manga: Arisa
Fourteen-year-old Tsubasa and Arisa are twins who were very close as children, but who haven't seen each other in three years because of their parents' divorce, though they kept in touch through frequent and detailed letters, and they eventually decide to meet. (It...is never actually explained why they didn't see each other for three years as they both lived in Tokyo and no visitation ban was ever mentioned, but logic isn't overly important in this series.) Arisa is a model student with a supposedly perfect boyfriend, and is her class's representative, while Tsubasa is often considered a delinquent because she dyes her hair blonde and has rough manners.
When they meet, Arisa suggests that they impersonate each other for a day, and sends Tsubasa to her school in her place. Tsubasa enjoys the exchange day and when she finds a letter in Arisa's locker, she assumes it's a love letter from a secret admirer and takes it to Arisa. When Arisa reads the letter, she attempts to kill herself by jumping out the window, leaving her in a coma. When Tsubasa reads the letter, she finds that it contains nothing but the statement that Arisa is a traitor, and she decides to impersonate Arisa full time.
Arisa's class, it turns out, has access to a secret chatroom where they can send one wish to a mysterious figure named "The King" a week, and one student's wish will be granted. The wishes started small, but as they kept being granted, they escalated to wishing people would disappear, or be punished for slights, real or imagined. If someone rejects The King, or questions the wishes that are granted, they're labeled traitors and bullied unti they drop out or attempt suicide.
This is where things get a bit ludicrous. The King is pretty much the dernged spawn of Gossip Girl and A from Pretty Little Liars, expect that instead of taunting and/or tormenting the recipients of the amazingly omniscient texts, The King makes the recipients hir loyal sycophants, and the things The King gets away with, or gets the students to go along with, really stretch belief, and it doesn't help that the majority of the students don't even have names, much less personalities, and so most of the class really does just come across as a sycophantic mob. Tsubasa spends most of the series trying to learn who The King is, assuming that The King is responsible for Arisa's suicide attempt, and trying to figure out what was really going on in Arisa's life, as she learns that the Arisa that her sister presented to both her and the world was very different from the real Arisa.
The suspense plot of absurd, but a kind of absurd that I enjoy as long as it comes with characters I like doing interesting things, as is the case here. It was aldo refreshingly light on romantic shenanigans and drama. While Tsubasa has an apparent love interest (not, thankfully, her sister's boyfriend) it never progresses (Within the series, at least. Post-series is likely another matter.) beyond implied mutual interest, and the focus on their relationship is that of investigative partners. Arisa's relationship with her boyfriend plays an important role, but the real love story and most important relationship in the series is the relationship between Arisa and Tsubasa, even if one does spend much of the series in a coma.
The series is by Natsumi Ando, who has had several series licensed in the US. I read her Zodiac P.I. and Ultra Maniac back when they were first released stateside and enjoyed them at the time, but don't recall either well, save that both were Magical Girl series (Well, I know Ultra Maniac was, and I think Zodiac P.I. was too) and that that Ultra Maniac had the BFF relationship between the two female leads pretty central. Arisa is licensed in the US by Kodansha. The first 11 volumes are out, and the final volume is due out near the end of January.
When they meet, Arisa suggests that they impersonate each other for a day, and sends Tsubasa to her school in her place. Tsubasa enjoys the exchange day and when she finds a letter in Arisa's locker, she assumes it's a love letter from a secret admirer and takes it to Arisa. When Arisa reads the letter, she attempts to kill herself by jumping out the window, leaving her in a coma. When Tsubasa reads the letter, she finds that it contains nothing but the statement that Arisa is a traitor, and she decides to impersonate Arisa full time.
Arisa's class, it turns out, has access to a secret chatroom where they can send one wish to a mysterious figure named "The King" a week, and one student's wish will be granted. The wishes started small, but as they kept being granted, they escalated to wishing people would disappear, or be punished for slights, real or imagined. If someone rejects The King, or questions the wishes that are granted, they're labeled traitors and bullied unti they drop out or attempt suicide.
This is where things get a bit ludicrous. The King is pretty much the dernged spawn of Gossip Girl and A from Pretty Little Liars, expect that instead of taunting and/or tormenting the recipients of the amazingly omniscient texts, The King makes the recipients hir loyal sycophants, and the things The King gets away with, or gets the students to go along with, really stretch belief, and it doesn't help that the majority of the students don't even have names, much less personalities, and so most of the class really does just come across as a sycophantic mob. Tsubasa spends most of the series trying to learn who The King is, assuming that The King is responsible for Arisa's suicide attempt, and trying to figure out what was really going on in Arisa's life, as she learns that the Arisa that her sister presented to both her and the world was very different from the real Arisa.
The suspense plot of absurd, but a kind of absurd that I enjoy as long as it comes with characters I like doing interesting things, as is the case here. It was aldo refreshingly light on romantic shenanigans and drama. While Tsubasa has an apparent love interest (not, thankfully, her sister's boyfriend) it never progresses (Within the series, at least. Post-series is likely another matter.) beyond implied mutual interest, and the focus on their relationship is that of investigative partners. Arisa's relationship with her boyfriend plays an important role, but the real love story and most important relationship in the series is the relationship between Arisa and Tsubasa, even if one does spend much of the series in a coma.
The series is by Natsumi Ando, who has had several series licensed in the US. I read her Zodiac P.I. and Ultra Maniac back when they were first released stateside and enjoyed them at the time, but don't recall either well, save that both were Magical Girl series (Well, I know Ultra Maniac was, and I think Zodiac P.I. was too) and that that Ultra Maniac had the BFF relationship between the two female leads pretty central. Arisa is licensed in the US by Kodansha. The first 11 volumes are out, and the final volume is due out near the end of January.