At the end of Volume 2 of Watashi o Tabetai, Hito de Nashi, (私を喰べたい、ひとでなし) by Naekawa Sai, Hinako was forced to confront her best friend Miko’s secret – that she is not what she appears to be.

In Watashi o Tabetai, Hito de Nashi, Volume 3, mermaid Shiori snarkily forces Miko to reveal her true form and confess her intentions to Hinako. What Shiori doesn’t reckon with is the power of love and friendship. As fierce as Miko is, she has decided that protecting Hinako and the town around her, is more important than her own power. Miko is then forced to decide if this is still true and, despite Shiori’s doubt, she makes the same decision…again, reaffirming her affection for Hinako. Now it’s up to Hinako to decide if Miko’s human form is someone she can trust, now that she has seen her for real… .

This was an amazing volume of the manga. I’ve tried to not entirely spoil the reveal, because it’s great all by it self and then the confrontation between Shiori, Miko and Hinako is emotionally charged and only a little weepy, with some great truths about humanity tucked in there. The art’s pretty solid too.

As we head into Volume 4, with Hinako having finally gotten a grip on the reality of her situation, her team looks more than competent enough to take on a human-eating ghost in the school pool.

I think the story does a good job of balancing Hinako’s past trauma, with the seriously-it-is-also-trauma of her current life, without making anything overly preachy or mopey or handwaving it away. She’s carrying a lot of burden, but she’s also being helped by people around her and now she’s able to see that and understand what heavy lifting is being done for her.

The story also strikes a perfect note of just creepy enough. And the lack of service is refreshing. I liked Kaijuu-iro no Shima, plenty, but the service really got to me after a while.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8 Still ominous and compelling
Characters – 8 The more we know, the less we know
Service – Blood. Violence. Monsters. Secrets. More Monsters.
Yuri – Hinako’s BFF is possessive, Shiori is infatuating

Overall – 8

For a school story that is just creepy, emotional, and possibly Yuri enough, this story gets my recommendation.