GOGOGOGO-GO-GHOST! (“What you hear when your Danny Phantom DVD has a smudge,” said my partner, chuckling upon seeing the title) has a fascinating introduction. In the first chapter, we’re introduced to our main character, an office worker named Ushiro Akechi, who got caught up in a workplace romance with a married man who works above her position. She loves him, and he promises that he’ll divorce his wife. Akechi believes him because she believes what they have is real. Ultimately, however, he never divorces his wife. And when the affair gets brought to light, he gets to stay at the company while she loses her job and has to make damage payments. She’s able to land a new job, but it’s not stable—she’s a contractor, and her boss is insufferable. And the cherry on top is that the resulting stress is giving her stomach aches. And then, one night, she makes a mistake (seemingly an accident) with her stomach medication. The chapter ends with her passing out and suddenly coming face-to-face with a ghost who tells her that she’s on the brink of death.
As the manga continues, we soon learn that the ghost is named Masako and that she’s Akechi’s guardian spirit. She only wants to protect Akechi, so she’s taken aback when Akechi isn’t opposed to the prospect of dying. Akechi isn’t quite suicidal, per se—she wasn’t actively trying to end her life with her medicine—but some readers might interpret Akechi’s indifference/willingness toward death as suicidal ideation. So, while this isn’t present throughout the rest of the volume, I still wouldn’t recommend this volume to potential readers who don’t want to interact with content with this subject matter. Masako then offers to curse Akechi’s enemies—including her backstabbing ex. Akechi loves the idea and returns to life with Masako floating by her side. Thus begins this manga’s story in earnest.
Even though Akechi and Masako emphasize cursing Akechi’s ex, we don’t see that in this first volume. After the setup, we mostly see Masako curse other thorns in Akechi’s life, including (but not limited to) her awful boss and her noisy neighbor. And lest you get the wrong idea about how these curses generally go, now’s probably a good time to mention that GOGOGOGO-GO-GHOST! (henceforth GHOST) is a dark comedy, first and foremost. The curses are usually minor, comedic stuff along the lines of Masako scaring people by appearing on camera and spilling ink bottles to create messages.
In this way, the manga has a kind of episodic feel, with each new chapter following Masako cursing a new individual for Akechi. Sometimes, this results in a comedic but cut-and-dry comeuppance, but in others, we see more complicated situations. For example, in one chapter, Akechi learns that her noisy neighbor is only so noisy because she’s a mangaka on a tight deadline, and loud music helps her stay awake. These little “episodes” are enjoyable, if a bit tedious, and sometimes longer than they need to be.
The most enjoyable part of the first volume is the protagonist—Akechi revels in her flaws. Masako wants to help and protect her, but she’s not necessarily trying to turn her into a better person, probably by teaching her forgiveness. And Akechi, exhausted and jaded from her experiences, probably wouldn’t be interested anyway. I don’t know if this will change as the series continues, but at least in this first volume, GHOST is set up to be a revenge fantasy. Akechi’s grudge toward her ex is a big part of what this series hinges on. Her generally cynical attitude (which might or might not be a result of what she’s been through; we don’t yet know enough about what she was like before the affair got brought to light) is the glue that holds this story together. But at the same time, her anger is pretty plainly justified. She’s a petty and vengeful person, but she’s not self-centered or heartless. She has a selfless, well-meaning side that we catch just enough glimpses of throughout this volume to give her a lot of charm and likability, making her an incredibly engaging protagonist.
GHOST takes full advantage of having such a cleverly written protagonist by putting Akechi and Masako in some incredibly creative scenarios with equally creative methods of cursing. Both are often comedic or at least have comedic elements. While this causes tonal whiplash in some stories (in particular, the one in which Akechi tries to find the owner of a stray dog she wants to adopt), more often than not, it gives the manga a wry tone. This is matched, if not further heightened, by creator Miyako Hiruzuka‘s stylish and highly expressive art. My only criticism about the art is that there are not a lot of backgrounds, and when they are there, they’re usually pretty barebones. And once you start noticing this, it’s hard to un-notice.
Admittedly, perhaps because so many of these chapters are self-contained, GHOST can’t gracefully incorporate an important point from an earlier chapter into this volume’s last one. It tries to play this off like this story beat was memorable, but in reality, only one panel had neither gravity nor a hook, making me think there was more to know about this. I’d completely forgotten about it when it was brought up again toward the end and had to go back to look for it.
Although it’s a bit rough around the edges, this first volume is still a promising start for what has the potential to be an entertaining dark comedy. I look forward to reading more of this short series (five volumes) as its English release continues. In particular, while I want to see Akechi finally get revenge on her ex, there’s also a part of me that can’t help but want to see her go all-in on her pettiness and start utilizing Masako’s curses for minor inconveniences. Either way, it’s hard to read this first volume and not feel yourself rooting for Akechi and Masako.
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. Yen Press, BookWalker Global, and J-Novel Club are subsidiaries of KWE.
Source link
#GOGOGOGOGOGHOST #Manga #Volume #Review #Review
