Some of them live in denial while others have tried to move on and to forget, but for some that is a complete impossibility. Her friends, classmates, teachers, and family members have continued living their lives, but even more than a decade later they still can’t escape their pasts and the consequences of their actions. It isn’t a pleasant memory for anyone involved.

Arie’s accident is only one small part of an ongoing pattern of fear and violence. She told a story about a monster that lived in a tunnel along the Nijigahara embankment that would bring the world to an end, which terrified the other children. As a result of her injuries she has been in a coma ever since. I couldn’t get that short segment of Nijigahara Holograph out of my mind, my anticipation only growing stronger the closer the manga’s release date came.Įleven years ago Arie Kimura, a young girl bullied by her classmates, fell down a well. The sequence, taken from near the end of Nijigahara Holograph, was so chilling and unsettling and at the same time so striking and beautiful that it left a huge impression on me. But after seeing an early preview of the manga, I knew that I would need to read it no matter what. I had previously read and greatly enjoyed Asano’s other manga currently available in English- What a Wonderful World! and Solanin, both published by Viz Media-so I was naturally interested in Nijigahara Holograph. Originally published in Japan in 2006, Fantagraphics’ English-language edition is collected in an attractive, large-trim hardcover much like its other manga releases. Nijigahara Holograph, the third manga by Inio Asano to have been licensed in English, was one of my most highly anticipated manga releases for 2014.

Nijigahara holograph manga