Last month, I’m in Japan, trawling manga store shelves and I keep seeing this series that reminds me of…something. The covers art is like a demented Marimite, almost Parian no Sono-esque. Something about it just hit me on my funnybone. So I bought all three volumes.

Fuurai Shimai (ふうらい姉妹 Les souers excentriques) by Lychee Nagasaki is…bonkers. It just is. There’s nothing sensible about it. “Eccentric” barely covers it.

Yamamoto Shiori lives with her older sister Reiko. It appears that they have enough money to live comfortably which is good, because they are both quite…odd. They both have a creative and unique understanding of the world – an understanding that is vastly at odds with what most of us consider “reality.”

Here’s a representative 4-koma. They go to a book store and ask if they can order a book. The bookstore employee says, “Of course, just tell me the title.” Reiko says, “I have it written on a memo here,” and reaches into her purse. She pulls out a memo and reads, “Which is stronger, a boar or a lion?” then says, “Oh, sorry, that’s the wrong memo.” The bookseller thinks – as do we – “What kind of memo was that?”

Shiori tells a teacher he’s “alkaline,” so all the kids in class laugh at her but she’s okay with that, as the boy she likes is one of them and being laughed at and with are the same in her head. The teacher laughs at the description, asking his coworkers isn’t it silly – only to find that they agree with the description.

And that’s how it goes. People, animals and every so often, inanimate objects, are confused by them.

Their cares and worries are not worldly, in any case. They might worry about a character in a dream, or a rock that looks unhappy, though. They are eccentric, but happy.

Ratings:

Art – Um…
Story – Ah…yeah
Characters – /giggle/
Yuri – Nope, none of that
Service – Ewww! What are you even thinking, gross!

Overall – W.T.F.