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コドモの神様
1
—
Finished
Sep 20, 2015
6.5/10
Average Review Score
50%
Recommend It
2
Reviews Worldwide
Pain all I feel is pain. God of Children is a manga about a young boy Makoto and Yukari and their unconventional childhood romance. It's unconventional because Yukari is a Goddess of the local shrine. If you know anything about Shinto and Japanese religion (if you can call it a religion) then you've probably been exposed to these ageless Gods in control of shrines across Japan. In this particular case only young children and animals can see these ghosts (which is a common trope across various cultures and in literature). The boy goes through trial after trial with his friends and the girl eventually withsome hostility and a love story sprouts out after a while. This one-shot has some very particular interest in photography with some of the coolest pictures being shown at the end of the one-shot and the depressing ending which you've probably guessed by now but goddang (ha get it cause she's a- yk what nvm) it, I feel dolorous. Photos play a big part in this manga and honestly they look great, you can tell the author spent a long time making this one-shot look good. If I can knock it for one thing it would be the whole "oh I want to be a child forever" cliche which I did not enjoy.
Makoto Kaizuka is a young boy who enjoys his recess with a few friends at a local shrine. He often sees a girl named Yukari at this spot, who soon becomes one of their regular playmates. Yet, to Makoto's surprise, his friends begin to gradually forget about her existence. Understandably bewildered, he discovers that Yukari is actually a god only visible to children—bound to this particular shrine for eternity. Now in middle school, Makoto is still adamantly refusing to grow up, just so he can remember Yukari for life. In addition to that, he skips classes to take photographs at random locations, showing her each time he visits the shrine. However, the harder Makoto tries, the further his childhood slips through his fingers as he ascends through adolescence. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
This was Misu Shinya's first work. One of her manga is getting an anime adaptation, so she’s clearly successful. That said, a bit of criticism for one bad story won’t hurt her at all. As for this one-shot, one word sums it up: amateurish. There’s nothing new here, nothing. It’s a supernatural romance that feels uncomfortable, and not in the intriguing, horror-esque way that some gore manga or anime manage. This is just plain creepy from a certain angle. Many may disagree with me on this, but I firmly stand by my view. The romantic undertone leans into an age-gap issue, and unfortunately, even the final panel reinforces itrather than subverts it. I wouldn’t even bother bringing this up if there were anything meaningful to discuss, but there isn’t. It was a boring read that failed to evoke any emotion, other than a faint sense of disgust.