Media Review: Othello

Bored and awake, so I was going to give a brief review of Othello, a manga about a shy girl with your typical outgoing "alternate personality". In order to not mess up the names, I looked it up, to find a previous review.

Well damn.

Anyway, here's my review.

Synopsis:

It's a cute gratifying revenge story, but way too sugary. The background is interesting, when Yaya was a child, she was more putgoing, and wanted to be in theater. She made up a Magical Girl character she would play as for her mother, called Mana. Her mother was understanding, but the rest of her enviroment was openly critical of her dream. They didn't approve of her desire to be on the stage, and dramatic. Society won, she eventually broke down under the pressure to be like everyone else, after her mother died. She lets out her creative and theatrical leanings through cosplay, something which she apparently needs to be in the closet about.

It's critical of the cool crowd in school, and the social pressure she is under to fit in.

Mana resurfaces when she finds the mirror she used to play with as a child. Mana has no patience for the boundaries put on Yaya, and proceeds to make them pay. Mana is theatrical, outgoing, unafraid to tell people what she thinks of them, and is essentially all the things Yaya feels she can't be. Yaya isn't stupid however, unlike a lot of the meek character types normally in her position. She knows exactly how much the kids in school are mistreating her, she just doesn't know what to do about it.

So far, it seems that because of the Magical Girl model Yaya originally expressed Mana through, they mostly switch when Yaya is looking at a reflective surface.

I guess Mana could be called a soulbond. Anyway, it's got some social commentary, and the translation is kind enough to explain the cultural references that are all over this manga. If you're interested in that, you might find this of interest. Otherwise, despite the fun retaliation sequences, I'm just not sure it will hold together as a story.

Issues: It's interesting, it looks like it's hearkening back to some old ideas on multiplicity, wherein the repression of emotions or desires causes the emergence of another person who will actually satisfy them. I don't know if they are trying to imply the mother's death was the trauma that clinched it, making it more in line with the current trauma-based model, or if they are saying that it's because she lost the outlet she got while performing for the mother.

--Spookshow

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pavilion @ karitas . net

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