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Book Review of Itsuwaribito, Vol. 1

Itsuwaribito, Vol. 1
ignolopi avatar reviewed on + 11 more book reviews


Hey, I agree with the other reviewer. Really, the horrible images got to me. It's true - one page, cute tanuki, characters squabble like 5-year-olds, the next page, floor covered in bodies, or some other such shocking but ridiculous situation (or maybe half the people in this world are born evil and insane?).

Itsuwaribito - one who lies. Utsuho was betrayed, all the people he's known are killed, thus he decides he hates itsuwaribito... and decides to be one himself in order to help people hurt by itsuwaribito. Sure. Gotta be evil to catch evil, I guess. And he does a decent job of it, too. He always out-lies his opponent.

To give you an example, Utsuho says 'I will kill you with one finger' and the goons go 'yeah right', he says 'wait, I lied, 2 fingers' 'yeah right' 'I lied, 3 fingers' 'sure' '5 fingers' 'ok' - then he says 'no, I lied about lying, 1 finger will do' and he tips over a candle that burns down the house. (Or something along those lines.) I found those exchanges pretty entertaining...
However, they could not make up for the brutal situations mixed with immature dialogue.

The main character doesn't have much personality, aside from his cheerful countenance and tendency to lie and unflinching throwing of bombs. The secondary character is completely flat, he's a doctor who proclaims he 'hates itsuwaribito' and that is his entire personality.

If you are ok with the creepy images (like corpses of children), it might be interesting to try book 1, just for the lying-battles. But otherwise the series fails as far as plot, character, life-lessons, and logic.