It’s Guest Review Wednesday and today we welcome back Sandy Ferguson with his enthusiastic continuing look at the Otherside Picnic manga series. Share your kind words in the comments and let’s snuggle in for some Yuri weirdnesses. ^_^

The manga edition of Otherside Picnic, Volume 4 consists mainly of the conclusion of the Time, Space, Man story with an introduction to The Kisaragi Station Marines Rescue Operation Story. There is also a bonus short story where we listen to Kozakura as she deals with being involved in the dumpster fire that is Sorawo and Toriko trying to figure out what is going on between them.

For the most part the action centres around the misadventures of Sorawo and Kozakura as they search for Toriko in the Otherside.  Though on the surface it may seem like a buddy comedy, we are shown Kozakura’s anger of being dragged into this situation.

There is lot to explore in this volume.  We are given quite a bit of background information about Sorawo and Toriko.  We are given some background about Satsuki and her involvement with Toriko and Kozakura.  And there are the complexities of the various relationships between all of people.

And then to complicate matters more, there are the musings on the Otherside itself and the functions of the various entities that exist within the Otherside and in between.  We are invited to explore the possibility that the Otherside is trying to establish a mode of contact with our world, if so, what does that look like?

And we are reminded of how the Otherside can pull people into its reality, illustrated when Sorawo finally reaches Toriko, as scene that gives me the chills when I reflect on it.

One of the reasons I enjoy Otherside Picnic so much is its exploration of trauma and its consequences.  In this volume we are introduced to the traumas that shaped the lives of both Sorawo and Toriko, the traumas that as Sorawo says have put holes in both her and Toriko.  And how these traumas shape the nature of the relationship that Sorawo and Toriko have with one another, with Sorawo struggling to make sense of what is happening to her through allowing Toriko to become part of her life.

Sorawo’s own tale of trauma is particularly harrowing.  In a series that explores the otherworldly horrors of the Otherside vividly, here we also encounter the horrors of our own world as Sorawo shares with Kozakura the events of her life, describing an account of the terrible abuse she endured.  Yet Sorawo does so in such a way that it sounds like she is describing a trip to the shops, “not really much of a story” much to Kozakura’s shock.

The artwork as always does a wonderful job of evoking the wonders and terrors of the Otherside, with a gorgeous front cover and some good colour images inside. One thing about the manga’s art I appreciated is how it sticks to the tone of the novels as opposed to the anime.  One scene comes to mind where in the manga Toriko is depicted in regular expedition gear as opposed to the anime where she is depicted in a Halloween version of a bride of Christ outfit.

All in all, a great read, sometimes a bit exhausting with the odd moment of whiplash as we go from one intense subject to something quite different, which I think helps to give us a sense of the disorientating nature of the Otherside!

Ratings:

Story: 9
Character: 9
Service: 3
Yuri: 6, we are getting there!

Overall: 9

Erica here: I agree that the manga art really “gets” the LNs. I’ve begun thinking of the anime as the Woody Allen Casino Royale, as compared with the manga’s Daniel Craig version. ^_^; Thanks so much for the review!

Volume 5 will be hitting shelves in June.