ROKUYOKU

Honestly, this manga is so short it's hard to write a lot about it - but it uses its limited space to create a deliciously dark modern fairytale which doesn't pull punches. Be warned: this review will contain spoilers, though I think this story feels enough like an old legend that 'spoilers' are kind of irrelevant.

The characters themselves don't really get that much space in Rokuyoku. The girls' friendship at the beginning is genuinely quite sweet, but the manga trips over itself to get to the nastiness. We see Yoshika plunge into an abyss of malevolent envy within the first few pages, but we don't really see what's so special about the boy she supposedly loves enough to rip her best friendship apart.

This may be deliberate: seeing Yoshika steal everything from Yukina, causing horrible injury and ultimately death, in a more developed context might make the whole thing a plodding, mean-spirited downward spiral. Instead, we get a vignette told with clinical efficiency and an odd, ambivalent curiosity about Yoshika's motives. It doesn't help that Yoshika is drawn in the same romantic, doll-like style as Yukina, meaning the weight and pain of her envy are felt far less by the reader.

This doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it, though. It's not often that shoujo and schadenfreude (along the lines of the darkest Grimm stories) are found together. Other commenters say they wish it was longer; I don't agree. This would work superbly in an anthology of shorter horror works - anything longer would dull the eerie mood and overexplain its freaky final moments.

What if your best friend is someone so beautiful and charming, whilst you are an average person? What if that best friend has a strong charisma, beautiful eyes, hair, and spirit? How would you feel like if that very best friend dates the one you're in love with? Jealousy. That's how you'd feel.

This story follows two best friends, Yoshika and Yukina who are so close to each other. Yukina is the beauty princess which Yoshika envies so much, especially since she dates the man Yoshika loves; but what do you think will happen when a demon in a cat form appears in front of Yoshika?

The art in the manga is good, except that it's a little bit too dark. Maybe the artist did that on purpose since the one-shot contains deep darkness, but overall, it's still good.

I give the series a 7 since it's a worth-while read. It didn't disappoint me nor waste my time with ridiculous shenanigans and no sense romance.