As the title suggests, this manga is far more intricate than it lets on to those who only read book covers. The cover alone was what drew me in. It’s not too often you see a manga that’s all good ways an elementary schooler attempts modern abstract expressionism — it’s not simple, it’s minimal. The art easily the best thing about the manga but that’s not to take away from its story, which you will easily cling on to thanks to the nature of this being.

Not simple does with it a nonlinear progression in its story telling. You essentially know the outcome of some of our characters before even making it to the first chapter, and that’s what’s so interesting about it. Having a story, like this one, told in an correctly ordered fashion breaks the pressure shoved on to certain pages and it creates a deeper tragedy as you like up the pieces and put two and two together. It’s admittedly not a very complex story and some character’s feel like they’re bordering on tropes, but you’ll make it through just fine, especially seeing how some of our characters interact in certain settings. There is corruption, fraud, trafficking, violence, drugs, and other unforgivable moments involved with those characters that we wish weren’t surrounded by those. It all gets dark. Real heavy stuff to flip through.

This was the first manga I had read and finished in awhile. If it weren’t such a quick read, with there being more panels dedicated to only visuals than there are word blurbs (or so it felt), I probably would go back to being intimidated by the rest of the Berserk manga I need to catch up to. I hadn’t written a review here in awhile, and with all the time I spend staring at two purgatorial drafts of game reviews I’ve been meaning to finish for GameFAQs as well as a bit of encouragement from SuperTails, I had to give this manga a review to make up for not getting back on the wagon sooner.

To reiterate, at the risk of sounding like a broken record: I love the art in Not Simple. I don’t think I can stress that enough. No, it’s not the prettiest thing I’ve ever looked at. It’s certainly easier on the eyes in some cases, but it doesn’t have any panels that give me goosebumps quite the way some do in Goodnight Pun Pun. But, again, it’s very visually appealing because of its aesthetic identity. It kind of gives it an art house feel. It reminds me so much of an American graphic novel and on paper that doesn't even sound like something I'm interested in, but it works here. If the art is enough for you to not give this a second glance then you must not like interesting, different things.

The story was pretty interesting. The story was ever changing, and normally that would throw me off and set me unsure of what is going on as well as worried for if I may forget anything along the way, but Not Simple doesn’t try to ruin your good time with that stress. It’s pleasant to follow and hardly obstructive in its own narrative. It’s pacing and story telling style was something I wasn't expecting and when it became that way I liked what was given to me. This, along with the art, play up on the idea that the title is self aware and plays into itself well of being surface level simplistic.

All that said, I'd love to get my hands on more of Natsume Ono’s work. The read itself was quick and easy and a good excuse for anyone else desperate to add more manga to their MAL’s completed manga list. The way they bookended the story, with the couple of the prologue and the epilogue was a nice sendoff for our characters and helped add just a bit of clarity to an otherwise depressing app-the-way-through manga.