The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan

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Writer: Nagaru Tanigawa

Artist: PUYO

Manga Review (Volumes 1-4)
Fair warning: I love this manga beyond reason. This series pushes my buttons. When watching the original Haruhi Suzumiya series, Yuki was my favorite character. Perhaps she reminded me of myself: the quiet, bookish person who didn't make friends easily, and was content simply to watch the people around her.

In The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan, Nagaru Tanigawa takes the universe he created for the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya timeline--in which all the characters are normal--and further massages its elements into a workable premise for a long-term school life manga. Yuki is less of a borderline autistic girl and more of a scatter-brained, painfully shy one who freaks out when even thinking about boys. Remember the Rei Ayanami from the pocket world at the end of the Evangelion TV series? Very similar.

Meanwhile, Ryoko Asakura morphs into Yuki's best friend, a confident protector for the Yuki who, in this world, can barely remember to get dressed in the morning. This adds a lovely dimension of conflict to the story: Ryoko wants Yuki to mature. While Yuki can change, she is so set in her ways this is actually harder for her than fighting an out-of-control alien being is for the original Yuki.

Then Kyon arrives, and the story turns into romance territory. Fortunately, this isn't a pure shoujo manga. Kyon and Yuki like each other very much, and take steps towards a stable relationship as the volumes progress, but these steps are presented as part of high school experience. This isn't a story about Romance; it's about how a romantic relationship matures Yuki.

Other characters appear, again as variations of their "normal" selves: Haruhi is a self-confident, slightly spoiled girl at a nearby private academy, Koizumi is her long-suffering boyfriend, and so forth. Ironically, the relationships in this series make more sense than they do in the main timeline. Haruhi keeps Koizumi around because he's the only person who'll put up with her whims, and Koizumi is a natural doormat who is, quite simply, attracted to her (an intriguing reversal of the common relationship pattern of a domineering man and I'll-do-anything-to-please-you woman).

In any event, the relationship between Yuki and Kyon develops quite quickly by manga romance standards. By volume 3 the rest of the school knows they're a couple. At this point, the show becomes its sweetest, as we watch Yuki fumble around with her feelings and her obligations.

And then we hit the end of volume 3.

I re-read volume 3's last page several times, not quite believing my eyes. Tanigawa can't have done that, I thought. ''Why would he do that? Why would he put that there?''

I immediately ordered the fourth volume with next day shipping. When it arrived, I read it in one sitting, my admiration growing as I read. I don't want to spoil any of the plot twists--because they are delicious--but I'll say that this manga goes places I did not expect.

The art is soft and strikes a pleasing middle ground between manga styles. There are few of the huge, page-filling expressions of shoujo. The characters are mostly framed as head shots, with plenty of backgrounds to keep everyone oriented. Framing varies from page to page, without bouncing around massively between close-ups and distance shots. The pages are a little busy, but never overcrowded, and the art maintains a certain simplicity not seen in the work of, say, Kōsuke Fujishima. The style does bounce between a "normal" manga style and a super-deformed one as characters say silly things.

Each character speaks with admirably distinctive dialogue. Yuki stutters and appends sentences with "I think" and "I guess," while Kyon speaks in simple, casual sentences and Haruhi makes declarations like "Quit complaining and just come with me." Even Ryoko has a direct style that matches her personality.

Overall, I'm impressed. This manages to tell its own story with its own version of distinctive characters. It's sweet, silly, and heartwarming. I can't wait to see where volume 5 takes me.

As of this writing (July 2013), all 4 of these volumes are readily available at retailers like Amazon and RightStuf.