In Volume 1, we met Itou, an awkward high school student and the eldritch horror of a monster that is walking around in the skin of popular, attractive fellow student Takahashi.

In Common-Sense Monster, Volume 2, Itou is confronted by her incredibly creepy, shape-changing monster of a teacher Niehara-sensei, and accused of being a monster herself. Itou refuses to help Nie-sensei, but neither she nor Takahashi has the ability to kill him. No matter how many times Takahashi bites his head off, Nie-sen just pops up again, with his toothy grin and grabby hands.

Itou is then confronted by her next greatest fear – two classmates who want to be friends.  Itou’s personality is so cutely, weirdly awkward that these two classmates find her charming…and the next thing she knows, as the class trip looms, is that she’s part of a friend group for the first very time. Even if the fifth of their group is a…very…unknown quantity.

Itou’s still looking to Takahashi for guidance, and getting really solid, simple advice that she just cannot put into play. But more importantly, Niehara-sensei is getting more and more brazen with his taunting and attacks, until the end of the book which, while we were told it was coming, is still monstrous.

The underlying horror of this story is that monsters live among us. And we know it. Predators, abusers, “normal” people who destroy the people around them. Which is more horrific, really? A teacher who is a known sex offender that no one seems to be able to get rid of, or a monster that eats people? I argue that the former is far worse and causes more damage, but when both real and fantastic monsters are one and the same….it makes for difficult reading. 

This is not an easy book. Itou’s an anxious mess, but one sympathizes. Every quiet moment, every kindness, every moment of humanity is likely to be literally swallowed up. It’s hard to relax when the ordeals keep coming, piling on to one another, leaving no room for anything else.

Is this a Yuri story? Kind of. Itou admirse Takahashi, but also cares about her – even though she understands that it is foolish, she’s always clinging to any small kindness. In the bigger picture, Itou is simply without affection in her life, but her care and affection for Takahashi definitely feel a step beyond that.

What this absolutely is, is an uncomfortable mix of fears both real and phantasmagoric, without space between them for a horror manga that will keep you on edge. 

Ratings: 

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – Pervy teacher makes everything icky
Yuri  – 1

Overall – 8 

Common-Sense Monster, Volume 2 is out now from Yen Press.