I'm a little surprised at my own reaction to this manga, given my feelings about Asano Inio's works up until now. Ultimately, my lukewarm feelings about this manga mostly have to do with storytelling choices that I can understand, and sort of respect, but I just don't feel pay off well here.

That is to say, this story is extremely difficult to follow upon first reading it, not because too much is left intentionally ambiguous, but because details that end up being important aren't treated as if they're important at all. It's really up to the reader to notice visual details that Asano doesn't draw our attention to, and that the characters don't remark on at all, as well as verbal details that come up in passing. Also, there is a complicated web of character relationships that is covered in a pretty short time. It's not like you have to guess how the characters are related to each other, or even what's motivating them most of the time, though, it's just really hard to keep track of all the details. Passages that may seemingly have no meaning are actually explained by a brief 1-2 panel incident that happened 5 chapters apart from the section of the story you're currently reading. To be honest, I feel like I have no choice but to reread this story (though I definitely don't feel like it right now),

So the question is, is it worth it? Nijigahara Holograph strikes me as essentially a moral tale about desire and obsession. Again and again, Arie (and her mother before her) spur the characters to commit utterly heinous acts. It's not actually because they think Arie's prophecy is spooky (although they do, insofar as they fear recourse for the darkness inside themselves). Arie's story is really more of a narrative framework that gives form to the rest of the story. Really, it's because she inspires desire and jealousy in all of the characters attached to her. As for the obsession with Arie the characters have, is it really about Arie herself, or is it, ironically, this idea of purity and light that she represents, which the characters wish to internalize in order to extinguish their own darkness? The fact that every character is willing to stoop so low implies that their desires have nothing to do with attaining or protecting purity or moral goodness, and if they are, they're too emotionally stunted to act on their desires without their actions and their selves becoming utterly twisted.

Suzuki kind of prevents the story from being too tidy. His presence I guess kind of gives credence to implications that Arie is manipulating events through her coma, or is maybe actually God? Is Arie keeping Suzuki from dying? He's sort of a victim of the other characters' obsession with Arie, and he never does anything particularly bad, so I guess Arie/God is looking out for him, whether he likes it or not. Not to mention their special relationship which I guess there's no reason to spoil.

All in all, I don't think this story is really THAT interesting, or on the same level visually as some of his other work. But it is certainly challenging to read...