Glitch Volume 2 Review

“Looking different. Speaking a different language. Being afraid of someone for arbitrary reasons like that… is prejudice.” Kei Kinjou-Dias to Sai-san.

Siblings Minato and Akira Lee are settling in to their new lives in Touka-cho and, with two of Akira’s friends, Ito and Kei, have set up the Investigation Club to find out more about the unusual occurrences taking place in town. They’ve also met two otherworldly (alien?) inhabitants: shop assistant Sai-san and the diminutive Hirata, who have wandered in and found themselves stranded. At the centre of the town looms a mysterious forest that’s fenced off; the young people are certain that it’s the origin of the ‘glitches’ whether it’s townspeople going missing (or their pets), giant ghostly figures appearing without warning, or creatures from Somewhere Else wandering in.

Not all the townspeople tolerate the presence of aliens like Sai-san and constantly report on their activities to the local police. The young people become aware of this when the local community policeman is sent to check up on them by a nosy neighbour – and when they see him again about town, he’s dishevelled, having encountered some kind of wild creature, perhaps a predator?

Perhaps the local library will hold information about the forest? But if not, is the only solution to venture inside…?

The second volume of Glitch showcases Shima Shinya’s very different, ultra-contemporary manga art-style once more and the style matches the deeply unsettling atmosphere of the town of Touka-cho, where people and pets disappear and giant ghostly forms pass through the buildings.

However, I have one or two misgivings about the tone and pace of the story and way the humans are portrayed, especially the young main cast. The pace is surprisingly slow and measured, considering that there’s only two volumes left to go, which often robs the narrative of the feeling of mounting dread which it sorely needs to instil in its readers (as well as its protagonists). There’s a little too much of the characters explaining what’s happening to each other in a rather pedantic, unnatural way. There are some eye-catching images, as when Minato is cutting up tomatoes and we see the tomato slices in the mangaka’s distinctive art style, from chopping board to frying pan, then plate. The detail added to a very unordinary family conversation, counterpointed against a very ordinary scene of meal preparation makes the scene stand out.

But then there are the protagonists who (among the humans) seem to have been selected to represent all possibilities of a gender-fluid, LGBTQIA+ community, which would be fine if it didn’t feel rather self-consciously engineered and worthy, rather than natural. Minato is ungendered, their mother is a single parent in a high-status medical job (hence the move to Touka-cho), Ito’s mother is in a same-sex relationship with one of her co-workers, Kei Kinjou-Dias is living with their father (their mother is one of the ‘disappeared’) and is presented as the child of a mixed-race partnership etc. However, little alien Hirata is portrayed in an endearing way (check out the panel where Hirata encounters a peach for the first time).

In spite of the striking use of colour (orange, lavender and black) on the cover, the double-page glossy colour spread at the front contains a monochrome image, grey and black – which seems something of a wasted opportunity (or it’s making a point). The mangaka also provides (as in Volume 1) a two-page illustrated preview/trailer for Volume 3.

Translation for Yen Press’s attractive trade paperback edition is again by Eleanor Summers with a few helpful translation notes at the back; the lettering is very clearly presented throughout by Abigail Summers. Volume 3 is due out in May 2024.

In spite of my reservations, Glitch is definitely worth picking up if you’re looking for something that’s taking manga in a new direction on the art front, with an intriguing mystery story that might be science fiction or urban legend.

Our review copy from Yen Press was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.