Manga Review: Snegurochka of the Spring Breeze

In the afterward to the Snegurochka of the Spring Breeze, Hiroaki Samura describes the origin of this one-shot manga:

'This all started from a breathless conversation with the editorial director about creating a story starring "a tsundere girl who's 95% tsun!"'

ME: DOKO GA??! 

How in the hell he goes from that conversation with an editor to a period piece mystery thriller, with not even a single ounce of Tsun, much less Dere, boggles my mind. Then again, this is the same guy who wrote Blade of the Immortal and Wave, Listen to Me. Sensei works in mysterious ways.

This book came plastic wrapped, with a couple pages you might consider to be a good reason for it. Hiroaki Samura's pretty well-known for drawing very graphic, violent, erotic material, but this is almost tame for him, especially when you put it side by side with something like Bradherly no Basha (another of his period pieces - it's really fucked up... you've been warned). If you're just looking for some pulp fiction, pick up Die Wergelder. That one felt like more compressed shock value in a refined form.

As far as this work goes...

The story - adventure? of Snegurochka was truly epic! With twists and turns I probably should have seen coming, but I was way to engrossed to think on a meta level. The art sucks you in with it's rough, but realistic style. I liked the main characters, but also thought the side characters were full of personality and character development of their own... especially THAT scumbag. When you read it, you'll know the one.

9/10!! - some of the pieces felt a bit forced, but ultimately I was super invested and enjoyed the hell out of this. It was a proper rollercoaster ride toward the end, but I actually reread this again today, just 24 hours after finishing it the first time. Gripping stuff!

I'd like to refrain from describing the story in any detail, since I think the mystery, and going in blind, were definitely factors that led to my enjoyment of the book. But, if you scroll down, past the cover art, there's a bit of a spoiler, in the form of an embedded YouTube music video. The ear worm wiggled its way into my head after I hit the big reveal.

So, final spoiler warning...

ANYWAY... 

MASSIVE SPOILER...

You've been warned...