My Noisy Roommate: The Roof Over My Head Comes With Monsters and a Hottie Volume 2 Review
‘Anyone who stays overnight in this building can never leave again.’
Osuke Kuroe is working with Nijio Yuki for an unusual real estate agency (Divine Inspiration) that relocates yokai and ghosts! In exchange, the two young men get a roof over their heads – although as Osuke is a magnet for spirits, it’s rarely a restful time. Luckily, Nijio (who has powerful spiritual energy) is the complete opposite and this is the reason that they work so well together. But their latest assignment – the ‘Inescapable House’ – is so challenging that they’ve joined up with another experienced pair from the estate agency: Takao and Ten. It seems that the old manor house was being run as a B&B but is currently unoccupied, leading to break-ins. However, as ‘people are going missing’ the current owner wants to solve the mystery once and for all.
Hearing raised voices coming from the room occupied by Takao and Ten, Osuke rushes to the rescue, only to burst in upon them in a compromising position on the bed. Embarrassed, he swiftly retreats, realizing that the two must be in a relationship. In the middle of the night, he has to get up to go to the bathroom and encounters Ten on the way back; after Osuke’s initial discomfiture, they get talking and Ten tells Osuke that he thinks he and Osuke make a great team. “Just look at how much he cares about you. He’s not normally easy to please either” which gives Osuke much to think about. Yet just as Osuke is about to ask Ten exactly what he means, a ghost (in traditional western white sheet with two dark eye slits and a gash for a mouth) appears! It seems to be muttering something… but when they go after it, it disappears. Only now do Osuke and Ten realize that they’re in a totally unfamiliar part of the house. “This,” Ten says grimly, “must be the inescapable house at work.” Meanwhile, Takao has gone to rouse Nijio who’s a very sound sleeper and to tell him the unwelcome news that their partners have disappeared.
The Case of the Inescapable House is the longest of the mysteries in Volume 2 of Kaho Ozaki’s fun and attractively drawn supernatural mystery My Noisy Roommate. Not only is there an intriguing mystery to be solved within the walls of the old house but we get to see how it makes Osuke and Nijio reflect on how they feel about each other. The mangaka delights in utilizing our old friend, the BL tease, yet she does it in an appealing way, thanks to Osuke’s innocent, frank nature and a sequence of interactions that can be taken at face value – or misinterpreted to mean so much more! And, of course, when Osuke’s possessed by the spirit they’re trying to help, he tends to behave unpredictably, even kissing Nijio…
Osuke is still curious about Nijio’s earlier partner and in this volume he comes to learn much more – too much more – about them, when he unwittingly becomes a target for strong and unresolved feelings of resentment. Then in a charming nod to Japanese folklore, there’s an encounter with a distressed messenger fox cub that has come seeking help for his mother as something evil has taken over the Inari Shrine up the mountain where they live. This a very cute chapter as it involves the agency’s equally cute Zashiki Warashi – and the mother messenger fox comes up with an intriguing (and typically mischievous) way of expressing her thanks!
The series is up to four volumes and ongoing in Japan; Kodansha will bring us Volume 3 in July. A shame that this volume (although a good size on page count) doesn’t have any colour illustrations as the mangaka’s skilful colour work brings added enjoyment to the text (as in Volume 1).
Translation for Kodansha is again by the ever-dependable Jacqueline Fung and the lettering by Dietrich Premier helps to convey the dialogue and spooky sound effects to make the whole an enjoyable reading experience. It’s good to find a second volume that builds on the characters and set-up from the first – and will appeal to all who enjoy following good-looking young men as they investigate supernatural mysteries!
Our review copy from Kodansha was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.
