Through round after round of extensive plastic surgery and vigorous maintenance, Ririko has become the absolute manifestation of beauty, and becomes a wildly successful model, actress, and singer. However, soon, her body, unable to withstand the burdens of surgery, begins to crumble, and along with it so does her mind, as she plummets towards a frightening and inevitable end.
Candy’s Rating: 8/10
Candy’s Notes: A really good starter josei for those looking to get into the genre due to it’s length and ability to tell it’s story within that. It was actually the first one I read. I thoroughly enjoyed the story simply because I loved watching this girl, who everyone thought was perfect, lose her mind. Not only that, she’s a total biatch, like ridiculously so. You can’t help but love and hate her at the same time. The manga did a really good job with her inner monologues, so we knew why she was the way she was and what she was thinking i.e. gave her some depth and characterization besides her being a raging bitch. You can sympathize with her struggle and her descent into madness. Warning: There is a lot of sex and it’s pretty graphical:. The art is gritty and ragdoll like which really fits this. It’s distorted, just like Ririko’s body and mind. The side characters don’t get expanded on too much, but they serve their purpose. Literally think of them as nothing but tools to show how far Ririko is sinking and how distorted her mind is becoming. She’s “rotting” on the inside and it shows in her actions and thoughts and that’s what makes this manga so good. You may get a bit annoyed with some of the crap the detective says (I never did until I watched the movie), but bare with it, he serves a purpose as well. The ending of this manga is perfection in my opinion. Just a warning, do not watch the movie alone. It will bore you to sleep.
MAL | Read Online | Download | Movie
