At the end of Volume 3 our protagonists, Sorawo and Toriko have managed to free themselves from the clutches of an Otherside cult centered around the figure of Toriko’s mentor, Uruma Satsuki. In doing so, they uncover the cult headquarters, a remote building complex called The Farm.

Otherside Picnic, Volume 4 begins with Toriko and Sorawo accompanied by members of the DS and military contractors to clear the Farm of cult-built gates to the Otherside. This gives us a lot of space to encounter weird and threatening situations, and the general aura of not-rightness that contact with the Otherside brings. Sorawo asks DS to gift them the Farm, so they can manage it – and not incidentally, have a salary for doing so. She and Toriko provisionally get control of the Farm, and they hatch a plan.

But first, there some stuff going on that they have no idea what to do with, so they are avoiding what is happening to them…and what is happening between them. First and most pressing, it has been more and more obvious to me and to Sorawo, that the Otherside is targeting her, personally. Originally, she thought it was because of Satsuki, but she’s gone and it hasn’t gotten better. More phenomena are directed at Sorawo, specifically, and it’s clearly linked to her past. Every moment we get more of Sorawo’s backstory, everything about her makes more and more sense. And holy shit.

The second matter is no less pressing. As Sorawo and Toriko relax at a hot spring resort, they get very close to addressing what is building between then, but an Otherside phenomena occurs – a scene which is in my opinion, one of the very best in the books to date. Great use of everyday creepyness to create the Otherside’s signature threatening aura.

At last it is time to put their plan into action – Toriko and Sorawao plan an overnight trip on the Otherside. The preparations were actually quite interesting; soothingly banal, which was was a perfect setup for the final scene of this book in which all of the many issues mentioned here collide in an eerie grand finale. With the sole exception of Japanese writers’ newest grotesque body fetish – which I can live without ever encountering ever again – this ending was as least as least as strong as the Kotoribako and, like that ending, will undoubtedly send us into a whole new direction with the story. Miyazawa’s narrative arcs are tight here. shirakaba’s art in this book is way less goofy and much more moody…I like it. Translator Sean McCann and editor Krys Loh do a fantastic job of communicating unreal, not-things in a way that are the right kind of inexplicable. 

Ratings:

Story – 9
Character – 9
Service – 7 – Onsen bathing and /spoilers./
Yuri – 7

Overall – 9

Now this story is really ready to begin. Otherside Picnic is a beguiling tale of personal trauma intertwined with paranormal horror.

Otherside Picnic is available on Kindle, Global Bookwalker and wherever J-Novel Club books are sold. ^_^