Blood on the Tracks vol. 7

Vol. 6 was as compelling as it was uncomfortable to read.  Vol. is more on the “uncomfortable” side of that equation as it turns out that completely submitting to his mother’s wishes hasn’t made Seiichi’s life any better.  Especially in that he can’t even follow them correctly when it comes to his (former) female friend Fukishi.  That said, you may be wondering how that volume-ending cliffhanger involving Shigeru coming out of his coma turned out.  It only leads to more uncomfortableness as well as the volume’s most interesting idea.

That would be the insight it provides into Seiko’s mindset.  It’s been clear for a while that she’s profoundly unhappy with her present family life.  That unhappiness is quantified to a certain extent here as we finally get a good idea why she pushed Shigeru off of that cliff back in vol. 1.  I think the explanation provided by mangaka Shuzo Oshimi makes sense, especially in light of what we know about Seiko’s mental state.  It does, however, make me more curious about how she got to this point in the first place.  My hope here is that we get that answer before the end of the series as I can see Oshimi saving it for the end in order to give us the kind of game-changing finale that “The Flowers of Evil” provided.

The series then jumps forward a few months after Shigeru wakes up, and we see that things are going even worse for our protagonist and his family.  Seiichi and Seiko are helping with the boy’s rehabilitation as needed, even as the latter is only putting on a polite face about it.  This back half has one major plot point on its mind and it stretches it out over about a hundred pages, while Oshimi’s usually strong face game with his characters comes off as more overwrought than naturally expressive.  This pushes the story closer than it has ever been to the self-parodying heights of vol. 1.  Unless the mangaka is preparing to drive his narrative off of a cliff (where it will hopefully explode to reveal ninjas on fire), then he needs to dial the histrionics and predictable plot points back in for vol. 8