meters, killing her horrendously. Our protagonist is not feeling great, but he also inspects the dead girl’s friend’s reaction. The girl in question, who was playing a handheld game, makes sure to save her progress before rushing to her dead friend.

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If this scenario doesn’t make you weak in the knees, I don’t know what will. A girl, who makes sure that her boss kill is safe and secure, before rushing to her bloodied late friend, is bloody creepy to me.
Now I have given the spoiler free details. From now on, I will be including couple of spoilers, but trust me, you want to read it before I lay it all out!
ZE POZITIBEZ
Imperfect girl is a rather imperfect title on its own, because for a 9-year old girl, U knows her manners. More so, she is scarily bound by a set of rules, that she follows to a T. She greets when she enters home, she says goodbye when she leaves, all her monologues are rules that define her existence.
The story begins when U crashes the author’s bike by throwing her woodwind instrument in the wheel spokes, stealing his keys, hiding under his desk, and kidnapping him once he comes back home. Now I know how she can kidnap someone who is twice as old as her, but you have to understand that she has a dangerously stoic face and a knife in his face. She puts the knife in his back, poking it numerous times, and convinces him to go to her house. When they reach U’s house, she locks him in the closet opposite to the front door.

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  Step 1

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  Step 2

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  Step 3

And thus begins a 7 day extravaganza that is U’s kidnapping.
I know I mentioned that the author being 20 is interesting, and it is so because NisiOisin, the originator of this story was 20 when he came into prominence. I know that this has nothing to do with anything. But knowing this fact before reading the manga made it sound so personal, that you can feel the second hand torture and horror he could have went through.
That trivia aside, the other part that shines through this story are the characters. Let me tell you an enlightening fact that you already knew: Shonen manga have so many volumes because they have a very VERY big cast to take care of. Classics like Dragon Ball(Ongoing), Naruto(72 Vols), One Piece(OnGoing) and many more. Period classic manga like Ruroni Kenshin still has 28 Vols to its name. Provided that shonen has more to story than its characters, but development of them also counts, and all of that results in long storytelling. On the other hand, Death Note(13 Vols), Azumanga Daioh(4 Vols) & Nichijou(10 Vols) don’t have too many characters in it, and it they do, they don’t feel the need to focus on them every other chapter.
And therein lies the genius storytelling of NisiOisin. He takes a handful of characters, and gives them the ability to express themselves. This story, being only 3 volumes, is a huge plus for a contained and airtight character representation.
Speaking of characters, I truly think that there is only 1 character that is interesting out of the two, and that is the titular girl. Now I can rant about her for whole day, but I don't want to rob you of the experience you'd get when you see her the first time. Meanwhile everything about the kidnapped author feels generic, like he is an Araragi clone. He asks the right questions, takes the righteous decisions, and never backs down.
On the other hand, the wonderfully broken U is the one who carries the major weight. The first volume has a destructive end, the second volume shows her sacrifices and monotonous life, and by the time third volume hits, the mystery is solved about her past, and all you want to do is hug and protecc her.

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There were numerous audible gasps that I let out due to art, reactions, and representation of various tropes. It has an eerie feeling to it. It is very easy to read due to low dialogue count. But the atmospheric art that every panel inhabits is breathtaking, for better or for worse.
I don’t care how much money you have to spend on it, just get the damn books and let me know how you feel about it.
ZE NEGATIBES
I cant tell you how much I love NisiOisin and his work. I’ll probably be his butler if he lets me observe his style. But that man is no god, and so, he makes mistakes too. And just like every other media, this one is not without its flaws.
The titular loser author is the one who was the most uninteresting person initially. And take a gander how I felt when I knew he was the second half of the story’s focus.

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  Cliche Much?

Firstly, he is generic as all hell. But the bad kind. He is not wish fulfillment blank slate that you want to represent himself into. His struggles seem petty, but we as human beings have those struggles. So we want to project that feeling onto someone who is even more pissy than us. But when he keeps on ranting about his failed attempts again, and again, anD AGAIN!, I was like, “Bro, get over it.” Tenacity is the key. Keep on doing your shit, and it will come to you. And no, it doesn’t have those inspirational words I just spit out.
Secondly, his attitude. I think I should clarify that near the tail end of volume 2, I actually started to like this guy. But every problem that came before that point will always haunt me in my dreams. He is kidnapped. He has a phone. CALL THE POLICE!!! A 9-year old child is dumb, and U by no means is a kidnapping prodigy. She made dumb mistakes, even before you got bit by Stockholm Syndrome’s cat. And turns out that I didn’t need another wimpy protagonist. BUT that attitude of giving up on life to live in a stranger’s closet being this story’s driving force was unacceptable on a fundamental level. That is more try hard than Seitokai Yakuindomo or My Wife is a Student Council President Bro.

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Lastly, I would like to file a stupidity complaint against every other character that appears in the manga. The teacher who doesn’t care her student bags her lunch and takes it home. Nothing but murmurs come up when her missing woodwind instrument is talked about. And nobody does anything about it.. also the fact that nobody is keeping tabs on her despite the fact that her friend died in front of her. AND DOES NOTHING WHEN PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT THAT IN FRONT OF HER. I don’t know man. Maybe I’m crazy, but I don’t want my child to be under that teacher’s observation. Don’t get me wrong, it all pays off in the end. But it all felt like a giant orgasm bursting out rather than a gradual decline into madness.
Final assessment: Imperfect Girl is not for the faint of heart. It seems like another run of the mill mystery thrillers, but has enough pedigree to stand shoulder to shoulder with Death Note. With exceptional art, minimal dialogue, eerie atmosphere, and a satisfying end, this is a very easy pick but a rather difficult read. The questions that it raises about loneliness and parenting will shake some to the core, while being an excellent piece of entertainment while it does it.
STORY: 8.5/10
ART: 9.75/10
RECOMMENDATION: SEND ME YOUR HOME ADDRESS SO THAT I CAN MAIL THE BOOKS BECAUSE THIS STORY IS NOT WORTH SKIPPING OVER. A MUST READ.
COMMENTS: ADULT U BEST GIRL. NisiOisin BEST BOI.