Amnesia Labyrinth volume 1

Amnesia Labyrinth 1 (rated Older Teen 16+) story by Nagaru Tanigawa & art by Natsumi Kohane, 2011. 192 pages. Published by Tor/Seven Seas. Source: from publisher for review. 

When high school student Souji Kushiki, an academic achiever and talented athlete from a well-to-do family, returns home from summer vacation, he finds that his sisters Harumi, Youko and Saki have changed. Their strangely clingy behavior borders on the inappropriate and bizarre, yet Souji just brushes off their mysterious conduct at first.
However, when Souji arrives at school the next day, he learns that, during the summer, three students were murdered by an unknown culprit. Are the victims linked, and could Souji’s sisters have anything to do with the murders?
With the help of his cheery and spunky new girlfriend Yukako Sasai, straight-laced Souji is about to venture into a mysterious world that might just be the death of him.

Look for my review of volume 2 of Amnesia Labyrinth either next week of the week after that. :)

Story:
Amnesia Labyrinth has to have the MOST complex story for a manga I have ever read, there are so many red herrings and plot twists that have left me absolutely confused as to who the true murderer is. That being said, I am absolutely loving the fact the I don't have the foggiest idea on who the culprit behind the murders is.

From what I was able to gather while reading Amnesia Labyrinth (if I'm right) there's a bit of multiple-personalities whatnot plaguing certain characters in the story. Which is adding to the mystique of the characters and keeping me on my toes.

Amnesia Labyrinth has excellently balanced out revealing bits and pieces of the characters pasts and the possibilities on who is killing off students at the school while still managing to keep things tightly under wrap. The thing I really liked about Amnesia Labyrinth was the pacing and how there was rarely a dull moment. I also thought that Sasai definitely brought some much needed humor to this manga, while managing not to come across as an airheard.

I'm hoping with the next volume that the plot will become a little clearer, and that maybe I can deduce who the culprit is. I have my theories on who is doing the killing and why, but will refrain for sharing so as not to give anything away to those who may want to read it.

While I really like the plot there is just one thing I'm not to crazy about this manga, and that would be some of the content.
I would definitely only recommend this one to those over the age of 17 due to some of the content (nudity and some seriously implied sexual content, which I skipped over and didn't read), but alas that is not for me to decide on who should and shouldn't read it.

Characters:
I'm not to sure what to think of any of the characters and whether I like them or not. I think what is keeping me from connecting with any of them is the skewed relationship between Souji and his sisters (a whole sister, half sister, and I forget how he was related to the third one), it was just umm...

The majority of the characters come across as kind of dry and slightly personality missing, but I'm kind of enjoying how they (I mean Souji) seems a bit indifferent and aloof to everything. Not to sold on the sisters, they kind of creep me out.
Artwork:
The art was pretty stunning and visually nice, and I felt like it complemented the story quite well.

Final Verdict: While the mystery aspect of Amnesia Labyrinth is absolutely thrilling, some of the content nearly made this a miss for me.

Amnesia Labyrinth earns 4 out of 5 pineapples.



Dear FTC: This book was received in return for an honest review. All thoughts expressed are mine and were NOT influenced in any way by outside forces.