REVIEW: undead girl murder farce (manga)

NOTE: this review is about the manga series, not the anime adaptation.

REVIEW #6: overall thoughts about the manga series

Content Type: Manga 

Media/Franchise: Undead Girl Murder Farce

• I remember first hearing about this manga and instantly being hooked. vampires?? demons and the supernatural?? mystery/thriller plots?? sold. 
• as someone who's an avid fan of Vanitas no Carte, Moriarty the Patriot, and Owari no Seraph, this manga feels like it derives elements from all three works (the vampires from VNC & ONS; the mystery + Holmes/Moriarty from MTP; the lore of oni/Japanese demons from ONS; the French gothic aesthetic from VNC) 
• also I love how all of these tropes/fictional elements/cultural factors blend really well together! the manga takes place across different locations (France/Belgium, Great Britain, Japan – each country also corresponding with the other animanga I previously mentioned lol), which showcases just how prevalent the manga's issue of monstrosity vs. humanity is. but not just across space – across time as well, such as how immortal and demonic (half-)beings like Aya and Tsugaru have faced ostracization and been relegated to laughingstocks since the early eras of Japan 
• ok I was going to yap about the theme of monstrosity vs. humanity in Undead Girl Murder Farce but maybe I'll save that for another blog entry lmfao (analysis era incoming?? 👀)
• I absolutely love the art style; sometimes I would sit and stare at a 2-page sprawl just so in awe at the details and the shading...
• I know I'm the same person who reads mystery manga all the time but I apparently still have not developed the right quality of braincells for this shit. I would find myself rereading entire pages to understand the deductions/reasonings 💀 sometimes I think waow whoever wrote these plots are wildly intelligent (to a frightening degree) 
• the Undead Girl Murder Farce manga only has 7 volumes currently, so it was a quicker read for me (also because each volume has about 150 pages max, which is significantly shorter compared to other manga I've read). I'm definitely planning to the following volumes once they're released!! (and the ending of volume 7 got me hooked!! we were just about to reveal the nature of Moriarty's band of criminals) 
• as much as I adore this manga and enjoyed reading it, I do have some qualms about it (omg not the multifaceted review 🫢): 

1. the art style, for all of its beauty, is somewhat confusing - I'm no artist, but as a devout reader of action-heavy manga, the direction of the action lines + the focus of the subjects is kinda disorienting. I'd squint at the panels many times (especially at the smaller-scale ones) to try to understand what is going on. the cross-hatch/multiple strokes works amazingly when illustrating characters and places, but is questionable with depicting fight/intense action scenes (which the manga has a lot of, and which is essential I believe in portraying character dynamics + demonstrating the supernatural power or physical agility of many central characters) 
2. I didn't feel a strong connection to any of the characters 😔 a lot of the central characters are adaptations of existing literature personas too - Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Arsene Lupin, the Phantom of the Opera, James Moriarty - and while this manga has put a fun spin on these characters (I find Lupin's sass endearing + his playful banter with the Phantom is adorable!!), they're not necessarily original personas that I can connect with. (also this won't be my first time encountering an animanga Sherlock Holmes; I think MTP wins my heart in that field.) a lot of the characters seem to be very sharply defined by their intellectual/physical abilities and motivations/goals, and it doesn't seem like they have other quirks/silly personality traits. some of the "silly" traits that manifests in many of the characters and seems similar in each of them (Lupin being the zesty Frenchman he is + the Phantom being bluntly sarcastic + Tsugaru being a tease around Aya and Shizuku). but then again, this manga seems like it still has yet a long way to go with the plot, so I'm hoping that we'll have more future opportunities to explore each character. 
3. another qualm I have about the characters is that there just seems to be too many of them connected to the same plot. I think this was somewhere in late-volume 3/volume 4 when the Cage User Trio, Holmes & Watson, and even the Lloyd insurance group were all tasked with safeguarding the Penultimate Night gem - like I get that the gem was a huuugeee deal, especially because it would be our first time as the audience seeing Lupin in action, but there was too many of them handling that case. for a solid interval that plotline focused so much on Holmes' side of the story that we forgot about the Cage User Trio - and they're supposed to be central to the story (at least most of the time). the story then felt too "crowded" where different characters were fighting for the spotlight. the appearance of the Lloyd insurance group characters was also confusing, but at least they got more exposure in volume 6/7... 

• while I do have these qualms, I also realize that the manga (as I've mentioned) is still ongoing and has a lot to still cover - and I'm excited to find out how the characters and their relationships develop eventually! 💖 I just think that for the plot's early stages, there has been an overwhelming amount of character introductions + lore-dumps, but surely this will become much clearer as the plot progresses. (as for the art style, I think that one's more likely to be static lol)
• I would still recommend Undead Girl Murder Farce, for its cool plot/worldbuilding elements and riveting mysteries 👀✨ I think it's a story worth looking forward to its updates too!!