Manga Recommendation of the Week – Itsuwaribito

So a friend of mine put me up on this manga. And man, this was a fun manga, it is a very different type of shonen than what you’d expect. Itsuwaribito really deserves more attention. This manga is amazing, it takes a lot of the shonen tropes and presents a different take on them. I binged this through man, this manga really drew me in.

So welcome back to another edition of our manga recommendation series. This week we are talking about Itsuwaribito. This was a really surprising manga for me. I never imagined I’d end up liking this manga as much as I did. So well, let’s dive right into it.

Introduction

Itsuwaribito is written and illustrated by Iinuma Yuki. It is a shonen manga that was serialized in the Club Sunday Magazine from 28th January 2009 to 3rd September 2013. It is 224 chapters or 23 volumes long. Which is pretty short for a shonen, only took me like a day and a half or so of moderate reading to complete it.

I cannot emphasize enough how unexpectedly good Itsuwaribito is. I love the whole thing they have going on for Utsuho. You know, the story makes him a really interesting character to observe. Speaking of which let’s just dive into the

Plot

So Itsuwaribito follows Utsuho and his adventures. You see, Utsuho was really honest as a child. His truthfulness though one day led to the death of his entire family. From that day on, he decided to only speak lies. He was then raised by a monk who inspired him to be good to people. Now, this conflicts with Utsuho’s original decision. He still somehow manages to be a good person while not speaking the truth at all.

I know the plot sounds ridiculous and it absolutely is. That is the point of Itsuwaribito. The word itself translates to “lying person”. Utsuho’s journey becomes really entertaining as a result of this unique personality of his. The manga is exceptionally well-paced too and the world we see is also pretty decent.

Characters

Now, man, this is where the real fun begins. Itsuwaribito has a lot of fun characters but man, Utsuho easily takes the cake. He is a very unique character for a shonen manga. The series is what it is because of his character. He is a genuinely good guy and he actually wants to help people but he is extremely stubborn at the same time. He will never tell the truth even if telling the truth is the easy thing to do at times. I just really love how his character development and personality blend in with the plot.

Art

Itsuwaribito has some really nice art, heck the art gets really good during certain scenes. It is the art style that will take some getting used to. This manga has an art style that not everyone is going to like. I didn’t like it at first either but it grew on me as I became more and more absorbed in the story. So yeah, good art but the art styles takes some getting used to.

Why should you check out Itsuwaribito?

Quick pointers on why you should check out this manga:

• Great plot
• Rather short
• Interesting characters
• Really well-paced

Conclusion

Well, that is all for now. Let me know what you guys think in the comments. I really love Itsuwaribito, it is an interesting take on shonen tropes and it is a truly underrated gem in my opinion. With that said, I will take my leave here. See ya!