My Broken Mariko

This manga is not about suicide as many may think. This is a short story about grief. The protagonist is Shiino, a very impulsive young woman who has just discovered that her best friend, Mariko Ikagawa, has committed suicide. The manga follows Shiino as she takes Mariko's ashes on a trip while she remembers moments of their life together. Devastated over the loss of someone she loved so much, we witness bits of memories that briefly reveal the nature of their relationship and the gradual disintegration of Mariko's mental health. This is definitely not a showcase of suicide. If anything, this is a revealing tale ofthe deadly consequences of bad parenting. We see Shiino's deep regret as she feels completely helpless as to how to help her mate after everything her father has done to her. There are so many parents who treat their children like their property, who use and abuse them, and who - due to lack of maturity - end up being nothing more than children raising children. The manga also quickly shows the ugly side of our society which constantly tries to shift the blame to the victims of abuse. This may not be a masterpiece, but it has authentic feelings. It may be rough and short, but it is moving.

Writing about topics like suicide is difficult. Not just because it’s a heavy topic, but also because it’s been done to death, pun not intended. My Broken Mariko had the making of an outliner with less typical approach. The setting was perfect to work with – breaking in someone’s house to rescue ashes of your deceased friend from their abusive family, risking your job and social life and going on a journey with said ashes? Amazing setup for punk but spiritual story. And yet.. it whiffed. What could have been great multi-volume journey with the protagonist meeting people of various walks of life and slowlyworking on both her own issues and getting closure for her mourning feels like a sudden end as if the author didn’t plan anything for 2nd half of the story. The girl gets essentially „fixed“ by the first guy she meets by essentially being told that killing yourself isn’t that great of an idea and that’s it. Banal, barebone story that not only doesn’t offer anything new, it actually delivers less than your average story of this kind. The art is improving the manga a bit with both somber and energetic panels that mix into what would be great reading flow if the script did better job. So yeah, I can’t recommend this one – the idea of what it could be is much greater than the final product.

Don't listen to the naysayers - this is an excellent manga, though likely goes over the heads of a younger crowd, as many of the depictions in the story rely on the reader having a full life experience that allows them to contextualize many of the events. This manga is short, and thus, condensed, and like many pieces of media in this form - your mileage will vary based on how much you have lived and seen. My Broken Mariko touches on the subjects of abuse and grief. It handles these subjects tastefully, without forcing anything. The way the story unfolds feels like you are watching ahuman going through their grief, and it does not feel like a crafted story. It is about the simultaneously aimless yet driven experience of the early stages of grieving a precious someone suddenly and unexpectedly lost to you - about all of the wild emotional and mental swings that accompany it, and the desperate need to have some form of goal to pursue blindly in the futile attempt to hold onto the person lost through this pursuit. This is a painfully human story with little to no "point", something which makes it more relatable than expected. The subject of abuse is handled in a realistic way - from intimate knowledge, I can say that many of the aspects hit the nail on its head. The powerlessness, the self loathing, the belief it is all your fault, and the draw to it, all depicted in one way or another in this story in a tasteful way. The depiction of the grief feels very tangible, if reserved. Apart from the occasional break down, which themselves are very held together, the protagonist Shiino is doing her best to keep it together while falling apart at the seams, and to anyone who witnessed how real people act in grief, will hit painfully close to home. The only aspect of this story I wish was better was the ending, which could have been a little more fleshed out. While the ending is as all things in life - it simply is, neither bad nor good - there could have been a little bit more to it, as I wish we could follow Shiino just a little bit more into her life, since, in reality, that short point after the story starts is when she will get the opportunity to truly start mourning. Art: The art is brilliant. It's kind of rough and tumble, a style which could look poor when done by an unskilled hand, but is clearly done by a very skilled hand in this manga. Characters: There aren't many to note, and the "second" most important character of the story, Mariko, is only shown to us through the flash backs and daydreams of Shiino. There's really only one character that is depicted and explored, and that one is done very well. Story: The story is well put together. It feels natural, things happen, some things have a pay off, other things don't, like in life - "a series of events with no mastermind". Because it feels so real, the story hits even harder. Overall: This is an excellent manga, and a great pick for anybody looking to explore its themes.

My Broken Mariko – Spoiler Free – Recommended TLDR Story – 7/10 – 7 x 0.275 = 1,925 Art – 7/10 – 7 x 0.2 = 1,4 Characters – 7,5/10 – 7,5 x 0.225 = 1,6875 Enjoyment – 7/10 – 7 x 0.3 = 2,1 Total: 7,1125 -> 7 Story – 7/10Broken Mariko is a one-volume manga written by Waka Hirako. The story is ultimately about death, grief and suicide, and how it impacts those who have lost loved ones by it. It also mentions sexual abuse and self-harm. The story is written from the perspective of the protagonist – Tomoyo Shiino –, who has just lost her best friend – Mariko Ikagawa – to suicide. Feelings of incomprehension, sorrow, and anguish fill her days as she seeks to recover the ashes of her best friend and spread them in a place Mariko would have liked. Their relationship is central to the story, as it is, in a way, the culmination of their relationship. This manga is very raw and bleak, being a real, emotional, and cruel representation of suicide from the perspective of the survivors. We also seek to understand what drove her friend to kill herself, as we slowly unravel her life history through Tomoyo’s memories. But more than that, we understand the whole grieving process of Tomoyo, her mental instability and pure agony. In the end, it becomes a very emotional and touching story. The ending is heartbreaking, as her wishes have been answered, and her feeling of incomprehension has been eased. Art – 7/10 The art style is perfectly adapted to the core of this story: it is emotional, bleak, and very simple. It isn't bad – not at all – and is technically very well conceived: however there aren't many characters, the character design is good enough to tell characters apart, and the cadence of the panels is very well done, making this story very easy to follow along. Moreover, the art style has personality, which translates into a beautiful unique art style; the backgrounds, scenarios, and landscapes are also lovely. Characters – 7,5/10 Even though there are many supporting characters who only serve to interact with and develop Tomoyo, the protagonist is the only one who counts. Although this is a one-volume manga, we have access to Tomoyo’s complex grieving process. Nevertheless, we do not follow the entirety of the process, but only the initial stage of it: when she tries to come to terms with the fact that her friend died. It is a very real and emotional account, and one easily empathises with the main character. Enjoyment – 7/10 My Broken Mariko is a manga about grief. It is a heavy, although quick, read. It details the psyche of a grieving friend and is very emotional on its basis. Because it puts suicide in the spotlight in a very humane way, and because it enters in the psychology of grief, it deserves a recommendation.