Inside Mari vol. 6

While this series has always been a solid read, vol. 6 sees it taking some big strides towards being genuinely compelling.  Not immediately because of how Isao’s rain-soaked, late-night confessional cliffhanger from the previous volume was resolved.  It was handled well, as was Yori’s newfound affection towards Mari.  As the latter believes that the former’s mind is still stuck inside her body as Isao’s personality inhabits it, she wants to be as friendly as she can with this person she views as her ideal now.  Mari, on the other hand, isn’t having it.  Still unsure of who she really is, Yori’s efforts only wind up frustrating her even more.  Then she gets another call from herself.

The mystery behind this is resolved in short order, and in a very satisfying way as well.  It doesn’t just pay off the quasi-romantic complications from earlier in the volume.  No, it also offers further intriguing complications between Mari and Yori as well.  Mangaka Shuzo Oshimi makes all the right moves here in staging this round of setup/payoff.  He offers unexpected resolutions that make perfect sense based on how the characters have all been acting up to this point.  Oh, and he keeps the door open for my own theory about what’s really going on with Mari.

In fact, Oshimi offers up even more fodder for the idea that this whole situation may be down to Mari’s mental issues.  Past trauma, specifically, as we find out during a sequence where she reconnects with her younger brother and finds a photo of herself as a kid that was torn in half.  It triggers a memory about someone named “Fumiko,” that causes her mother to project an “OH GOD NO!” look when she’s asked about it.  Even before it throws in the missing persons issue in the last chapter, vol. 6 was clearly firing on all cylinders and marking a high point for the series so far.