Select one of the keywords
Missing: Kamikakushi No Monogatari    by Gakuto Coda & Rei Mutsuki Amazon.com order for
Missing
by Gakuto Coda
Order:  USA  Can
TOKYOPOP, 2007 (2007)
Paperback
* *   Reviewed by Ricki Marking-Camuto

Volume 1 of Missing: Kamikakushi No Monogatari is Rei Mutsuki's manga adaptation of the first half of Gakuto Coda's novel, Missing: Spirited Away. This is a dark tale of ghosts and dedication.

Kyoichi Utsume, leader of the Literature Club, has been fascinated by ghosts since he saw one as a little boy. When he meets one when he is older, he wants to follow her to the other side, for reasons that are unknown to his high school friends. He introduces the ghost girl to his friends, but when they try to spy on him, he evades them, only to wind up missing. Now it is up to the rest of the Literature Club to save Kyoichi from a possible Kamikakushi, or stealer of souls.

Missing: Kamikakushi No Monogatari is a faithful adaptation of Coda's novel. Mutsuki does an amazing job of capturing the dark, despairing atmosphere of Coda's story through his use of shadowing and fearful faces. However, the beginning of the first volume is a little hard to follow, even though it is more wordy than most manga, so it helps to be familiar with Missing: Spirited Away.

Missing: Kamikakushi No Monogatari by Gakuto Coda and Rei Mutsuki is a good visual introduction to Coda's Missing series. However, nothing can beat the original.

Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons.

Find more Teens books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews